7. Supportive shoes will keep a tough shift from being terrible.

　　7. 舒服的鞋子让你事半功倍。

　　Shoes are probably the most important part of waitressing. You need shoes with traction, support, and comfort. You need to be able to move from table to table quickly without worrying you're going to slip. If you don't have good shoes, the pain will start in your feet, then travel up to your knees, and after carrying those big, heavy trays all day, you'll start to feel it in your back. You need to be able to put a little pep in your step when you're working, and that comes from having reliable shoes.

　　鞋子应该是服务员着装最重要的部分了。你的鞋子一定要摩擦力强，支撑力强且足够舒服。你需要保证自己能快速游走于各个桌子间，不会滑到。如果鞋子不够舒服，痛苦从脚开始，很快殃及膝盖。托着沉重的托盘一整天，你又会腰酸背痛。工作时你要脚劲十足，而这种精气神从舒适的鞋子开始。

　　8. People really will dine and dash, and you can get fired for it.

　　8. 真的会有人吃“霸王餐”，而你有可能因此就被“炒鱿鱼”。

　　There was an incident at the restaurant where I work where a guest tricked one of our waiters by saying he was going to pay half cash, half card. He gave us the card first and said he would leave the rest in cash, but the table left after they got their card back, so they only paid for half of their bill. The waiter was left paying half of a $300 bill for a dinner that he didn't even get to sit down and enjoy. Most restaurants will have the server pay for the meal, but some places are stricter than others. At my old job, the chain restaurant, you had to pay for the dinner or that was your last shift. Corporate-owned restaurants are a little different than personally owned businesses. They can afford to have someone walk out, but they feel that you should have been paying attention to your table even though you're taking care of seven other tables at the same time. I wish people knew how much this affected us. Because it's not, "Oh, your table didn't pay for their dinner, that's OK." Some places it's, "Guess what, you're paying for their dinner or you're fired."

　　我工作的餐厅发生过这么一件事，一位顾客耍了我们一位服务员，因为他说账单他一半现金付，一半刷卡。他给我们卡之后说剩下的用现金，而等卡刷完以后他们就走了，只付了一半的账单。那桌的服务员白白为这顿饭付了300美元，却连座位都没坐一下。这种情况下，大多数餐厅会要求服务员买单，但是有些地方则更加苛刻。在我之前工作的一家连锁餐厅，你要么赔钱，要么走人。公司制的餐厅和私人餐厅还有点不同。他们承担得起有顾客不付钱就走人这点损失，却不能忍受服务生的失职，即使你同时还在照看其他七桌客人。我希望人们理解这对我们影响有多大。因为这样的结果不是“你的那桌客人没付钱，没事的”，而是“你要么付钱，要么走人”。

　　9. Having a positive attitude at all times is essential.

　　9. 时刻保持积极的工作态度至关重要。

　　When I go out to eat, I expect a waiter or waitress to have a smile on their face and act like they're enjoying their job, even if they hate it. I don't like seeing somebody miserable at their job, even though I know how miserable it can be. Nobody wants to feel like they shouldn't have gone out to eat. Making guests feel unwelcome is a guaranteed way to get a lower tip.

　　出去吃饭的时候，我总希望服务生面带笑容，即使满心怨恨也要假装享受他们的工作。我不想看到工作时他们垂头丧气，尽管我知道他们有多累。没人希望自己不被欢迎。顾客感觉自己不受欢迎，那么小费也不会给得多。

　　10. Most customers will be oblivious to your other responsibilities.

　　10. 几乎所有的顾客都认为你应该为他一人服务。

　　I wish people would look around and realize they're not the only person I'm taking care of. But unfortunately, most people aren't understanding and they think they should be the no. 1 priority even if you have five different no. 1 priorities. When it's a busy night and everything is taking a little bit longer, people will get upset. And it will reflect in the tip they gave you.

　　我很希望客人能看到我分身乏术，知道他们不是我唯一的顾客。但不幸的是，大多数人不会理解，他们都觉得自己应该得到优先待遇，尽管你有五桌客人同时要服务。而越忙碌的时刻，时间越会变得更长，人们也更容易暴躁。这也直接影响到他们给你小费的数目。

　　11. It's scarily easy to become stuck in this job.

　　11. 服务员的工作会让你深陷不拔。

　　If I could go back and tell myself something, it would be to run. It would be not to do it. It would be to go to college. Because waitressing kind of sucks you in — I've been doing it now for five years. You get trapped in the loop of always having cash, and it's hard to give up cash in your hand every night to a paycheck every two weeks.

　　如果有机会对过去的自己说什么，我一定会说，不要做这份工作，去上大学。因为服务员的工作会将你吸住——我已经做了五年。你爱上数现金的感觉，每隔两周拿到工资的感觉会上瘾。

　　12. Awesome guests will make up for the awful ones.

　　12. “好好客人"会让你忘记一天的不快。

　　The people that joke around with you and want to make their dining experience fun will make it fun for you to take care of them. When you do get those people that are there to have a good time and crack jokes to you, that's what will get you through a shift. You'll deal with unreasonable customers who won't be happy no matter what you do. And you'll deal with customers who will give you low tips for unfair reasons. But you'll also meet a lot of awesome people who make your shift that much better.

　　有的客人会跟你一直开玩笑，让整个用餐过程轻松愉快，这种客人你也会愿意服务。遇上这种顾客，工作时间也会愉快地度过。但是你也会遇上无论怎么服务都不满意的客人，还有无故克扣小费的顾客等等。但是你总会遇到友善良的人，让你的工作时间不那么煎熬难耐。

　　更多精彩内容 >> 新东方网英语频道 

　　全国新东方英语课程搜索

（编辑：何莹莹）