Audrey, my point is that the restaurant should have a standard process for sending tabs from the bar to the restaurant. It should not be a hassle, it should not require the manager. The transfer should be no more difficult than paying the bill. Note also that these people don’t just leave, they are led away from your bar by another staff member. There is no excuse for a transfer to be as difficult as you’ve described, that’s bad management.
You’ve described a problem, and it’s management’s job to review and put processes in place to solve it. Presenting a customer who is just sitting down to dinner with a bill is not the answer. You do not interrupt your customer’s dining experience and ask them to pay a bill, especially since they’ve never left!
Well, since you have already made up things I practically might maybe have said, you can also assume [incorrectly, but who is keeping score?] that I have never bartended or waited tables. Isn’t life so much easier if you don’t get bogged down with facts? I think I can make a case for my opinion without trying to argue from authority… unlike some people.
Maybe I shouldn’t wade into these pre-chummed waters, but if I’m waiting & my wife is thirsty (or my son), I usually settle that with the bar cash. Even if I’m putting a dinner on VISA, I always keep a $20 on me for things that come up.
While my position doesn’t require me to entertain clients, my company has made it clear through HR & email announcements that they take a dim view of claiming alcohol on an expense report. (all companies are different).
If a restaurant has a policy, and their management is happy with it, why is it our place to change it? There are lots of different restaurants and if that place has the food you have a craving for, then isn’t it a ‘cost of doing business’ to accept that you’ll have to abide by their rules?
If everything is on an expense report and being repaid by Company X, what does it matter how many receipts you have? (…unless your company is my company and they suspect the smaller charge is for drinks…) As for tipping, the receipt leaves that line blank for you to fill in…and how you do it is between you and your bartender.
Even if I broke my own rule & started to get drinks while waiting on the card, I’d settle up on delivery of the drinks. If the waitress called our names from the list, my wife would follow her to the table. When I settled up the bill, I’d then look over the room, find her, and walk to that table.
Needing to run a Tab seems to equal making more than one purchase at the bar while waiting (i.e. multiple rounds). Assuming its a round every 15- 20 minutes, wouldn’t that indicate an extreme waiting time for you to be seated? Why wouldn’t you leave to go to another restaurant? I keep the numbers of 3 restaurants programmed into my cell and it’s easy enough to call to ask current wait time. Or dial 411. Sure, I might like to dine at
“Le Bella Montagna” instead of say “Chevy’s”, but being able to be seated immediately has a distinct plus over waiting an hour. Of course having a reservation might solve all these issues, and you can place one from a cell phone while you’re in transit if need be.
My company expects to see liquor on expense reports. Bar girls in Shanghai… eh, that’s a matter of some debate.
It’s a cost of doing business. Of course if I’m not entertaining (normally I am) I will not expense more than a single glass of wine. In that case it is not a cost of doing business, but rather a modest perk for someone who spends 60-70% of their time on the road.
Thank you, quietman1920, for bringing some common sense into this heated debate. The scenario you have described is pretty much exactly how things go at my restaurant; most people settle their drinks the moment they receive them. Those who don’t usually settle up when their table is ready; paying for a tab, contrary to popular opinion in this thread, takes about two minutes, credit card included. The restaurant is not so huge that people are going to somehow get lost and not be able to find their friends. My OP was for those people who forget to pay for their drinks, or just never get around to it, or don’t want to do it. The majority of customers have no issue at all with paying me when I give them their drinks; my rant was for those people who ignore our house policy and make me leave the bar and go chase them down to find out where they’re sitting.
And yes, “running a tab” indicates someone who is having several drinks, not someone who wants a beer while they’re waiting. And yes, reservations can make any wait at all go away; I don’t see why more people don’t call ahead.
Waverly, it seems like you and I are destined to disagree, but FTR, I have reviewed all of your posts and perhaps I was, in fact, a bit hasty in my assumptions about you. If I did so, I do apologize sincerely; sometimes, when responding to a lot of posts, I get people confused. I still hold that transferring tabs is not a breakdown in customer service, and you are free to disagree with that, but I do apologize for making assumptions, either way. It just irritated me when you assumed that my advice to Zette was meant for the scenario in the OP; as I said, that advice was for general bar guidelines, not people who are waiting for tables.
However, I have also been hasty to assume the worst about you, so perhaps we are even.
