Im going to make this quick since I have to leave for work in 40 minutes and I am still in my P.J.'s (lol)
Speaking of work...for those of you reading the next time you go to a restaurant I want you to watch your waitress. Not just glance at her when she passes by or check out the earrings she's wearing. No, I mean watch her. See where she goes, what she does, how many things she is doing at once. Why? Because I have had a lot of customers lately that think that they are the only ones in the restaurant. They want FULL service. People are becoming so impatient lately...Are you ONE of them? I've been a waitress for 12 years. I know my stuff. I can tell you it takes me 9 times to check back on a table to excpect a good enough tip I think I deserve. That's right 9 times. Here's how it goes.
-Welcome guests
-Get Drink orders
-Order Entrees
-Serve food
-Check back for accuracy after two bites
-Fix any problems
-Refill drinks and pre-bust table
-Present Bill
-Cash out customer
-Thank them and welcome them back
But I want you to take in consideration that you need to remember you are not the only table I have. Lets take yesterday in for example. I had a slight lunch rush. This means I had 9 tables all at once ( 11:50-12:00 is our lunch seating time). Average was 2 people per table. So that's 18 people all at once. So lets take 18 people with 9 steps to each person that is 18 x 9 = 162 steps to follow for a decent tip. What do you tip for your waitress to follow her 9 steps for you? People ask alot: What should I tip? They usually base it on a mathmatical equation. 18%? 15% 10% Man that adds up when you think about it. So I tell you what. The next time you go to a sit down restaurant bring this list of 9 steps with you. Everytime your waitress executes a step cross it off. If she does an extra step that wasn't on the list like get you extra napkins or crackers for your soup add that to the list. Then at the end of your meal add them up. I'm sure you'll be surprised at the steps she did that weren't on the list. We are trained for 2 weeks when we first become servers. We are told that these 9 steps are our protocol. It's all we have to follow. But a good server will go beyond this list. What would you pay someone for getting you an extra refill? 10 cents? 20 cents? If you gave her 10 cents for each step she did that's 90 cents. But I'm sure your waitress will go beyond 9 steps. I'm sure she'll do 10 or more. That's a buck per person at the table. So...a bucks a buck. And you don't know what 1 dollar means to a waitress. Seeing just a dollar means a lot to a server. It means "Hey, thanks for bringing me food, making sure it's hot and cleaning up after me and my messy self." Be patient, smile and for goodness sakes leave a tip...it's good karma :-)
