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.
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