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Surely that columnist and OP are not the same person. The writing styles are VASTLY different.
Maybe there was an editor involved when she was writing her column as Kathie Jenkins??? I agree, her blog posts and what's been posted here don't seem to be the same as the column by Kathie. She seems a little bit off the hook here.
That being said, I have missed Ole Springs! I got my one and only (so far) infraction here by replying to an old post of hers in a less than "friendly" manner. But what fun that thread was, as this one is!
OP, you ARE a horrible patron. Your expectations are unrealistic, inconsistant, and self centered in the extreme. Your attitude is demeaning, condescending, and judgmental.
I am not ANY of that. It is realistic since we have gotten perfect service MANY of times before.
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You are every service persons nightmare.
You sound LAZY.
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Have you ever, in all your many online rants, found many people that actually agree with you or support your view?
nixity said:
"As a server, I checked EVERY ticket before I took it out and looked at the plates to make sure something wasn't visibly ****ed up before I brought it out to my table. If something was visibly wrong ("Hey, this was supposed to be no onions") I would have a line cook fix it immediately before taking it out. If it's a runner bringing you your food they should be held to the same standard.. but since they don't get the tip they're less likely to care."
How to Be a GOOD Server in a Restaurant: How to Be a Good Server in a Restaurant
MMTLori:
"As a server, I want to say that I appreciate your post. I know it is several years old but I plan on printing off this blog and showing it to the servers that I work with. You bring up some very excellent points about service and what a guest expects from their servers. I first read this run down about a year ago and began implementing some of these thoughts into my service. I have noticed that I have become a better server because of it. Thanks!"
August 3, 2012 9:59 PM
Demosthenes9 said:"Absolutely right. As a waiter, it was ultimately my responsibility to ensure that EVERYTHING was correct with your food. Cooks would plate up entrees and the expediter would "build tickets" by collecting the correct entrees, adding the side items, and placing the plates on a tray to complete the order. (at least that's how it worked just about everywhere I have been). At that point, the waiter SHOULD check each plate to see that the order is correct to include having the correct side items. Waiter should also make sure that the food is still hot and didn't "die in the window" while waiting for the order to be filled. Lastly, a waiter who actually knows what he is doing can simply look at your steak and tell with some accuracy whether it is cooked correctly or not. (There are of course exceptions where steaks are "borderline", like right between medium rare and medium, or between medium and mid well.) I have had any number of cooks yell at me because I told them to recook a steak before I even took it to the table. It doesn't take a genius to see a somewhat burnt steak sitting on a plate and to figure out that it ISN'T medium rare as ordered.) The funny thing is, if waiters took the time to pay attention to the little details like the one's Spring mentioned, they would actually have MORE time on their hands to take care of customers. Afterall, it takes maybe 30 seconds to check over an order and make sure it's correct. Failure to do so means that you now have to go all the way back to the kitchen, argue with a cook, get a replacement side item, then carry it back out to the table. That time could have been better spent taking care of other tables instead."
flowwiththego said:
"Springs does make some good points. In my experience, at least half the time if not more it is the servers fault when food takes too long. for example, I hate when the servers hold their tix and put in 4 (or even three) at once. They are not allowed to do that. So the first table has to wait extra long and other servers got tix in also. I can't tell you how many times someone will say they have been here for 45 minutes and the tix time says they were 20 minutes."
"MT
"Your system of never taking another tables drink order before turning in a ticket would back you up terribly, not to mention the humongous quantity of time you'd waste checking plates and menu prices. It would take you forever to get anything done."
In my opinion, MT, once an order is taken, it should be put into the computer IMMEDIATELY. Once my guests place their order with me, the clock begins to tick. They should be getting their apps 5-10 minutes after they PLACE their order, and their entrees should take between 20-30 minutes (where I work). You really should not start off a new table with an appetizer or dinner order on hold. The guests who just placed their order (who are hungry) are watching you approach another table. You then have to build your rapport, go over the specials, and possibly answer questions. This can potentially be very time consuming and your guests are not going to appreciate the delay in your service. There are other times when it is acceptable to work all your tables together, but when you have a food order you shouldn't be doing this. The correct way to handle this is to approach the table (with the other tables' menus in hand) and acknowledge their presence, and tell them YOU WILL BE RIGHT BACK. Then you ring in the order, go back to the table, and then you can do your greeting, go over specials, answer questions, etc. Now you can take your time with the new table cause you know that your other tables' food is getting worked on by the kitchen.
I know that this can be time-consuming but it really is worth it. Waste no time getting food orders in."
August 5, 2011 12:05 PM
http://diaperswappers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1089603&page=30
n3w2clO3h said: "ask me if I want a refill when my glass is empty, please don’t assume I want one…you will waste more this way"
http://www.reviewstream.com/reviews/?p=4414
Famous said: "I’m the type of iced tea lover who’s extremely picky about the teas I drink. When in restaurants, I hate when the waitress refills my iced-tea glass without asking-completely disturbing my perfect tea/sugar ratio."
http://1000awesomethings.com/2008/06/30/994-waiters-who-bring-free-refills-without-asking/
Ashley November 29, 2008 at 11:38 pm said: "I too am a server and as part of training in the restaurant I work at, I was taught to ask before bringing a refill, because although they will drink it if it’s in front of them, some people dont actually want that whole other glass of pop, they might actually want water or an alcoholic beverage… so in asking you always make sure the customer is getting what they want. "
"I’m an iced tea drinker, so I generally like to finish a glass before it’s refilled. When a partially empty glass gets refilled, it borks my sugar to tea ratio!"
Peter S. said: "recently dined at Gordon Bierch in San Diego. I ordered a Coke with my meal and when asked if i wanted a refill, I requested to have a refill of root beer instead of Coke."
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=46509&page=12
Gabe said: "recall a particular server at an Outback Steakhouse keeping 94 cents change we should have received. Typically I have seen them give you say $6 back, when they should have given you $5.94 change. This guy just gave us $5 back. I was like, WTF? Amazingly enough we got the same waiter again weeks later and guess what, we should have got say $5.45 cents back...but again, got only $5 back. Needless to say, he was shorted on his tip both times for being a f**k nut. I really hate bad service. You would expect better from people in the "service industry".
With all of the serious problems in the world, why would anyone want to wade through the OP's ridiculously long rant on something as insignificant as this...issue?
I do, it's called being LAZY to say things as if you don't want to do ALL THE WORK it takes to serve me.
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and you will never in your entire life understand it.
I don't understand how someone can be that lazy on a job? THAT I don't understand why anyone would rather be bored on their job rather than making the time go by, by having work. I, for example, wouldn't be happy being a security guard. You sit and wait if something goes wrong. That's too boring to me, I'd go nuts just doing nothing. I am not like your kind, that's what I am saying. I am not lazy. I don't feel customers had "demands" when I served them at the donut shop/diner if they wanted no this, extra that, etc. That was MY JOB. I didn't feel it was an inconvenience as you do to serve people like that.
Also, as far as condiments go you can put those in the box that your food is in.
So it spills all over items I don't want to eat them with, WTH? NO, I will spend my tip money the way *I* want to spend it. You don't get to tell me what I want for my tip money I am paying.
I don't want ranch all over my burger. I don't like ranch with a burger, I like ranch with my fries, NOT on my burger. I like mayo on my burger. WHY should I please lazy servers so they don't have to do more work?
Don't tell me how to run my life. I run it how I please. If I want containers for the condiments, I should be able to get them just like the to-go customers do. It's only fair. Even more so since I am paying a tip and most to-go customers don't tip since to-go is simply taking the order just like most fast food cashiers do and handing you a bag which they don't make a tip for doing that.
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Your condiments wont have their feelings hurt if they dont have their own box (theyre not special).
I do have feelings though and want what I want for my tip money in the service I am paying for. It's not your service, so you can't have it your way since you aren't PAYING for it.
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We also rush to leave because we have other people to take of, food to run, checks to hand out, salads to make, change to give, to go orders to make....youre not the center of our universe.
We should get our FULL TURN though. It's making you do more trips by doing it your way. My way, my server gets my entire list of 4-7 things in ONE TRIP rather than 2 or if one of the things has to wait such as if I order dessert, then they bring the other 6 things and then when they bring the dessert they grab the credit card to ring up our check so it's a WIN, WIN situation for everyone if the server actually got their pad of paper out and asked everyone if they need anything so if one person speaks up, then say anything else, then if another person speaks up then say "anything else." If it's a party of 2 and one person asks for a list of things and the other person says they don't want anything, the server should not be trying to live mid-sentence as some servers have done to us MANY of times during the years. I will ask for containers, a box, a bag, she's already walking off that I can't say "the check" as well. Now will she bring it anyway, maybe, but if I didn't get offered dessert she shouldn't be, because we have made room for dessert by bringing our leftovers home. We have also ordered bar drinks even after a dessert even.
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However we do want to get your items promptly.
The ONLY way you can do that is to get the list for the entire table. Especially if you have a large group like 8 or 10 or more, you have to write down a list. What if these 8 people were like me, you'd have 20 things to get for our table. You can't remember that by memory and if it's some of the same items, you can make one trip like 8 boxes, 8 bags, etc.
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Instead of saying "im not finished yet" why not say "i would also like....."?
Because they have closed their book, that's why. It HURTS MY FEELINGS that they have closed their book ASSUMING I am done. It also shows they don't want to "WORK" for their tip, that they are lazy and uncaring. Let's just say they are doing it because they are busy and not because they are lazy, they are UNCARING, because everyone's turn is important. No ONE TABLE is more important than another. Example: Jane Doe's table takes more time to order than me by asking bunches of questions because she's allergic to certain things, well that's her RIGHT to take longer than me. Even if my orders are long, hers are longer because of her questions and her own modifications.
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You can also tell them from the start that you have a very large order.
I have tried to say that at times(not all the time, but some times I have) that "I have a bunch of stuff to ask for" some STILL have walked away mid-sentence and STILL DON'T WRITE A LIST DOWN. I have said "You might need to write these down, it's a lot", then some STILL REFUSE, especially more when it comes to my food orders.
Once, I had a mean waiter. I NICELY said "Could you please possibly write my order down, because I have a lot of modifications?" His nasty response was "I HAVEN'T WRITTEN AN ORDER IN 12YRS DOWN!: So he goes to get a napkin and tries to find a pen. Ironically, after my ordering, he ends up having to TO a 2ND TIME what my husband ordered. So that REALLY PROVED HIM WRONG. I left him 18% or 19% can't remember which, but he would have had 25% if he would have just not been so mean to complain to my face. He was LAZY. He acted like he NEVER ONCE FORGOTTEN ANYTHING when he forgot my husband's order when we were giving our food orders. It just goes to show you how NO ONE IS PERFECT, so NO ONE SHOULD *EVER* ACT LIKE THEY ARE BY BEING LAZY ON THE JOB LIKE THAT! As if he doesn't forget things, BS! EVERYONE FORGETS ONCE IN A WHILE.
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that simply makes you come off as a pain in the butt that we will avoid waiting on in the future.
As I said, because you are LAZY. You want to stand there and look pretty, get 20%. That's not how the real world works. You don't get to be lazy on my tip time clock.
A thought for the OP this morning: buy your own restaurant and run it any d**n way you want. See how many servers stay beyond a month or two.
Oh, and after you do so, please check back in with us all and let us know how successful your methods are. With your winning personality I'm sure customers will be racing to the doors (to leave).
My restaurant would have better service simply because I would have orders more correct, checks more correct, going by turns, never triple seating customers or even double seating them, etc. I'd have a very successful restaurant and you know it.
The servers that wanted big pay would stay. The lazy ones would be out the door.
My restaurant would have better service simply because I would have orders more correct, checks more correct, going by turns, never triple seating customers or even double seating them, etc. I'd have a very successful restaurant and you know it.
The servers that wanted big pay would stay. The lazy ones would be out the door.
Stop eating at big chains like Outback and Applebee's. You're eating low hanging fruit. Step up
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