Waiter Rant

Thanks for the Tip - Confessions of a Cynical Waiter

By: Steve Dublanica

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

According to The Waiter, 80 percent of customers are nice people just looking for something to eat. The remaining 20 percent, however, are socially maladjusted psychopaths.

Waiter Rant offers the server's unique point of view, replete with tales of customer stupidity, arrogant misbehavior, and unseen bits of human grace transpiring in the most unlikely places.

Through outrageous stories, The Waiter reveals the secrets to getting good service, proper tipping etiquette, and how to keep him from spitting in your food. The Waiter also shares his ongoing struggle, at age 38, to figure out if he can finally leave the first job at which he's really thrived.

Public Domain (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The other shoe finally drops. The front-of-the-house version of Kitchen Confidential; a painfully funny, excruciatingly true-life account of the waiter's life. As useful as it is entertaining." (Anthony Bourdain)
"I really enjoyed Waiter Rant. The book is engaging and funny, a story told from my polar opposite perspective." (John DeLucie, chef of The Waverly Inn)

Must listen for anyone in the industry or curious about it.

The narration in this one is flawless, which is always a beef of mine with other audio books.

I was glued to this from start to finish, and often listened during downtime at work. I laughed, teared up, and felt anger for the narrator.

When you finish this, I recommend listening to the B*tchy Waiter’s novel as well.

Like I said, it’s a must listen. I feel like the world would be full of better people if this was a required read.

Starts Off Fast, Ends Slow

This book starts off as the laugh out loud adventures of super waiter, focused on funny customer stories, and waiting misadventures. However, at about the half-way point, it begins to devolve into the psychology profile of a loser middle aged waiter and his struggles with aging. If I wanted a nonfiction psych biography of someone I'd never heard of, I'd go read livejournal. I wish the second half of the book could have been as good as the first half; the first half is worth the read, but the second half isn't.

Great!

I enjoyed every moment of this audio. The insight into the restaurant industry was interesting in and of itself and I think the author definitely has a future as a writer. Naturally, in a work like this, he'd talk about himself, in addition to his job. Going in, I expected the self-revelatios to be boring, something I'd have to put up with. I can't say the author's life is anything special. But the way he wrote it is what gives a clue that he has talent. He presented his own mundane issues in such a way as to allow the reader to relate, to empathize. In other words, he made something special ut of the ordinary.

Rethink your dining experience

We all know about some stories about unpleasant experiences with waiters, and this book doesn't shy away from that.

I regularly visit various restaurants around town and have seen all sorts of service from terrible to amazing, and this audiobook helps make sense of the mindset of waiters and restaurant staff.

A little warning: some chapters are not for the squeamish and deals with medical emergencies, bodily fluids, insects and unpleasant kitchen staff revenge techniques.

Not my style

Maybe if I were in the resturant field I would have enjoyed this, but I'm not, and didn't. Parts of it were funny and informative, but mostly boring.

Ever been a waiter / ever been served by a waiter?

Where does Waiter Rant rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

A JOYFUL read with great humor. This brought back so many memories of my "waiting" days.

If you have ever gone out to a restaurant, there are things you should know ... this book, albeit short, does give you a behind the scenes of what the staff really does.

Good story, great insight to a servers life.

Funny, honestly written. Can relate to this server on so many levels. Really tells it like it is.

Fun listen

For what it’s about it was fun to listen to while on a drive. Thank you for the entertainment.

good read

Very good, fast read. encouraged to read and really enjoy his blog. (don't require more words)

Palatable!

This book was not at all what I expected. I thought it would be more of a compilation of short and funny anecdotes about irate customers. While there were these scenes in the book, it was more of a memoir about the author's experiences as a waiter. The book focuses on two particular restaurants, and was an eye opener for me. I have no experience in the restaurant industry other than as a consumer, and I enjoyed hearing about the day-to-day life of a waiter. There were some things I figured happened, and some things I had no idea about. Of course, there is the obligatory chapter on disgusting conditions in restaurants and what some waiters do for revenge (yes, including spitting in the food of customers who complain and return meals constantly). This just bolsters my motto: there are two people in life I do not piss off - the person who has control of my food and my hairdresser! Everyone else? Well, they are fair game, LOL!

The narration was very good as well. The narrator was even keeled when needed, but just as easily was very emphatic when he had to let loose with a curse or two!

Overall, I really liked this book.