Evil Server's Dictionary of Waitstaff Terminology

Automatic Gratuity (Auto-Grat.) (n): A tip which is automatically added to the bill as part of the total. This tip may be 15%, 18% or 20%, depending on the restaurant. And it may be added for various reasons, such as an abnormally large party size.

Back-of-house (n, or adj.): The back of the house refers to areas, people, and shady dealings that guests are not privy to (luckily for them). This would include the kitchen, managers, administrators, auditors, and the employee bathroom. I say again, guests are fortunate not to know of these things.

Bartender (n): The person who pours and mixes people's alcoholic beverages. It is interesting to note that while bartenders usually wear the same uniform as the rest of the waitstaff, they are almost always treated with significantly greater respect. Bartenders are often addressed with affectionate familiarity, as if they and the customer are old buddies. This may be a result of the addict/dealer dynamic.

Bastard/Bee-yotch (n ): Names for difficult male and female customers, respectively, as canonized by the movie Waiting... These are the people who are unreasonably rude or demanding, and tend to complain about everything. Actually, "complain" is too kind of a word. What they really do is make cheap, snipey shots at a server's expense to make themselves feel big. The general consensus is that there are more bee-yotches than there are bastards. I'm not sure why this is.

Books, the (n): The total number of people who have made reservations. Used to predict how busy it will be. Ex: "There are 42 on the books for lunch."

Bus (v): To clear dirty dishes off of a table and either wipe it down or change the cloth, and set it up so it can be reseated. See "Turn."

Busser (n): In chain restaurants, like Applebee's, bussers strictly go around with plastic tubs clearing dirty dishes off of tables, and will sometimes reset them. In fancier restaurants, bussers have more duties, such as filling drinks, bringing bread, offering desserts, etc. In such venues, they are often called Assistant Servers or Server Assistants, and are next in line to become servers themselves.