That is, unless they have ever been a waitress.
I have worked as a waitress for just over a year now in three different restaurants, and even though I don't have major experience, I have learned a thing or two about the restaurant industry. But maybe more importantly about the customer service industry, and how we the people are epically failing those who work to serve us. So whether you agree with what I'm saying or not, whether you've ever been a waitress, or ever worked in a customer service position, it's my hope that you will pass this message (or one like it) along to those in your life who you would hate to have their food spit in, not that that ever actually happens....
Ok so first let's think of the reasons why you go out to eat:
It's the weekend, you want to let loose and have some fun!
You're out to celebrate.
You just love the food and atmosphere of your favorite restaurant.
Family get togethers.
Random date night.
Now, you get there and there's a wait.. well that shouldn't really come as a surprise because this is the best restaurant in town. I mean, why else would YOU come here to eat? The food is delicious, the atmosphere is enjoyable, it shouldn't come as a shock that other people think so too!
But here is where the dining experience often takes a plummeting pitfall. You don't want to wait. You shouldn't have to wait. You're hungry. You've got other things to do. How much longer is this going to take.
You FINALLY get seated and your server seems a bit flustered. The place is packed and they're setting up the band for the live music show. All you want is a soda, beer, salad. Where is my waitress?!
Let's hop outside your brain for a minute and consider the other people involved here. First, the kitchen staff. Those guys are working their tails off, in a likely sweltering kitchen, with hot, sharp equipment and orders coming in like crazy. They have been at it for 6 hours now, the dinner rush just coming on. Move outside the kitchen and there are the serving staff. Pacing quickly to table after table, smiling, filling drinks, taking orders, answering to every beck and call. Doing the best job they can given the kitchen back-up and hindered mobility around the restaurant due to the large crowd.
Okay back into your brain, it makes sense that you would be slightly antsy when you finally get seated and naturally you're thinking that your waiter has been waiting for you just as long as you've been waiting for them. Ah, but patience grasshopper. You're not the first table they've served tonight, and you won't be the last. They have to provide excellent service to tens maybe hundreds of customers tonight. So how do you think you would feel when in the middle of all this running around and people pleasing and trying to keep orders and salads and drinks straight, a customer begins to complain about how slow things seem to be moving?
Hold on because this right here is the important point I was talking about earlier! It is NOT, I repeat NOT your waitress's fault that the restaurant is full. Not her fault that there are only so many pop machines in the place to fill your glasses. Not her fault that she isn't allowed behind the bar to pour your beer. So do us all a favor and CALM THE HECK DOWN. Yes, I do understand that some people just aren't cut out to be waitresses and they might elicit negative feedback and treatment, however this is usually not the case.
Check yourself people. There are so many things going on behind the scenes of a busy restaurant that have absolutely nothing to do with you, your waitress, or the service you personally are receiving. So calm down, please. Be patient. Be nice. Treat your waitress how you want them to treat you. They are after all responsible for your food and if they can tell from the beginning that your sour-puss attitude is probably not going to tip them well, they're going to immediately write you off and focus on the tables that have adequate social skills. They're not going to waste precious time on a no-money table.
What I'm saying may not be the case for a super high scale, fancy shmancy, fine dining establishment.. but if you're reading my blog I doubt you eat at those anyway. All I'm saying is if you take anything at all away from this message, be nice to restaurant staff when you go out to eat. Your food's messed up? Your waitress is not the one who cooked it. You had to wait 45 minutes for a table in the corner? Well there was a reason you came to the place, looks like other people had the same idea tonight. And last but not least...
TIP 20% Y'ALL!
If that's too much you're cheap then at least double the tax as your tip (about 14%). But never ever ever in the history of the 21st century has it been appropriate to tip 10% or less. That's just rude. And keep in mind that all of the waitresses are going to remember the one's who don't tip. And they're gonna tell all their little waitress friends too.
"Your food's messed up? Your waitress is not the one who cooked it."
ReplyDeleteBut it could be messed up in other ways besides cooking, you do realize that, right? Things that are OBVIOUS without touching the food to notice the mistakes like condiments missing. I have condiments missing a good 85% of my outings. Those don't need cooking and some only need warming up in the microwave around 25 seconds or so such as marinara sauce or bbq sauce.
Also, servers bring out wrong items or even miss items as well as put in orders wrong. Have had ALL of this happen before to me and my husband.
Most of the time, it's not the kitchen staff's fault when food gets messed up, because if it makes it to my table without me having to touch the mistake to notice it, it's either my server or a food runner/other server's fault.
"You had to wait 45 minutes for a table in the corner? Well there was a reason you came to the place, looks like other people had the same idea tonight."
It can be your server's fault if you end up getting the server that overcharged the customers, put in orders wrong, forgot to put in orders, because that's how MUCH LONGER the customers that ARE SEATED ARE THERE NOT giving their seat up for the next customers. So YEAH, sometimes it sure is the server's fault. Also, not going in order too causes this. Just last night also, I asked for a to-go order and the check. The waitress said she wanted to wait until my food was ready to bring the check, but we can still READ IT. I mean really, that lowered her tip that she decided to not do what was in her control first. The best servers are the ones that do what the customer asks and not purposely delay them such as if I ask for my dessert and the check, bring me my check BEFORE the dessert comes so I can read it, NOT while I am eating my dessert interrupting me eating and not after my dessert either. There is a REAL REASON WHY I asked for the check, because I know that's all we will get and I want to leave, not be held hostage.
So when you get a table that ask for a dessert, ask if they want their check too. This way, you will give them an opportunity to get their stuff ready so they can pay when they get their dessert. Doing it the way some servers do it is PURPOSELY PROLONGING THINGS making others wait for a table longer.
So yeah, you DO have control over waiting for a table. We have gone through it where a waitress at Chili's said the cook misunderstood her handwriting. I mean really, for CONDIMENTS that *SHE* could have brought out ahead of time, BS! I had to send back my sandwich TWICE and the person that ran the food the first time around had NONE of the condiments. No sorry even from the person that ran the food. Now the sandwich made wrong, maybe she wrote it sloppily, so yeah that was her fault.
Continued next post:
Continued:
ReplyDelete"It is NOT, I repeat NOT your waitress's fault that the restaurant is full. "
It is if she keeps messing up orders or overcharging customers or waiting to give the check when the customer is ready or waiting to come pick up the check when the customer is ready to pay that is keeping people from leaving that are there. Once, my husband and I waited 20 minutes to pay because this waitress was more worried about bussing tables which this was in the afternoon, not busy anymore even. 10 minutes to just ask for the check, then 10 minutes for her to finally ring up the check because she was more worried about cleaning than us. You DO have power to not make the restaurant as full if you don't mess up yourself and do things the most EFFICIENT WAY POSSIBLE as long as it's fair of course.
" Not her fault that there are only so many pop machines in the place to fill your glasses. Not her fault that she isn't allowed behind the bar to pour your beer"
No, but it's the server's fault if they forget refills or forget drinks from the bar or forget to put bar drinks into the computer. It's also their fault if they go out of order of turns like table 5 just asked for a couple of refills, but table 3 asked for a beer 10 minutes ago. The beer is ready, but you choose to fill the 2 glasses of coke to make one trip with a tray making table 3 wait longer for their beer, even having the gall to hand the refills first off the tray, so TWICE CUTTING even. That's wrong to do. A good, moral person that isn't lazy would have gone to give the beer and THEN gotten the refills. That's just the right thing to do not to make the 1st person wait LONGEST to not CUT. I see this laziness a lot in restaurants. So just think about that when the customer is seeing you do these things WHY your tip is your tip. If you disrespect someone's turn, they should have EVERY RIGHT to disrespect your tip when it comes tip time to treat you in the tip they way you have treated them.