October 2009

I Thought We Had An Understandin’

October 31, 2009

in Server Stories

One night my boyfriend, my roommate and I decided to go out to dinner to a local steak and buffet restaurant. We each ordered entrées and sodas, placed the tickets on our table, and then went to the buffet line for some salads. When we returned, our tickets were still on the table. No big deal, the waitress must be busy. By the time we had finished our salads, the waitress walked by and grabbed our tickets without saying a word. She was about 5’8” (with the height from her mullet) and covered in tattoos.

After 10 minutes and no drinks, we finally flagged her down and she brought us our drinks—all wrong. We didn’t bother telling her. We waited another twenty minutes for the entrees to arrive. Without a word, she put down my boyfriend’s meal and my roommate’s meal and walked away. Ugh… okay, maybe she doesn’t know how to carry three plates, whatever. So I wait, but she didn’t return with my meal. I flagged her down as she whipped by the table and asked her if my meal was coming out. The woman grabs my arm, leans down over me, gets up right into my face and screeches, “WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHIN” SOONER? I THOUGHT YOU AND I HAD AN UNDERSTANDIN’?” My eyes grew wide as I yanked my arm from her grasp. My boyfriend jumped up at that point and asked her what the h*ll she thought she was doing. She said that we knew each other and I should have said something sooner. I’d never met this lady before in my life and I would have said something if she were around.

The manager brought out my meal, cold by that point, and never said a word to apologize. As we’re finishing our meal, the same waitress started busing the table next to ours. She knocked over a half glass of orange soda all over the table. Cursing like a sailor, she made a half hearted attempt at cleaning it up. You could still see the soda glistening on the top of the table and soda was dripping down onto the chairs. A family came and sat down but before we could warn them, their son sat in a pool of the soda. Guess they didn’t leave her a tip either.

Leaving the Ranch Hungry

FacebookShare

Tagged as: long wait, owner/manager, server, tipping

{ 3 comments }

Tableside Service Goes Up In Smoke

October 24, 2009

in Server Stories

I must admit that after a number of years in the “food service” industry, inevitably there are some “Dinners from Hell” I have been responsible for. Whether it be an accident or not, I’ve always owned up to the mistake, made it right and continued on with life. However, there is on “Dinner from Hell” that stills haunts me because of my blatant stupidity.

It was years ago when I was in Culinary school earning my degree. Part of our program was the class had to run a fine dining restaurant and cover everything from all the stations in the kitchen, to waiting/bussing, to maître d’. One of our “exams” while running the restaurant was that we had to make a flaming dessert in front of the patrons in the dining room.

My day was for the exam was approaching fast and I was nervous. So I practiced and practiced and practiced the dessert until I felt I could do it in my sleep. I later realized out that this was my downfall.

My day came and I was ready. Service went off without so much as a beverage getting below 1/2 full. Dessert service came and I rolled the portable gas burner out into the dining room with my instructor in tow with all the ingredients needed. I flip the burner on and begin preparing the dish, with my instructor explaining to the now captive audience each step of the process. As things start to get cooking, my instructor gently reminds me to slow down, but I was getting cocky. I kept thinking “This isn’t so bad! I bet I even get the highest score!”

The time came to light the dessert. Again the instructor whispered to me, “Now slow down, this isn’t a race. Make sure to hold onto the pan handle once this is lit,” as he pours Bacardi 151 into my spoon. I responded with a casual “Okay” and light the spoon with the burner flame. I touch the spoon to the contents in the pan (also doused with Bacardi) and instantly it flares up. The crowd gasps in awe. “I am AWESOME!” I think to myself as I start stirring.

That’s when I get a little too over zealous and I accidentally bump the now flaming pan and it starts to topple off the burner. I hear a rather frequent patron sitting not but 3 feet away gasp in fright as the burning dessert would certainly land, if not too close to her, then ON her. I see my instructor’s hand whip around me in the nick of time and grab the handle of the pan to stop it from spilling its contents. Everyone lets out a sigh of relief as he rights the pan and whispers to me again, “I told you to slow down and hold onto the pan.”

I was so embarrassed, and it wound up that I couldn’t stop shaking for the rest of the service, which prevented me from using my brain to make things right for the patrons. Needless to say, I did NOT get the best score for that exam, and I emerged much more humble and wiser.

FacebookShare

Tagged as: flaming dessert, server

{ 4 comments }

Server Makes A Spectacle Of Diners

October 20, 2009

in Server Stories

A couple of months ago my husband and I were out running errands and decide to meet up with some friends at a local “Mom & Pop” restaurant. These friends of ours had just ordered their lunches with their 9 month old daughter when we arrived. My husband and I decided to just order a couple of sodas and desserts as we had a big breakfast earlier in the day and we explained to the waitress that our two orders would be on a separate ticket which seemed to confuse her.

After we ordered the waitress came back and apologized saying they were out of the pecan pie I had ordered. I changed my order to some specialty chocolate cake they had without much ado. A couple moments later our waitress arrives with the Taco Salad and melon plate my friend had ordered for herself and her daughter and just placed it in front of me without a word and breezes away. Then she circles back with drink refills and the remaining orders and notices a melon rind on the floor that had been accidentally dropped by the 9 month old. She glares at the back of our friends’ heads, scoops up the rind and storms off.

When it came time to pay she brings our ticket and explains that she rang us up for the pecan pie I had ordered as it was less expensive and what I wanted in the first place, but we noticed that she charged us for our friend’s Taco Salad. We point out the mix up and she snatches the bill up and flounces off. She comes back with the new bill and my husband notices that she rang up his dessert as “a la mode” which was about a dollar more expensive, and not what he ordered. He calls her back over and explains the mistake and she proceeds to try and justify it by saying that if she would have rang up the bill with my chocolate cake and his correct dessert it would have been the same total as the bill we were currently have. My husband looks at her and says he thought she was cutting us a break on the bill because they didn’t have what I wanted. The waitress just stares back at him, snatches the bill from his hand and storms off and starts shouting across the entire restaurant “THEN I’M CHARGING YOU FULL PRICE FOR HER DESSERT!!!”

Everyone in the restaurant stares at her then at us. I was so embarrassed by the spectacle she made us into that I just wanted to leave. We promptly got up from the table and found the manager and explained what just happened. He still made us pay full price for the two sodas and the two CORRECT desserts and just said she talked to him about it so he knows what happened. I can only imagine what she actually told him. That was the first time I did not leave a tip.

FacebookShare

Tagged as: overcharged, owner/manager, server, tipping

{ 7 comments }

Loud Disabled Kid

October 16, 2009

in Diner Stories

My girlfriend and I decided to go to a local Italian restaurant that we sometimes go to eat at during our regular evening dates after work. Being in our late teens we try to spend as much time together as possible. It wasn’t my favorite restaurant but it was still okay. When we arrived it hadn’t opened yet so we had a few soft drinks in the bar before passing through to the restaurant.

The problems started almost immediately. We approached a waitress who seemed to be cowering away from us. She was definitely new and very shy from the looks of her. Instead we were taken to a table by another waitress. As we sat down into the very crammed area I heard what sounded like a shriek; I shrugged it off. But a moment later a couple with their teenage son in a wheelchair comes to sit down at the table next to us. The boy was clearly mentally damaged but he wouldn’t shut up yelling. He would constantly yell and shout and throw things around and bang on the table. I was trying to have a romantic evening with my girlfriend but this was impossible due to this shrieking disabled kid next to us.

I know I should be understanding about this but I was loosing my patience fast. When we had finished our meals the bloody kid starts throwing the menus around yelling madly. As we passed I shot the family my coldest glare which seemed to shock the mother as the parents did nothing to stop their son.

FacebookShare

Tagged as: disability, romance

{ 32 comments }