I have been in the service industry for a little over 12 years now and with every passing shift I am amazed by at least one table every shift. However, being the lucky girl I am, I would say at least 25-35% of my tables are rude, inconsiderate, demanding peices of s$%#. I can't believe that many people treat their servers like they are un-educated, useless people that are there to serve them because they have nothing better to do in life. This blog is dedicated to all the people who go in a restaurant thinking that their server is useless and that tipping them that 15% is genourous. I encourage the stupid people to pay close attention and the rest of you read on for entertainment purposes.
Lets start off with one of my favorite. As servers we all have that table that thinks they are the only person in the restaurant. This means when your server is at a table you are either jumping up and down in your seat like your ass is on fire to yelling out "hey waiter/waitress" as loud as you can so that you can get our attention all for a re-fill on a glass of water that is still half full. I suggest you put some ice down your pants and chill out for awhile because you are not the only person that your server (NOT WAITER) is serving and that means that we can not run over to you when you rudely try to get our attention all so we can wait on your every need. In fact there are probably at least four other tables being served by the same server, and believe it or not, they will get to you. I have had people yelling at me when I am taking another order, halfway across the restaurant, and when I have two hands full of food. This is rude behavior on your part unless I have neglected to stop by your table at all and you have an emtpy glass and have not seen me more then once. Would you like it if people yelled at you when you are at work and trying to do your job? Just because we are not lawyers, doctors, etc does not give anybody the right to treat us like we are your personal slave there to be at your beck and call. In fact, many of us do have educations, some of us are serving to pay for our classes, and we generally are really nice people trying to make your experience a good one which is impossible if you are just another one of those people who give themselves a hernia over the fact that you don't have a side of ranch. Chances are if you are polite the ranch is going to get there in a timely manner.
This may shock some of you but we all only have two hands. Guess what this means? When we have a plate in each hand and one balancing on our wrist when we come to deliver your food and you immediately say "oh, I ordered a side of bread with that, where is it?" chances are we can't balance your damn bread or side or fries or whatever it is you so importantly need on our head and it will probably make it to your table shortly. This also means when we are clearing your table and already have a stack of plates in our hands (again, we only have two) when you keep handing them to us the chances are that we won't be able to take all of them at once unless we, by some miracle, grow an extra two arms and hands right at that moment. However, once again, your table will probably be cleared shortly. Usually, if you have a competent server, it will all get done and you do not need to remind us how to do our job. Do people tell you what to do at your job on a daily basis and hand you a bunch of stuff to do that is not humanly possible every hour at your work? No? Then please respect us how you expect to be respected at your job.
One of my favorite things about serving are the people who yell at their servers for their food. I am honestly amazed that some people do not realize that we do not cook the food. We do not take your order and go cook the food and then deliver it to you. This means if your food is taking a long time.......probably not our fault because this is the cooks job and not ours. If you ask politely then we will most likely go find out what the problem is and bring you your food as well as making sure that someone in charge comes over and apologizes to you. If you yell at us then chances are your food will still come out but rudeness gets you nowhere. Here is a newsflash for some you out there.......if you order a well-done steak or hamburger then it takes time to get the food to well-done. We don't have a well-done fairy that comes over and makes your well-done food in five minutes. We have normal human beings cooking your food. Just like at home, it takes time to get your food to well-done so if you are in a hurry, order something else. When your food comes out not cooked properlly, again, we don't cook it so it's not our fault. If you get the wrong thing and it's our mistake we usually apologize and fix the problem. It's not the end of the world if you order a burger with no mayo and it comes out with mayo on it people. It's a minor, human mistake and we will fix it for you so please don't get your panties in a bunch over it. And last, but not least, one of my favorites. When you come into a restaurant and order a bunch of food and then tell your server that you are in a hurry what do you expect out of the situation? Do you expect us to put you in front of the other one hundred people dining at the same time as you because you are in a hurry? Do you want us to make your food super fast so it comes out crappy? If you are in a hurry and want a well-done burger do you not see the contradiction in that? For people like you........you see the golden arches with a drive-thru.......go to it because that is what fast food is. Fast food is for the people in a hurry who want their food right away and you are a perfect candidate for that.
Everyone likes to work over time right? Well when you walk into a restaurant and ask what time they close ten minutes to them closing and say "oh good, we made it." You are wrong my friend. You didn't make it and it's rude to sit down and eat a whole meal while the server, cooks, managers, bartenders, etc all have to stay and wait for you to take that last bite. When you are the last person in that restaurant that means you are probably the least liked customer. When you sit there for two hours after closing chatting away you are keeping us there until you are done. There is a place called Sharis, IHOP, and your own home that are perfect for you. Then there are the people who sit there for hours at their table talking away. I have had a table sit there for five hours of my shift. For each hour that means I could have had another table there which means I would have an extra tip for each hour that you sit there. That means that at the end when you leave me a five dollar bill and are happy with yourselves that my children suffer from that because mom did not make any money do to the gabfest that went on for five hours. At least be courteous and tip a little extra for the poor sould who gets no extra tables because you decided to make a butt imprint in your chair from sitting there for so long.
We deal with people like this on a daily basis. All of us usally have mulitple tables asking us for sides of ranch, a refill on a coke, where their food is, they got the wrong side, their food was not cooked properlly, they want another side of ranch, they want their food heated up more, their hot tea is not warm enough and they want warm water (by the way, people who order tea, we don't like you.), if they can have lemon in their water, can they change their mind on their order, they are in a hurry, etc. and this means that we run our asses off for you. We want you to be happy. We want to have a good experience with you because that is our job. We want to laugh and make sure that your food was great and came out right. We want you to leave happy but we also want you to know that we are educated smart people. We support families as well and have kids to feed. We need gas and to pay for our school so that we no longer have to get yelled at for someones un-cooked burger. We have to work our butts of for you for twelve hours sometimes just to make ends meet because some people think tipping is not necessary. We run our butts off for your tip. We don't just bring your food out. We have to get your drinks, refills, take your food order, put it in the computer, make sure its right, make sure it comes out hot, make sure that you like it, offer dessert, make sure you are happy and satisfied, make sure you want to come back, and serve the other tables as well all with a smile on our face. We cant get mad at that one table that orders something and every time we go back to the table need something else instead of ordering it all at once like a smart person......instead we have to get over it and still serve you with a smile on our face. We can't kick the guy in the nuts that belittles us and makes us feel stupid by talking to us like we are a two year old....instead we have to smile at him and move on with our day. We can't yell at the lady who bitches us out because her food was not properlly cooked even if it has nothing to do with us and instead we have to smile at her while she tells us how stupid we are. Does anybody get where I am going with this?
Most servers are paid minimum wage plus tips. This means that we get paid jack #$% if we do not get tipped. We don't want you to give us the "verbal tip" and tell us how great we are and then give us five dollars on a sixty-five dollar tab. We work for our tip and we work hard. Most people think they should tip their server 15% and then there are alot of people who think they should tip their server 2% because they don't understand what we go through to get that tip. Instead of pulling out your "tip calculator" unless you are horrible with math, then you should go for that 20% tip and tell your server thank you.We are human, we work hard, we deserve it. Some of us do have bad days and you have to be understanding that once again, we are human. I encourage everyone to serve a table for a day to see what we really go through on a daily basis and until you do that then don't put us down. We do a job that many people can't and we should be respected for that. For the people who just don't get it due to lack of brain cells and a cold heart.......make your own damn food.
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