Over a month since the last update?! My bad.
Table 21
A party of six LARP players (including two elves, ears and all!) came in and took nearly five minutes to sit down (they had to figure out how the two enemy parties would be able to share a table, seriously I overheard them discussing it). When I asked about drinks, most ordered normally, but the fifth guy asked, "Have ye mead, wench?" I replied, "Sir, I understand if you're in a game, but don't call me wench. We do have beer if that's what you're referring to." "I'll just have a coke." They ordered and ate nearly without incident, though at one point the mead guy stood up and took out his "sword" (painted cardboard) and knelt beside a chubby elf and offered it to her. She declined and he took his seat. Their bill came out to $95 and I learned that though they ordered modern beverages and ate mexican food, tipping isn't allowed in their game. Yep, not even a shiny florin. Bastards.
Table 6 (most annoying table in a LONG time)
Two older black ladies sat down just as we were starting to get a little busy.
Me: "Good evening ladies, could I get you started with some drinks?"
Lady A: "Honey, we just sat ourselves down."
Lady B: "I know I want a decaf coffee."
Lady A: "You don't know what you're eating. How do you know you want a coffee?"
Lady B: "I don't need to know. Coffee goes with anything."
Lady A: "Oh, hell no it don't."
Me: "Okay, I'll get your coffee and just grab a water for you, until you decide what you'd like to eat."
Lady B: "Not coffee, decaf."
Lady A: "Oooh, girl don't try rushin me, bringing me water won't make me decide any faster."
Lady B: "DECAF."
Me: "Yes, decaf. Got it. Be right back."
I get table 7's drink order, and come back to Table 6 with the decaf and drinks for table 7 (which is my next stop)
Lady A: "We didn't order all this!"
Lady B: "This don't taste like decaf."
Me: "I assure you it's decaf, and these are for another table."
Lady A: "I thought you said you was bringing us water?"
Me: "I thought you'd said you didn't want any water, I'm sorry. I'll bring you some just after I drop these off."
Lady A: Can't you get it now? Or are they more important than we are?"
Me: "Ma'am. It's not a matter or more important, it'd just be more conveinent. It will only take a minute. I will be right back"
Lady B: "And I need some decaf coffee. This ain't decaf."
I drop off table 7's drinks and get their order. I go to the computer, put in their order, grab the pot of decaf, a clean cup, a carafe of water and make my way back to Table 6.
I pour the decaf in the new cup for Lady B. She takes a drink and says, "This tastes just like that first cup."
"Yes, ma'am, that's because the first cup was decaf. Are you ladies ready to order?" (Table 8 and Table 22 get sat)
Lady A: "Do you use real eggs?"
Me. "Yes, unless you specifically ask for egg beaters we use real eggs."
Lady A: "How 'bout your bacon?"
Me: "Absolutely real bacon." (I've never heard of artificial bacon)
Lady A: "Hmm...I don't want breakfast."
Me: "If you're not ready, I can come back in just a minute."
Lady B: "No, it's not that we're not ready, your menu is just too big."
Me: "Okay, what can I get for you?"
Lady A: "Is your green chili hot?"
Me: "I don't think it's hot, but it's definitely spicy. Want me to go grab you a sample?"
Lady B: "No, that's okay. Are these hot dogs all beef?"
Me: "Yes"
Lady B: "Oh, I don't like that. You have so much but you don't have a monte cristo?"
Me: "No, we don't. Ladies, I'm sorry, I'll be back to answer more questions in a minute, but I was just paged that I have food up. I really do have to go. I'll be right back."
(The above took nearly ten minutes...there were many, many more questions they'd asked)
I took out table 7's food, got drink orders, drinks and food orders for tables 8 and 22 then went back to Table6.
Me: "Sorry about the wait ladies. Did that give you enough time to decide on dinner?"
Five more minutes of questions...Table 21 gets sat.
Finally, just as I was going to make up any excuse to get away, they order.
Lady A gets Chicken Fried Steak, salad with Ranch, A loaded Baked Potato and lady B gets a slice of chocolate cake.
I put in their order, take food out to tables 8 and 22, drop off 7's check, drop off Table 6's salad, take 21's order, check on 8 & 22, table 7 gets sat again, I get their drinks and then I have to go back to Table 6.
Lady A: "How come you just bringing out our food when these people *points to table 22* got here after us and they already been eating for 5 minutes?"
Me: "They were ready to order sooner. Do you need anything to go with this right now?"
Lady B: "I need a menu, I think I'm going to have dinner after all."
Okay, I just really how much I've written but I think you get the point. It takes Lady B another 20 minutes to order. As soon as she does order, Lady A decideds she wants dessert, then their crazy Jamaican friend joins them, takes 20 minutes to order. Then they decide to get three dinners to go. All in all, they were there for just over two hours, they asked probably 150 questions, ordered six dinners, three desserts, two beverages, used seven silverware set-ups (that was mostly on the Jamaican guy) and tipped me $1.25.
Saturday
Sunday
On December 2 the Rocky Mountain News ran a feature article concerning server and diner complaints regarding each other.
The Diner POV
The Server POV
My favorite diner complaint "I don't like waiters touching my napkin when I go to the restroom." How does the person know that their server has touched their napkin?
After I'd read the article, there was an older gentleman sitting alone in my section. He'd left the table to use the restroom...and I walked over, placed his bill on the table and touched his napkin. He hadn't used it (that I could tell) and I just kinda poked it, but for the rest of the night I felt as if I'd done something wonderfully subversive and gotten away with it.
Amusing moment from tonight: Table 10
Two horribly annoying women "reserved" a table in my section then sat at the bar to wait for their friend. My manager wouldn't let me give away their booth, even though they weren't sitting at it nor were they ordering anything at the bar. Effectively losing seats in my section and another servers section. But you know, we aren't there to make money or anything. Eventually their friend made it in and they all sat at Table 10.
The Nice One listened while I told her the choices that came with the sandwiches and ordered without incident.
The Bitchy One made me repeat everything I'd told the nice one, asked if I could make a Guac Burger with a chicken breast instead of a burger, rolled her eyes when i told her we actually already had that on the menu and I'd be more than happy to get it for her and ordered breakfast instead.
The Crazy One asked if we had avocados. I told her that we did. She asked if I could give her a whole one. I told her I could. Then she asked, "What would you expect me to do with a whole avocado?" I told her I wasn't quite sure, but I guessed she would eat it. She looked at me like I was crazy for saying such a thing...then she said nothing at all. I asked her if she'd like another minute with the menu and she said, "No. I was just waiting for you to take my order." I was starting to loose my patience...just a little and I replied, "I'm sorry, I can't take your order if you don't tell me what you'd like. It's been a long week and all of my psychic abilitlies are drained." I laughed when I said it and her friends laughed with me. She just stared. Then she ordered a chicken sandwich with avocado slices. Not wanting to repeat the sandwich sides a third time, I asked, "Did you want to do the fries with that?" And she asked, "What else can I get instead?" "Mashed potatoes, baked potato, cottage cheese, fresh fruit or a cup of soup." (An amended list, but covering all the basics.)
She looked me right in the eye and said, "Is your fresh fruit from a can?"
I was stunned into silence.
"No, ma'am. Our fresh fruit is. Fresh. Fruit."
When I was back in the servers line I laughed maniacally for about five minutes.
It was that funny to me.
The Diner POV
The Server POV
My favorite diner complaint "I don't like waiters touching my napkin when I go to the restroom." How does the person know that their server has touched their napkin?
After I'd read the article, there was an older gentleman sitting alone in my section. He'd left the table to use the restroom...and I walked over, placed his bill on the table and touched his napkin. He hadn't used it (that I could tell) and I just kinda poked it, but for the rest of the night I felt as if I'd done something wonderfully subversive and gotten away with it.
Amusing moment from tonight: Table 10
Two horribly annoying women "reserved" a table in my section then sat at the bar to wait for their friend. My manager wouldn't let me give away their booth, even though they weren't sitting at it nor were they ordering anything at the bar. Effectively losing seats in my section and another servers section. But you know, we aren't there to make money or anything. Eventually their friend made it in and they all sat at Table 10.
The Nice One listened while I told her the choices that came with the sandwiches and ordered without incident.
The Bitchy One made me repeat everything I'd told the nice one, asked if I could make a Guac Burger with a chicken breast instead of a burger, rolled her eyes when i told her we actually already had that on the menu and I'd be more than happy to get it for her and ordered breakfast instead.
The Crazy One asked if we had avocados. I told her that we did. She asked if I could give her a whole one. I told her I could. Then she asked, "What would you expect me to do with a whole avocado?" I told her I wasn't quite sure, but I guessed she would eat it. She looked at me like I was crazy for saying such a thing...then she said nothing at all. I asked her if she'd like another minute with the menu and she said, "No. I was just waiting for you to take my order." I was starting to loose my patience...just a little and I replied, "I'm sorry, I can't take your order if you don't tell me what you'd like. It's been a long week and all of my psychic abilitlies are drained." I laughed when I said it and her friends laughed with me. She just stared. Then she ordered a chicken sandwich with avocado slices. Not wanting to repeat the sandwich sides a third time, I asked, "Did you want to do the fries with that?" And she asked, "What else can I get instead?" "Mashed potatoes, baked potato, cottage cheese, fresh fruit or a cup of soup." (An amended list, but covering all the basics.)
She looked me right in the eye and said, "Is your fresh fruit from a can?"
I was stunned into silence.
"No, ma'am. Our fresh fruit is. Fresh. Fruit."
When I was back in the servers line I laughed maniacally for about five minutes.
It was that funny to me.
Thursday
Table 66 (not my table, but story told w/permission)
Table 66 ordered hot tea (six bags), a carafe of water, a bowl of lemons and two cups with ice so that they could make thier own iced tea. A normal order of hot tea comes with two tea bags. Their server asked a manager how she should charge for this and the manager said, charge them for three hot teas. Table 66 then ordered two Ribeye and Eggs, well done steaks and over lite (super runny) eggs...and they asked for the cooks to cut their steaks for them. Let me repeat that one for you. Two healthy, grown people asked for the cooks, on a busy Sunday morning, to cut their steaks for them. They were both able to see, neither had casts on their hands.
Their server told them, "I don't think we can do that for you, but I'll check with the cooks." She rolled her eyes when they couldn't see her anymore...and told the manager what they'd just asked her...because she wanted to share the funniness. And the manager said, "Okay, I'll get the cooks to do it."
When their food came out, Table 66 complained that their steaks were over-cooked and that their eggs were too runny. When they got to the register, they complained that they were charged for three hot teas when they'd only ordered one. A different manager was up there than the manager who'd said to charge Table 66 for three teas, so she took off two off the hot teas and gave them a discount for their steaks being too tough and their eggs too runny.
Then they complained that their server had been "nothing but unhelpful. She didn't get us anything we asked her for. It was like we had to serve ourselves." I guess making up stuff about their server made them feel better for not tipping her.
I was so happy they hadn't been my table.
Today is also the one year anniversary of my bitching about being a waitress. Happy Birthday little blog!! :-)
Table 66 ordered hot tea (six bags), a carafe of water, a bowl of lemons and two cups with ice so that they could make thier own iced tea. A normal order of hot tea comes with two tea bags. Their server asked a manager how she should charge for this and the manager said, charge them for three hot teas. Table 66 then ordered two Ribeye and Eggs, well done steaks and over lite (super runny) eggs...and they asked for the cooks to cut their steaks for them. Let me repeat that one for you. Two healthy, grown people asked for the cooks, on a busy Sunday morning, to cut their steaks for them. They were both able to see, neither had casts on their hands.
Their server told them, "I don't think we can do that for you, but I'll check with the cooks." She rolled her eyes when they couldn't see her anymore...and told the manager what they'd just asked her...because she wanted to share the funniness. And the manager said, "Okay, I'll get the cooks to do it."
When their food came out, Table 66 complained that their steaks were over-cooked and that their eggs were too runny. When they got to the register, they complained that they were charged for three hot teas when they'd only ordered one. A different manager was up there than the manager who'd said to charge Table 66 for three teas, so she took off two off the hot teas and gave them a discount for their steaks being too tough and their eggs too runny.
Then they complained that their server had been "nothing but unhelpful. She didn't get us anything we asked her for. It was like we had to serve ourselves." I guess making up stuff about their server made them feel better for not tipping her.
I was so happy they hadn't been my table.
Today is also the one year anniversary of my bitching about being a waitress. Happy Birthday little blog!! :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)