Foreign Waiters.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 23, 7 December 1910, Page 61

Foreign Waiters.

As every travelled New Zealander will agree, one pin prick which irritates one during a stay in London is the omnipresent foreign waiter. Now, there is hope of a change. One of the most hopeful suggestions yet put forward for dealing with such “ blind-alley ” employments in England as that of the boy messenger is the proposal made by the manager of the Inns of Court Hotel, London, that these boys should be trained to become waiters. There is an enormous demand in London and other English cities for good waiters, but for some reason it is impossible to obtain a sufficient supply except by importing foreigners. Much of the feeling —or alleged feeling — against foreign waiters is doubtless altogether absurd, but there is no reason why the country should remain dependent upon foreign enterprise for- filling a useful and honourable profession. A good English waiter need not fear comparison with the wait ers of any other country, and is generally able to add a delightful note of friendliness to the discharge of his duties. But, unlike poets, waiters are net born, they are made; and the essence of the new scheme put forward by Mr. -nobott is to train raw youths to liecome efficient waiters. Post Office messenger boys, it is suggested, will make excellent material, for the kind of work they have already done in carrying messages and running errands leads more naturally to the work expected of a waiter than to that of an artisan. It is proposed that the boys should first have a training in the rudiments of the waiter’s art in England, and should then be sent abroad to learn one or more foreign languages. On their return they will be fit to take highly-paid posts, and it is interesting to note that a good waiter can earn considerably more than the average bank clerk.