When I’m eating out alone, and I don’t really have to be anywhere soon, I bring a book (a paperback, not War and Peace). It seems to me that the servers knock themselves out to get me my order if it looks like I might settle in for a while. It doesn’t seem to matter whether they’re busy with a dinner rush or whether they’re slow. I’m not talking about Chez Ritzy; I’m talking about IHOP and the like. Now, maybe I notice this only when I wish to, like I was really hoping to get to the end of a chapter and whoops, here’s your food, ma’am. Can I get you anything else?
If you’ve ever worked as a server, were you ever given instructions to get people like me out the door faster? I don’t mean to make trouble for anybody; I eat, tip well and leave. I just like to have a book handy while I’m waiting.
I find it the opposite. If I have my iPad or a book, they ignore me. It’s almost as though they figure I’m quiet and happy so they need to go to other tables where the customers are drumming their fingers on the table. I have to put the stuff away to get service.
I’ve waited tables for probably 6,000 hours at 5 or so different restaurants, and I’ve never (i) felt any compulsion to get food faster for any customer, (ii) believed it was possible to make the kitchen go faster even if I wanted them to, (iii) been asked by management to move certain tables faster than others or (iv) heard any other servers say anything about their own desire to do so.
So, I think your observation is just one of the ol’ “phone always rings when I’m in the shower” type of things.
I waited tables for 2 or 3 years awhile ago. And, no, I never gave anyone special attention if they had a book with them, with the exception of trying not to bother them if they were actively reading at the time.
It may be that you’ve lost track of time while reading, and it seems to take less time to get your food.
I also waited tables for a while and I never served anyone faster just because they had some reading material with them. Like Electronic Chaos, I just tried not to bug them.
The server is probably thinking “If this lone diner sits at one of my tables for a long time reading, it’s going to really eat into my tips. Better hustle him along so I can get a nice party of four that will run a much bigger tab on that table.”
Yes, as soon as I saw someone with a book, I would go back to the grill line and cook the order myself to get them out the door faster. :dubious: The food comes out when the cooks get it done, and they get it done when they get it done, no matter how much you hover around nagging. But by and large, a single plate is going to come out faster than a larger order, so that’s probably part of what you’re seeing.
The main part of it, though, is perception of time. You mention you only bring a book when you “don’t have to be anywhere soon.” Everything always seems to take forever when you’re watching the clock, whereas something that takes the exact same amount of time seems pretty fast when you’re not, and when you’re actively involved in something else, time moves even faster.
Are you sure that it’s caused by the presence of the book and not simply the fact that you are dining alone?
Since a lone diner is less profitable, both to the restaurant and the server, I can imagine that the server may try to take your order as quickly as possible so as to open up the table for a bigger group as quickly as possible.
I’m not saying that that’s what happens. As others have said, this may be just your perception. But I can see why it might happen.
A tangent, Rand - can the customer do anything to change the speed then?
Sometimes when I am in a hurry I ask what things would be faster to order. Stew takes a long time to make, but not if it is already sitting there. Are the sandwiches faster, or are they prepared by one particular person who is backed up right now? Not that I can change how the kitchen does whatever it does, but, are there other things I can do to speed things up?
Or to slow them down, like if I have a good book and needed to kill time anyway (and there are open tables so it appears I wouldn’t be putting anyone out)?
Not to say you have to feel compulsion, but do you not want to adjust things one way or the other if it’s practical to and the customer asks? If not, why?
If you asked me for some consideration where I work, I would feel at least some motivation to help you out. Are you saying it isn’t that way for you?
This, and it may not even be the server wanting to flip the table faster (they generally do, but it’s largely not under their control). If you think about it, the food all comes out together, right? That means that the table only gets served on the basis on the slowest dish. On your own, if you order a dish that tends to get made quickly (this isn’t hard at IHOP), you get served quick.
Places like IHOP serve pretty fast anyway. They make their money on volume, and flipping tables (regardless of size) is critical for that. Plus, it just doesn’t take all that long to make pancakes, and I’m sure they mass-produce a lot of the sides since they’re common between dishes (e.g. bacon).
I’ve eaten alone at plenty of casual dining restaurants over the years, and generally the service is quick either way.
I’ve also worked at several restaurants for a long time, and the answer is yes and no, but mostly no. Basically, we try to bring food out in the order it gets rung in, so you will have to wait in line. If there is some kind of error, kitchen will make food “on the fly” which means that this item takes priority over the other items in line, but this is a big hassle for kitchen and the server will probably receive guff from the chefs and possibly a manager. “On the fly” is normally reserved for when everyone’s food is already on the table and something was forgotten. (tangent: sometimes the kitchen forgets to make something or loses a ticket. Your server isn’t necessarily throwing them under the bus because he/she forgot.)
In some cases, like in the case of an Asian or Italian restaurant where you can put more than one portion of food in one pot, you can perhaps piggyback on someone else who has ordered the Sesame Chicken before you because the chef sees that there are two orders for it up and he can make them both at once. This is also why I’ve gotten the complaint that “they got their food before us and we ordered ours first”. Well, they ordered stuff that a lot of other people ordered so all of their food is getting cooked at once.
But if someone says “I’m in a hurry, can you make my food any faster?” I will actually go back and inform the kitchen of the request, and the response is typically along the lines of “pfff” or “so they don’t want their food cooked all the way?”. There ain’t no way they are bumping you up in line. A more productive response will be “I have somewhere to be at XX time, what foods don’t take long to prepare?”
I’ve definitely noticed faster service when I bring my notepad and a pen with me (usually to work on lyrics). I always suspected that the restaurant management thought I was a reviewer or a critic. Nothing scientific, just a feeeling.
When I was a breakfast cook, the ticket that had nothing on it but a single order of biscuits & gravy got turned around pretty darned quick. It was just put the biscuits on a plate, nuke 'em for 30 seconds, slop gravy on 'em and put it in the window. Done quick, and it gets a ticket out of the way.