best waitstaff in atlanta

creative loafing's "best of atlanta" list came out this week - you can see the restaurant section (obviously the most important one) here: http://atlantahappenings.creativeloafing.com/gbase/BestOf/BestOfAwards?Section=oid%3A543586

one winner i'd like to draw your attention to the reader's choice for "best waitstaff" - world peace cafe!

i started volunteering at world peace cafe in august, and i love it. i am a server/dish washer/silverware roller for one shift (4 hours) a week. i was kind of guilted into this - self-guilted - by the ever-present fact that i haven't done any significant volunteer work since i was in college, and people - that was more than 5 years ago. my mama volunteers as a guardian ad litem AND spends every saturday working for habitat for humanity, and until last month i did NADA. i had some free time during the week, i love world peace's food, and i like that the waitstaff is made up of all volunteers, because it means that more of their proceeds to go promoting peace in the atlanta community. so i started volunteering. and it was a little scary because i'd never done anything like this before - never worked in a restaurant or in any retail business. but now i am much more comfortable with it, and i genuinely like doing it - it's so different from what i do for a living, and there is immediate reward: a person orders, you serve them food, they eat it, they leave, you clean up their table. check. even though i don't make the food, i feel somewhat responsible for it, and it makes me happy with they like it. and most of them love it. i probably wouldn't do this at a restaurant that sells meat, because meat is gross. so working here is really perfect.

what i think it amazing is that world peace won the reader's choice award in ALL OF ATLANTA for best waitstaff; amazing because we aren't paid and we don't work for tips. my first inclination would be that servers who work for tips provide the best service because there is an immediate gain in it for them. provide better service = make better money, so i will provide better service. at world peace, if we provide bad service it doesn't hurt our pocketbooks because we aren't getting any money to begin with. by winning this award i think it shows something really special about world peace - because the waitstaff WANTS to be there - we aren't motivated by the money, because there is none - we are happy at work, and that shows. we come to work in the spirit of giving, and of making the whole restaurant more successful.

so! get thee to world peace cafe! and when you do, get the tmb (tomato, mozzarella, & basil sandwich) with a side of the tomato soup. or the peace burger salad with the plum vinaigrette dressing. and an unsweetened tea. and the vegan strawberry cake.