TV shows love the “quirky waitress” trope. That she’s always cute, has the perfect hair despite working double shifts, and she spends half of her time casually chatting with customers. They demonstrate how servers maintain a calm attitude; they carry trays as if they are weightless and never break a sweat, always having the time for drama, romance and wise life advice.

Let me tell you something;

That’s not real.

It’s nothing close to real-life waitressing. In real life, your back starts hurting by the third hour; your feet are on fire, and you’re running table to table with frenzied hair, a stained apron and a notebook full of scribbles, which is hard to comprehend. You’ve already apologized four times for things that aren’t your fault, like the kitchen forgetting to make something gluten-free or a toddler throwing ketchup at the wall.

There’s no like some slow-motion romantic glance across the room. What really does happen is you lock eyes with a customer who wants to pay the bill while your hands are full with three plates, and someone else is asking you for more ranch dressing. And you do it all over again.

Waitressing isn’t glamorous; it’s more of physical labour and emotional labour. You are on your feet the whole day, memorizing orders, trying to remember faces and dealing with rude customers all day long. You gotta keep the smile coming through, or the other customers will call it a bad attitude. You get to deal with messy kids who run around the diner, awkward first dates, loud family dinners and the occasional table that doesn’t tip after running you ragged. And there’s no music montage while you clean up a spilt soda, just a sigh, a mop, and cold, wet socks for the next hour.

And about having any conversations with the regulars? Nah, you get like twenty seconds of small talk before somebody shouts out of the kitchen to pick up the order.

Real waitressing has something that the TV versions often miss: grit. Actual moments of kindness from strangers, a lot of messed up hair, stained apron and the quiet satisfaction of handling chaos like a pro. We dont lean over the counters giving life advice like in the sitcoms, but we keep the place running all day long.

It’s not always as glittery as cute uniforms at the coffee shops; it’s more about showing up, grinding through the day and serving some really delicious food. Finding joy in the mess is all that it is. It’s real and worth it at the end of the day.