Waitress/ Bar Person/ Manager
Dakota Hotels
Kirsty M
00:00:03 My name’s Kirsty M and my job title at Dakota hotel is I’m a grill waitress.
00:00:10 Grill waitress entails usually general serving in the bar and the grill area, I’m based mostly on the grill but I do help out in the bar, providing a service, meet and greeting guests and down as, answering any questions they might want to know and general serving them throughout their meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner in the hotel.
00:00:35 Every day is different, you never, I know you do a lot of the same kind of jobs and responsibilities but you do every, every dinner service or every lunch service is different.
00:00:48 Yes I enjoy the people I work with cos you kind of become like a small family and it’s like really close knit and you work with your friends and you can have fun and talk to people every day and yeah I enjoy it.
00:01:02 I got this job through a friend actually she worked here and she begged me for months to consider coming over, she thought I would enjoy it and, one day I said OK I’ll come and see the place and it kind of all came from there.
00:01:20 I studied physiology and sports science at Glasgow University. I suppose you kind of just fall into what you enjoy, I loved my studies at university I wouldn’t change what I studied at all and I wouldn’t do anything different but, I loved studying sports but I enjoy this job as well so I’ve kind of stayed with it. I’m happy in work so and I like the industry so, decided to stay here.
00:01:48 I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and I followed what I enjoyed studying at school and that’s how I progressed through university, I always enjoyed, I like PE and those kind of subjects so, then I chose to study at university level.
00:02:04 I did meet with your guidance counsellor and they asked me what I enjoyed to do and everything that I really looked into studying. So I told them and they pointed me towards what I needed to get to get into university but, I suppose they, my guidance counsellor didn’t influence me that much a, a lot of it was my own decision I’m kind, I’m the kind of person who knows what I want to be doing, goes for it myself.
00:02:33 I’m from Ayr, Ayrshire from a small village called Ochiltree. Tiny and I moved up to Glasgow when I was eighteen, never looked back since.
00:02:47 When I graduated I decided I wanted to see some of the world so, with a friend of mine I went to Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Singapore and New York and, saw a bit of the world so I suppose that’ll be a big turning point in my life.
00:03:07 I chose only to go for six months and, because the girl I was with had to be back for a certain date, so we were only going for six months, we decided we didn’t want to waste time working, so we just wanted, I saved, I saved as much as I could before I went and we just went out there and experienced it all in six months. And it was fantastic, loved it.
00:03:30 The most amazing time of my life travelling it made me, grow as a person as well, I became a lot more independent, I think I could handle pretty much a lot more stuff from travelling, I had a great time I wouldn’t change it for the world, I would go back in a heartbeat so that’s good.
00:03:51 Luck that I came here I guess, cos I’ll, it’s a great company to work for and the people here are fantastic so, kind of suppose that way luck, you can take this round the world as well, you get experience a whole new hospitality the other side of the world.
00:04:09 More into management I’d like to progress now. I’m happy, I feel comfortable in the role that I do here and it’s something I like chatting to people and I feel confident and comfortable in my job and I enjoy it.
00:04:24 END
Kirsty M is a Grill Waitress at Dakota Hotels. “The most amazing time of my life was travelling, it made me grow as a person as well, I became a lot more independent.” She chose not to use her sports and physiology degree – “I’m happy in work and I like the industry so decided to stay here.”
More information about Waiters and waitresses
The UK average salary is £29,813
There are 37.5 hours in the average working week
The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male
Future employment
- Sets tables with clean linen, cutlery, crockery and glassware;
- Presents menus and wine lists to patrons and may describe dishes and advise on selection of food or wines;
- Takes down orders for food and/or drinks and passes order to kitchen and/or bar;
- Serves food and drinks;
- Presents bill and accepts payment at end of the meal.