The image of a restaurant or a hotel dining rooms depends on knowledge and experience of the staff, especially waiter and waitress. Waiters are in fact intermediaries between the customer and kitchen. They take customers to their tables, take restaurant bookings, prepare tables, hand out menus and wine lists, answer questions about the menu and describe extra dishes not on the menu. A good waiter or waitress may do also other things such as helping prepare some dishes, clearing used dishes from tables, polishing cutlery and glasses, doing a daily stocktake, which may include ordering and buying food and alcohol. It's important for waiters and waitresses to be friendly, helpful and polite, able to work well and remain calm under pressure, quick and efficient, able to deal with complaints. A waiter needs to have pratical skills, memorising skills, the ability to follow instructions and above all good communication and people skills. Having organisational ability and en eye for detail are certainly very important elements for this job as well as skills such as food and drink service, dealing with customers, cash handling and working on the computerised till. Waiters and waitresses usually work in a team under the direction of a supervisior, they interact with customers and other restaurant or hotel staff such as chefs, kitchen assistants and bar staff.