How to be a good busser

Develop strong stamina. Bussers have to be on their feet for many hours at a time. They must also respond quickly to clearing tables and performing other tasks around the restaurant.

You should try to develop strong stamina for all of these functions. It helps to exercise outside of your working hours. This can build your stamina and strength and make you a better busser.

Be attentive. Bussers must be observant. They should not wait to be told to go clear a table or perform some other restaurant duty. A good busser keeps watch over the restaurant floor and moves in to do their job as soon as possible.

You can also keep watch for things like customer refills or the needs of children and either alert the proper waiter or see to it yourself.

Strength. As mentioned previously, exercise outside work is a very good idea if you are a busser. Bussers often carry heavy loads of dishes and other hefty items around a restaurant.

Building your strength allows you to do these tasks quickly and somewhat easily. Here are some duties for a busser that involve strength:

• Moving tables and chairs around the restaurant floor

• Taking large bags of trash out to the dumpster

• Carrying a bus bin full of heavy plates made of glass

Having the adequate strength to perform these tasks simplifies your job and keeps you from making mistakes, like dropping a load of dishes.

Collaboration and teamwork. Bussers are part of the larger restaurant team. Members of a restaurant team normally include the following:

• Hosts

• Servers

• Cooks

• Kitchen Staff

• Restaurant managers

• Bartenders

While bussers mostly work alongside and collaborate with front-of-the-house team members, like servers, hosts, and managers, they might also have to help out back-of-the-house employees.

A good busser can anticipate the needs of their coworkers. This makes having strong communication skills also key to being a good busser.