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serverdex
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Name: Dex
Country: United States
State: Michigan
Metro: Detroit
Birthday: 9/21/1985
Gender: Female
Interests: karaoke, carnivals (elephant ears and lemonade), people watching, spontenaity, adventures, modern and contemporary art, reading, roald dahl's short stories, eccentric arcades, truck stops, road trips, cartoons, craft malls, foreign language, import stores, debate
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  dexissorad
Member Since:
8/21/2005
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| I had a terrible day
today. Absolutely terrible. Fortunately, I kept my head on
my shoulders until I got home, but after walking through the door five
minutes ago, I gimped upstairs to my room and cried for a bit.
We'll start with the fact that I
wiped out in the kitchen today while carrying a huge thing of ice
cream. I threw the ice cream so that it wouldn't land on my face,
but I bruised my arm up pretty badly and that's swollen and purple
now. My left wrist is cut and bleeding. My leg (upper)
hurts when I walk, and I haven't surveyed the damage there yet. I
feel generally jostled and just not good physically.
Getting to me not feeling well
mentally - I made $68 on about $500 in sales today. That's
terrible. I wouldn't care too much usually, but I worked
exceptionally hard today. I was pretty busy all day, and most
people left me 15% or less.
Right at the beginning of the day,
I got a table of three women and a daughter. They were all very
nice to begin with. After finding out they hadn't been there
before, I did an excellent job of giving them a menu tour, got their
drinks, was cheery and capable - i.e. the ideal server. The one
woman ordered a baked potato with melted cheese and butter. I
check on them right after they receive their food, and she tells me
that there is not enough cheese or sour cream. I return to the
kitchen to get melted cheese and sour cream, which I bring out for
her. I check on the table again, ask how everything is, if the
food is alright, etc. I am told that everything is fine.
Later, J. (the food runner) tells me that the woman was really mad
about the baked potato. I return and tell her that I was told
that she was unhappy with it, and assured her that I would get a
manager to sort things out and make sure that they were not charged for
it. M. comes out and offers them complimentary food, which they
refuse. They end up leaving me no tip whatsoever, leaving cash on
the table with exact change down to the penny.
I have no idea what I could have
possibly have done to have remedied the situation. I did not
deserve to be completely stiffed on the tip. Their bill had been
around $55, and I had worked really hard to make sure that they got
everything that they needed. I was so shocked and disheartened by
this. Over a baked potato! It still upsets me.
Directly afterwards, the table
behind them told me several times that I was doing a wonderful job as a
server. Fine, great, I appreciate that. They, however,
leave me barely 15% after all of the compliments. Thanks for
showing your gratitude, my thinly stretched bank account appreciates it.
The rest of the day was pretty shot
from that point on, and it was hard to keep my mood up. When some
friends from school visited me I started to feel a little better.
I ended up falling in the kitchen though during their visit, and their
tips (clearly) didn't make up for the shitty tips I got all
night. I frowned to myself as I rolled my 50 sets of silverware.
Shifts like these are so
frustrating. I don't know what this recent wave of terrible
tipping is, but it wasn't like this a month ago. This needs to
stop soon, because it's seriously altering my mood.
My friends that came in to visit
want me to come bowling with them tonight. This, however, has
completely distroyed my mood. I feel like I should go out and do
something fun, but I just feel so, blah.
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| Amusingly enough, as soon as I set up this blog, I have a good day at
work. I managed 20%+, but had low sales so I really didn't leave
with much money. Still, it leaves me feeling content.
Since I have little to write about presently (unless I dive into my
backlogged serving stories), I'll include this nice guide that I typed
up a few weeks ago. It needs to be said, people are so stupid
sometimes.
DINING TIPS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT WORKED IN RESTAURANTS
1. If you
are dining with children, stagger the adults and the children. No
matter how nice you are, the server will not be happy to spend 10
mintues scraping crayon off of the tablecloths because you were more
interested in sitting with the big kids.
2. After all is said
and done, the typical server makes $1.00 - $1.50 an hour on the
paycheck. (I used to say it was near $2.00 an hour, but after
caluclating it, I usually make little over $1.00 per hour on my
paychecks.) Fifteen percent is the bare minimum. If a server goes out
of their way for you or does a really good job, servers really do
expect twenty percent. Inflation is a bitch, but everything is more
expensive now, and that is the primary salary for servers. Times are
changing, and 15% isn't sufficient in most places.
3. Always
tell your server before you order if you intend to get seperate checks.
Servers don't mind doing seperate checks, but it's hard to move items
around on the system at the end of the meal. You'll also get faster
service if you do this.
4. If you / your kids make a mess, leave
twenty percent. The server might have to turn down a table because he
or she will be cleaning up after you for a long time.
5. Serving
tables is difficult - four tables in one section is enough to keep a
server busy. Five or above is enough to stress a server out. Try to be
patient and understanding if you see your server speed walking.
6.
Servers don't just wait on tables. In my restaurant, we fill 40+ cups
of each of the sauces (over 10 kinds), bus tables, take care of dishes,
make all of the drinks, put away clean dishes, clean our sections, run
food for other servers, arrange the food on plates and prepare sides,
restock just about everything, organize server stations, cut hundreds
of lemons each day, wash trays, bake biscuits, etc. This in on top of
what it takes to wait on a table. I point this out so that people
realize how much work their servers do.
7. If your server does
not know one menu item off the top of his/her head, or can't answer
your question without checking, they aren't stupid. They probably have
the majority of every item and price offered memorized. In my
restaurant, our menu is five pages on top of a fully stocked bar.
8.
That said, if you have trouble thinking about whether your server
deserves 15% or more, think about it this way: how much money do you
think they earned based on their work? Consider the amount of work they
did in the kitchen for your meal (usually two side work assignments and
putting together your food once it's cooked), prep work, refills,
friendly attitude, checking on you, desire to help you, etc. On a $20
bill, for example, did they earn $3.00 or $4.00? Also keep in mind how
much of their time you took up. If you sat their for an hour and they
did a good job, 20% really is more fair.
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| New blog, so fresh and so clean. As if I didn't already have enough.
This one, however, has a focus. Another server blog for the
amusement of anybody who is interested in the stories, complaints, and
observations that come out of the restaurant industry. Like all
servers, I have pleanty.
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