So I’ve been waiting tables for nearly 2 months now. It gives me an interesting view into the heads of other people. A view I mostly could do without. There’s a PhD. thesis for some psychology major in the restaurant business. For one thing I’ve found that though most people say they give at least 15%. It’s much more common to get closer to 10% than 15%. And in case you were wondering the verbal tip (you did a great job, we enjoyed everything so much) doesn’t help to pay off the school loans. So say it with a real tip. This even happens to the cute waitresses and the experienced waiters we have. So it’s not just that I suck as a waiter.
It’s funny what makes people angry. I had a table flip out on Sunday because I thought that I could have scallops put on a dish to replace something and I was wrong. So when the manager (Chris, the cool manager) said, “it can be done but it will cost extra” they started to yell and say that since I said it could be done then we have to do it and can’t charge them for it. My manager realized quickly that they weren’t going to calm down so he got the head manager. Chris wanted to make them pay the bill anyway but the head manager just let them leave. Now I realize that I had made a mistake but it’s not like I dumped a bowl of soup on them. Even worse is that table threw me off for the rest of the night. I couldn’t get my rhythm back and I just ran from table to table. I did all right but all night I felt like I was doing it all wrong and that I was going to get lousy tips the rest of the night.
Another one is that people don’t like to have to pay for anything. I had a woman order a Bloody Mary the other day. She said she really had a craving for one. She drank a few sips of it and pushed it to the side and asked for an Iced Tea or something. So I asked her if it wasn’t any good or what. She said it was fine but she just didn’t really want it. So when I brought the bill and the Bloody Mary was on there she complained. Saying that she didn’t think she deserved to pay for it since she didn’t really drink it. But it wasn’t made improperly, it didn’t taste bad, she just decided after she had it that she didn’t want it. So the restaurant deserves to pay for it because you ordered it and decided not to drink it? Should I take a dollar off your meal because you didn’t feel like eating the fries that you ordered with your meal? Didn’t finish your salad? Let me take off 50 cents for that. The manager (Chris) just deleted it off her bill. Not worth fighting I guess. It’s funny what people think they deserve.
I’m not bitter enough about it to serve sneezers yet. Not that I would or have seen it happen yet. But I’m seeing how servers could get that frustrated with people. I wonder what customers would say if I just told them that I deserved a way to release the frustration of having to deal with them.
3 comments:
I'm Australian I don't tip. Well at least not much and not often. Only when it's more round. So be thankful you don't work in Australia. Although your base pay would be much nicer.
Is gratuity part of the bill already? It's that way in much of Europe. It's included in the bill and then you leave a little more on top. I would rather it were that way. Our base pay is 2.80/hour. They have to do that for tax purposes. I never see any of it. Stupid Social Security.
Kind of, the waiters get paid a real wage. That's the difference. In cafe's there's usually just a tip jar. General it's filled with coins from change people don't want.
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