Ok! The Christmas season is finally over!!! You have no idea how busy and crazy and nutty the Christmas season was at the restaurant. Seems like it was a never ending storm of fussy people. People who have no idea how to eat out!
K, so I actually started this post around the middle of January. However, the previous couple of months had worn me out so completely that I couldn't even finish one paragraph! Now for round two. What I am going to do is walk you through the proper way to dine out...from walking through the door to walking out the door.
When walking into a restaurant do not get angry when there is a line up. Believe it or not, but this a good thing! A line up is an indication of a restaurant that is popular...which usually translates into delicious. Wait patiently for your turn. There is nothing wrong with ordering a drink while you wait or looking over the menu and ordering an appy or two to enjoy at the bar. There is something wrong with giving the hostess attitude or bitching him/her out! Perhaps most people don't realize this, but in Lethbrige most hostesses are young (high shcool) girls, so I'm not sure what anyone expects to accomplish by bullying them...other than to give them a complex about working on busy nights for fear of being chewed out by some jackass who thinks he has a right to treat anyone he wants like crap. In addition to that you just might find that the employees might be a little less willing to make sure you have a supremely enjoyable evening. In my opinion ego and ignorance never gets you very far.
Now, when you do get to your table please keep your stuff in your own personal space. The table beside you or behind you does not want YOUR things touching them. At this point a busser will probably come and give you water. Do not ignore them or go too far and start barking orders at them. Once again they are usually young and know nothing about alcohol (especially wine) and are not able to help you. All this accomplishes is to show the staff that you are an impatient narcisist. When your server comes to the table and tries to interact with you they will usually start off with wanting to know how you are doing. The best way to respond would be to answer them. It is amazing how often a server is ignored. There are some people who won't even look at them and who don't even answer them at all! Then there are those customers who have a conversation with their server that goes something like this:
SERVER "Hello, how is everyone doing tonight?"
CUSTOMER " What wine would you recommend?"
SERVER "Well, we have a great selection of wines to offer. Choosing the best one for you would depend a lot on what you are wanting to eat tonight as well as what you may be celebrating. Are you out for a special occasion this evening?"
CUSTOMER "We would like a dry white. Also we need an order of calamari, and bring us some breaad right away.
More than likely a conversation like this happens without the customer even looking at their server. I'm not sure why people can't understand that servers are not servants. Yes, we are there to take care of you, but people also fail to realize that without us you would just be eating at McDonalds. Our job is to facilitate your desire to have an enjoyable evening out. Don't treat us like we don't matter, or like we aren't good enough to talk to you. Most servers are there to make some money while they go to school...for jobs that make us a lot of money. Also, with the way things are going in the job force we will probably end up as your boss at some point. Not to mention that you shouldn't "bite the hand that feeds you." I realize that this can turned around to say that we should let people treat us however we want because in the end we are relying on our tip to feed us. It is in experiences such as these that we really earn our money. It's not easy to be pleasant with someone who belittles you. We have to though, our livelihood depends on it. But, just because you are paying someone to bring your food to them doesn't give you the right to be a dick to them. That right isn't reserved for anyone!
Moving on... Proper table ettiquite dictates that you do not signal your server. The times of waving your hand in the air and shouting "Garcon" are over! Servers are very observant. We can tell when you are looking around for us and we will come to you. If we are busy it doesn't mean that we are ignoring you...it just means that we're busy. We will get there as soon as we can. I'm sorry to say it but our priority is to make sure that food comes out hot and fresh. So, if I have to choose between coming to a table so they can ask for butter for their free bread or to give them their 4th refill on a soft drink and running food that has just come out of the kitchen, then I'm going to run the food. Think about that for a second, because that also means that I'm putting other tables wants on hold when it is time to run your food. There are times when it is ok to get the attention of your server...these times being when the restaurant is jam packed and they are running around like crazy (or I hate to say it, but sometimes servers do suck). In these cases do not walk up to them, tap them, or talk to them when they are at another table. That's just rude!!!If they are at another table then just give a small wave to them, or even just hold up your pointer finger...like when you are trying to say "just a sec" to someone. This will let your server know you need them without being rude or making an ass of yourself.
This brings us to ordering. We are always happy to make suggestions. Heck, we work enough to know the popular menu items or the dishes that are less popular. However, when asking for suggestions and ordering based upon them you need to realize that we are not experts on your own individulal tastes. If you decide to go out on a limb and order something brave then don't blame the restaurant (and especially not your server) when you don't like it. To take this further you shouldn't take it out on your server when the food is messed up by the kitchen. It's easy to do this because we are the ones you see and can talk to, but it isn't our fault. People need to realize that mistakes do happen (I hate to break it to ya, but we don't live in a perfect world). When there is an error, the kitchen, the manager, and your server are going to do everything they can to rectify the situation...within reasonable means of course. We want you to be happy, but some people are truly "just unreasonable." Anyways, getting back to ordering. If you aren't ready to order then don't say you are. We are busy and we don't appreciate standing there for 5 minutes while you hum and haw. We could be using that time to run drinks or food, take orders, bill other tables, and process payments. Just say your aren't ready. We will come back; we don't mind coming back.
The above grievances are the ones that most irritate me and thus needed more depth. The following is a quick list of more restaurant ettiquite.
- Don't get upset when food takes awhile...this means it's actually fresh and has to be prepared and cooked.
- If you are going to be fussy and demanding then be nice about it. Don't bark out your orders...be polite.
- In addition, if you are going to be fussy and demanding then you need to tip more. There is a standard tip, but it's based upon a standard table. If you are more than a standard table then you need to tip based upon how hard you made your server work AND the kind of abuse they endured in order to take care of you.
* personal note: I have had tables of 2 or more couples where 1 of the couples was just a royal pain. When they left the other couples would leave extra money and an apology with me for taking care of them despite the rude couple. How awful that some people are so ignorant that their friends have to take care of their damage.
- Bigger tables take more time, so be patient.
-Tip standard is now 15%, but if you can't even tip 10% then you shouldn't be going out to eat. What people don't realize is that their server has to literally pay out of their own pocket for cheap customers. We have to pay so much to the kitchen, the bar, and the support staff. So when you don't leave a good enough tip it comes out of our own pockets. I absolutely hate paying out of my own pocket so that other people can go out to eat!
- At th end of the night it is okay to sit...unless there is a long line, or if we are trying to close. It sucks when a table is still sitting there an hour after we have locked the doors. For the life of me I don't understand how you can be so ignorant that you can't tell that you are holding others up. You have already made us late for leaving and after you leave we still have work to do. I think a lot of people try to rationalize it by thinking that once they leave you can too. This is not the case. Once that table(s) leaves you still have to do the closing duties you couldn't do while they were sitting there; duties that should've been done an hour ago!
I know this sounds like a lot of bitterness, and that's because it is! Lol! But, I really do like my job. These ignorant people make it a challenge, but then there are the ones who make it enjoyable. I have always thought that everyone should have a serving job at least once in their life...this way they would have a better idea of how to treat people. But, that's not about to happen. Maybe just being taught how to eat out will help. So, I guess that my six followers will have a better idea of it. Something tells me though that they aren't the type of people that need to know. I did grow up with them and I think we have a lot of the same ideas...especially on how to treat others. So, just pass it along I guess. Lol!
And to my regular customers who know that I'm not just a server, but that I am a person, it is always a pleasure to take care of you. See you soon.
Love love
