What Are You Going To Do About It????

This is another episode of customers that never cease to amaze me....

The other night a table was seated in one of our semi-private banquet halls. To set the stage for my readers , the hall has eleven tables and a private service bar on one end of the room. It was the first table that was seated in this banquet room, so everything that this one ridiculous lady said was totally amplified. As the lucky server approached the table with his customary breadboard, the lady blurted out "Well we'd BETTER get great service....YOU sat us in the service station!". As I observed this from the other side of the banquet room I thought to myself that the lucky server---Jason---was going to have a riot serving this table.

It is one thing to have a bad experience during your meal to make you a sour puss, but to have the sour puss attitude before your server even gets to the table is never a good sign! After Jason was finally able to say his customary schpiel "Hi, welcome to 'The Fire' (not so secret code name for the restaurant I work at), have you ever dined with us before.....?" he introduced the nightly specials and got a drink order. As he left the table and was walking towards my side of the room, I saw the pain on his face..... Funny how ONE individuals rudeness and ignorance can ruin your night, or at least start it off on the wrong foot!

I didn't have any tables at this point, so I was watching this woman's antics with great amusement (although I felt bad for Jason). Like a train wreck or a bad reality television show, I couldn't stop watching this crazy lady. This woman went on that "I can't believe a restaurant like THE FIRE would seat us here....". I thought "Seat you HERE? Lady, you are sitting near a service bar, not the crapper!".

I finally got my first table, so I went for my breadboard and greeted my table. After doing my specials recital and getting a drink order, I waltzed across the dance floor to the service bar to get my drinks. As I was getting my limes for the Grey Goose and tonic a barback came by and filled the service bars ice tray with two buckets of ice. This lady sat there with her jaw dropped like somebody had hurled a nasty comment her way. "Can you believe THAT?????" she asked in astonishment. At this point I would like to add that nobody else in her party had been upset about the seating of their party, or about a busboy filling ice or anything like that. In fact, they all seemed embarrassed about her behavior and comments---although somehow I thought this wasn't her debut at the "crusty and cranky pain in the ass" classification.

I got fairly busy with my station filling up, so I didn't see too much more of this pleasant lady until her party was leaving. She cornered the poor little hostess in the narrow hallway of the banquet room and read her the riot act. It started with "How could you seat us there???" and covered every little incident until they left the table. The poor little hostess was near tears with the verbal attack. I always felt it showed total lack of character to scream and yell at a 19 year old hostess, but I guess we all know this lady was something.....special!

The hostess told the manager the story, and I interjected that I saw the whole thing start to finish and this lady was a complete piece of work. She was miserable from the moment her party was sat in the banquet room. From that point on it all went downhill.

About an hour later this rabid lady called the restaurant and asked for the manager. As the manager answered the line and asked her how he could help her, she sneered, "I'm f-ing pissed!". The manager said there was no need for that kind of language, and the crazy lady agreed. She went on about the terrible tale of her visit to THE FIRE. At the point in her story where the busboy filled the ice trays she added, "My 70 year old mother ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK WITH THE NOISE!!!!". I didn't notice Bubby clutching her chest or fainting.....

Then she asked the manager the ultimate question: "What are you going to do about it?". The manager answered that THE FIRE was rated number one by Zagat's, and in the review it even said it was a loud environment. I guess that wasn't too much of a consideration compared to the taste of the food and the value of the restaurant as our restaurant is voted number one. He replied he wasn't going to give her anything (i.e. the gift certificates this verbally abusive customer was trying to get).

Surprisingly, the lady didn't like his answer (LOL). The manager told her to call back the next day and ask for the general manager. Amen.

I always felt the "What are you going to do about it?" was a bully tactic that was used in a cowardly manner. I say bully because they are trying to extort or extract something for nothing. I saw cowardly because she is sitting there as the customer, and we all know the golden rule of customer service---The Customer Is Always Right. She is banking on that principle, but comping the entire meal is not the answer. It was also cowardly because she didn't talk to the manager right there at the restaurant. She probably went home and sank two martini's or a carafe of red wine to summon up the courage to tear someone a new one!

My thoughts? She should have said "NO WAY!" to the hostess when they tried to show her party to the table. Restaurants are reasonable and would have no problem seating her party somewhere else. Remember restaurants are there to service you. If you don't like a table, say something immediately, or forever hold your peace. I'm sure this crazy ladies family was embarrassed by her childish behavior and the way she kept going on about the terrible seat location, and the noise and the service bar...

Early Bird Special

Ok, here's another sore subject with food servers around the globe..... People abusing or taking advantage of early bird specials.

What is an "early bird special"? An early bird special is something that is designed to generate business in typically non-busy hours. Generally the peak hours for dinner are somewhere between 6PM and 8PM. The restaurant I used to work at had an early bird special from 4:30PM-6PM SHARP! It would never cease to amaze me how many people would get there at 6:15 or 7PM and DEMAND the same special price.

LOOK! If a special goes from 4:30 until 6PM, then you don't get it at 6:15, or 7, or 8.... Also, if you are an incompletely seated party that is seated before 6PM, then that doesn't give the rest of your party carte blanche to show up at 6:30 or whenever and expect to get the special. For that matter, the excuse "We were WAITING for a table" doesn't fly either---early bird is called EARLY for a reason! And if the "special" comes with a free dessert, then DON'T ASK for a second free dessert or cup of coffee because you are sharing the special!

Last gripe about the early bird...... If the special is a Monday night special, then don't ask for it on Tues or Wed or Sat! I swear one customer went BALLISTIC that there was a sign that suggested the Monday night king crab special and he insisted they offer it to him on Tues night because he saw it on the sign!!! Unbelievable people...........

Gift Certificate HELL!

Greetings to all, I just wanted to vent a little bit about a very touchy subject in the food server industry.....the gift certificate.

First of all, before you go out on a Saturday night to your favorite restaurant with your trusty gift certificate it is critical that you READ THE GIFT CERTIFICATE RULES AND LIMITATIONS.

Is it good on a Saturday night (or Friday night, or whatever day you are thinking of redeeming it)? A lot of restaurants have certain times and days where the gift certificate is valid. Others may say "Saturday when seated before 4PM".

Does the gift certificate expire, and has it expired? A lot of restaurants will still honor expired gift certificates, but CALL IN ADVANCE TO FIND OUT---don't leave it to chance that some restaurant will still honor the Gift Certificate. You could put yourself in an embarassing situation with the management, and your own family or guests.

Can this gift certificate be combined with other offers? If you are intending on redeeming a gift certificate AND using a "2 for 1" coupon you found in your local paper, make sure there aren't any limits on the gift cert. or on the coupon that prohibit them from being used together.

Oh, and don't blame the food server if you cannot use your "buy one get one free" promotion with your 20% off coupon or gift certificate.....

When using a gift certificate you should tip ON THE FULL AMOUNT of the check. If the check is $100 and you present the food server with a $50 gift certificate, don't leave the poor server $7.50. This is NOT a 15% tip....this is a lowly 7.5% tip. And the food server pays the restaurant tip share BASED ON THE ENTIRE AMOUNT OF THE CHECK, NOT THE DISCOUNTED AMOUNT.

Know limits on the gift card regarding getting change back, or if the gift certificate has no cash value. Gift certificates sold for money usually DO get change back. Gift certificates generated for a promotion or donated to charity (to be sold at auctions) or sent as an "OOOOOOOPS, I'M SORRY" from the restaurant typically DO NOT get change back.

What does this mean? If the check is $35 and the customer gives you a $50 gift certificate, a gift certificate with a cash balance (that DOES get change back) gets $15, or can use that for the gratuity. If the same $35 check redeems a gift cert. that does NOT get change back, the gift certificate is worth only $35----no change and the balance does not get carried over for a tip.

PLEASE read these little guidelines and remember them the next time you whip out a gift certificate. Your food server works very hard for their money, and when you stiff them on a gift certificate transaction you are depriving them of their earnings.

Peace out!

How Much Is Enough?

Ok. Let's be reasonable here. I am a food server at a restaurant in the North Shore of Chicago, IL, and I am never amazed at the kind of things people will pick to complain about, and to what extent. I can appreciate complaining for poor quality of food, for poor service or maybe not being seated promptly when your reservation was made. But some things are borderline absurd. Consider:

Some lady actually wrote a three page long complaint letter to the managers. The complaint? The server placed her glass of Merlot on a cocktail napkin!!!!! She reasoned and complained that now she couldn't swirl her wine glass to let it "breathe". She was upset and her night was absolutely ruined.

My answer? GET A CLUE LADY! First of all, anybody who has time to write a THREE PAGE COMPLAINT obviously has too much time on their hands, or is deeply disturbed, or a combination of "A" and "B". Next time, suck it up and take the glass of wine off the cocktail napkin. Can you imagine all the wasted time that went into this ladies letter, the time the managers had to dedicate to address this horrible injustice, and the time it took to send this lady a sincere, heartfelt apology for RUINING HER EVENING?

Can you believe this?