Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful, Fast-paced, & Enlightening
Review: "Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress" is a highly entertaining, fast-paced book about Debra Ginsberg's real-life experiences as a food server. She tells wonderful heartfelt stories about waiting tables in places ranging from a dining room/country club environment, to a cocktail lounge setting, to a upscale Italian eatery while keeping me laughing out loud and cringing simultaneously. I never thought that working as a waitress was an easy job (I've never actually done it) but after reading this book I can say for sure that it's definitely not a field I'll be tackling any time soon.Ginsberg delves even deeper than just your run-of-the-mill waitressing antics (E.G.: hair in soup, rude customers, bad tips, etc.) She actually takes a look at waitressing from a sociological perspective and she does so with both intelligence and charm. For Ginsberg, waiting tables was a career, one which she struggled with because she constantly felt like she should "do something with her life" and "get a real job." So she did. But the money from waitressing was just too good. Her tips were essential in the raising of her son as a single parent. And waitressing also allowed her to spend quality time with her son when her "real job" kept them apart more than both of them were comfortable. I was proud of her for coming to that realization and going back to waitressing after giving the real job a shot. Unfortunately, there is such a negative stigma attached to waiting tables while it really shouldn't be anything to be ashamed of. The physical and psychological aspects of the job are grueling and make for a tough job even in the best of conditions. I applaud anyone who can work like that at night and then manage to wake up, raise a child and stay focused on writing the next day. That sounds like three full-time jobs to me and I personally couldn't wing it. Three cheers for Debra! I eagerly await her next book.
Rating: 
Summary: So true!!!
Review: All I can say is that if ever I questioned the universality of the "waiting life", I don't anymore. I have waited tables now for years as an easy way to get myself through school and everything Ginsberg talks about has happened to me and the various coworkers I have had over the years.
Not only is it a way to laugh at your own follies in the business but also a guide to unskilled diners who think "tipping is a city in china" and that their servers are merely uneducated peons there to accept their personal abuses.
I highly recommend this book as it is the only memoir I have ever seen that deals strictly with the trials of being a waitress. In short, it is a quick read and all around good fun. If I could afford it, I would buy a copy for every single person I work with. If you've ever waited tables to make ends meet, this book is a must!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Worth a Read, but not necessary worth reading Twice
Review: Easy to read and understand with situations that will have all of those in the service industry nodding their heads. Kudos to the author on her publication. On a down side, I felt the book was too personal to the author's life and tended to read like her autobiography (biography?). I was looking for more generalized situations and funny stories and less about her life.
Rating: 
Summary: hello?
Review: THIS is a good book. You've just got to trust me on this one. Part memoir, part guide on how to treat your waitress, this book rocks! Based on the author's life, Ginsberg's book follows her from when it was cool to be a waitress to when it was necessary. From "low end" waitressing to raking in the dough at fancy restaurants and exclusive country clubs, Ginsberg has been there, done that, and now she's going to sit you down and tell you about it. Her writing is very accessible and you won't be able to put it down. For most of the book you will think that she is foolish to continue working as a (gasp) waitress while she has a college degree and a natural talent for writing, but by the end you'll realize that if she hadn't, you wouldn't have been able to go through it with her.
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