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We've noticed quite an increase in bad servers when dining out recently.
Could it be that people who don't really like this kind of work are taking these jobs after not finding what they want in their preferred fields?
Not in just one place. Seems widespread.
Has anyone else noticed this?
We've noticed as well. To the point that I spoke to the manager at our fave local place about it....it still seems to be your basic clueless young adult....not struggling professionals looking to fill a gap.
The last server we had wasn't 'bad'...just new, didn't know her food and drink menus too well and acted like she was going to jump out of her skin everytime you said ANYTHING. Not at all a relaxing expereince. All I can say is that she tried, but she will go down in flames if she doesn't pick it up a few notches.
We don't eat out that often, but yeah, the few times we have it does seem like service is down (and by that I mean inattentive, they were perfectly courteous). I had more of an impression that restaurant owners were cutting back on their server/table ratio so the person serving us was trying to handle more tables than usual or practical.
We've noticed quite an increase in bad servers when dining out recently.
Could it be that people who don't really like this kind of work are taking these jobs after not finding what they want in their preferred fields?
Not in just one place. Seems widespread.
Has anyone else noticed this?
I only go out to eat about four times a month but I have not noticed any drop in service at the places I frequent. All of the people that were my waiters over the past few months were 20-25 year old men and women. Pretty typical demographic for servers I think. Maybe we just eat at different places.
As a manager of an upscale restaurant in town I can tell you there is a flood of people on the market looking for server positions. People who have lost their jobs and are trying to do anything to feed their families. I find it difficult to tell people who have held professional jobs for years, and haven't served since college that I can't use them because they aren't qualified. I give them credit for being willing to do whatever it takes to provide for their family, but the market demands premium service to justify the expense of eating out. The other thing I have noticed is the quality of young college applicants has dropped significantly over the past decade. Too many kids out there have been coddled for too long and have no idea what it is like to have to work for something.
Maybe people aren't tipping as much due to the recession, regardless of the service they receive, so the servers figure it's not worth it to bend over backwards?
As a manager of an upscale restaurant in town I can tell you there is a flood of people on the market looking for server positions. People who have lost their jobs and are trying to do anything to feed their families. I find it difficult to tell people who have held professional jobs for years, and haven't served since college that I can't use them because they aren't qualified. I give them credit for being willing to do whatever it takes to provide for their family, but the market demands premium service to justify the expense of eating out. The other thing I have noticed is the quality of young college applicants has dropped significantly over the past decade. Too many kids out there have been coddled for too long and have no idea what it is like to have to work for something.
Ken
Agree with you, Ken. The work ethic is many times lacking.
I remember my first job in high school, 5 years at Nathan's Famous in New York.
Not a service restaurant but a fav in NYC since 1916. We worked up to 16 hours a day in the Summer beach rush. My duties were cleaning tables and dumping garbage. During busy weekends, we jumped in the dumpsters every morning on weekends since sanitation workers didn't serve us on weekends.
Even got to meet the founder, Nathan Handwerker, one day when he stopped by and grabbed a broom to help.
I think service (particularly at chains) has been bad for a long time. There's a few restaurants I refuse to go back to after particularly bad experiences.
Would an out-of-work professional give worse service than a high school student? Hard to say..
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