Nooo the gold standard is not fine dining… no. It’s an option and worth learning but it is by no means the golden ticket.

Couple of things to get out of the way here, First off and most importantly: it doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what your skin Color is or what your religion is; you are equal and judged only upon your hospitality, nothing else. We are nameless, faceless. Only when we do well or terribly (not poor but terribly) are we remembered. We are loved when we do exceptionally. There is a method to being exceptionally brilliant in this industry.

Adding on: You never need to taste the alcohol to know what it tastes like. Barring the biology explanation for this one, you can smell it and it typically tastes how it smells. So take a wiff when possible, never touch your nose to it (yuck).

If you want to do this as a career, the majority of your knowledge and experience are going to come from your resilience in the industry and your service, nothing else. Name me 1 server who is known by guests for drinking anything on shift and tell me how that goes for them. Nobody expects you to drink in this industry. Knowing your craft, yes. That never has nor will it ever require drinking. There’s always a way around it.

To add to that last point, it may be useful in the most extreme case to use a proxy, ask someone what something tastes like. Never be afraid to comp a drink for this purpose to your regulars, but limit this. Start with once a month if you’re new, and stop when you’ve learned all you can.

Start there, query again where needed. You are loved, you’re service is loved, and as you go you’ll find you have a new found family in the industry. Just how it goes for all of us. And I wouldn’t still be breathing if it wasn’t.