Okay, People....listen up. I'm going to educate you on the thankless job of Waitressing 101.
If the food is bad...it's not our fault. If the food is late coming to your table...it's not our fault. If we don't have what you want...it's not our fault. And if your service is slow and it's Friday night and 3 waitresses have called in and one has to take the sick cook to the doctor leaving only 3 waitresses to serve a busy Friday night restaurant crowd...it's not our fault.
Do you know that wait-staff only make $2.01-$2.15 hourly? Do you know that the proper amount to tip is at least 15%? Do you know that if you have a waitress that is doing the best she can for you and often goes above and beyond that it is totally acceptable to tip more than 15%? Do you know that wait-staff has to tip bartenders and busboys 5 and 10%, even though they are getting paid more hourly? Come on, People! Help a girl out!
Now, I understand that you don't want a tip if your waitress/waiter is ignoring you, getting your order wrong, standing around talking to friends/co-workers, or just plain giving you lousy service when there is no excuse for it. Just 15% or worse, 10% would be justifiable. We're making $2.15 an hour. I think you should know that. $2.15/hour. That's it. And we have to share our tips with people who are getting paid more hourly. We're working hard for you--taking abuse that you would never take in the process--and you're leaving 3 bucks!! Maybe two. And if you're really mad, because it took 40 minutes to get your food and you spilled your expensive Mexican Martini all over the table, you leave NADA. Just a big 'ole slash mark through the tip line on the credit card receipt. Like it's MY FAULT.
Can you tell it was a bad weekend at the restaurant yet?
Friday--the BUSY night for restaurants, especially if they serve Margaritas and Mexican Martinis--we had 2 waitresses call in sick and one that was out of town. Our cook--and owner's brother/co-manager--had been dragging his sick ass to work all week long to the point of bordering on pneumonia. He looked like death warmed over and could barely stand up. I told our illustrious owner--the cook's own sister--that he was going to end up in the hospital on fluids for a week if she didn't make him go to the doctor and go home and get some rest and she finally decided that it might be a good idea. She sent the one waitress--we had only four at this point--that didn't have a table to drive him to the doctor. Leaving us with three. Three waitresses on a Friday night and no cook. At least, no cook that was used to cooking. She ran 30 minutes behind on everyone's order because she's not used to doing it. Because her brother works his ass off every day and every night. And let me tell you...he can run the kitchen just fine by himself. In fact...he prefers it that way.
Anyway..it was a night from hell. Some customers had sympathy and understood that we were doing the best that we could do. Most though....they didn't have a clue. So I just thought you should know: Wait-staff only make $2.01-2.15/hourly. Don't stiff us if we're doing the best we can do. Don't stiff us if we're out of something you want. Don't stiff us if your food is not made the way you want it made. Don't stiff us if it takes 40 minutes for your food to get to your table. If you're the only person in the restaurant and you aren't getting good service, then you may have a point. We are not the cooks. We are not the inventory control managers. We are not the managers that can't seem to hire reliable wait-staff. We are not the owners that think they can get by with only two cooks, one of which only works days. We are not everyone else that decided to go out on Friday night. We are your waitstaff. We are SERVING you. We're not getting paid a living wage. Show some apppreciation for God's sake! You don't have to cook or do dishes because of us. Your getting awesome--yes, we do serve awesome--Margaritas and Mexican Martinis because of us. And you don't have to lift a finger to do it! You have no mess to clean up! You can let your kids throw food all over the place--and you do! You send us running each time we come to the table for something instead of telling us everything you want or need all at once, taking us away from other customers, because YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD THAT MATTERS.
SHOW SOME APPRECIATION!!!!!!!!!!!
2 comments:
Since my brother has worked in the service industry for years I've been "schooled" on the proper art to tiping. If I get great service, especially if someone goes out of their way to interact with Cole I tip well. I rarely if ever tip less than 15% even for crappy service, I'd feel too guilty.
"If the food is late coming to your table...it's not our fault."
MOST of the time it isn't, but SOMETIMES it CAN BE. One time my husband and I were out to eat. We ordered an appetizer along with our drinks. Our waiter did come back to bring the drinks and take our entree orders. Time went by and it seemed kind of longer than usual, so we asked about our appetizer. Turns out, our waiter FORGOT to put the order into the computer, therefore, we waited literally 30 minutes for our appetizer. In this instance, you CANNOT blame the kitchen staff. If they didn't have the ticket, HOW could they cook the food?
Also, I've had times where we have had long waits or a longer wait for our food if the servers waited to put our order in. Like let's say you take our entree orders. If you check up on 2 customer's tables BEFORE putting in our order, that's just THAT much LONGER we wait for our food. In other words, it's YOUR FAULT 100% we waited the extra few minutes for you to go to 2 other tables, because those people at those other tables did ask you questions and ordered things let's say. Also, if you went to get them their things BEFORE you went put the order into the computer, that's even LONGER we would be waiting for our food. Also, bussing another table instead of going to put in the order into the computer is a delay.
We have had one time a waiter take our dessert order, then greeted a party of 9 people. That was just THAT MUCH LONGER we waited for our dessert. That's almost like greeting a few parties all at once with them asking questions about drinks and appetizers. Ordering those things takes time also. The server in this situation should have went IMMEDIATELY to the computer system to put in the dessert order. Our dessert literally made us wait 2-3 minutes more than we should have had to wait, because he wanted to be UNFAIR.
Another time, a waiter greeted a table of 6 right after we order our only 2 entrees. Think of HOW LONG he was there with those people asking questions, ordering drinks, and possibly appetizers as well. WHO even knows if he went right after to put our order for our food in or if he went to get their drinks before he put our order in?
So, long waits DO have to do with the server UNLESS the server puts in the order IMMEDIATELY after she or he got it UNLESS there is another order that is ready that was ordered BEFORE the person that just ordered. Example: Like if we ordered our entrees from a server, but as he was walking towards the computer, he could see the food for another party was ready or if someone's drink at the bar was ready, ONLY THEN would it be FAIR to bring the people's food or drink out BEFORE putting in our order.
I've also waited 25 minutes for a margarita at Applebee's before because our waiter FORGOT to go get it. I had to remind him. He admitted he forgot it and apologized. It was HIS FAULT, NOT the bartender's for taking a long time to get to me.
In other words, the longer the server waits to put the order into the computer, the LONGER those particular customers wait. Especially, if so happens the same food, made the same exact way was ordered by a person let's say at the bar and let's say my husband ordered the same thing at our table. The bartender may receive that order in the amount of time a server is greeting another table instead of going to put our orders into the computer system, meaning, the bartender will get to put in the order BEFORE our order gets in, even though WE ordered BEFORE the people at the bar. Do you get this, that servers are in control of "HOW LONG" customers wait for their food to an extent?
"Don't stiff us if your food is not made the way you want it made. We are not the cooks."
Depends on HOW you handle a mistake and what the mistake is. If the mistake is major such as a wrong entree, it's YOUR fault for bringing it to me wrong(if you are the person that brings me my food that is).
http://www.mtsusidelines.com/media/paper202/news/2003/10/01/Opinions/Tips-Are.Earned.Rewards.Not.An.Ordained.Right-508957.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.mtsusidelines.com
“Never, ever take food out that is incorrectly done (I had a waitress rip me a new one for something I goofed up on as a cook and she demanded I fix it then and there - and she was right and I learned)."
So you may not be the COOK, but you should take SOME EFFORT to make sure you are coming to the table with the correct entree, correct side dish, and that nothing is missing from the plate.
One time at Denny's, I substituted seasoned fries for 39 cents more instead of onion rings in the miniburger entree. The SAME waitress that took the order came with the plate of food with onion rings on top of my burgers. HOW STUPID IS THAT? I hope her 50 cent tip on around a $20 check, showed her to actually LOOK at what the hell she is bringing to the table if it's correct and to not be so lazy not to compare the plate of food with the written order BEFORE taking it wrong to the table. She did not apologize, nor did she get another plate so I could at least start eating my burgers. By the time it all came out, my burgers were cold and she ended up letting me have the onion rings also. I was some pissed. She didn't even try to get something off the check for it. The check did not have the charge for the seasoned fries, which could possibly mean either she did not put the order correctly into the computer and/or she noticed that she shouldn't charge me since she got my order wrong.
I have stiffed for a wrong entree before. I ordered bbq chicken nachos as my meal, which was actually an appetizer on the menu, but I made it my entree and the SAME waiter that took order brought me out quesadillas. He didn't give me an explanation and just handed my husband his food. I went up to him to find out what had happened and he said he pressed the wrong button and then I finally got a tiny sorry out of him, but see how I had to GET UP to get an apology? Anyway, he didn't tell the manager and he truly seemed not to care, so his tip was NOTHING. He could have handled that situation much more caring. Like if he would have profusley apologized, gave me the quesadillas instead of either throwing them away or letting his co-workers eat them, and tried to get the manager to comp something, he would have had at least 10%. He didn't care, so WHY should I?
Sometimes a stiff is deserved. I usually tip 20%-25%, sometimes more, sometimes less. It all depends on the service and how they handle mistakes if they make any. If they don't apologize for a mistake of any kind, their tip will be less than if they would have just been NICE about it.
"Don't stiff us if we're doing the best we can do."
What is the "BEST" you can in your opinion? Some servers don't try to do their best. That waitress at Denny's didn't try her "BEST", because the onion rings were very obvious that they were on the plate, but she still brought it out anyway. I don't care if the cook messed up and you put in the order correctly, take some effort to verify the food with the written order. Don't depend on the cook for your tips. If you can do something about a problem BEFORE it gets to the customer, then do it and that will be YOUR BEST.
"Don't stiff us if we're out of something you want."
TOTALLY 100% AGREE! I wouldn't hold it against the server if the restaurant is out of something. HOW would that be in any way their fault? It can't possibly be.
"And if you're really mad, because it took 40 minutes to get your food"
If I know it took 40 minutes to get my food and I noticed after we placed our entree order that our server would be bussing a table across from me, serving other people, and then finally going to put in our order after 5 or more minutes, YES, I might just leave an extremley low tip like 8% or nothing, depending on the rest of the service. In other words, if our server CARED about OUR TIME, she or he would put the order in immediately after taking it unless someone's food or drinks would be ready that had ordered before us.
Now, if I know my server put in my order as soon as he or she could(meaning taking into account food or drink orders previously ordered that were ready), then I would NOT hold it against my server if my food took a long time like 45 minutes or something like that, because the cooking staff may be short or maybe the food we ordered takes a long time to cook such as something well done.
My main point here is the SERVER DOES have ***SOMETHING**** to do with "HOW LONG" people wait for their food and drinks. It all depends if the order is put in correctly and as soon as possible(meaning always taking into account previously ordered stuff, of course).
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