External Tell-All Links for ya

(

... "Turns out this "blogging about restaurant work" is a niche that I am but one (new, minor, unknown) voice in..."

NOTE and DISCLAIMER : Most of the blogs I've found are full of hard-core, f-bomb cussing, and often mean-spirited rants about how many servers feel about those whom they wait on. Not for the timid, whether you don't like cussing, or just don't like finding how someone else whom you don't even really know feels about you. I haven't read the books below yet, so can't say one way or another.)

The original, mother of them all, is Waiter Rant. Now a book , the guy blogged anonymously as a NYC waiter for four years at what he called "The Bistro" before finally outing himself with the book. And the sequel. And the speaking engagements... go figure.

Also anonymous and quite popular and pretty witty from the few entries I've read, the blog The Bitchy Waiter serves up all that his choice of name promises, and pancakes too.

I Got Stiffed turns out, is a whole "open to the industry" collection of waiters ranting, with posts from all over. My first impression of this bunch? "Hey ingrates .. either grow up, get a job you love and move on with your lives, or just put the money in the bank and SHUT UP, willya?"

The apparently non-anonymous Manuel (accused of being British but is actually Irish) is an immature attention-seeker - according to his bio! - and authors Well Done Fillet - along with his missus! His blog has been mentioned positively by nearly every European newspaper and website that positively mentions such things.

Back to the book scene, Kitchen Confidential by a now very famous veteran chef, tells of the dark underbelly of restaurant life - the sex, drugs, rock-n-roll part of it all - that you either really do or really do not want to know about.

If I am going to choose just one of these books to read myself, it would be Waiting : True Confessions of a Waitress. Ginsberg I'd say "gets it" in a way that I can relate to. Like me, she "came of age" behind her apron, and seems to tell her secrets without griping all the way. Even after leaving serving after nearly 20 years for her publishing career, she returned to waiting tables. Like me, I suppose she's made peace with her lot in life, and more than any other "book description" I've noted in this field, she seems to have developed a sublime appreciation for her craft, for her co-workers, and for her customers that I might call inspirational. To me at least, and that's just from reading the reviews.

I might read it, but then, I don't really want whatever book I may one day write (about my experiences with this industry) to be a copy-cat knock-off either.

I'm not sure where I'm going with all of this exactly, of course, just glad to have "regulars" like you to share the trip with. Sure, eat and drink elsewhere, and if you like, read what others have to say. Professional courtesy demands that I inform you of them in fact.

Experience likewise tells me tho, that If I'm as good, better than, or offer something unique that my competition doesn't, then I know you'll be back.