Jeez CBE. the OP’s point is that this is NOT rocket science here!!!
I mean come ON!!! A person shouldn’t have to be TOLD not to set hot/dangerous items in front of an infant.
And if the OP is going to the type of restaurants that it sounds like (with 2- 4 year olds and an infant I imagine it’s IHOP/Village Inn etc. The tables have plenty of room in which to use one’s head and NOT set such things in front of the baby.
On a slight hijack, when a waitperson is trained, they are supposed to know to whom each item goes by writing down the orders in a specific way, so that when they get back to the table with the food they aren’t “auctioning it off” (i.e., “Who gets the soup?”).
If they write down the orders right to left with the person to the far right being the top order on the ticket, and so on for instance, they should be able to set the food down precisely in front of the person that ordered it.
Or use mnemonics or some such, (“the lady in red ordered tomato soup”).
It sounds like you are not only getting idiots, but poorly trained waitstaff as well.
CarzyCatLady, I can’t see why any parent would prefer you to set it down in front of a baby so they can move it over you handing it to them. Either way, they still have to take the food and set it down where it goes. The second way, however, completely bypasses the possibility of the baby making a mess with food left in front of him a moment too long.
Shoes, some restaurants are laid out better than other. Places like Cracker Barrel have as many tables jammed in as possible to maximize profits. You have to stand in the aisles, unless the surrounding tables are empty, because there’s no room to be anywhere else. An unobstructed four-top is no big deal. You stand in the middle of one end and serve your food unhampered. And yes, the ticket should be written up so that even another server can run that tray without “autctioning” the food. If there’s a high chair at one end, you can usually serve from the other end.
A four-top with one end against a wall or a high-chair at both ends, though, that’s just nasty. You either stand close enough to serve everyone individually and have either your boobs or your steaming-hot, 30-lb tray right next to someone’s head, or you stand where everyone’s safe. Sometimes you just can’t reach far enough to set Mom’s tea as far back from the baby as she wants it. And frankly, leaning over to one side while holding something that heavy (especially with one arm) is a hell of a good way to screw your back for good.
Ahhh, My sheltered Alaskan ignorance at work again then .
We don’t yet have “Cracker Barrels”. Or the super crammed in tables as you describe. And I haven’t dined out with kids when I visit the “lower 48”, so am unacquainted with how they do things.
Up here, the waitress sets up the high chair FOR the customer. So I was a bit perplexed by the complaint of the high chair being at the end of the table.
From what I see here, the waitresses mostly put the high chairs on the end.
My parents told me the story about me (yes, hard to believe!) when I was high chair age.
In a diner in Bisbee, AZ, they got me settled in and ordered. Mom asked the waitress for some newspapers to put around the highchair. The waitress was all, “Oh, he’s so cuuute! He won’t be any trouble!”
She was soon proven wrong. I don’t know if I was throwning hot stuff, pointed stuff, sticky stuff, or what…
[hijack]
And while I know it may sound harsh, I really don’t like to eat in a restaurant with any children under the age of about 6. I know it’s not the kids fault, and I know the parents can’t do anything about it, but when one gets to crying, or worse yet screaming, it really takes away from my enjoyment of the meal. Sorry, I don’t want to condemn all families with young children to the dungeon of the home kitchen, and it’s never killed me to set through a tantrum, but I would rather set next to a smoker. [/hijack]
Can you finish every order with, “And when you bring the food, can you not set it in front of junior? Thanks bunches!” If this problem is universal, this solution might be useful.
The really good waitstaff (obviously parents or well trained) will very discretely ask the parent if little Satan should get the free scoop of ice cream that comes with the meal. That way, if the little devil didn’t eat well enough, the parent doesn’t have to be the heavy.
And if our kid starts to cry/scream, we take them out of the eating area almost immediately.
Ya know - when I used to waitress, oh so many moons ago, I had parents say - “Just put that hot soup/coffee/tea/sapagetti in front of Timmy.”
I had parents slide their coffee cup in front of their infant, while shooting their mouth of to their friends/family and ask for a refill. When I would ask them to move the cup away from the infant, as I had my hands full of whatever, they would get snitty.
Finally, infants in highchairs were just bodily moved, by me, so I would have access to parts of the table free from kiddy hands. I would just slide the highchair right out of the way. (Usually towards the large fishtank in the middle of the restaraunt.)
So, to sum up. There are some really dippy waiters and waitresses out there; however, argueably, they don’t necessarily have children and may not be familiar with the grabbyness of toddlers.
There are also some really dippy parents out there, who ARE familiar with the grabbyness of toddlers, and act like morons anyway.
This is why I don’t wait tables anymore. Nobody brings infants to a bar. (Well, they try every once in a while, believe it or not…)
Parents of young children are some of the most trying customers I ever had as a waitress. I don’t understand why people take babies and young toddlers to restaurants, anyway; it’s not as if they enjoy it, and most of the time they prevent the parents from enjoying it. And the screaming and crying generally ruins the atmosphere for anyone nearby who didn’t bring their kids, or doesn’t have any. I didn’t see “crying baby” on the menu when I walked in, and yet I’m now paying for the privilege of listening to one. And my waiter over there, who made the fatal mistake of placing something too close to Baby, is about to get stiffed by Baby’s irate mother for endangering the life of the infant she brought here.
When I was serving, I was ALWAYS conscious of babies and small children, and I’d agree that Cessandra seems to have encountered some badly-trained servers. Granted, there are plenty of clueless parents as well, and I’ve seen my share.
But. People with kids should be allowed out of the house, and a restaurant that is family-friendly enough to offer crayons to youngsters should be a good option. Those parents should not have to supervise the server as well as their kids.
Grown-ups who insist on dining child-free certainly have the right not to be bothered by other people’s kids - but there are plenty of restaurants that are not so child-friendly, and for that purpose. If you’re insistent that other people’s children not bother you, stay away from child-friendly restaurants.
It has been a long time since I have waited tables. However, my ignorance at the time should not be blamed.
If you are eating out in the evening, chances are good that most of the servers you have encountered are either high school students or are fresh out of high school. These young women and men do not have kids, so they don’t always know all of the subleties when it comes to kids and restaurants. Most of the career waitresses who have had kids work during the day.
I do, however, feel that kids are a nuisance when it comes to dining out. Perhaps my strong aversion to this tends a bit to the fact that I have seen some horrible occurances in restaurants involving kids. Once, as a customer, I had to endure a lady changing her kid in the booth next to me just as I was about to take my first bite of nice, big, juicy steak. On another occasion, a couple had the audacity to bring their baby out to eat at 1:00 on a Saturday morning. Some drunk idiot tripped over the high chair (that was clearly out of the aisle) into a server with a tray full of food. These experiences are fairly extreme compared to the typical child bellering that tends to me more frequent, but I also remember that as a kid, I absolutely abhored eating out unless it was McDonald’s or Burger King.
On the other hand, I do realize there are situations where it is appropriate to bring the kids out. I do not have kids, but I do have a niece (2) and a nephew (4). When my sister visits, or I drive down to visit her, we tend to eat out at least once. While I always insist that we go somewhere that is child friendly (like Denny’s), eating at Denny’s is simply below my sister. She refuses to eat anywhere she can get a plate for less than $10. She also doesn’t understand that the reason I would rather dine at Denny’s is simply because Denny’s has more to keep the kids occupied. Kids don’t always look forward to eating. However, I quickly learned that kids look forward to Denny’s (and I swear that I will never mention Denny’s to a four-year-old again unless Denny’s is in our imminent future).
I just want to point out that the restaurants I am taking my kids to are prepared enough for kids that they print up special kids menus with puzzles and games, and provide crayons. One of my favourite restaurants that we went to even had a lady going around making balloon animals for the kids. I’m not too stupid to figure out the difference between a child-friendly place and an adult oriented place.
bjohn, I generally don’t eat out in the evening. My husband goes to work at 3 pm, and usually eating out for us is getting lunch before taking Daddy to work. Still, even a waitress that doesn’t have kids of her own but who is serving children ought to figure out how to not make things difficult for her customers.
LifeOnWry hit something on the head. I mentioned that I do watch my kids, that I try to make sure my kids don’t make any bigger of a mess than necessary. Why should I also have to babysit a waiter who is stupid enough to set something where it’s immediately in danger of creating a mess?
I’m here to supervise my kids, not to supervise the waiter.
And I also mentioned that I tip well when I go out with my kids because I notice how much harder it is to deal with a family of five with small children than to deal with, say, two adults. I’ve even been known to leave a much larger tip than my share because someone I was eating with didn’t tip enough. (Ugh, my neighbor thinks it’s ok to run a poor waitress to death, let her three-year-old destroy his food, and leave a $1 tip. :rolleyes:)
I think I am doing my part by a) watching my kids as best as I can; and b) PAYING YOUR FUCKING SALARY. Your job is to make my dining experience pleasant. So do it!
Even adults do this :smack: (I would if I’m not careful) The options are
‘I’ll have this,’
‘We’re not sure yet, can you ask us if we want a drink and come back in 5 min’
‘Ask her first’
or
‘I’m giving you a $100 tip; wait while I dither’
A kid will be capable of saying what s/he wants after s/hes decides with mommy, before they’re ready to choose instantly.
Audrey, I’m behind you on almost every post I’ve ever seen you write, but this time I think you missed the OP’s point. (smiling politely and hoping you don’t clobber me).
And as a former waitress I have to say I’m in 100% agreement with her that, at least in her case, it’s that she’s got idiots/poorly trained staff waiting on her. Not that she’s one of the inconsiderate, idiot parents you describe.
If a parent is stupid enough, as described earlier in this thread, to say “just set it down there” (meaning right in front of a baby) then yes, that’s pretty stupid of the parent. But a waiter should STILL know not to set things down in front of tiny children.
If a waiter comes along "la laaaaalllaaaa LAH Here’s your order, and first off the bat plunks down a steaming bowl of soup in front of the baby, and then proceeds to try and pass out the rest of the dishes, it wouldn’t matter if the other children were straightjacketed and duct-taped to the booth, if that baby grabs for the soup the STUPID waiter plunked in front of him and then blithely proceeds to get in the moms way by leaning over passing out other dishes, chances are, even if the mom is an eagle eye and watched the whole thing and sprung into action the SECOND the bowl landed in front of the baby, there is a very real chance the baby is going to get to the bowl/ice tea/coffee/whatever first.
The bottom line is…, and as a former waitress, I never sat anything in front of a baby, even something as innocuous as the sugar packet bowl (they can make a MESS with those things)…this should just be a no brainer for any waitperson.
If there was a problem with the seating that made it hard to get things into the table/booth, and around a high chair in the aisle, I simply said “here I’ll hand this to you and you can pass it around so we keep it out of the little one’s way”.
And I didn’t even have to be trained to do this, nor am I more than a teensy bit above average intelligence, it was just COMMON SENSE!!!
My boss has a young child. Heading out to lunch with him, wife, child and the rest of the lab is always good for a laugh.
A drop cloth goes under the booster/highchair a lightly adhearent drop sheet goes on the table around the child and glass/metalic objects are moved away.
Then again there is only child and this makes matters easier.
Hell when I was little and my parents went out for chinese I’d hind under the table and gum BBQ pork. Everyone looked at my parents like they were evil people but when I’m under the table, trapped by my parent’s legs I can’t trash the place.
Cessandra, your rant has caused a flicker in the entrepreneurial part of my brain.
I envision a good-sized vinyl placemat, one you can easily wipe clean and roll up to take with you. It can be brought to the restaurant, and placed in front of Baby. On the placemat is written, in LARGE RED LETTERS:
Kidding, I used to be a waitress too. Anyway, there are already these nifty disposable placemats that had a light adhesive on the sides. You just peel off the paper strips, stick it, and go. Great for small kids that can’t be trusted with plates and like to eat with their fingers. I think you can get them at rightstart.com but I’m not sure as my kid is four and mostly trained.
Ooh, really, Sue? I should look at that. Seamus eats off of the table, and I have to try and clean it up before we go. Something to protect the table and can’t be thrown on the floor would be very cool.
Cessandra has pointed out twice what sort of eatery this was, and if a place caters to groups with children to the extent that it puts crayons on the table, I think she should expect the waiters to have enough experience and knowledge of their customer base (which includes children) to not put hot food in front of them.
It’s just plain common sense, for crying out loud. Even I realise that, and I’ve never had kids, know nothing about kids, have no idea what to do with a kid and have never waitressed.
Yes, parents that don’t supervise their children are bad. Yes, parents that take small children to swanky restaurants (we’re you’re also paying for the atmosphere) and let their children scream and run are idiots (though the managers are also fools for allowing it). Yes, parents that expect everyone to cater to them and their children are annoying. Yes to all of that. That isn’t what this thread is about, though. Start another thread if you want to bitch about those things, because Cessandra clearly doesn’t fit into any of those categories and probably would agree with those rants, too.
As for what to do about the situation ? I have no idea Good luck trying to train some not-so-common sense into the morons you’ve been served by lately. I hope their standards improve. Perhaps a note to the manager, stating that you enjoy eating there regularly but you think the staff need reminding that putting dangerous objects in front of children is stupid and annoying, not to mention lawsuit-dangerous ?
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