RTP-area local music and culture

[Bo Williams <bowilliams AT gmail.com>]

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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