Waiter Rants About Working Holidays and Not Being Appreciated

Hey, Meatman back.

Restaurant gods have been smiling and I have had so few stupid encounters or time wasting idiots that I've had little to share. Thankful as I am to have a decent job I still feel for all those who have to say, "well at least I have a job," or "I wish I had a job."

Still, there's always something...

A lot of this is just up to Murfy's law, but some notably stupid stuff happens here at the restaurant regularly.

Everyone needs to hear the sides. Every One of Them! There are three sides that will come with your order. I just told the person next to you, the one before that and the one before that. I talked about this

when you asked me about the menu and before that when I was here with your drinks when I explained our restaurant to you. I have made suggestions to about every third person and they still order
sandwiches with a side of corn bread.  Often they leave the bun and only eat the meat. The same meat is available without bread and they still order the damn sandwich.

I greet a table, welcome you to the restaurant (this has to happen to every waiter, all the time) and make it clear I'm just visiting, making myself visible, and in case you needed anything at all I'm here. I make sure you have water, maybe introduce myself. I know you were just seated! I know you would like a moment to look at the menu! I'm not here to take your order! Greeting! Meeting! No pressure, I'm here for you, do not panic. If you really want something though, in that case it's been twenty minutes before you were greeted. Bastards.

Side bar, If you do catch my eye? I'll be right there. If you don't want me you better as Hades come up with a good excuse for calling me over that way.

People who NEED to take a different table.  What the blessed F is wrong with the table the hostess brought you to? I've seen a waiter sigh with relief when a table that will not sit in their section demands to be moved to a different table. I thank the gods every-time these special needs people want to move out of my station. Every waiter in the restaurant has seen this pointless behavior. The hostesses have a hard enough time seating each reservation without your stupid pointless lazy ass mock artistic cheap ass take up a booth on a busy night. I work in a good restaurant. Every-night is busy. Sit where you are told,

DF, There is a plan and your input does not make it better. I know you have complained before about having to wait for a table when you already had a reservation. That was your fault. You made everyone else wait because you couldn't sit at THAT table. Douche.

The two women who haven't seen each other in ages, and just have to catch up. And heard that the service here was excellent and this is right up their street and the food here is excellent  and  they just talk and talk and compete to see who eats less. Forget to tip you. Like you would ever want to see their talky asses again. The gal who orders "white Chardonnay." She's been around.

The point of this is to remind you never to do a good deed for anyone. Ever. You will be punished if you do. Your enthusiasm will be perceived as stupidity, your reserve will be considered neglect.

Never, ever, do something extra kind. You will be punished. Your base wage will decrease and you will lose all respect for yourself. Management will see you as a giver and suck you dry and customers will make you give them free shit they do not qualify for. I mean, Comfort and Joy!

Last shift, a table that must work for the factory that makes ass hats decided they must move their table of 14 from where they were to my entire station. At first the host of the table was moderately unsatisfied where they were seated. As the evening wore on he decided they for sure needed to move, to a room that normally demands a minimum to reserve. I moved tables 3 times for this scammer. The server that started these geniuses kept them. I got my first table in his old section at 7:30.

There is one more crab festering. Last year there was a list of holidays posted for employees  to have their especial favorite day off. I requested none. I figured management would give me one of them.

I was scheduled all four. Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, and New Years Day. I supposed someone would pay attention and award me one of them, or thank me. Nope. This year we have set schedules. I would be off on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve. I traded working on Thanksgiving for Christmas Eve off. Someone left, schedules shifted, and I am now working Christmas Eve with the same server I traded it off with. I also now work New Year's Eve and New Year day as well.

 Comfort and Joy my friends.

--Meatman

 

 

Comments

[Bored at the Bookstore]

I do understand your points, honestly I do! I would like to say something for the "Not here" crowd, though...

I have some physical limitations that make it difficult, painful, and sometimes nearly impossible to rise from a low seat - like, for instance, a booth. So, when I enter and speak to the host/ess, I ALWAYS say, "I need a TABLE, please." Please note that I am reduced to using a wheeled walker most days, but always have at least a cane. Sometimes, I even elaborate with "I need a TABLE with chairs, please."

Invariably, I am led to a lovely booth. I give the host/ess The Look and once again request, "I need a TABLE... with chairs". And then they finally get it and take me to a table - with chairs - where I have at least half a chance of being able to rise from my seat without assistance.

Is there any way I can phrase my request so that it's instantly clear? I get so tired of going through the little charade all the darn time!

['Ssassin]

Yeah, seconding Bored at the Bookstore. There actually are good reasons for moving tables that may not be immediately obvious to waitstaff. I really don't think I should have to disclose my medical status to a stranger to prevent them from getting judge-y about my request to move.
I have an invisible disability (fibromyalgia) that prevents me from sitting for more than a few minutes in unpadded chairs without severe pain. I also have multiple chemical sensitivities that may mean I need to move if someone sitting near us is wearing too much perfume. I'm not going to be miserable and likely trigger a migraine just to prevent the short hassle involved in relocating. And, again, I don't really feel obligated to disclose my reasons to a complete stranger in public.
Please think before you judge us table-movers. :)
And Bored at the Bookstore, maybe "I need to sit in a CHAIR, please," would work? So they don't just hear "table" and miss the rest of your sentence? I dunno. I know from working other repetitive customer service jobs that you get kind of set in an automatic pattern of what you say and do for each new custy, meaning it might take a couple of times for a new request to get through.

[NC Tony]

There are also the people who don't bother to wait and seat themselves when there's clearly a host stand, and have even seen the host seat the people before them. I remember one job I had as a host, while I was off seating a table, a couple came in, grabbed a couple of menus and sat themselves. The server who's section they sat themselves in comes up to me asking me why I double sat him. I, of course have no fucking clue what he's talking about, so he points out the offending table. I explain that I didn't seat them, and didn't even see them until just now. And then the server said something that permanently stuck with me and made him my new best friend. "Fuck em, they can wait. I got other tables to take care of. I don't care if I get a shitty tip. They can't wait to be seated, but they're damn sure gonna wait to eat!" When I talked to him later that night, he told me they tipped him 10%.

And to Bored and 'Ssassin, unfortunately most places have booths and very few tables. One place I worked, we had three tables. One was an 8 top and the other two were four tops. But everyone wanted a booth. On Saturday night when we were packed to the gills, and there was at least a 15-20 minute wait. It was even worse on Sunday during football season.

[NC Tony]

Forgot the rest of what I wanted to post about the tables vs booths. The point I wanted to make was while I don't think you need to disclose your personal medical history to the host, I think as long as you ask nicely if you can have a table instead of a booth without explaining why, sometimes hosts (and servers) will do what they can to accommodate you. At least from my personal experience.

[BKLK]

On the table v booth topic, my family usually does ask for a booth, or at least a table in the least crowded corner. My Mum has extreme anxiety issues, shakes uncontrollably when she's in somewhere too crowded or too brightly lit, and gets panic attacks (we think it's related to her srs illness a few years ago but no doctor has diagnosed anything). We always ask nicely, usually before the server seats us. If the server puts us somewhere in the open we usually ask again, but we don't say anything about my Mums shaking etc. Anywho, the point I'm trying to make is please don't assume that *everyone* is fussy or pretentious for wanting to move tables!

[Wmdkitty]

"every-time these special needs people want to move"

Excuse me? That's ableist, and really not okay.

And thirding what Bored at the Bookstore said -- I need a TABLE, with at least one chair moved elsewhere, to accommodate my happy wheeled ass. While my disability is pretty damn obvious, not everyone's is, and nobody should have to explain their medical history just to get seated properly.

[Skittles]

I'm fairly certain Meatman isn't from the US or any other english as a first language country. Jus ta guess though from gramar and flow. I think you are misjudgung his issue with moving people from table to table folks. Probably just a coincidence that he used "special needs" I imagine he meant it more in the concept of entitled.

[Jami]

I assumed he meant it in the same way I mean it when I say "Special Snowflakes." People who are so self important they think they can demand anything they want even if it inconveinces others.

[Former Slave]

Here's a question for food service Slaves having to work a holiday. Would you rather we stay home? I mean that seriously, not in a snide way. I have no plans for Christmas breakfast, and was thinking of going to a local chain diner that will be open. I'm one of the "good" custys, I like to think, and would leave a nice Christmas tip. I wish everyone could be home with their families if they want to, but since the diner will be open anyway... Comments, please?

[Shevrolet]

I can understand that there might be legit reasons to want to sit wherever you feel you need to, HOWEVER most of the people I deal with as a hostess I can pretty much guarantee do not have any reason other than that the world revolves around them. If you want a table, all you should have to say is "Can I please be seated at a table, not a booth?" Anyone who can't grasp that is a moron. Nothing much else you can do about that. I am always astounded though by how ridiculous some people get about their chosen table. Last week we were slammed. Lunch time, one hostess (lucky me), short a server and a 15 minute wait for the entire restaurant. Part of the problem is that while the servers can barely handle the number of tables they have, I can't buss and seat at the same time so mu manager is running around getting things cleared up and trying to figure out which server is floundering the least. So we're full aside from one table w/chairs, one 6-top booth and about 4 smaller ones obviously uncleaned. A lovely seeming lady comes in with a friend. I bring her to my 4-top table. "Oh, we wanted a booth actually. Can we have a booth instead?" Of course, was my reply. I show them the only clean booth in the entire restaurant. "This?? This is too big. There's only 2 of us. I want a smaller one on the other side of the restaurant." I tell her that I'm sorry and that this is the only clean one available. She cuts me off and decides to bite my fucking head off. "That's not true. You have them right there. This is ridiculous. I won't sit here." Like, Pardon me? That's not true? Oh yeah, I'm just hoarding all the clean tables around the corner. I totally want to waste a potential big party table on a miserable of old woman and her now embarrassed looking plus-one. I wanted to tell her to go ahead and have a seat at any clean table she could find. I was already so frazzled from the day that I wanted to tell her to take her attitude to another fucking restaurant and be a cunt there instead.

[Music Girl]

I was going to ask/point out about the grammar/flow, but since someone else already did...

The only other response I have that hasn't already been brought up is about working holidays. I know at my job - retail pet supply store - when we are applying/hired, we are told what holidays the store is open. We are able to request days off, and most of the time, the managers are agreeable.
This past week, I was scheduled from Wednesday through yesterday (Christmas Eve) straight with no days off. I worked the closing shift on Christmas Eve, and while we were closed today, they scheduled me to work a shift starting at 4 AM tomorrow and then work another 3 full days after that before my next day off.
I talked to my manager and my coworkers and found someone willing to trade one of my shifts with me. I've discovered that, normally, when you are reasonable and polite and just *ask* for small changes like that, it generally happens. It seems a lot of people - not saying OP is like this, but in general - complain about their schedules or days off or whatever, but then don't even bother to ask to see if they can change it.