what is the worst thing a server can do to make you mad? - Page 10

I hae been in one or 2 chain type places that printed on the check is a table of % 12-15-20-25- and based on your check what the figure is.. so to help you compute tip. It does not however tell you for what type of service, good , bad, or mediocre?

Kuan.

ha!ha! Thanks you made my day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer 

I keep hearing about that practice, RP, but have never actually had it happen. Is it really common for servers to do it?

No, it's not common but has happened to me on more than one occasion. Most recently at a resto in Jersey called Sahara.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chefedb 

Every thing alright here?  Everything alright here?  everything alright here?  everything alright here?,  everything alright here?  everything alright here?

 

IF  IT  WASN'T  I  WOULD  HAVE  CALLED  YOU .

And they leave when someone else says yes and you can't because you have a mouthful of food.

1. When they walk past every table without making eye contact or looking around to see if someone wants their attention.2. Having to wait an eternity between entree and main. 3. Not being polite.

1. Going into "Lack of eye contact mode because I am rushed and want to pretend I didn't hear the please for service from my tables"

2. Touching the top/rim of any beverage.

3. Slamming plates on the table - use some grace please.

4. Not having the table ready - place setting, dirty, missing elements that are on all the other tables.

5. Not knowing how to present, open, sample or pour wine.

6. Not keeping an eye on drink levels.

7. Dirty habits/poor personal hygene or frumpy dress.

8. Not knowing the menu or anything specific about any particular item.

Some of these things just make me angry at management - for not training their people. I'll chew a FOH before I say anything to a server. That's as it should be.

9. Servers who clean or bus their own tables. Bus and Wait staff need to be different people.

10. Bus staff that roams around pouring water/tea/whatever - They usually touch rim of glass as well. Servers serve - Bussers BUS!

For me,

1. I hate waiting too long to get my order.

2. Asking to much while eating.

3. Taking a long time to get refilled.

4. Arguing 

"Go ahead and put my drink on the table with your fingers on the rim of the glass. Go ahead.....and see what happens. I GUARANTEE it will be the last time you do."

Hey cactusdr. I'm curious. Are you "GUARANTEEING" that it's the last time the server would put anything on "your" table, or are you of the idea that you would get them fired? I'm not looking for a fire-fight, I'm just curious about the true outcome that you are speaking of. TIA for a response. 

I've trained waitstaff, ad-hoc, while on vacation. Was in a hotel dining room and ordered wine - the server comes with wine and plops it on the table. Then fumbles for an opener from her apron.. Obviously not sure what to do...

I said "Stop, please... Do you know how to serve wine?" She said "No, they don't teach us that."

I told her not to worry or feel like she had done anything wrong, but I wanted to talk to the FOH Manager.

He comes to the table, and with all candor, told me he didn't really know how to do it either, but expected his servers to know, so it had not been addressed. (OMG?)

We had training with trooper that night. The manager, an assistant and six or seven servers - Mostly the whole wait staff - eagerly watching me and asking questions.

The next night I came down to eat, ordered a bottle of wine, and another server was wide-eyed and proud to service the presentation.

She said her, and her peers tip ratio had gone up considerably on wine tables, and much thanks to me. The Manager comped my meal and costed my wine... everyone wins.

My dear mother was a "server" (waitress) for 30 years. Take her out to eat and see what happens if a server fingers the rim of a glass or plops-down your plate with no grace.... Ka-Boom! Angry 74/yr-old grandma wrath.

I'm picky, but I always ask; were you trained? I don't know how some of these FOH/Dining Room "Managers" get their jobs. TRAIN YOUR STAFF!!!!!

No argument with your basic points, Trooper. The foh manager should not only train his/her staff, but constantly be monitoring them, on the look out for ways to improve their performance. As you note, however, it's a wonder that some of them keep their own jobs. But it quickly becomes evident why the servers aren't knowledgeable. If the manager doesn't know what he/she is doing, how can the servers learn?

Where we disagree is this: When I go out to eat I go out to enjoy the experience. I want to savor the food, and the ambience, and the company I'm with. It isn't my job to train the staff. If they can't do something as simple as serving the wine, or describing the menu items, then I've had poor service. Why should I reward it with a large tip? Or take away from my own experience (and invest the time) doing what somebody else is paid to do?

As an aside, if I were dining with friends or family, and stopped to perform a tutorial, they'd wonder who I was showing off for. And they'd be justified in that attitude.

We also differ in expectations. Using your example: The server obviously knew she didn't know how to open and serve the wine. Why didn't she do something about it? Obviously, she never asked her manager for instructions. To me that reflects not only a lack of training, but a lack of caring. True, in this case the foh manager wouldn't have been able to help. But she didn't know that. She just couldn't be bothered to ask.

The server's attitude and the manager's attitude were positive ones. However they were hired was not known to me, but their willingness to learn was. The context of what was going on wasn't to grace the world, the staff or my company with my amazing service skills. I asked if they wanted help, and they did. No harm done.

Generally I am focused on the management, not so much the server, when there are major training gaps. A server with a bad attitude or sub-standard health/dress issues is a different matter.

I'm fairly tolerant, at least I like to convince myself of that, but what really sends me over the edge is when waitstaff takes my iced tea glass away for a refill and either doesn't return or returns with a glass that doesn't look like the one I was drinking from.  Grrrrrr.

Excuse my english.

Im mostly very overlooking, but there has been a few times where I could not keep my tolerance.

My fiancee is kind of a small eater but she's been taught when she grew up that it's bad manners to leave an unfinished plate, so she has this habbit of just puting her napkin over what's left if she can't finish it when she's at a restaurant. The most recent time we went out to dinner and we had finished our meal the waitress lifted her napkin, looked at her and asked "Did you not enjoy your meal?" 

Once I was served a broken bearnaise sauce - I politly made the waiter awair of this and he replied with a condescending smirk and said "That's how it's suppose to be when it's homemade"

When I was managing a restaurant, the worst thing I ever saw a server do was pour the undertaker a cup of coffee, set the pot on his table, and drop dead. Sure cleared the restaurant fast!

I have patiently read all of the comments left so far on what makes everyone angry about service, and it begs the question...."what kind of restaurant WOULD you put up with aforementioned behavior?"

Would you go to Applebies and allow a server to handle your drink glass by the rim?

Would you tolerate a cook to undercook/overcook your steak at TGIFridays?

Would you allow a server at Denny's to clean a table with bleach water right next to where you are dining or run a vacuum when you are having dinner?

The answer is obvious....no to all....right?

Yet in all cases it is either the careless attitude of the person who makes the mistake or the fact that manglement never took the time to train said employee.

As professionals in the industry, we have all had our share of experiences, as talked about in these past few forum threads. It makes one wonder just how hard it is to truly serve or cook.

People will say the waitering is easy, but we know otherwise.

Cooking is a noble profession yet there are quite a few "shoemakers" out there......no?

At the end of the day, when all is said and done it comes down to the employee and how motivated and trained they are.

All across this great country of ours you have diners, cafes, university food services, prison commissaries, fast food, and fine dining etc.....all depending on the quality service of its' employees.

Sure.....some are dives yet even the most innocuous places can be a delightful place to have a great dining experience.

It's the employee that determines our experiences.

This is great......

In your best Chinese American accent......

"YOOOOOOOOOOO Lika yo foooooooooooooooooooood?

Gooooooooooooooooood

You pay you bill you get owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!"

Well, KY, Trooper made the world a slightly better place by performing his impromptu training. I would much rather be around people like that than selfish ones.

So let me understand you correctly, Lyle.

I go out to dine at a fine restaurant, pay a large fee for the priviledge, and am selfish if I expect the staff to be trained? Self-centered if I don't take time away from my friends and family to train the staff?

I reckon you and I have different definitions of selfish.

But then again, I'm not a consultant, always on the prowl for new contracts either.

Actually, I was not characterizing you as selfish, KY, just characterizing Trooper as the opposite of selfish. I was unaware that he or she might have had any other motivation beyond being helpful.

Not listen to what I order.

That has happened to me so many times.  I once asked for a substitution. I wanted grilled chicken instead of the chicken salad which came with my meal.  The waiter brought the chicken salad instead.  When I told him I ordered the grilled chicken, he took my plate away and did not return it until everyone in my dinner party had finished their meal.  The grilled chicken was seasoned with such heavy spice, my eyes teared.  I held back coughs as  I swallowed the food before me. I didn't say anything to him or anyone else but I knew it was purposeful. This happened in an Outback, a place which usually gives friendly service so I didn't want to complain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by C0Ok 

Huge serrated steak knives.....:mad:
Being treated like I'm cheap and won't tip well because I'm 19. Just because I'm a kid does not mean I'm an idiot. I always tip very well.

I hear ya! f gratuity.

I absolutely hate rude waiters! Wtf are you being rude for? your probably making sick money and "working hard?" no "Hardly working." And as far as tipping if your bad 10% if that, if you are rarely at my table but i have no need for you 20% And if you make me feel comfortable and are willing to politely answer my questions i tip 50% and up. I think a tip is absolutely my choice and dependent on the service i receive. I hate it when our servers bitch about their tip and or get mad at the people because of their tip. 1 work harder and be more polite and I'm sure you ll get tipped better 2 you being upset its gonna help your tip next time... If there is a next time! And i want them coming back! lol 3 no one looks at tips like you do. most people say oh 20% unless your horrible. 4 maybe that's all the cash they had maybe they are tight on money.

I have fought with many a server over tips. haha And some think they work harder than us chefs!  WHA!! HA!!!!!! I mean really..

"your probably making sick money and "working hard?" no "Hardly working."  "

"haha And some think they work harder than us chefs!  WHA!! HA!!!!!! I mean really.. "

THIS is the attitude that p!$$es me off. Take off your whites, and go bust hump in the front of the house for a few nights... it'll make you a much better cook. Also, when you become a chef, you can use the term "us chefs". I don't usually take anyone to task over the "Chef vs cook" thing... but here, it seems appropriate.

Serving is hard work. Hard, stressful work. Your lack of respect will come through in your relationships with your servers, and it will make your job far more difficult than it needs to be. I have bartended, bussed, served, managed, washed dishes... and if you care to know, I would much rather be cooking in the kitchen than any other position... less stress, less headaches, less B.S. I have nothing but respect for the work servers do... and my servers know it. It makes a difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrairieChef 

Serving is hard work. Hard, stressful work. Your lack of respect will come through in your relationships with your servers, and it will make your job far more difficult than it needs to be. I have bartended, bussed, served, managed, washed dishes... and if you care to know, I would much rather be cooking in the kitchen than any other position... less stress, less headaches, less B.S. I have nothing but respect for the work servers do... and my servers know it. It makes a difference.

Thank you Prarie, couldn't have said it better.

LOL. I'm pretty sure I had a post here somewhere?

Here post, post, post! ..... Little posty post! ............... Here posty post, post, post!

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceMan 

LOL. I'm pretty sure I had a post here somewhere?

 

 

Here post, post, post! ..... Little posty post! ............... Here posty post, post, post!

My bad, does it come up now?

It was showing up blank on FireFox (so I deleted it), but I see it shows up on another browser (so I undeleted it).
 

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. 

.................... Now back to your regularly scheduled program. 

Nothing bothers me too much as long as they are trying. But I have to admit, I don't really like it when a Server comes up to my table for the first time and asks me "how are "WE" doing today"?

It's not going to effect their tip, but I can't answer how he or she is doing. I can tell him or her how "I'm" doing, but that's it.

Asking how "we" are doing sounds too scripted I guess.