Today’s hosts are mostly young, inexperienced women who have to enforce health rules and deal with the sometimes violent response.

Caroline Young says that since the pandemic began she has experienced so much harassment from customers that she recently quit her job as a host at Café Poêtes in Houston.Credit...Annie Mulligan for The New York Times.

Caroline Young was thrilled to be hired two years ago as a host at Café Poêtes in Houston.

Initially, she said, most guests seemed glad to see her.

Once upon a time, the host, or maître d’ in formal dining rooms, held a position of some prestige and power, as the public face of the restaurant and the arbiter of who got the most coveted tables.

Young, who is 24 and recently quit out of frustration.

In interviews, several hosts from around the country said the job has grown significantly harder and more dangerous during the pandemic, as they’ve been charged with interpreting and enforcing health rules, often without training or support.

Maria Antonioni, 26, a host at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., location of the Houston’s chain, said that last week, a guest accused her of lying and yelled at her for 15 minutes after she told him there was an hour’s wait for a table.

Honor Burns, 23, said that as a host, this puts her in a difficult position — she knows the mask requirement makes her safer, but it has also led to an increase in angry customers.

“I am flipping our tables, clearing plates, I am taking calls that should be for the managers,” said Lily Bobrick, 19, a host at Boca, an Italian and French restaurant in Cincinnati.

Michelle Chan, 22, a host at a Manhattan location of the Grey Dog cafe chain, said she doesn’t know how to tell whether a vaccination card is valid or phony, or what cards from foreign countries look like.

At the Japanese restaurant Rule of Thirds in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Jessalyn Gore, 25, said guests have been pleasant and even grateful to have their vaccination cards checked, especially with the Delta variant spreading

Young, who quit her hosting job in Houston, isn’t eager to find out