OLD PROS

I Hired a 50-Year-Old Waiter After Asking Him Exactly One Question

Sometimes the answer to one question tells the whole story

Image created by the author using Davinci

I love old pros

Paul was about 50 years old when he walked into my office for his server interview and I could tell right away that he was an old pro. They have a quiet confidence that only comes with decades of experience and ingrained knowledge. An old pro needs virtually zero training. Just hand them a menu and a floor plan, give them a computer login, and get out of their way.

Twelve years ago I was the general manager of a hip restaurant that had just opened in a beach town in San Diego, California. Pacific Beach is a casual community where the standard dining experience is a cute girl with well-displayed boobs serving you a pitcher of beer with a bucket of chicken wings on the side. Not that there’s anything wrong with all that, but we were out to elevate the status quo for the neighborhood. With a funky global wine list, local craft beer, fancy-schmancy cocktails, and not one single chicken wing on the menu, that neighborhood took notice. Things were looking up at the beach.

For the initial hiring, I knew I had to break the beach = boobs + beer curse that hung over the zip code like a lead parasail. To…