Waiter Rant is twenty years old today. What a wonderful and strange journey it has been! Many thanks to all my readers for walking with me through 826 blog posts over the years. You’re the best! If you’re so inclined, let me know what happened to you during the past two decades!
I remember stumbling across your blog as a teenager in school. i’m now in my mid 30s and still check for new posts every couple weeks. You’ve had a huge impact on me over my formative years, especially when it comes to spirituality and compassion. I’m so happy you’re still writing!
Wow! I think I started reading you sometime in 2004 (the good old days of blogdom) when I was in college. I tuned in for the snark and the well-deserved come-uppances, and I stayed for the humane and generous way underneath that you approached your diners, colleagues and now just fellow human beings. I’m 40 now, married with three kids (having our own Costco sample adventures) and enjoying a career in association management that affords me an opportunity to earn a living by writing. Thanks for keeping up your writing for all these years!
I don’t remember where I first came across your blog, but I do know that it always brightens my day when I see a new post. Many thanks for everything you’ve shared over the years Steve, you’re a gem!
Ainslie
A thank you from the Czech Republic. I came across your blog as a 26-year-old looking for some info about customary tipping in various countries. Originally, I just loved reading your stories about The Bistro.
Now, 20 years later, I have changed jobs twice, got married, have two small (but incredibly quickly growing) sons. Looking back, I sense that most of all, you continually provide me a valuable perspective of a man, father, conscious and mindful person which I learned to “know” (in the sense that a reader can ever know the author). Thanks to you, I’m often able to think about my life – and experiences – from a different perspective; sometimes as a mental exercise (what if I was in this situation with my children? etc.), sometimes with regard to real-life situation I have encountered myself.
A huge thank you for your writing.
So much has happened in the last 20 years I wouldn’t know where to start but I do thank you for your writing.
Congratulations on the milestone! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of your work – and have been reading regularly since 2007. I started reading your work on my lunch breaks at work – and I haven’t stopped even though I have changed jobs a few times since then.
I’m always happy to see a new post here whenever I visit – thank you for continuing to write.
I’ve been around for *most* of the last 20 years….Thanks for sharing your life with us!
I’m glad you exist.
Thank you Steve, I have been following you for roughly 17-18 of the 20 years – but I did at one time read all posts. I came to enjoy the sneak peak into the foreign world of (more or less) fine dining.. and returned for your philosophical, ethical musings and great writing style.
In the last 20 years I started my professional career, switched jobs 4 times, got married, 2 kids and changed my world-view 2-3 times – still love pondering ethical questions and apply ethical thinking to personal and work related challenges..
Keep up the blog, looking forward to reading more of your posts!
I started reading your blog in college while I was working full-time at the mall and going to school full-time. I’ve now been practicing law for 15 years and am married with a first grader.
20 years. 2004. That would have been long before I moved across the country, met my wife, changed careers, bought a place, spent 20k on an electrical issue in said place (that neither HOA insurance, homeowners’ insurance, or home warranty would cover), and wifey and I are now on three-cars-each since we met 12 years ago. I now work from home full time for more than I ever dreamed I would make.. and yet, it’s the same struggles. Debt, healthcare, financial concerns.. funny how little some things have changed (the core struggles) and how much others have. Glad to have been with you since before there were books; I remember finding your content as someone who was still in the restaurant business (and would be until 2015) and identifying heavily with your struggles as a waiter in NYC. I learned a lot about people, and how money affects (or doesn’t affect) some things about said people. Thanks for all the laughter and insight over the years; hope to be around for as long as you continue writing.
Forgive my tardiness. In reality, “distracted by the worldly clamors, mostly those within myself”, I had kind of forgotten about Waiter Rant. This despite my evangelical proselytizing about your early writings about our shared love/hate with the world of hospitality. Regardless, I obviously still think to check in with you on increasingly rare occasions, but I believe I’ll add you to my daily wondering and wandering through the Daily Beast, Jabbar’s blog, Daily Pnut, 1440, not to mention the rabbit hole of FB. In all sincerity, many thanks for your continued discourses through the joys, slings and arrows of your daily life. Through the shared and unique challenges we all face in our daily lives, you continue to provide glimpses of the magic and mystery of life today in this increasingly confusing world. Don’t know if you ever read any Richard Powers, but in “3 Farmers on the Way to a Dance”, he wrote that “the problem with life today is no longer what Hobbes described as “nasty, brutish and short”; rather that modern life is “comfy, ghoulish, and long”. Thankfully, most days have elements of both descriptions in them but, again, your eye and your words help lend some perspective and a reminder that none of us are ever truly alone.
I have had so much enjoyment from ,firstly your book (which I had to buy in NYC -couldnt get it in NZ),and from your blog.
Its been great to see how your life has progressed.
Love your writing style.