Oktoberfest in Munich: A Day with Waitress Cristin

Cristin’s sweet spot is eight Maß (pronounced mahs) of beer—8 one-liter steins of Bavarian gold. Of course, she’s not going to drink them. She’s carrying them. She’s cradling six Maß in her arms, holding the six handles in her left hand. With her right hand, she grabs the seventh Maß, and there’s usually still space for an eighth Maß in the middle on top.  

She does this dozens of times a day. She meanders past tipsy guests, patiently, without spilling a drop. It’s cramped. It’s loud. It’s stuffy. Exhausting? You couldn’t tell from the look of Cristin. She always has a smile on her face. “I could carry even more Maß, but then it's not so fun when things get cramped. I’d rather take two trips and still be just as fast,” she says. 

It is early afternoon on this warm, almost summery, Wednesday at the end of September and it is quiet. For now. The calm before the storm: The Schottenhamel tent will soon start to fill up. It’s just another day on the job for Cristin and her colleagues.  

It’s cramped. It’s loud. It’s stuffy. Exhausting? You couldn’t tell from the look of Cristin.

“Of course, you have to like the Wiesn (lokal for Oktoberfest) atmosphere. Most of the guests are really nice. Of course there are the odd drunk or two who say something stupid or whatever. But as a server, you have to rise above it, laugh it off a bit. Or even join in on the jokes. If you get upset about it, it’s not the right job for you,” says Cristin, after serving the first round of beer to a group of young students.  

The next guests have made themselves comfortable at the next table—Cristin has to move on. She takes the order and whizzes over to the bar, where she picks up another eight beer mugs with an elegant and powerful grip, as if she had never done anything else in her life.

Revelry Takes Its Toll—Even on the Body 

A full Maß weighs about 2.3 kilograms—Cristin is 1.63 meters tall, petite. And with eight Maß of beer she carries around 18 kilos with her. At the Wiesn, she works 18 days in a row. She coordinates breaks with her colleagues and takes them whenever she has a chance.  

In a small adjacent room for employees, she is provided with drinks and refreshments, and can catch her breath.  

It’s time to ask: How do you actually prepare for a job like this? Training? Cristin laughs. She takes a sip of apple juice spritzer and says: “When I carried the first jugs this year, for a moment I wished I had trained beforehand. But it’s not that bad, you get back into the rhythm very quickly and you don't even notice the effort anymore.”  

She adopted a technique for carrying the beer mugs a few years ago, while working at the Wiesn for the first time. “I was shown this technique once. In the end, everyone develops the technique that works best for them.” Cristin and her colleagues look as though they are effortlessly going about their daily business, but the reality is that they are on their feet all day, carrying heavy loads, speaking loudly in a loud, stuffy tent. 

„Many servers boost their immune systems. I also took extra vitamin C, iron, and magnesium,” says Cristin. 

The Wiesn festival season in Munich is known for making half the city ill. It makes sense; in the tent people kiss, canoodle, drink, and party. It is often cozy and warm inside, almost too hot, and cool outside, especially in the evening. Getting sick can happen. “What do many servers do before the start of the Wiesn?  They strengthen their immune system. I also took additional vitamin C, iron, and magnesium. If things get really tough, aspirin can help, or you can get help from colleagues,” says Cristin. 

There is not much time to sit. Cristin quickly checks whether she’s prepared: a glance at her purse and an adjustment to her name tag, with her notebook and pen at the ready. She stands up. It’s time. 

Roast Chickens, Dinosaurs, and Beer Stein Towers

The mood in the tent is boisterous and merry in the early evening, with the first guests dancing and cheerfully shouting from the benches. It’s getting fuller. And warmer. And stuffier. Crispy Hendl (roast chickens) are flying off the shelves. There’s a dinosaur balloon floating above the crowd somewhere. A tower of beer steins is being built at a particularly creative table.  

In the thick of it: Cristin and her colleagues, sprinting from table to table. “Why do you look like nurses?” a guest wants to know. This is not the first time Cristin and her colleagues have heard this question, and it is unlikely to be the last. 

„Why do you look like nurses?“, a guest wants to know.

Side note: The Schottenhamel tent is the only tent at the Wiesn where the female servers do not wear a traditional Bavarian dress, called dirndl. Cristin and her colleagues are dressed in traditional serving attire: a black shirt and black skirt, with a traditional white serving apron and bonnet on top. In the old days, women did not wear dirndl to work. 

An Extraordinary Festival Tent  

The Schottenhamel tent is not just any Oktoberfest tent. It is the tent in which the first Wiesn beer keg tapping ceremony by the Lord Mayor of Munich takes place every year at 12 o’clock sharp on the first day of the Oktoberfest. After the mayor announces “O’zapft is! Here’s to a peaceful Wiesn!”, the serving of beer in the other tents can begin.

“That has always been a very special moment. My highlight this year was also being able to ride in the parade with the Oktoberfest landlords. It was a wonderful experience,” says Cristin. 

Time for friends? No such luck!

When Cristin works at the Wiesn from morning until late at night, she hardly has any kind of life outside of work. Her life takes place at the Oktoberfest. Or, in the Schottenhamel tent, to be precise. “Of course, you have a completely different rhythm of life than everyone else. You don’t really get to see friends and family during this time. But I also get a lot of visitors in my tent, which is nice,” she says. She has several aprons that are washed and changed over and over again. By the time Cristin gets to bed at the end of a working day, it is sometimes already past midnight.  

Only once the last guest has left and the tent is cleaned and tidied up does she go home. There are plenty of forgotten items to be collected. Jackets and umbrellas are often forgotten. “And of course we often sit together with our colleagues and have a drink or something to eat, trying to wind down a bit together. That’s part of it, too. You are so immersed in this world that time works differently.” 

„You are so immersed in this world that time works differently.“ 

For two weeks out of the year, Cristin takes time off from her job as an event marketing manager at Bavaria Tourism Marketing. And even though her days are exhausting and she gets little sleep, she looks forward to them.

“I just like it, I really enjoy it, otherwise I wouldn’t do it.” For me, the best day is always the last one. It gets a bit emotional in the team when you know that it’s over. We then give out sparklers to all the visitors. It creates a wonderful atmosphere in the tent.” To round off the evening, the servers hold a little server parade, similar to a conga line, through the tent and toast with the guests. 

Sawdust vs. Vomit

Of course, there are also unglamorous situations that you have to deal with as a Wiesn server. The all-time classic: vomit. “We are prepared for anything. A tried and tested trick that we use: add sawdust to the pile of vomit. This draws out the moisture and removes the odor. Then all you have to do is just sweep it away.” Even that is part of your daily work in a Wiesn tent.  

Atleast the sawdust has not yet been used today yet.   Instead, Cristin strides swiftly through the crowd, tending to their needs. Speaking of strides: Cristin has lost count of how many steps she takes in a day. “On the first day, it was already something like 28,000.” 

The Business of Beer 

In order to get their beer and food, all Wiesn servers have to buy the “goods” from the landlords first. One Maß costs the guest about 15 euros—Cristin and her colleagues buy the Maß for a little less. The difference is about one euro. The main earnings of Wiesn servers consist of a share of the turnover and the tips. There is no hourly wage.  

The most generous guests? “The Americans are always extremely generous. I think being there is very special for them. They tend to tip more than others,” says Cristin. How much you get tipped depends on various factors: the area in which you are serving, whether the weather is good or bad, for example. The earnings of Oktoberfest servers vary, but most of them earn between 5,000 and 16,000 euros. If things go well, it can be quite lucrative. 

Going Full Throttle to the End

Outside, the sun is slowly setting, bathing the glowing Theresienwiese in shades of blue and purple. Inside, Cristin’s evening business is now beginning. The guests want to have a good time, eat good food, and drink cool beer. It’s hard to really catch Cristin. There’s just too much to do. There’s hardly any time to chat. She exchanges glances with her colleague and they nod briefly at each other. Take the order, serve it, clear it away. And then all over again. Everything is organized, they are a well-rehearsed team. That’s the only way it can work.  

Despite the madness of the Wiesn and the late hour, Cristin manages to stay on top of things. She will continue to do so until the very last day. Until she serves the last beer and, with a sparkler in her hand, says goodbye until the next Oktoberfest season, a little wistfully, but also relieved.