Where I work, there’s constant movement. You have the hosts leading guests to their seats while the bussers are carrying huge bus tubs. My fellow servers are taking care of their tables too. Then here I am with handfuls of drinks, plates, and who knows what else. I’m dodging and moving amongst them to get to the kitchen.

Dropping plates is a huge taboo. It happens but you lose what I call, “street cred”. You don’t want to be known as a person who drops things. So many times, my posture isn’t the best.  If it’s between dropping plates and having bad form, I’ll take bad form.

One day, a server sister talked about the importance of posture. “My chiropractor was talking to me about posture. Servers are always stooped over protecting things from falling down. If you stay like that you slump over like this, see?” She demonstrated the common, slumped over, protective posture. “This is bad for your back. You need to stand up straight like this. Squeeze your shoulder blades together. Stick your boobs out. Like this.” She then showed good posture. Her shoulders were back. Her abs were in. Truthfully, she looked stronger and more comfortable in her skin.

I tried to duplicate that. Let’s just say that I need to practice more. In fact, she helped correct my posture mid shift. My back did feel more supported. I was able to have good form and carry my plates to the kitchen without dropping them.

I want to give a huge thanks to her.  My confidence has grown significantly because of her timely advice.

In your line of work, having good posture can be of great benefit to you.  Heed my server sister’s advice.