Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip – Confessions of a Cynical Waiter

JULY 10, 2008

Hi, I’m Randy,
and I’ll be your judgmental spy tonight

NONFICTION: Waiter Rant

With the phenomenon of superstar chefs in full swing (if not incipient decline), it’s about time for a celebrity server. In 2004, a blogger calling himself the Waiter began dishing front-of-the-house dirt about his upscale New York City–area restaurant. (The blog’s very existence made at least one VSL staff member increase his standard tip to 20 percent.) Four years later, waiterrant.net gets more than 2 million hits per month, has won a Bloggie Award for Best Writing (they exist), and has a book coming out.

Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip — Confessions of a Cynical Waiter (available 7/29) is part exposé and part payback. The Waiter spends a lot of time hilariously skewering diners who have the audacity to ask for another table, question organic ingredients, or leave a lousy tip. Owners, managers, and fellow servers receive similar treatment for their paranoid, backstabbing, and occasionally drunken behavior.

If you’ve ever worked in food service, Waiter Rant will make you smile with rueful recognition; if you haven’t, the book may change your restaurant manners or — once you read chapter 12 (simply titled “Filth”) — stop you from ever eating out again.

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Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip — Confessions of a Cynical Waiter (Ecco; hardcover; 320 pages)

the Waiter Rant website

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