Working as a waitress on Valentine’s Day is absolute hell

Working at the weekend is hard enough, but there’s something about working on Valentine’s Day which winds you up more than most. We asked a waitress from Aber’s notorious couples hotspot, The Light of Asia, what it’s really like to work on the most romantic day of the year, surrounded by smug couples.

She told The Tab: “The things I find funny really are the people who go come to the restaurant without booking the table beforehand, and then are really rude when you tell them you have nothing available for the next 30 minutes. It’s funny how sometimes you can tell who is a couple for some time and who is still in the stage of dating by the way they act, eat and especially by the way they are dressed. It’s really annoying when people ask you to put a candle on their table or change the music because it doesn’t suit the occasion. Or the ones when after you have taken the order you ask politely: ‘Can I get you anything else?’ and in response you get ‘peace and quiet’.”

Our lovely Aber waitress

At the end of the day, surely all that boils down to is rude couples telling waitresses they’re rubbish at their job? It’s not all rude people though she tells us, the night and environment can be full of cute and adorable gestures.

She added: “I would say the cutest few things I’ve seen were a couple of two elderly ladies who came together and told me the story of how they had been friends for 50-something years. They told me it is their tradition to see each other on Valentine’s Day because this is what they’d been doing since they were teenagers. The other thing is elderly couples who come to the restaurant, you feel like you’ve travelled back in time to the past where a man was a gentleman and a woman was treated like a real lady and the way these couples look at each other after all these years. That really is something wonderful.”

“An amusing thing to see is the look on some faces when after a meal they’re given a rose by a waiter or waitress and they just didn’t expect it at all. Funnier though is the look of the person who they came with knowing that they didn’t buy it.”

It’s not all quite the romantic and perfect evening for all couples, and unfortunately the nightmare for all can come about, our undercover waitress explains: “The most embarrassing thing is when you are about to sit a couple an the table that had been arranged for them, Although it rarely happens, you always get a little tap on your shoulder followed by a little ‘can we sit somewhere else? It’s just that my ex is at the table next to us’.”

It’s a recurring nightmare for anyone who tries to plan the dream evening, candlelight and a good mood – check. Good food – check. Beautiful date – check. Your spiteful ex sitting one table over judging and glaring daggers at you for the whole meal – check. Shit.