And there are likely waiters that can't do enough math to figure out they didn't get a 20% tip, but it was a general statement rather than a FACT being stated.
The biggest problem the rocket scientist would have is either talking to the women to place their order, or being strong enough to hold a tray with drinks on it
I'd still feel pretty safe saying I could swap jobs with a waiter tomorrow and outlast them.
But to bring it back on point again, the intention was just to point out that there's a much larger pool of potential waiters, and it doesn't take special training, so the demand (thus, pay) is lower. that's all.
Waiting tables isn't the cake walk you seem to think it to be, and that's the problem with customers. They don't appreciate how much work it actually is. Let me break it down for you.
1. Upper body strength. I have to have the ability to repeatedly lift trays of food/bus tubs and carry them to a table (which sounds simple enough. But, nothing is as simple as it seems. I have to wade through dumbasses blocking the aisles, make quick course corrections to avoid ramming into unattended children using the tables/aisles as their own personal playgrounds). Some of these trays/ bus tubs weigh in excess of 70 pounds. You also have trays full of drinks you're trying to pass out to unattentive guests who seem hellbent on trying to make you spill said tray of drinks.
2. Memory. To be a waiter, you have to have an excellent memory. People don't usually ask you for one thing at a time. They ask you for MULTIPLE things (usually with three or four people yelling at you to get them different things at the same time. You are also not the only table I am waiting on. There are also multiple tables full of multiple people demanding various things RIGHT NOW. Also, when I deliver food/drinks, people seem to forget what they ordered. So, I have to keep track of who orders what, because the tables sure as fuck don't remember.
3. Addition/Subtraction skills. In restaurants where you are required to keep your own bank, quick fire addition and subtraction is a must. You have to make change for the $100 bill you were given to pay for the $5 check. Keep in mind, usually all the tables in a given section try to pay all at once, so you could have anywhere from two to seven tables attempting to cash out all at once. Money has to be kept separate or else you're out of you overchange somebody. Also, the customers are not patient with this. They demand their $94.32 change almost instantaneously after giving you the one hundred dollar bill.
4. People skills. So, not only do you have customers who are rude, forgetful, indecisive, and demanding and have to have the strength to carry all their items to tables and remember everything, you're also dealing with the cook line, managers, dish people, and hosts, you also have to keep a positive attitude. This can be hard to do sometimes. You can't get short with anybody, no matter how moronic they may be, or else it affects your wages. One bad table can really screw up a waiter's night. You have to let the bad table slide by or else it'll affect the rest of your night. That's hard to do sometimes, especially if the table is especially scummy. Also, some people like to talk, some customers don't. You have to be able to read people.
Now, I'm not saying waiting is a job that requires any sort of specialization of skills. Possibly anybody COULD do it. I don't presume to be able to do an electrical engineers job, but I know for a fact that an electrical engineer couldn't just start waiting tables at a Denny's and immediately be an excellent server.
Waiting tables isn't the hardest job in the world, but it's also not a frigging cakewalk like some people in this thread would smugly have you believe. And it's those people that make the job the most stressful. But, you get the ones who appreciate the job you do, and that makes waiting tables worth it.
