You know, there are restaurants other than Denny’s. I’m just saying…
I was eating at a revival diner (complete with fake jukeboxes at the tables) recently for a late lunch, and our order came up while our server was sweeping an unoccupied part of the restaurant. I was very pleased that she took the extra minute to wash her hands at the sink behind the counter in between putting down the broom and dustpan and picking up our food.
I don’t like it when they get my order wrong. I said NO FUCKING MUSHROOMS YOU WORTHLESS ASSCHOMPING MOTHERFUCKER!
But other than that I’m cool.
Grumpy old men are funny, meh dude you need to chill out. And yes I did just call you dude, just like I get called bro, cuz, my man, sir, guys etc at restaurants it is the modern vernacular.
Outback is a fast food joint, just with table service.
Be reasonably friendly. Get the order right. Deliver the food hot. Come back for refills and to check on things once. Bring the check promptly. Other than that, I don’t care what they call me, sit, stand, do handsprings, knock yourselves out. But fail in the criteria I mentioned, and your tip is going to suffer.
Don’t be a food hipster. Fast food by definition does not include table service.
Preach it. Failing to bring the check promptly is my most hated thing at restaurants. Waitresses calling me “hon” or sitting next to me to take the order doesn’t even register.
Sitting down at the table is far too familiar. Not sure I’d complain to management, but my face would be showing my discomfort.
Sweeping? Oh hell yeah I’d speak up. My ex-wife used to love to find excuses to be underfoot when I was cooking (so I’d get mad and she could revel in crying and playing the victim) and that was one of her big ways of doing it. Suddenly deciding she needed to sweep the kitchen (We had 6 cats combined, so that was a lot of cat hair being raised) while I was cooking, including “having to” sweep around my feet and make me move JUST as I was trying to flip a steak or stir a pot.
And anyone who’s ever served you says in their head-
Yah bro, thanks for your suggestions but I’m not wearing a tuxedo, I’m not your garçon. You seem confused, so let me remind you, THIS IS A DINER. I say and do these things because a lot of people eat up this fake charm bullshit and it pays my bills. Trust me, I have all the time in the world to experiment with these things. When you bitch at me I hear what you’re saying loud and clear “I can’t be pleased and best case scenario I might give you 7%.” What you want me to do isn’t worth your $1.25. This is a numbers game and I have other customers who are receptive to my schtick. I’ll be over there with them.
Any of the chains that serve pre-cooked meals, so that they can ensure that the plate in LA tastes the same as it does in NYC, are close enough to fast food to be indistinguishable from it.
And I’m too fucking old to be a hipster (although some of my wardrobe may be old enough to qualify).
The first time this happened to me, I asked the waitress about it. She said that management requested that they do this, and that they should expect more in tips. She wasn’t sure it was working, though, as they had just started. It didn’t affect her tip from me in either direction.
If you (general you, not anyone specific) find it discomforting, is it really so hard to politely request they don’t do that. I’m betting most wait staff, especially at chains, are told exactly what to do and how to do it, but are willing and able to respond to reasonable customer requests (such as not sitting at the table). But I’ve yet to meet one who was a mind reader, or who could tell if the discomfort on your face is because you forgot your Prilosec or because s/he is sitting at the table.
I guess I don’t really like people either. Because I also don’t like being addressed in an overly familiar way by people I don’t know, esp. those young enough to be my kids. They don’t need to call me “ma’am” but they shouldn’t be speaking to me like we are best buds either. I find it condescending and patronizing.
I also hate the idea that customers, both in restaurants and retail stores, are often called “guests”. I am not a guest. Guests don’t pay, and the term implies a certain amount of familiarity which is simply not there. I am a customer.
Never had a waiter/waitress sit down next to me while taking my order, but I would not appreciate it at all.
Yes, I am getting old and cranky and I’m OK with it. I am not rude to the wait staff and I tip well. And I realize they’ve probably been told to do a lot of these things by management who think for some reason customers - sorry, guests - like it. I don’t.
You seem to be lacking in reading skills. He did not "cry like a bitch to the manager because someone called him “boss,” he asked the waiter to stop and that was the end of it.
You are now more irate that I merely questioned the reaction he got than he actually demonstrated when the event happened. I would guess that you are far more embarrassing to be with in public than he or I will ever be. 
Pardon me, he only cried like a little bitch about the waitress, not the waiter. He simply acted like a churlish imbecile to the waiter for being called boss. My bad!
Irate? Listen, you’ve demonstrated time and time again over the years here that you have very little grasp on the tone of what is posted so I’m certainly not going to cut through the fog of your cluelessness in one post, but as much as you might want to think you’re able to inspire instant emotions in a woman you just aren’t up to the task even if that emotion is just supposed anger. I was laughing at you (and him) so you’ve missed the mark again (what a shocker!) as I was not irate and can’t imagine how you could think someone would get irate on a messageboard about anything so silly.
So if you find that it would be embarrassing to be in public with a woman who is laughing at you then I guess you are right about something. You would be embarrassed to be with me in public. I can assure you that of the two of us, I’d be more embarrassed than you for having been there beside you.
I will say this, all those complaint threads in ATMB are all becoming clearer now that I see how you still aren’t any better at reading the intent and tone of posts. And hey I was able to say all of that without using a retarded smiley to make my point. Bonus!
I once had a girl with open sores on her arms serving me when eating at the pizza place where my brother works. Another time, on my birthday, I had a young mexican man place a giant sombrero on my head and feed me a frozen strawberry. (Luckily, my mom believed my death threats and did not put the video on YouTube.) Those experiences sucked. It’s funny how poor service can really put a damper on things sometimes. A lot of times though, in good company, I usually don’t much notice the quality of the service.
Yes, because tone of voice carries in a textual medium.
Is there a special reason you added “of voice” after tone when no one else has indicated it as such or are you implying there is no tone discernible in writing? If it’s the former then bless your heart that you hear voices when you read on the messageboard. If it’s the latter then I’m not sure what to say as an answer except of course there are ways to determine tone in the written word. That’s just silly to believe otherwise.
If we were in another forum and I answered the way I did in post #38 then certainly he’d have reason to wonder if this really ticked me off. This, on the other hand, is The Pit where people generally use harsher language to answer such nuttery. I’d hope that you could understand questioning why someone who has been around as long as Tom has (and as a mod no less) would automatically think someone is “irate” for responding to stick-up-assery in The Pit?
Truthfully I doubt he’s really so dumb as to think that I was honestly angry and instead thought it would just be funnier to pretend that I was angry so he could try jokes about it being me who would fly off the handle and embarrass him in a restaurant rather than someone who needs to correct a waiter or waitress for making a really innocuous faux paus during a meal. Feeling the need to ask the waiter not to call you boss at a chain restaurant strikes me as pompous and petulant. Being angry enough to talk to a manager because the waitress sat down to take an order in a casual restaurant is petty and strikes me as the action of someone who needs to find things to bitch about. In both cases I’d be uncomfortable with someone at my table being such an ass over nothing. Simple as that. I’m glad we had this talk.
I believe we can all observe who is flying off the handle.
My goodness! People can become so wroth about a restaurant experience so easily these days.
As long as I don’t come down with a disease after eating somewhere besides my own house, I count it to be a positive.
But, I was a waiter for several years, so there is that.
If I go from 
to :dubious: the minute she sits down, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out that there is a connection.