Note to waitpersons
grady
grady at ibiblio.org
Mon Jan 17 10:55:50 EST 2005
Hey man, if nobody says anything, nothing will ever change.
Keep in mind that some of us still live in the South, where the notion
of a friendly helpful waiter is not utterly dead just yet.
In any case, I'm partly just curious about how this meme originated &
spread. Did everybody just simultaneously think of it, or was there some
kind of memo?
Ross
Bo Williams wrote:
> Best of luck, Mr. Quixote!
>
>
> On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 10:45:55 -0500, grady <grady at ibiblio.org> wrote:
>
>>1) I've worked in customer service for 10 years & if I'm doing something
>>wrong I expect the customer to tell me about it
>>2) I always tip well
>>3) I (unlike the other poster, I guess) will cut almost infinite slack
>>for anybody stuck waiting tables anyplace where the napkins are paper &
>>the drinkware is plastic. That's a whole different situation.
>>
>>I was speaking specifically of waitstaff at joints where the entrees are
>>in the $18-25 range and the bills can easily hit the triple-digits
>>without too much difficulty. If I'm going to buy into a system where I'm
>>willingly paying a shitload of money for food, it would be nice if the
>>waitstaff would also buy into the same system. If they don't want to
>>make change, they should go get a job at a restaurant where the customer
>>takes the money to the register himself.
>>
>>xo
>>
>>Ross
>>
>>John Iwaniszek wrote:
>>
>>>Steven Keith wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>yeah! It's been happening to me for 40 years! Those damned wait people and
>>>their self-serving ways! It's almost like they do it to piss me, alone, off.
>>>or save themselves some steps on a busy night. Or something. How thoughtless
>>>of them.
>>>
>>>Nancy Reagan was right.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>I have wanted to say this (much less thoughtfully and exceedingly less
>>>>eloquent) for 5 years. Thank you. Happened again at Elmos in Durham
>>>>Saturday morning.
>>>>
>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>From: ch-scene-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
>>>>[mailto:ch-scene-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of grady
>>>>Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 1:07 PM
>>>>To: RTP-area local music and culture
>>>>Subject: Note to waitpersons
>>>>
>>>>Hello, waitpeople. Thank you very much for carrying hot plates &
>>>>enduring abuse from the kitchen *and* the customers, and answering dumb
>>>>questions, and pretending screwups were your fault even when they
>>>>weren't.
>>>>
>>>>There is just one thing I'd like to ask of you:
>>>>
>>>>Stop asking me "do you need any change?" Just stop it. It is demeaning
>>>>to both of us.
>>>>
>>>>It makes you sound either greedy, or lazy, or both, and it implies that
>>>>I'm going to undertip you unless you put me on the spot with your
>>>>question. (by the way, I'm not; 20% has been my minimum for many years
>>>>now, and you've really got to work your ass off to be a jerk for me to
>>>>even drop you to 15%)
>>>>
>>>>I understand that waitpeople are too often overworked & burdened with
>>>>too many tables & too much to remember. However, that's the whole of the
>>>>
>>>>job. That's what being a waitperson is all about. You wouldn't walk up
>>>>to the table & say "do you need water? because I'm really busy right
>>>>now."
>>>>
>>>>Certainly if you're one of those poor bastards stuck waiting tables at a
>>>>
>>>>joint like Elmo's, where the average check is like $15 and you're
>>>>covering like 20 tables, then it's understandable that you wouldn't want
>>>>
>>>>to waste a single trip, and it might be forgivable for you to ask about
>>>>the change.
>>>>
>>>>But three times in the past 6 weeks, at three different "nice"
>>>>restaurants (as in 3.5-4 stars in all the local dining guides), with
>>>>two-person totals ranging between $55 and $115, I've been asked "Do you
>>>>need change?" It totally blows the whole illusion of
>>>>effortless-dining-experience that you & your fellow restaurant employees
>>>>
>>>>have spent the entire evening trying to maintain.
>>>>
>>>>When you tie on the apron & pick up that pad & pencil, you're pledging
>>>>yourself to help other people. You're committing to help the customers
>>>>locate & order & receive the food that's going to make them the
>>>>happiest. You're probably also committing to help the chef or owner get
>>>>rid of that terrible surplus of fennel that's clogging up the fridge,
>>>>but we don't need to talk about that, because it's your job to pretend
>>>>you're not doing that.
>>>>
>>>>One thing you're *not* doing is pledging to help yourself. For the
>>>>duration of your shift, helping yourself should be way at the bottom of
>>>>the list.
>>>>
>>>>And yet the question "do you need any change?" can only be construed as
>>>>you attempting to help yourself. It is in no way helpful to me. If I
>>>>need change, then I need change. If I don't need change, then I'm free
>>>>to get up & leave the restaurant as soon as I've put the money on the
>>>>tray, and it doesn't really matter to me what you do with any change
>>>>that might be left. Asking me whether I need change does not help you
>>>>help me in any way.
>>>>
>>>>Last night a waiter asked me that & I said "please don't ask me that,
>>>>it's terribly rude" and he stammered a bit & said something about it
>>>>being really busy, as if somehow he were too busy to perform this last
>>>>relatively minor chore & he'd prefer that we just get the fuck up out of
>>>>
>>>>our seats & get out the door and quit hassling him & his colleagues with
>>>>
>>>>our continued presence.
>>>>
>>>>I don't know where this bizarre "need change?" meme came from; I don't
>>>>really remember hearing it until 3-4 years ago. Perhaps it has gotten
>>>>worse in this age of utter credit-card dominance; I nearly always pay
>>>>with cash & perhaps it's such a novelty that even higher-end waitstaff
>>>>haven't been trained on how to behave.
>>>>
>>>>So here's the lowdown: take the money to the register. Cash out. Bring
>>>>back change that contains at least 3 ones; this means that if the change
>>>>
>>>>ends in a 5, 6, or 7, you bring 5, 6, or 7 ones, not a five and a couple
>>>>
>>>>of ones. Put the change on the table. Take this opportunity to thank the
>>>>
>>>>customers once more for coming (studies have shown, by the way that a
>>>>single final thank you has a higher impact on tip, than general good
>>>>service throughout the meal).
>>>>
>>>>Thank you,
>>>>
>>>>Ross
>>
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>>
>>
>
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