LO
Waiter / restaurant server — skills, knowledge and links
Where this job sits in the official classifications, what those classifications say it demands, and what it connects to. Every block names its source: our own judgements, the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET, or the U.S. Department of Education.
How it connects#
O*NET also lists (no page here yet): Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers · Food Servers, Nonrestaurant · Bartenders · Fast Food and Counter Workers · Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop · Baristas · Food Preparation Workers · Food Service Managers
In the official classification#
Waiters and Waitresses
Fit with this page: same job
Job Zone 1–2: very little to some preparation
See it on O*NET OnLine ↗What O*NET rates highest#
From O*NET 35-3031.00 (Waiters and Waitresses). Ordered by O*NET's importance rating; the words are O*NET's own scale anchors.
Transferable skills
- Service OrientationVery important
- Social PerceptivenessImportant
- CoordinationImportant
- PersuasionImportant
- Judgment and Decision MakingImportant
- Time ManagementImportant
- Complex Problem SolvingImportant
- Quality Control AnalysisSomewhat important
Knowledge
- Customer and Personal ServiceVery important
- English LanguageVery important
- Sales and MarketingImportant
- Food ProductionImportant
- MathematicsImportant
- Administration and ManagementImportant
Work activities
- Performing for or Working Directly with the PublicVery important
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and EventsVery important
- Performing General Physical ActivitiesVery important
- Handling and Moving ObjectsVery important
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or SubordinatesVery important
- Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or PeopleImportant
Abilities
- Oral ComprehensionVery important
- Oral ExpressionVery important
- Speech RecognitionVery important
- Speech ClarityVery important
- Time SharingImportant
- Trunk StrengthImportant
Essential skills
- Active ListeningVery important
- SpeakingVery important
- MonitoringImportant
- Critical ThinkingImportant
- Reading ComprehensionImportant
Tasks O*NET proposes to add#
O*NET's analysts propose new or reworded task statements for future data collection, drawing on what surveyed workers write in, research into new technologies and professional associations. They are candidates, not yet part of the rated task list, and they say nothing about whether automation is involved. This site does not fold them into its own task judgements.
- Check with customers to see if they want to apply any rewards to their purchase.New task · 2025-08 · reported by surveyed workers · O*NET 31.0
- Perform routine tasks, such as refilling syrups, sanitizer bottles, and other essential supplies.New task · 2025-08 · reported by surveyed workers · O*NET 31.0
Our task judgements#
O*NET says what this job demands. It does not say what automation is doing to it — that is what this site's 4 task judgements are for: 3 backed by a verified event, 1 platform inference. VOLO judgement
Sources and rules#
- Four kinds of source, and each block says which: this site's own judgements, O*NET, the U.S. Department of Education's CIP–SOC crosswalk, or something computed mechanically from those. Nothing on this page is a rating we made up.
- O*NET's importance ratings are used only to order and shorten the lists. They are never combined with this site's impact index or evidence counts.
- The fit between our page and an O*NET occupation is our judgement and is stated per code: same job, broader, part of it, or only the closest there is.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026 release, U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration, CC BY 4.0. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The translations of O*NET descriptors on this page are ours, not O*NET's.