RTP-area local music and culture

[John Iwaniszek <not AT hotmail.com>]

Maybe something about you is canceling out their mind-reading abilities and 
your (reputed) tendency towards generosity is not getting through.  Maybe a 
change in colognes is in order?


grady 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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