By Brittany Poss ~ Going out to eat is supposed to be a relaxing experience. Being away from your own kitchen, indulging in delicious cuisines, and having someone wait on you are one of the many perks. As a waitress, I know that way too many customers take advantage of this persona.
I have worked at a local franchise for the past 6 years. If I could change anything about this restaurant, I would place a sign out front that says “Crabby attitudes not allowed, please check yours at the door.” Far too many people treat the staff as if they are above their services and deserve to be waited on. Here is a list of my top 5 biggest pet peeves in no particular order:
- One-way conversations. It is frustrating when I ask a question and the customer won’t even look up to give an answer, simply does not respond, or continues to talk on their cell phone expecting us to wait while they finish. We are not mind readers so if you want everything as you imagine it, please speak up. If I ask how you are doing, the polite thing is to at least respond instead of automatically saying “I’ll have a Pepsi.”
- Being on a wild goose chase. If a table needs something, take a few seconds and ask for it all at once. Nothing bothers me more than bringing something to a table and having them ask for something else each time I return. And for goodness sake, if I am at another table tending to their needs, do not say “excuse me miss…” For one, I gave you my name for a reason and secondly your needs are not above anyone else’s. I can feel you staring me down and I’ll be over momentarily.
- Tipping. Joking about deducting my tip as a threat if I mess something up is not funny, but down right leaving me nothing or close to it is the least funny thing of all. To put things into perspective, my paycheck is around 30 dollars every two weeks. Asking me to live off of 15 dollars a week would be a sick joke. The reality is, most servers use their tip money to pay rent, utilities and support themselves. We have to pay out 10% of our sales to the bussers, the hosts and the bartenders so if there is no tip we actually lose money by having you sit in our section. With this is mind we are not out to do you an injustice by giving you bad service. The minimum you could do is re-pay the service that has been done by tipping 15% of your bill.
- Customers can see that servers are running around and are constantly on the move. Having said this, I do not understand why some tables think we have all the time in the world to stand and take your order. If you need a minute to know what you want, please take it because I have plenty of things to do at that time.
- Complaining at the wrong time or behind my back. At the end of a meal you telling me your steak was overcooked, but you ate it anyways, there isn’t anything I can do for you. There is a reason I ask if everything comes out to your liking so that way if it isn’t I can do my best to fix it. Telling a manager like you are belittling me or writing a cowardly note that I will see after you leave never solves anything. We truly like to see you leave happy and satisfied, but we can only do that if you are honest with us.
What it really comes down to is, realize we are human and stop expecting us to do everything for you and everyone else in the restaurant at the same time. We only have so many hands and so much time to devote to you but we try our best. I’d like to see you carry five drinks at a time without a tray or multiple plates of hot food without making one tiny mistake.
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