So tonight my section was in the back along the wall. This is usually the section that ends up with the larger parties. There was an off table that didn't end up bieng joined to make one of the bigger tables and I would swear tonight someone put a curse on that lone table. The first table to sit in it was a couple with their three highly undisciplined little girls. Every server cringes when they see a table that involves multiple little youngsters because it usually goes very bad for the server and all ends in a giant mess to clean up after the whole ordeal is done. The couple were friendly enough to me and I was friendly back. I tried to make the parents feel comfortable and welcome. I tried to accomodate their kids. Making shirley temples and bringing extra little plates and spoons... giving Mom the girls food first so she could cut it up and portion it out then enjoy her meal, filling Dad's 5 waters he loved to drink so fast. Placing items out of reach so the baby wouldn't knock it over. Was any of this to any avail? Hell no. The girls still managed to spill not one but two of the drinks all over the table. I had baby proofed the girls drinks and placed Mom and Dads drinks out of harms way. I tried to help clean the mess and after that the parents decided to box up what was left and leave. I closed them out got them boxes and tried to help Mom clear out some of the mess so she could box her food and pay but she said she was fine. When she left there was ice cubes, spaghetti and crayons everywhere. Great right... and like deja vu from the last baby table... what did they leave for a tip??? Less than 10%.
F***ing incredible. I wonder what you'd tip if I actually treated you the way I feel like treating you when you walk in with a bunch of kids. Mom and Dad... you of all people should understand and appreciate it when someone cooks and cleans up after your children. Seriously... think about it. These are your kids and you love them. You still hate to cook, clean up and deal with the whining neediness. These are not my kids and I do not love them but it is my job to wait on whoever comes to my restaurant and make them feel welcome. If you know how bad it sucks to do my job then why would you abuse me like that. F*** you housewives who say you work hard and aren't appreciated then go into a restaurant with your kids and slap your server in the face like that.
So after that ordeal was done a party of 8 was seated in my section at the tables next to the one that was previously the baby table. When their food was ready I trayed up half (it was all I could fit) and asked another server to follow me with the rest. In the time it took me to tray up the food and walk from the kitchen a table had been sat in the cursed table. As I am walking with a giant tray packed with food to this big table next door obviously about to serve them the woman at the cursed table points her finger up in the air at me like she's saying come here now. I am OBVIOUSLY tending to another table right now and trying to serve them their food. should i just drop my tray and run over?? So I tried to be nice and while passing out the food quickly ask her if she would like me to get her something to drink while she waits. Well, oh no. she stopped me from what I was doing to ask a million stupid questions and tell me everything she wanted from the drink to app to the entree while the table next door I was trying to serve watched half their food just sit on the tray. It didn't stop there. Everytime I would check on her she would say she was doing just fine then a minute later there she'd be pointing that finger and waving it in the air. It was like she enjoyed being a condescending biotch so much that I started believing she would intentionally wait until I walked away or was trying to take care of other customers just so she could shake that little finger and demand my presence immediately. If there is anything that rattles a servers cage it's having fingers snapped and pointed at them like "HERE SERVANT SERVANT".
I understand some people don't realize it's rude because they've never been in a server or bartenders position before. There was this one time I went to visit my roomate at the bar she works at and have a few drinks. It was super busy and this one guy kept banging his empty beer on the bar at her everytime he needed another one until she dropped everything else and got him one. Since I was a customer and not an employee of this place I exercised my freedom to let that guy know what an asshole he was being. I called him over and I told him how rude and degrading it is when you do something like that to a bartender. He thought about it and then appologized and said he just wanted to get her attention. I told him that I'm sure she noticed you were out of beer but had a line of people also ordering drinks and it takes a few minutes to get to you and a better way to get your drink on time is to call her by her god-given name. I told him her name and I said next time he needed to get her attention try calling her by her name and I say I need a beer when you have a minute. He ended up tipping her a hundred dollars that night because he was in fact a very cool older guy... he had just never worked in a restaurant or bar and didn't know how it felt to be snapped, banged or pointed at.
Rule #7 and #8: If you come in with your kids please acknowledge and appreciate that it is a headache to deal with and clean up after them and tip accordingly. Never snap at, point or bang a glass at your server. A friendly wave or name call is just fine... but not if they are talking to and or serving the table next to you.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Poor people vs.Trashy people
One thing I have learned working in an upscale restaurant is that rich people can still be super trashy and poor people can be very classy. Some poor people however, can still be very trashy while some rich people can be classy.
My grandmother was a very poor woman and I can remember the handful of times she scrounged up enough money to take us out to eat when we were growing up. My grandmother cooked all of the time for our huge family and it was super rare that she ever had enough money to pay someone else to do this kind of work for her. She viewed going out to eat as what it is... a luxery and not an entitlement. She always treated staff with a sincere kindness and appreciation that you rarely see because most people view eating out as their god given right. If she did go out to eat she always made sure she had enough money to tip very well. She tipped more than the 15-20% because she figured that most other people probally treat them like hell (especially because she took us to lower end restaurants because it was all she could afford). And she was right.
Class isn't how much money you have. Class is a social grace that can't be bought. Class is treating people with respect out of humility and good will. Class is gratitude and tact.
Trashy is a barbaric demeanor. Demanding, rude, obnoxious and entitled. If you bring class to my table I will treat you with class. If you bring trash to my table I will treat you like you are trashy. I don't care if I know you have more money than God or if you are a poor little old lady widow who saved up enough pennies to treat your family to dinner.
Rule # 6: Keep it classy.
My grandmother was a very poor woman and I can remember the handful of times she scrounged up enough money to take us out to eat when we were growing up. My grandmother cooked all of the time for our huge family and it was super rare that she ever had enough money to pay someone else to do this kind of work for her. She viewed going out to eat as what it is... a luxery and not an entitlement. She always treated staff with a sincere kindness and appreciation that you rarely see because most people view eating out as their god given right. If she did go out to eat she always made sure she had enough money to tip very well. She tipped more than the 15-20% because she figured that most other people probally treat them like hell (especially because she took us to lower end restaurants because it was all she could afford). And she was right.
Class isn't how much money you have. Class is a social grace that can't be bought. Class is treating people with respect out of humility and good will. Class is gratitude and tact.
Trashy is a barbaric demeanor. Demanding, rude, obnoxious and entitled. If you bring class to my table I will treat you with class. If you bring trash to my table I will treat you like you are trashy. I don't care if I know you have more money than God or if you are a poor little old lady widow who saved up enough pennies to treat your family to dinner.
Rule # 6: Keep it classy.
As The World Turns Around the lady at the bar
I work in a restaurant that has a nice patio dining area; which means that EVERYONE wants a table during the spring and the fall and we get slammed all the time because people come in hopes of getting a table out there. People will wait ridiculous amounts of time to get a table out there even if there is immediate seating inside. So tonight, there was a huge wait for patio seating and a woman comes in with her gay guy friend, puts her name on the list and then they sit at the bar and order a drink. Later on I go to close out a tables check on the computer at the hostess station and the lady turns around and snaps at me...
Lady "Hellllloooo, how much looonnger is our wait going to be for our table on the patio?"
Me "I'm not sure. I'm not the hostess. As soon as the hostess gets back I will ask her."
Lady "Ohhhhh I thought you were the hostess. Well go find out then."
So the hostess comes back and I ask her about their wait and she said that she called out every name on the list more than once and they never responded to claim their table. So now the patio is full and they are going to have to wait again. I go and explain to the lady that when their table was called no one responded so it was passed up. She sighed with indignation... um well we were just here at the bar! She couldn't have come found us right here? Then I had to explain that there was a very extensive amount of people over the course of the night waiting for tables on the patio and it is not always so easy to know your face to match the name and also where you were hanging out. The reason names are taken down and called are for that reason. Yes, on a moderate wait list a hostess can reasonably get your name, check out where you went and come get you when your table is ready. The next outside table to get up is of course mine and so I go to the bar and tell them I have a table for them. Well the same woman who was in suuccchhh a hurry to get her table spent the next 15 minutes after I set her table up still chatting people up at the bar and in the walk way while the other people who had to get pushed back for her sat there and watched looking like they wanted to sucker punch her repeatedly in the forehead. So then they sat down with their drinks and her friend ordered one small pizza and she ordered nothing because SHE HAD ALREADY EATEN JUST A COUPLE OF HOURS AGO AT ANOTHER WHOS WHO RESTAURANT DOWN THE STREET. So these people sat at bar waiting for a patio table for quite a while, expected that from a two second meeting with the hostess she would know exactly which name matched the face and that they were drinking at the bar. They didn't feel it was at all necessessary to listen for their name and threw a fit that the hostess didn't get all that in the two second meeting. All of this just to sit on the patio for one small pizza so they could see and be seen.
People seem to go out to eat with the idea in mind that they are some kind of celebrity and should be treated like one. In a massive crowd of people they assume they are top priority. This attitude usually makes you look like the opposite. When you act like that in my restauraunt or at my table I do not think you are a celebrity or top priority. I think you are a whiny self-important bitch and I will do my best to make you my last priority. If you snap, whine and demand then I will ignore you. If you are kind, patient and understanding then trust me I will bend over backwards to make sure that you are taken care of and enjoy the shit out of your night. After all customers are what pay my bills and I like you to come in. If you treat us with an ounce of respect and understanding then I will do whatever I can to make your night a good one. But if you shit on my night, I will shit on yours.
Rule #5: If you make my night pleasant I will make yours pleasant but if you shit on my night I will shit on yours.
Lady "Hellllloooo, how much looonnger is our wait going to be for our table on the patio?"
Me "I'm not sure. I'm not the hostess. As soon as the hostess gets back I will ask her."
Lady "Ohhhhh I thought you were the hostess. Well go find out then."
So the hostess comes back and I ask her about their wait and she said that she called out every name on the list more than once and they never responded to claim their table. So now the patio is full and they are going to have to wait again. I go and explain to the lady that when their table was called no one responded so it was passed up. She sighed with indignation... um well we were just here at the bar! She couldn't have come found us right here? Then I had to explain that there was a very extensive amount of people over the course of the night waiting for tables on the patio and it is not always so easy to know your face to match the name and also where you were hanging out. The reason names are taken down and called are for that reason. Yes, on a moderate wait list a hostess can reasonably get your name, check out where you went and come get you when your table is ready. The next outside table to get up is of course mine and so I go to the bar and tell them I have a table for them. Well the same woman who was in suuccchhh a hurry to get her table spent the next 15 minutes after I set her table up still chatting people up at the bar and in the walk way while the other people who had to get pushed back for her sat there and watched looking like they wanted to sucker punch her repeatedly in the forehead. So then they sat down with their drinks and her friend ordered one small pizza and she ordered nothing because SHE HAD ALREADY EATEN JUST A COUPLE OF HOURS AGO AT ANOTHER WHOS WHO RESTAURANT DOWN THE STREET. So these people sat at bar waiting for a patio table for quite a while, expected that from a two second meeting with the hostess she would know exactly which name matched the face and that they were drinking at the bar. They didn't feel it was at all necessessary to listen for their name and threw a fit that the hostess didn't get all that in the two second meeting. All of this just to sit on the patio for one small pizza so they could see and be seen.
People seem to go out to eat with the idea in mind that they are some kind of celebrity and should be treated like one. In a massive crowd of people they assume they are top priority. This attitude usually makes you look like the opposite. When you act like that in my restauraunt or at my table I do not think you are a celebrity or top priority. I think you are a whiny self-important bitch and I will do my best to make you my last priority. If you snap, whine and demand then I will ignore you. If you are kind, patient and understanding then trust me I will bend over backwards to make sure that you are taken care of and enjoy the shit out of your night. After all customers are what pay my bills and I like you to come in. If you treat us with an ounce of respect and understanding then I will do whatever I can to make your night a good one. But if you shit on my night, I will shit on yours.
Rule #5: If you make my night pleasant I will make yours pleasant but if you shit on my night I will shit on yours.
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