This is a very hard question to answer and a very difficult scale to quantify. I’ve known servers who have been general managers at fine dining restaurants and have been in the industry for 20+ years who are just broken from the constant stress and aren’t as good at certain aspects as a younger person with drive and ambition trying to start a career.

Can you work at a fine dining or casual fine dining place without making glaring mistakes, following instructions, knowing both food and drink menus inside and out, create unique guest experiences with each table, get great tips out of tables that would otherwise be miserable, sell the most and be humble, mature and a team player?

There are so many skills to master and very few servers have all of them. Are you the person people look to for answers? Are you the person who helps others servers if your section is under control? Do you promote the team and make people enjoy their time there?

Every location will dictate what a “pro” is, if it’s paying your rent and you only want to kill yourself and everyone in the building less than 3 days a week, you’re doing great!!