The Phoronix Guide To Oktoberfest 2011

The area of the Augustiner tent where I reside, and the particular waiter and waitress, are used as it just happens to be where I started out and have since become very good friends with them. Treating the servers very well and being a frequent patron is important for very good service, being served later on even if you don't have a seat (technically you aren't supposed to be served beer if you don't have a seat at a table), if you're stuck outside the tent when closed you can still magically get in the tent, getting very good seating when appearing in the tent, etc. Günther is definitely the best waiter/server anywhere at the wiesn that I have found during my Oktoberfest tenure.

Another interesting bit of information about Oktoberfest is that many of the servers don't even work in the restaurant or hospitality industry year-round. For example, Susie runs a travel company by day and Günther is an electrical engineer (his wife also is a server in a different Oktoberfest tent). The Oktoberfest servers commonly come from other industries but take a holiday from their formal occupation during Oktoberfest in order to serve at the wiesn. The tips and other compensation tend to make it worthwhile. Once a server manages to secure a section of tables inside a tent, they generally come back every year in the same spot until retiring. They work not only everyday of Oktoberfest, but all-day too from morning to night.

Being so passionate about Munich and Bavaria, if there's any new visitors to Munich, I'm even happy to provide a tour gratis of Munich if it happens to be a weekday morning that I'm available before heading to the wiesn (or even a brief tour of the wiesn itself; my photographs in this article don't do justice for showing the incredible size of this festival or the number of people that attend). Munich itself is a really wonderful city worth visiting any time (one of my favorites; competing with Oslo, Sorrento, Chernobyl, and Berlin).

See you at the wiesn in two months! If anyone has any additional Oktoberfest questions, stop by the Phoronix Forums. You can also contact me and follow me on Twitter.

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