Waiters, waitresses, and bartenders courteously bring us our food and drinks, tolerate our annoying and rude behaviors, and deal with disappointment from our less than generous tips.
Restaurants across the U.S. have been forced to close their doors in the wake of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, leaving thousands of service professionals out of work and in need of help. In this stressful and uncertain time, there are several ways we can support these dedicated professionals at the heart of the restaurant industry by
- Buying gift cards from your favorite restaurants,
- Ordering take-out or delivery, and
- Donating to GoFundMe campaigns.
Several charitable organizations are currently raising large sums of money to help support both individuals and businesses who have been struck by this pandemic. Here is a list of some of the larger organizations that are raising money and offering assistance to those in need of help.
National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Employees Relief Fund (RERF)
The National Restaurant Association (NRA) has launched its Restaurant Employees Relief Fund, which will make grants to industry employees who have been impacted by COVID-19, including a decrease in wages or loss of employment. To learn more about the fund, click here.
To apply for assistance, click here.
To donate, click here.
Another Round, Another Rally
This nonprofit financial resource for the hospitality industry is offering $500 relief grants for hospitality workers who lost their jobs or had their hours cut because of the pandemic.
To apply for relief assistance, click here.
To donate, click here.
One Fair Wage — Emergency Coronavirus Tipped and Service Worker Support Fund
The One Fair Wage campaign is a nonprofit that advocates against sub-minimum-wage laws for tipped service industry workers. In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, they have launched the OFW Emergency Fund, which has raised more than $400,000 to date.
This money will provide cash assistance to tipped restaurant workers, delivery drivers, personal service workers, and others affected by the pandemic and the economic downturn.
To apply for assistance, click here.
To donate, click here.
Enjoy these puns and jokes about waiter and waitresses. Bartenders will be remembered in a future post. 🙂
1. I have never been in love, but I imagine it’s similar to the feeling you get when you see your waiter arriving with your food.
2. “Sorry, waiter, I asked for the hamburger without the bun” Waiter: “My apologies, no bun intended.“
3. You don’t know the definition of heartbreak until you see the waiter coming to your table with food but then takes a sharp turn to a different table.
4. Why was the waiter so excited he completed a jigsaw puzzle in only nine weeks? Because on the box it said 8-12 Years.
5. What’s the difference between a waiter and an accountant? The accountant knows he is boring.
6. Which Star Wars character works at a restaurant? Darth Waiter
7. A woman walks into a restaurant and takes a seat. As she bends down to reach into her purse for her wallet, she farts loudly, with the waiter right behind her. Shocked, she sits back up abruptly, glares at the waiter, and shouts, “Stop That!” To which the Waiter replies, “Sure, Which Way Did It Go?”
8. “Waiter, I can’t eat this food, it’s terrible.” Waiter: “Well, it’s no good complaining to me; I won’t eat it either.”
9. Waitress, there is a caterpillar in my salad! I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t realize you were a vegetarian!
10. Waiter, waiter, there’s a bee in my soup. Yes, sir, it’s the fly’s day off.
11. In Hungary, there’s a restaurant where the waiter, along with your bill, gives you three dice. If you hit three sixes, then the meal is on the house.
12. So I was at the bar last night, and a waitress screamed, “Does anyone know CPR?” I said, “Hell, I know the entire alphabet!”
Everyone laughed – well, everyone except one guy.
13. A waitress asked a customer if he had any questions about the menu. The customer responded, “Yeah, what font is the hamburger special?”
14. Customer: What would you recommend from the menu? Waitress: The beef tongue is magnificent today. Customer: Yuck! I’d never eat anything that came from an animal’s mouth. Waitress: Okay. How about some eggs?
15. A robot tried to start a conversation with an attractive waitress. But he wasn’t so successful in doing so. The error message read, “Error: Failed to establish connection with server.”
16. A waitress demanded my sweater tonight after my credit was declined several times. She kept asking for my “card again.”
17. Waitress: Sorry about your wait. Me: “Are you calling me fat?!”
18. Just before we paid the check at a restaurant, a cute waitress saw some leftovers and asked my dad, “you wanna box?” “Nah, I would rather wrestle.”
19. A waitress demanded my sweater tonight after my credit was declined several times. She kept asking for my card again.
20. I think my waitress is hungry. She keeps asking how my food is.
Click here to get information on other relief funds raising money to help restaurant employees.
