How to Get Better Tips Waiting Tables

People come out for the experience. If they only wanted food, they'd eat at home or get takeout. Your job is the experience part.

Be a chameleon

Read the table in the first hello and match it. A quiet date gets quiet service: fewer check-ins, no jokes unless they open the door. A table that wants a show gets one. That's when the corny lines come out, and the cornier the better.

Get it right

• Write the order down and read it back. Every time.
• Check the POS before you send it to the kitchen.
• Know the menu cold, so you never have to guess.
• Check back after the first couple of bites, then watch the refills.
• Tell every table the specials, and tell them if the kitchen is out of something before they order it.

Small adds stack up

Suggest an appetizer, a dessert, a better drink. It's a suggestion, not a push. An extra $5 a table across a shift, a week, and a year turns into real money, for you and the restaurant.

Most of all, be sincere. People can tell when you're faking it, and they can tell when you mean it.