History Main / ServiceSectorStereotypes

* '''[[ChezRestaurant Posh/Exclusive Restaurant]]''': The waiting staff are usually all male and extremely competent and well-spoken...so much so, in fact, that they look down on the customers. If the NaiveEverygirl finds herself invited here, or the loyal-but-ordinary secretary accompanies her boss to a deal-breaking dinner in such an establishment, odds are at least one of the waiters will look down his nose at her and make it clear that she's not classy enough to belong here. Often, especially in comedies, [[FrenchJerk this waiter will be French]] (twirly moustache optional but preferred). Waitresses here are rare, and when they are present, they will be picked on by the other waiters and/or spill something and be fired, often in order to give the hero an opportunity to show what a nice guy he is by standing up to the manager on her behalf. Piss off a waiter at your own peril; they're often sadistic to customers for no reason, and expect items that were accidentally left behind to end up 'missing' or in a bin full of leftovers.
* '''Diner / Family Restaurant / MaltShop''': Totally different story. The waiting staff are usually all female, for a start. If they're young, they're TheDitz, and possibly an aspiring actress as well. While not really that good at their job, being prone to spilling things and tripping over, they are willing to lend a friendly ear, occasionally [[DumbIsGood give half-sensible advice]] and volunteer as a GirlOfTheWeek or other temporary love interest. If a young waitress isn't TheDitz, then she's usually unpleasant and rude to her customers. The other type of waitress found in a diner is the bitter, middle aged matriarch who feels life has passed her by. She slams the food down on the table, intimidates the customers and acts as if she owns the place...and she's been working there for so long, she practically does.

* '''[[TheBartender Bartender]]:''' The type who usually gets the most plot significance. World-weary and often a DeadpanSnarker, he nevertheless has a good heart and sound advice -- and since he is constantly around people [[DrowningMySorrows drowning their sorrows]], he gets the chance to exercise his sagacity slightly more often than his female counterpart, the 'fourth type' of waitress. May show some level of control or authority over the protagonists as the keeper of their favorite watering hole. Since he's the one who's ''not'' drinking, it would perhaps make sense for him to be the clearest-headed in his milieu. Often engages in ObsessiveCompulsiveBarkeeping. Although most commonly male, women can also serve in this role. If this character is black (or otherwise a member of an ethnic minority), the writer should be careful lest they end up accidentally writing this character as a MagicalNegro.

* '''Outdoor Vendor''': Commonly seen in shows set in New York, Philly, etc., they can run either extreme of being super-easygoing and frequently chatting with the characters (generally making them a mobile version of the Pub Landlord or Bartender), or they will be surly and impatient SeenItAll types (this tends to show up when the characters are holding up their business by holding a conversation in front of their carts, or flat out complaining about or being slow about paying for their food.) Nearly always male; if set in a contemporary US or European city, likely to be a FunnyForeigner, especially if the cart is "ethnic" (e.g. the "Halal carts" ubiquitous on the US East Coast, generally run by Arab or Turkish immigrants).

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': The events of issue #6, "24 Hours", takes place in a diner, where the waitress is a friendly matron-type who inserts the people she sees into her stories. It's later revealed that she had a son who ran away from home, [[spoiler: became a male prostitute in New York, went to prison for knifing his pimp, and continued selling his ass behind bars. An on-off relationship of hers reveals that while he was doing time, he screwed her son.]] [[DysfunctionJunction The rest of the clients aren't better.]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Deconstructed in ''Film/MildredPierce''. Mildred takes up a waitressing job after her divorce. Her spoiled eldest daughter Veda finds this degrading, but Mildred finds she has a knack for it and enjoys the work - even using it to eventually own a restaurant of her own.

* The Waiter in the classic movie/play ''Film/VictorVictoria'' startes out as the waiter in a hole-in-the-wall Parisian eatery (with some excellent lines), works his way up to being waiter at a ritzier semi-gay-bar, until at the end where he is working at one of the classiest joints in Paris.

** Bruce Campbell plays two different kinds of service-provider. In ''Film/SpiderMan2'', he's a snobbish theather usher, but, in ''Film/SpiderMan3'', he's a rare subversion: a friendly French restaurant waiter.

* ''Film/ReservoirDogs'': we discover in the very first scene that Mr Pink doesn't tip, because he doesn't believe in it. The other crooks all press him to defend his decision and he is eventually shamed into tipping, but the actual waitress is never even ''seen''. Mr Pink's actor reappears in ''Film/PulpFiction'' playing the waiter. Due to the nature of Tarantino movies [[spoiler: and the ambiguity of Pink's fate]] it is actually possible that the waiter ''is'' Pink.
* Subverted in the movie ''Film/TheGame1997''. The slightly incompetent waitress that Michael Douglas feels noble and nice about is far more important than she first seems.
* ''Waiting...'' is a behind-the-scenes look at the waitstaff of a T.G.I. Friday's type diner. Being an R-rated movie, it's not pretty. Protip: Do ''not'' [[{{Squick}} piss off the waitstaff.]]
* In ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', Alan Rubin, the trumpet player, is found working as the Maitre d' in a posh restaurant. It's a bit subverted in that he's shown to be the most successful of the former band members and he refuses to come back to the band until Jake and Elwood begin acting as boorish and crude as possible and tell him that they'll eat at his restaurant for every meal until he agrees to come back.
* In ''Film/AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore'', basis for TV's ''Series/Alice1976'', the titular Alice is reduced to being a waitress in a small town diner from ambitions of being a singer.
* ''Film/TheWorldOfSuzieWong'' has a scene where Robert takes Suzie to a fancy restaurant, and the waiter of course looks down his nose at Suzie for even being there - especially when it turns out she can't read and orders a vinaigrette at random.
* ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' - Charles Xavier is studying at Oxford and picks up another student with a similarly posh accent. His stepsister Raven arrives over there and is asked what she studies. She irritably replies "waitressing".

* ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' The school cafeteria ladies are {{Lethal Chef}}s, if the effectiveness of their food against evil robot toilets in Book 2 is anything to go by. In Book 3 they understandably quit after George and Harold are {{Karma Houdini}}s after pranking them due to lack of evidence, and are replaced by the actually evil alien lunch ladies. In [[WesternAnimation/CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie the movie]], Edith the lunch lady is actually a NiceGirl and the TokenGoodTeammate of a faculty and staff full of SadistTeachers.

[[folder:Live-Action Television]]

* ''Series/CoronationStreet'' has a heartwarming subversion when Vera Duckworth - the resident sassy older waitress at cafe Roy's Rolls - hurts her ankle after a tumble down the stairs and is unable to work for a few weeks. Frankie Baldwin, the 'lady of leisure' wife of rich businessman Danny, offers to fill in for Vera to fend off her fears of being replaced by a potential agency worker. There's even a cute scene where Frankie {{Squee}}s over how nice she looks in an apron.
* Al Murray's comedy character, The Pub Landlord (used as a stand-up persona as well as a character on ''Time Gentlemen, Please''), is a send-up of the negative traits of the stereotypical landlord: obsessive "Britishness," hatred of the French and misogyny are all played for laughs.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' used the "reduced to waiting tables" plotline for ''half'' its main cast. At the beginning of the show Rachel, who has just decided to be independent of her father's money, has to accept a job at the coffee shop where the characters all hang out. Later Monica, after a period of joblessness, is forced to take a job cooking at a 1950s theme restaurant, where she also serves food, in costume, on roller skates. Later still, Joey has trouble getting acting jobs and has to become a waiter at the same coffee house Rachel worked at. Both Rachel and Joey were terrible at their waiting jobs, and all three characters rebounded, becoming an executive at Ralph Lauren, head chef at a snooty restaurant and a cast member of ''Days of Our Lives'' respectively.
* The waitress of the "Waffle Haus" (an American diner decorated as... well as the American idea of a cozy German eatery, famous for their waffles with syrup) in the TV series ''Series/DeadLikeMe'' is a middle-aged motherly black matron. Considering that all the main characters meet for breakfast and lunch at the Wafflehaus nearly every episode, that waitress is a recurring character, and one that often offers advice and always has a smile when someone feels down.
* Naturally, ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' is chock full of this. Roseanne herself serves as the surly, middle-aged waitress during her long stint at a department store's in-house diner. In a first-season episode, when she escapes a particularly stressful night of child management and overtime at her factory job, she meets an even ''more'' surly, but sympathetic widow at a random crappy diner.

* Sketch show ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' did a sketch that parodied the idea of the Posh Waiter. Said waiter admonished a young couple for asking for the house red, before declaring "We're back - the incredibly posh people who are still unaccountably waiters!"
** Extended into clothing retail and, erm, the priesthood.
* Charlie Andrews from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' is a subversion of the diner waiter. She is charming and friendly, not to mention serving as Hiro Nakamura's first love interest... and she has a perfect memory.
* Subversion: In an episode of the UK series ''The New Statesman'', the viewer meets an associate of protagonist Alan B'Stard whose "hobby" is getting inoffensive waiters fired, simply because he can. Just to double the humiliation, one of his victims comes after him with a knife, and is summarily defeated.
* Adam Sandler's "Lunch Lady Land" from ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' is an ode (I guess) to cafeteria workers, complete with Chris Farley as the Lunch Lady in an interpretive dance!
* Penny from ''Series/{{The Big Bang Theory}}'', while only ditzy in comparison to the rest of the cast, is the typical young diner/Family Restaurant waitress who hopes to make it as an actress. After gaining some character depth, she's upgraded to bartender. Subversion with her friend and colleague Bernadette, who works at the Cheesecake Factory to pay her way through microbiology grad school.
* Max and Caroline represent a mixed bag of these stereotypes in ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'' as they work to save money to start a business.
* A sign that Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}} has hit RockBottom is when she's forced to work in the service industry. She works as a waitress in "Anne" (her TenMinuteRetirement after Angel's 'death') and as a BurgerFool in Season 6 in a general indication that she was caught in a rut.
* Ernie, owner of the titular juice bar Ernie's, and Hayley proprietor of Hayley's Cyberspace in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' and ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' respectively may well be subversions in that Ernie appears to love his bar and his customers, and Hayley's is well respected in Reefside.
* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': When Kelly Bundy becomes a waitress, one of her former teachers uses this to scare girls into doing better in class than Kelly did.
* Quark of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' plays with the Bartender stereotype. He runs the Ferengi bar and gambling establishment on the Promenade, is conniving, greedy, sexist, (occasionally) cowardly, and selfish -- all traits highly admired by the Ferengi -- and is constantly involved in some sort of shady deal using his bar as a front. He ''does'' try to keep up the appearances of the friendly neighborhood barkeep, and is an offerer of (occasionally) useful advice to the rest of the crew. Here and there, however, he reveals that he actually is a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, and genuinely does care about his patrons' well-being (of course, that's ''also'' a Rule of Acquisition: good customers are to be treasured).
* Conversely, Guinan on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' plays the bartender role perfectly straight. A mysterious alien with centuries of experience and unusually keen perception, she manages the ship's lounge and is a frequent source of wisdom for troubled crew members. It helps that she's played by the namesake of the WhoopiEpiphanySpeech.
* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' had a few of these. Sam was the Bar Owner for most of the series and when he wasn't, Rebecca filled the role as manager. Diane was the "reduced to waitress" variety of Barmaid, while Carla filled the surly (to say the least) variety. Coach and Woody were Bartenders, but were more of TheDitz, than the standard TV bartender.
* Parodied in ''Series/GrowingPains'' when Maggie is about to have a baby. While in the hospital, Ben worries about being replaced as the baby in the family, and laments to another patient in the hospital named Chris who happens to work as a bartender. Towards the end of the episode however, Ben begins to realize that Chris is dying. After his new sister is born, the family goes with his suggestion to name her "Chrissy".
* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' usually subverts it for whenever Kelly or Jessie work at [[LocalHangout The Max]] as waitresses, but occasionally TheDitz Ginger is shown working there too. There's an episode where Lisa overcharges too much on her father's credit card and takes a job at The Max to pay him back. When he finds this out, he bursts out laughing ("''My daughter''? Waiting on tables!") but they mutually agree that she'll keep working there until she pays off the debt - as of course waiting on tables is a punishment.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' - Red Riding Hood's grandmother is the owner of the local diner and B&B. She fits the imposing CoolOldLady image down to a tee. And when her past life memories are reawakened, she arms herself with a crossbow.

* Webtoon ''Foamy The Squirrel'' features a recurring antagonist to/ victim of Foamy in the form of a coffee shop boy who insists on using the correct "coffee terminology." He should have learned by now all this results in is a vicious attack by a caffeine-ingesting rodent.

* Webcomic ''Webcomic/FriendlyHostility'' has a coffee-shop girl who behaves much like the stereotypical diner waitress. That's to say she's friendly, incompetent and sympathetic (Arath: "That better not be pity coffee I smell") and she's a walking plot device.
* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] entirely by ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent''. Half the cast works at the Coffee of Doom, one owns it, and the rest hang out there with a high degree of regularity.
** [[CouchGag "We're surly because you suck!" "SPECIALS: No specials until we get some f$#king tips!"]] And who could forget "Bitchy Barista Babes Brandish a Bevy of Breathtaking Bean Blends"?
** And ''God help you'' if ask for a "tall," "grande," or "venti." Because no-one else can.
** "No habla Starbucks."
* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' featured a posh restaurant with a waiter who's insulting attitude towards customers in general and Torg in particular went [[RefugeInAudacity way over the top]]. When the restaurant burned down, the waiter was [[BurgerFool reduced to working fast food]] ... and was as insulting as ever.
** Gwynn has also worked as a waitress for a while, much to her embarrassment. It's not waiting tables she minds, it's the fact that the restaurant's theme requires all the wait staff to dress up and act like zombies.
*** The fact that a colleague -was- a zombie did not help.
* In the webcomic ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'', Dan's older sister Alexi owns the Lost Lake Inn. Think of a furry version of the Pub Landlady. With a HyperspaceMallet. Abel, the newcomer to the cast, says "She's the third scarest thing I've ever seen." And he's an ''[[NobleDemon incubus]]''!

* Cecil, the maître d'hôtel of Dot's Diner in ''WesternAnimation/{{Reboot}}'', is the classic snobbish waiter. He's also a subversion however, in that he works in a modern cosmopolitan diner, not an upmarket restaurant, and as such is a comedic character.

* '''[[ChezRestaurant Posh/Exclusive Restaurant]]:''' The waiting staff are usually all male and extremely competent and well-spoken...so much so, in fact, that they look down on the customers. If the NaiveEverygirl finds herself invited here, or the loyal-but-ordinary secretary accompanies her boss to a deal-breaking dinner in such an establishment, odds are at least one of the waiters will look down his nose at her and make it clear that she's not classy enough to belong here. Often, especially in comedies, [[FrenchJerk this waiter will be French]] (twirly moustache optional but preferred). Waitresses here are rare, and when they are present, they will be picked on by the other waiters and/or spill something and be fired, often in order to give the hero an opportunity to show what a nice guy he is by standing up to the manager on her behalf. Piss off a waiter at your own peril; they're often sadistic to customers for no reason, and expect items that were accidentally left behind to end up 'missing' or in a bin full of leftovers.
* '''Diner / Family Restaurant / MaltShop:''' Totally different story. The waiting staff are usually all female, for a start. If they're young, they're TheDitz, and possibly an aspiring actress as well. While not really that good at their job, being prone to spilling things and tripping over, they are willing to lend a friendly ear, occasionally [[DumbIsGood give half-sensible advice]] and volunteer as a GirlOfTheWeek or other temporary love interest. If a young waitress isn't TheDitz, then she's usually unpleasant and rude to her customers. The other type of waitress found in a diner is the bitter, middle aged matriarch who feels life has passed her by. She slams the food down on the table, intimidates the customers and acts as if she owns the place...and she's been working there for so long, she practically does.
* '''GreasySpoon:''' While the above types also apply here, the most common one is female, middle-aged (between 40 and 50), usually somewhat portly, cordial and maternal (...although she takes no shit from anyone) and knows all the regular visitors of the diner by name; she's seen it all, and has a philosophical view on life. If anyone should try to rob the diner, she may well beat the jerk with a broom, depending on the tone of the story. Usually married multiple times from a combination of divorce and widowhood, and her children are all grown up. All of these diner ladies may or may not be chewing gum while working, either cracking the gum or [[BubblegumPopping blowing bubbles]].
* '''Coffee Shop:''' Staffed by teenagers/young adults (with a somewhat higher proportion of males than in diners) trying to fund their way through college--or more recently, pay off student loans because having graduated college, they can't find work in their field. Use the obligatory coffee-speak ("Is that a grande mocha latte or a regular?"), annoying the protagonists in the process. One of the few types who are shown to have ambitions beyond the restaurant, and as a result, have an air of "I'm too good for this job." They exhibit a similar pretentious attitude to that of the exclusive restaurant waiter, but without the class. Or the moustache--although if the story is set anytime since about 2010, a male barista is rather likely to sport a rather impressive beard.

* '''[[MyLocal Pub Landlord/Landlady]]:''' A British version of the Bartender, but has some important differences. As they actually own the pub, they have even more power. They're generally rougher around the edges and keener to get involved in arguments and fights; they may be patriotic to the point of nationalism and its attendant bigotry. Their advice isn't as reliable as their American counterparts, but they do get more personally attached to their "regulars," becoming more emotionally involved than the bartender, who watches from the sidelines -- they're more likely to be major characters, and as such can't be allowed to have the unimpeached wisdom of the bartender. Despite the fact that they identify themselves as British, they're nearly all English - Scottish, Welsh and Irish landlords/ladies are comparatively rare.
* '''Barmaid:''' the people below the Landlord/Landlady. Will generally be surly and display quite a bit of cleavage.
* '''[[FamilyFriendlyStripper Breastaurant Waitress]]:''' A fast-casual type of joint where the selling point is [[FanserviceWithASmile the waitress corps of young, perky women in revealing outfits]]. Expect the waitstaff here to be bubbly [[BrainlessBeauty Brainless Beauties]] between 18-28, though one or two may have HiddenDepths, while the cooks are pathetic, frustrated men kept out of the public eye. This setting is the ideal place to show off a lot of tropes; to put the main cast's MsFanservice into something both titillating and embarrassing, for example, or to show that one or more male character is NotDistractedByTheSexy.

* '''BurgerFool:''' Usually a teen in their first job, the employees at a fast food joint are usually stoned, humiliated, or indifferent. Except for the StupidBoss manager and the power hungry assistant manager. See BurgerFool for details.
* '''Cafeteria Worker:''' Usually female, especially if the setting is a school lunchroom. Middle-aged or older, hostile, hates the students, expresses said hatred by slamming food onto trays and responding less than sympathetically when they ask if there's anything else to eat. Virtually always a LethalChef, carrying on the tradition of horrible school food, and for some reason often a FunnyForeigner. In non-school settings, such as prisons, the same may apply, or the job may be filled by a younger male convict on work-release, with visible tattoos and piercings, who's not happy about having to wear the hair net and apron. For comic effect, he may care deeply about the quality of the food.
* '''{{Suck E Cheeses}}:''' Possibly the very lowest rung on the ladder is working in a Chuck E. Cheese's or fictional equivalent thereof, because of the added humiliation (not to mention questionable hygiene) of having to dress up in a [[GoofySuit giant grotty old animal costume]] and sing/dance/emote for the entertainment of bratty kids. Like BurgerFool, this is usually the job of a teenager, and its pointless and cloying nature will contribute to his/her existential high-school angst.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* One of the early arcs in ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' takes place in a diner, where the waitress is a friendly matron-type who inserts the people she sees into her stories. It's later revealed that she had a son who ran away from home, [[spoiler: became a male prostitute in New York, went to prison for knifing his pimp, and continued selling his ass behind bars. An on-off relationship of hers reveals that while he was doing time, he screwed her son.]] [[DysfunctionJunction The rest of the clients aren't better.]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Live-Action Television ]]

[[folder: Video Game ]]

[[folder: Visual Novels ]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* '''Bartender:''' The type who usually gets the most plot significance. World-weary and often a DeadpanSnarker, he nevertheless has a good heart and sound advice -- and since he is constantly around people [[DrowningMySorrows drowning their sorrows]], he gets the chance to exercise his sagacity slightly more often than his female counterpart, the 'fourth type' of waitress. May show some level of control or authority over the protagonists as the keeper of their favorite watering hole. Since he's the one who's ''not'' drinking, it would perhaps make sense for him to be the clearest-headed in his milieu. Often engages in ObsessiveCompulsiveBarkeeping. Although most commonly male, women can also serve in this role. If this character is black (or otherwise a member of an ethnic minority), the writer should be careful lest they end up accidentally writing this character as a MagicalNegro.

* [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Tifa]] can generally be described as the World's Friendliest Barmaid...although this may have something to do with having seen/done it all, losing almost everything including her life as a kid and having nowhere to look but up, and having to put on a poker face to disguise the fact that she is a terrorist working in enemy territory.

* Subverted in the movie ''Film/TheGame''. The slightly incompetent waitress that Michael Douglas feels noble and nice about is far more important than she first seems.

* '''{{Suck E Cheeses}}:''' Possibly the very lowest rung on the ladder is working in a Chuck E. Cheese's or fictional equivalent thereof, because of the added humiliation (not to mention questionable hygiene) of having to dress up in a giant grotty old animal costume and sing/dance/emote for the entertainment of bratty kids. Like BurgerFool, this is usually the job of a teenager, and its pointless and cloying nature will contribute to his/her existential high-school angst.

* In ''Film/AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore'', basis for TV's ''Series/{{Alice}}'', the titular Alice is reduced to being a waitress in a small town diner from ambitions of being a singer.

* The prototype for all TV diners is Mel's Diner, the setting for ''Alice''. Complete with sassy waitress Flo ("Kiss my grits!").

* ''Film/ReservoirDogs'': we discover in the very first scene that Mr Pink doesn't tip, because he doesn't believe in it. The other crooks all press him to defend his decision and he is eventually shamed into tipping, but the actual waitress is never even ''seen''.
** Pink's actor reappears in ''Film/PulpFiction'' playing the waiter. Due to the nature of Tarantino movies [[spoiler: and the ambiguity of Pink's fate]] it is actually possible that the waiter ''is'' Pink.

* In ''Film/AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore'', basis for TV's ''Series/Alice'', the titular Alice is reduced to being a waitress in a small town diner from ambitions of being a singer.

* Moe of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is a subversion of the stereotypical bartender. Rather than be wise and helpful, he seems to be the only one worse off than his patrons, and his advice is rarely helpful. The school cafeteria worker, Lunchlady Doris, plays her {{stereotype}} straight with all the apathy and health-code violations you's expect from Springfield.

* Ernie, owner of the titular juice bar Ernie's, and Hayley proprietor of Hayley's Cyberspace in PowerRangers and PR Dino Thunder respectively may well be subversions in that Ernie appears to love his bar and his customers, and Hayley's is well respected in Reefside.

* In ''Film/AliceDoesn'tLiveHereAnymore'', basis for TV's ''Series/Alice'', the titular Alice is reduced to being a waitress in a small town diner from ambitions of being a singer.

* In ''Film/AliceDoesn'tLiveHereAnymore'', the titular Alice is reduced to being a waitress in a small town diner from ambitions of being a singer.

* Penny from ''Series/{{The Big Bang Theory}}'', while only ditzy in comparison to the rest of the cast, is the typical young diner/Family Restaurant waitress who hopes to make it as an actress. Subversion with her friend and colleague Bernadette, who works at the Cheesecake Factory to pay her way through microbiology grad school.

* Naturally, ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' is chock full of this. Roseanne herself serves as the surly, middle-aged waitress during her long stint at a department store's in-house diner. In a later episode, when she escapes a particularly stressful night of child management, she meets an even ''more'' surly, but sympathetic widow at a random crappy diner.

* The Waiter in the classic movie/play ''VictorVictoria'' startes out as the waiter in a hole-in-the-wall Parisian eatery (with some excellent lines), works his way up to being waiter at a ritzier semi-gay-bar, until at the end where he is working at one of the classiest joints in Paris.

* '''Coffee Shop:''' Staffed by teenagers/young adults (with a somewhat higher proportion of males than in diners) trying to fund their way through college--or more recently, pay off student loans because having graduated college, they can't find work in their field. Use the obligatory coffee-speak ("Is that a grande mocha latte or a regular?"), annoying the protagonists in the process. One of the few types who are shown to have ambitions beyond the restaurant, and as a result, have an air of "I'm too good for this job." They exhibit a similar pretentious attitude to that of the exclusive restaurant waiter, but without the class. Or the moustache--although if the story is set anytime since about 2010, a male barista is rather likely to sport an rather impressive beard.

* Subverted in the movie ''The Game''. The slightly incompetent waitress that Michael Douglas feels noble and nice about is far more important than she first seems.

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]

* Cecil, the maître d'hôtel of Dot's Diner in ''{{Reboot}}'', is the classic snobbish waiter. He's also a subversion however, in that he works in a modern cosmopolitan diner, not an upmarket restaurant, and as such is a comedic character.

* Moe of ''TheSimpsons'' is a subversion of the stereotypical bartender. Rather than be wise and helpful, he seems to be the only one worse off than his patrons, and his advice is rarely helpful. The school cafeteria worker, Lunchlady Doris, plays her {{stereotype}} straight with all the apathy and health-code violations you's expect from Springfield.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:Film]]
* The depressing scenario in ''Film/SlidingDoors'' had the heroine fired from her job to become a waitress/delivery girl for a sandwich bar, much to the delight of her boyfriend's "other woman", who revels in exploiting and insulting her, knowing that her rival can't fight back.

[[AC: Live Action Television]]
* Any British SoapOpera will have its Landlord- or Landlady-in-residence.
* Al Murray's comedy character, The Pub Landlord (used as a stand-up persona as well as a character on ''Time Gentlemen, Please''), is a send-up of the negative traits of the stereotypical landlord: obsessive "Britishness," hatred of the French and misogyny are all played for laughs.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' used the "reduced to waiting tables" plotline for ''half'' its main cast. At the beginning of the show Rachel, who has just decided to be independent of her father's money, has to accept a job at the coffee shop where the characters all hang out. Later Monica, after a period of joblessness, is forced to take a job cooking at a 1950s theme restaurant, where she also serves food, in costume, on roller skates. Later still, Joey has trouble getting acting jobs and has to become a waiter at the same coffee house Rachel worked at. Both Rachel and Joey were terrible at their waiting jobs, and all three characters rebounded, becoming an executive at Ralph Lauren, head chef at a snooty restaurant and a cast member of ''Days of Our Lives'' respectively.
* The waitress of the "Waffle Haus" (an American diner decorated as... well as the American idea of a cozy German eatery, famous for their waffles with syrup) in the TV series ''Series/DeadLikeMe'' is a middle-aged motherly black matron. Considering that all the main characters meet for breakfast and lunch at the Wafflehaus nearly every episode, that waitress is a recurring character, and one that often offers advice and always has a smile when someone feels down.

[[AC: Video Game]]

[[AC: Web Original]]

* Webtoon ''Foamy The Squirrel'' features a recurring antagonist to/ victim of Foamy in the form of a coffee shop boy who insists on using the correct "coffee terminology." He should have learned by now all this results in is a vicious attack by a caffeine-ingesting rodent.
** Quite a few of the ''Foamy'' webtoons discuss (read: rant about) the catering industry. One focuses on restaurants, complaining about the aforementioned "Happy Birthday" and obligatory "Are you enjoying your meal?" questions asked by the staff.

[[AC: Western Animation]]
* Cecil, the maître d'hôtel of Dot's Diner in ''{{Reboot}}'', is the classic snobbish waiter. He's also a subversion however, in that he works in a modern cosmopolitan diner, not an upmarket restaurant, and as such is a comedic character.
** The original design for Dot herself was a "ditzy waitress," but that idea was soon scrapped.

* '''[[BikiniBar Breastaurant Waitress]]:''' A fast-casual type of joint where the selling point is [[FanserviceWithASmile the waitress corps of young, perky women in revealing outfits]]. Expect the waitstaff here to be bubbly [[BrainlessBeauty Brainless Beauties]] between 18-28, though one or two may have HiddenDepths, while the cooks are pathetic, frustrated men kept out of the public eye. This setting is the ideal place to show off a lot of tropes; to put the main cast's MsFanservice into something both titillating and embarrassing, for example, or to show that one or more male character is NotDistractedByTheSexy.