I know, I know I get paid to clean up. Partially. I also get paid to cook, keep stuff stocked and a bunch of other things I don’t get to do thanks to you friggin’ slobs.
Just a few requests:
Don’t leave your garbage at the table - you need to pass 2 garbage cans to get in or out. Do you not see them?
Don’t leave it on the tray at the counter, either. The trashcans behind the counter fill up fast enough with what we have to put there to cook for you, or keep our cooler stocked with drinks (which you left half-full on the table, of course.), we don’t need to drop YOUR trash in them, too.
If you drip ketchup, mayo, whatever on the table, use a napkin to get the worst of it. I don’t mind cleaning up spills, but, please, try to make my job a LITTLE easier. And those of you that DO do this, put the damn napkin you use for it on your tray, and drop it in the garbage with the rest. Please.
If you push 2 tables together, push the one you moved back, please. It’s a pain in the ass, I know, but so’s pushing them together in the first place. And YOU’re the one who had to have them together in the first place.
Ack! No, don’t do that, they’re ours! (But put them back where you got them…a handful of garbage, a cloth, 3 newspapers, and several condiment bottles that need to be refilled are a pain to carry at once. Not having to recover the papers would gelp me a lot.)
(I’m wondering now if this is unique to this area…)
spooje - LOL, thanks. I’ll try to think of that next time I’m cleaning up after the epileptic monkeys.
During the regular school year, crowds of young kids hit the pizza place we frequent. One day, a boy of perhaps 12 impressed his tablemates by dumping garlic powder all over not just his slice of pizza, but also over the tray, table, and surrounding floor. On purpose.
“They’ll clean it up!” he crowed to his friends.
“Hahahahaha!” they all responded. Then they left. Charming.
I worked in my college dining hall for a few years, and got a small taste of the service industry. I never really expected people to completely clean up after themselves; part of being in that business is cleaning up after diners. But the ones who made deliberate messes ticked me off, and it happened on a regular basis. Some people are either just born inconsiderate, or they never progress beyond the sense of “humor” possessed by the 12-year-old I mentioned.
This is a tangent, I know, Tengu wasn’t talking about deliberate stuff aside from the tables. So I’ll hush now.
Thanks for the input, Tengu. When I eat anywhere, I clean as much as I can before I take off (dump garbage if it’s fast food, pick up my stray food off of the table (this is the reason my cat always sits at my feet when I’m eating at home), just generally tidy up). It’s good to know that I’m doing something that makes someone else’s job a little bit easier. Like you said, there’s garbage cans all over the place; it’s no real effort for me to carry my tray to the one by the door and dump the garbage.
I hate customers who do that…they’re so irritating. And they’ll take about 8 of those little cups for the ketchup, fill them up, use 1/2 of one, and leave the rest for the next customer…who’s gonna dip their fries into someone’s leftover sauces? And I absolutely hate when people spill their drinks, decide to soak it up with napkins (toilet paper’s spiffy too…), realize it doesn’t help, and leave, with the napkins soaking in the puddle on the floor. Extra points go to those who drop fries into the puddle.
And as for deliberate messes? Don’t even get me started on the asshole who punched a hole in my side wall, shoved food bits inside (which attracts the ants…), and smeared sweet and sour all over the wallpaper. If I had caught them, they would have been licking it off…
Complete other point altogether
I had this lady come in today during dinner. We were getting our asses kicked, and the kid on front counter was kind of slow. So I go to get the first order together, call it out, and Xavier says he already got it. He points to the table in the corner, where they’re already eating their cheeseburgers and nuggets. So I go to get the next order. The lady claims it, and then asks why the people she’s with haven’t gotten their food yet. I ask what they’re waiting on, she says a cheeseburger meal, a 9 piece, and a large fry. I can see them eating this food from where I’m standing. I try to argue this, she tells me I have shitty customer service skills, and that they haven’t gotten their food yet. eventually I just give up. I’m tired of arguing. So I get the order together again, give it to her, and tell her to have a good night. A few minutes later, she brings everything back to me except for a crispy chicken meal. “They already had the rest of their food.” ARRRGGH!!!
Ya know somethin’? I’m really getting tired of all these threads where service industry workers bitch about theire customers. Yeah, I agree, many people could show a bit more respect to those providing the services, but goddamnit, why do so many of you guys think you have it so tough? I got a fucking newsflash for y’all. You’ve got the easiest job right now you’ll ever fucking have. Generally flexible hours, little real responsibility and a wide range of employers to choose from. Yeah, I know, the pay sucks, but tough shit. It’s typically entry level work and everybody wants to make more than they do.
I worked for several years in the food service industry busing tables and washing dishes and bartending; I now work for consulting engineering company, so I know of what I speak. Your gripes and bitches about your clients are never going to go away, they only increase in intensity as the client spends more of his money with you. And there’s a world of fucking difference between a 10 dollar lunch and 20 million dollar contract. Try to get some perspective. Or at least have the balls to post the name of your employer so I can avoid all you ungrateful sons-of-bitches. I don’t have to spend my money with you anymore than my clients have to spend theirs with me. There’s a goddamned reason it’s called the {i]service* industry.
In short, quit yer whinin’, grow up and be prepared to accept some responsibility. I promise good things will happen for ya. Remember, your next job may depend on how well you do this one.
No kissing, Tengu (I’m an engaged woman), but worship from afar is never out of line :D. Glad to know I’m making a little difference in somebody’s day.
Oh my god, UncleBeer what the hell was that rant?! This is the pit where people whine about their jobs and food service jobs are pretty sucky. As a waitress I get treated like I’m a sub-human and I take it with a smile. I’m sure you have bad days too where clients treat you like shit and you take it with a smile, but I’ll bet it happens more frequently to me because the service nature of my work. The difference between a 10 dollar lunch and a 20 million dollar contract is that I serve about 200 10-dollar lunches every day and my income is directly proportional to the service I provide my customers. I don’t quite understand what you are getting at with that comment, unless you are suggesting that your work is more important than mine. . .
FTR, DuJours Casual Cafe on 10th street in Minneapolis.
Tengu, I had a lovely table of young men last week who felt it was their duty to mess with every single condiment on the table. You know, mixing and matching. Grrrr.
I think its because service industries are so personal and so personally disgusting.
My mom works a hard job. Traveling half the time, 70 hour work weeks, etc. But she doesn’t have to put her fingers literally into someone else’s gross mess. Figuratively, she cleans up messes all the time, but they are honest mistake messes and the people who started it are usually right there trying to make it better. She’s not a faceless servant.
So while higher level positions don’t get any less stressful, they do pull you out of being treated like you are not a person with a capable mind and due respect.
I bus tables. Most people are pretty considerate. Babies, on the other hand, throw goldfish crackers EVERYWHERE. I have to clean them up. Just a little more work, and you can’t really tell babies not to do that kind of stuff.
Just a little pain when I have 3 more tables that need cleaning.
It is an experience dealing with a client with multiple $100K on the line AND the ‘client’ (read not company but person in company contracting you) is afraid. Afraid of looking bad or losing his job. They can get mighty jittery. It gets worse when said client develops and attitude of ‘If I go down, I’ll take as many with me as possible, including you’. Then you get the hard-to-please client who is hospitalized from massive bleeding ulcers and you realize that these people are not really bad, just in a bad place.
I agree with Uncle Beer on this. I worked in the food service industry for years and NEVER would have felt the need to rant about someone making a little mess on their table. Of course if it was a deliberate mess then that is a different story.
This is Bullshit. how dare someone leave you some work to do. Waiting on tables is NOT just about bringing food to the table, taking dishes away and smiling. There is set up at the begining of shift and breakdown at the end. If A customer spills mayo and doesnt wipe it up no crying neccesary. Wipe and it and be happy that you have a friggin job!
As a customer (and former waiter) I go out to eat so that I don’t have to bother with cooking or cleaning up my plates. I am certainly not an asshole when I go out and dont throw food or anything like that. If I spill a little soda or mayo or something of that nature I wipe it up with a napkin. Is this not acceptable? Would you like me to go to the kitchen and get a wet rag and clean it up myself? If I spill a little pepper should I not sweep it on the floor because you might have to vacuum that area a little more than usual?
And Pammipoo what is this crap about customers who take 8 ketchups and only use 1/2 of one? I can take 100 ketchups if I like and use none. With the markup on food I deserve as many napkins and ketchup as I like. And if I leave the containers on the table the server shouldn’t bitch about picking them up.
Sorry if I sound like an asshole but I have been on both sides of the proverbial fence and am so tired of people in the service industry complaining about having to serve the public. You get tipped (I tip well by the way) and can make a damn good living for what you do. It was the most enjoyable job I have ever had. If you don’t like it, try something new.
Also, none of this was meant as a personal attack.
My bitching has nothing to do about how many ketchups you want…take a new cup for very fry in your carton, if that’s what makes you happy. But, at the end of your meal, put them on your tray, and take that tray to the garbage cans convienently located by EVERY SINGLE EXIT, and dump your trash into it. Some people seem genuinely confused by this, so let me make it perfectly clear (the SDMB is after all, about fighting ignorance…). When you go to a fancy restaurant, or even a lower class place like Applebee’s or Chili’s, they have people to bus the tables. It’s in the job description, it’s what they do. When you go to a place like McDonalds, it’s pretty much bus your own table. This doesn’t mean you have to whip out the spounge and sanitizer, you don’t have to go quite that far. But don’t leave your food wrappers sitting on the table, surrounded by sodas, fries, and the tray. The trashcans are there for a reason.
We dont have enough people on a shift to send someone out constantly to clean up after people…during lunch, when there’s an insane amount of people working, sure, there’s someone out there in the dining room the whole time. But when you come in on a Sunday night, and I’m there making the food, bagging it, handing it out, running for drive thru, and trying to keep customers happy, please don’t expect me to run out after you and toss your trash…would you rather have a maid to clean up your mess, or faster service? Sadly enough, it’s one or the other. We don’t get a chance to get out there and clean until after all the customers die down…and if every single one of them left there trash for us…well, the dining room could be buried.
And UncleBeer, for the record…
McDonalds Restaurant
947 Broadway
Raynham, MA 02367
Pammipoo: I understand what you are saying and I ALWAYS throw my things out. However if I DID choose to leave my junk on the table I would be inconsiderate… not a crime. Then again it isn’t my job to pick up after myself, only to pay for my food. It is however your job to serve the food, and maintain the restaraunt. I understand your job would be much easier with this inconsiderate slobs. It would also be much easier if instead of going out to eat we all stayed home. Then again, you wouldnt have a job now would you?
