Waiter

An attendant or servant. A watchman at the gates of a city. A customs worker. A spy. Someone who attends to customers in an inn or a restaurant.

“And in all the beer gardens the waiters had opportunity to indulge that delight in each other’s society and conversation which forms so important a part in a waiter’s idea of happiness. Sometimes the people in a sparsely occupied place will fare more strange than those in a crowded one. At one time I waited twenty minutes for a bottle of the worst beer in Christendom while my waiter told a charmingly naive story to a group of his compatriots. I protested sotto voce at the time that such beer might at least have the merit of being brought quickly.”

Stephen Crane, Other Writings About New York, “Coney Island’s Failing Days” (1894-6).