OK, so now that I am a part of the "server world" I would like to help educate the readers of this blog on what is and isn't appropriate restaurant etiquette.1) If you can't afford to leave a 15% tip, you should not eat out.
2) Servers cannot help it if the kitchen screws up your order. Please remember that often times many problems you encounter while dining out are completely out of your server's control. Take this into consideration before lowering your tip.
3) If you want to camp, go pitch a tent in the woods, but don't sit at my table all night. A server is only allotted a certain number of tables they will serve per night (for example, I work the same three tables the whole night), and when you sit at a table for an hour or two after you've finished eating, you are taking money out of their pocket. 90% of my income comes from tips - if you want to talk, go to Starbucks. Sorry, we just hate campers.
4) If your server is sweating, he/she is working hard. Just because your food took forever doesn't mean your server didn't hustle. See #2.
5) Don't be needy. There is nothing worse than a customer who needs extra ice in their drink, a salad with no onions, and an extra side of dressing, breadsticks without butter, and whole wheat linguini with their Linquini Alla Marinara. Interestingly enough, the people who request the most often tip the least.
6) Be nice to your server. If the server is worth his weight in Marinara Sauce he will be running nonstop to make sure that you and the other guests have a pleasant dining experience.
If you follow these simple rules, not only will you make your server happy, but your dining experience will also be better because your server will be much more inclined to help.
Keep it real,
Ben
6 comments:
Ok Ben...a few thoughts:
1. You are a SERVER. That word comes from servant which means you are privately employed to perform duties. Typically if people eat out they want the convience of someone doing things for them. Thats where you come in, you are there to SERVE them. A tip is a gift.
2. In a restaurant people have a right to have things 'made to order' just the breaks, and as a servant you owe it to them to comply.
3. If you are constantly checking how much people tip you, instead of being grateful for ANY tip your service to them will suffer. Sometimes you'll get a 30% tip, others 5%. Those are the breaks, but it doesn't mean the 5% deserve any less service.
4. There is a convience to eating out. Catching up with old friends, talking, etc. Thats why they do it, not to anger their waiter.
If you are going to be bothered this much after a few months in the service field, I suggest another job. It only gets worse until your attitude gets better.
Leslie
1) I know of no server who views tips simply as "gifts". I wouldn't take a job that depended on something as capricious as "gifts" that people may or may not give. Some level of gratuity is expected when you dine out.
2) There is a difference between having things made to order and being ridiculous.
3) I don't ever treat people differently, and even if I did, tips wouldn't factor into it because they leave the tip AS THEY ARE LEAVING.
4) It is good for people to be aware that their actions carry consequences. Once a person is aware that "camping" at a table cuts into their server's income for the night it is rude to sit at a table for 3 hours (like the 7 women who took up 2 of my 3 tables the whole night).
I'm not bothered. I happen to like my job and think I have one of the best attitudes out of all of my coworkers. That post was written with a good deal of sarcasm.
I must say I'm surprised at your attitude towards serving. Were you as optimistic and selfless as the ideals you laid out here back when you were a server?
Sorry Ben, didn't see the sarcasim. And the selflessness and optimisim came with time. I had to get 'burned' by too many people before I switched my attitude and started praying over tables and thanking God for the people who didn't tip me, it was a very humbling time as I look back on it.
OG is one of my favorite places to eat, and if I ever get some hospitaliano when you are working, don't worry I'll tip you. :)
if only people would spend a day in the shoes of those that serve them...
20 is the new 15
amen brother!
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