Things restaurant patrons shouldn't do
By adamg - Wed, 11/11/2009 - 6:20pm.
Patrick Maguire read that list of 100 things restaurant workers should never do. On Server Not Servant, he retorts with 64 suggestions for restaurant customers, based on his personal experience as a bartender and restaurant manager and a survey of 150 local restaurant servers:
- Don't throw a menu at the host and walk out yelling because there's a long wait or you don't like the menu or prices.
- Don't even jokingly threaten your server with a bad on-line review to curry favor.
- Don’t indignantly tell the staff what they should have on the menu, the wine list or the liquor shelf.
- Add new comment |
- Send to a friend |
| 
| 
The 100 list is pretty
The 100 list is pretty bad.
"7. Do not announce your name. No jokes, no flirting, no cuteness.
10. Do not inject your personal favorites when explaining the specials.
32. Never touch a customer. No excuses. Do not do it. Do not brush them, move them, wipe them or dust them.
43. Never mention what your favorite dessert is. It’s irrelevant."
Is this list directed at fast food employees? Because people like going to local family restaurants for the chat and homeliness (and the food).
J - it's not for fast food,
J - it's not for fast food, and it's also not for local family restaurants. The 64 list explains that it's for a guy in NYC opening a new seafood restaurant, and hints that it's an upscale place.
Super-high-end, it looks like
It seemed like the blog was focusing on really upscale places. Some of the items, like the ones you listed, seemed a little off to me as well, like the author was trying to put waitstaff in their place a bit, like have them be blank slates. Yeah, at the places I go, the waitstaff will chat with you a bit, and I really like when they tell me what they think of the different dishes. Sure, I've also encountered the waitstaff who are super chatty when you're clearly not reciprocating it (like the guy on Office Space!), but I prefer a little more familiarity in general. Especially if I ask them to help me decide between things -- I hate hate hate getting a waitperson who's all like "uh, I don't eat here" or whatever. Part of any job IS to pretend you're somewhat invested in the job. Pleasantly lie and say you like them both -- don't be all bitchy about it.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
The 64 things
Pretty much can be summed up as "Don't be an asshole!"
If only more people would take that to heart.
Patrick didn't read a "list
Patrick didn't read a "list of 100 things restaurant workers should never do." There was no such list at the NYT.
There was a far more specific list, and there was a different someone given the job of putting a headline on an article (in this case, a blog post). That's one reason why, in big media, the headline doesn't always match the story. See:
http://changingway.org/2009/11/02/waiter-theres-a-distortion-in-my-headline/
Closer to home, I am very confident that Adam writes his own post titles. It may not always be like that. One day he may proclaim himself Universal Editor and delegate the real work to others (kidlet who will blog for allowance, writers who may undercut kidlet?).
Funny!
"don't insult servers if they are a lower caste"
What is this, ancient Egypt?
*waits for the overeducated and underpaid liberal arts majors to show off talking about the caste systems in third world countries*
Here's a thought - if waiters don't like being treated poorly, maybe they should do a better job, or have gone to night school. Or open a blogging site or something and serve ads to make money. Do those CPMs pay the mortgage, btw?
Not Funny
Nice anonymous drive-by. Another member of the 19% heard from...
We havwe some really prime anonymous anonymouses here
Unfortunately.