I had not been in this hotel long before I found out that I knew practically nothing about waiting on a hotel table.

The head waiter, however, supposed that I was an accomplished waiter.

He soon gave me charge of the table at which there sat four or five wealthy and rather aristocratic people.

My ignorance of how to wait upon them was so apparent that they scolded me in such a severe manner that I became frightened and left their table, leaving them sitting there without food.

As a result of this I was reduced from the position of waiter to that of a dish-carrier.
But I determined to learn the business of waiting, and did so within a few weeks and was restored to my former position.