Soooo I'm sick and tired of customers telling me that I'm wrong about the menu. Listen up people... I work here 20-30 hours a week. This restaurant is my home away from home. If I say we don't serve coleslaw, we don't serve coleslaw. I'm not trying to deprive you of your coleslaw needs, we just DON'T HAVE IT! I would love nothing more than to make everything you want magically appear, but I unfortunately do not have those powers.
Until next week's rant,
Maureen
Posted: November 16, 2009 10:53 pm | 0 comments
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A friend of mine who also works in a restaurant sent me this and I thought it was only appropriate to share with my blog readers. It made me happy to know that this happens in other restaurants, not just mine. This happens way too often.
"A dozen identical Northeastern girls arrive in the middle of a rush without calling ahead and expect to be seated together in a decent amount of time:
'yeah, um can i have a honey crisp salad with no macaroni'
'can i have mine with no pepper and no tomato'
'can i have mine just like hers, but with no tomato'
'can i have a honey crisp chicken salad with grilled chicken??'
'can i have it extra dressing and an extra breadstick, please?'
...add nauseum."
To all my fellow servers who also experience this: May the force be with you.
Always serving people with a [fake] smile,
Maureen Azor
Posted: November 9, 2009 9:25 pm | 1 comment
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So basically as a server, your job is to sell not only the food, but yourself. The more charming you are the more your table will like you. Its basically a legal and, well, wholesome form of prostitution. So at what point do servers realize they've mastered the art, you ask? Simple answer: Numbers. These numbers include high tips and/or 7 digits. If your table has left you more than a 20% tip, you sold yourself well. If someone at your table has left you their number, well thats kinda creepy, but you have indeed sold yourself well. Good tips and phone numbers are where servers get their confidence. I've seen many a server bummed out due to crappy tips and even not getting a phone number in a while (seriously, I'm not even kidding). So when our managers say "SELL SELL SELL," they mean "Sell the food and yourselves so the company can make more money." Yes readers, prostitution is, in fact, legal.
You can find me on the corner of _____ and Huntington
(Only hint I'm giving you as to ... more »
Posted: November 5, 2009 10:35 am | 0 comments
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Dear Inebriated Bar Regular,
I am cutting you off. I'm not the bartender, so I technically don't have that power, but I'm doing it anyway. Although I can appreciate the fact that you are a dedicated customer, I don't appreciate your drunken a cappella version of Total Eclipse of the Heart. I'm gonna go ahead and say that my tables don't appreciate it either. Your pubic intoxication is worse than that of a person on their 21st birthday. You should be embarrassed that this happens almost every night. Please do us all a favor and go home. A half hour after last call, which happens to be closing time, should not be when you decide to start a heart-to-heart with our bartender. It should be the time when you grab a bottle of water and hop into a cab.
Warm Regards,
Maureen "The Customer is Never Right" Azor
Posted: October 27, 2009 10:53 am | 0 comments
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Before I became the wonderful waitress that I am today I worked as a host. Its a pretty frustrating job if the restaurant you work in gets really busy and/or the customers are mean/picky. So I thought I'd share a few pointers to my fellow hosts to distract customers when it gets extremely busy. Cause if they're distracted, they probably are too busy to get upset with you.
In order to cut down on the wait for a table, hosts should be encouraged to:
-Flash a shiny object to give the impression of less time spent waiting by distracting the elderly, children, and weaker-of-mind.
-For the remaining guests, the host staff should engage in either far left or right political conversations that will obviously never end. Throw the topic of religion out there if you're feeling frisky.
For those hosts who prefer less controversy:
-Explain in great detail the drink menu, the food menu, and why, even though the drinks are listed in the food menu, there's a separate menu for both.
-Or stroll down me ... more »
Posted: October 22, 2009 9:04 am | 0 comments
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One of the many annoyances I've attained while serving is customers who can't be bothered by their servers. I just LOVE going to a table and getting the cold shoulder. Better yet, I just LOVE when I go to a table and get death stares. Fun Fact: In order to serve you, we actually have to interact. God forbid a customer just give me their drink and food order without getting annoyed at me for interrupting their conversation. By all means, if you want to go grab your own food from the kitchen, please do. It would save me some time and effort and I would not have to deal with any sass. If you didn't want to be interrupted by your server, you should've gone home and made your own lunch/dinner. Do not stare at me like I have two heads and do not ignore me when I'm just trying to help you out and get you fed. My job is literally to serve you, and if you don't want me to do that then I don't know why either of us are here.
Firmly Believing that the Customer is Never Right,
Maureen
Posted: October 15, 2009 3:57 am | 0 comments
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A friend of mine who is also a server recently sent me this picture.
Fortunately, this has never happened to me, but I have heard of it happening to some of my co-workers. Fun Fact: Incorrect math on a receipt is NOT COOL. No one wants to pay for a meal that they did not eat. Your server is supposed to get paid for serving you, not pay to serve you. So please world- when signing a credit card receipt do the right math and when paying in cash leave the right amount. Simply double-checking your math could keep your server from having a conniption.
Stopping Hunger One Customer at a Time,
Maureen
Posted: October 4, 2009 3:03 pm | 0 comments
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My number one pet peeve about working in a restaurant (aside from bad tips) is being rushed. If you only have 20 minutes to eat, why in the world would you choose to go to a sit-down restaurant? According to my training it takes 2 minutes for me to greet a customer, 4 minutes to get drinks, 6 minutes to get an order in, and the actual preparation of food takes 15 minutes at least. By the time the food comes out it will have been 27 minutes. It is not my fault if food does not come within the time frame of 10 minutes, in fact it is nearly impossible.
What is even worse is when someone orders something like a well done steak and expects it out in 10 minutes. Fun fact: If you want a well done steak out in 10 minutes it is called a rare steak. One can not get upset when an extra well done burger does not come out in 15 minutes. It is not realistic, nor is the time frame that was allotted to eat dinner before going to a movie/concert/appointment. It takes at least 45 minutes to have a g ... more »
Posted: September 29, 2009 10:51 am | 2 comments
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The restaurant biz is booming right now and in preparation for the season the we staff members will be changing the way we do things...
Note to all staff members:
With school back in session and the shows in the area back in season it is safe to say that we have officially hit the fall rush. Our restaurant is getting busier every second and in order to prepare for the season we are undergoing some new changes.
We're rolling out a new green system, spun under the working title of "Self Sufficiency and Water Conservation." This new system will see our guests eating sides, small salads, and soups from their cupped bare hands while we wait for clean side plates. It is expected to make the dining experience an "earthier" one that today's environmentally conscious consumer will be sure to appreciate!
In a similar program, select restaurants are testing out a "Communal Beverage" experience. This will consist of a pitcher [per 3 guests] of pepsi product with 24" bendy straws, to cut down on ... more »
Posted: September 23, 2009 11:24 am | 0 comments
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I think its safe to say that most of us have been out to eat at restaurants, but not all of us have had the pleasure of working in one. For all of you who have not had the experience of working in one- this blog should be pretty insightful. For those of you who have worked in a restaurant- I share your pain. This blog will give you the behind the scenes workings of my restaurant (which will remain unnamed). In my future blogs you will be reading about the good, the bad, and the crazy (and trust me there is a lot of crazy). So please continue to read on, this should get interesting.
Posted: September 13, 2009 10:58 pm | 0 comments
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