Serving as a career? Professional identity and long-term career development among Israeli waiters

Abstract

This qualitative study examines Israeli waiters' perceptions of their profession and the feasibility of developing it into a long-term career. Based on in-depth interviews with Millennial and Generation Z waiters, the research reveals a duality: participants noted advantages such as flexibility, financial rewards, and social interaction, yet identified five barriers to a long-term career: negative social perception and stigma; an age ceiling at 30–35; income instability from tips; pressure and burnout; and challenges with demanding customers. These barriers converge into a "temporal employment trap," a self-reinforcing cycle in which low occupational prestige transforms structural challenges into markers of professional illegitimacy. The findings suggest that establishing serving as a respected career requires multi-systemic change in economic structures, professional training, public discourse, and employment regulations. International comparisons indicate that viewing serving as temporary work is a sociocultural construction that can be challenged and transformed.

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