Call me Crabby Appleton, but I do not like “Have you been here before” (what, is there an initiation?), waiters recommending their own personal favorite menu items, and those who repeatedly stop back to ask “How does the food taste?” (“Too much fucking oregano.”) A discreet “Would you like anything else” is good. On the spot food reviews are uncalled-for.
There is a legend in my family about the time a waiter introduced himself, and my mother promptly introduced him to everyone else at the table.
You can fucking swear in MPSIMS. Just fucking watch your goddamn mouths.
When I used to work at BJ’s Wholesale Club I used to have to say, when the phone rang, “Hello and thank you for calling BJ’s Wholesale Club, where we sell tires at everyday wholesale prices. This is _____, how can I help you?”
And we got written up if we didn’t do it right or rushed through it. Sometimes the customer would have forgotten what they called for.
I, too, have noticed these waiters talking more and more. I am tired of the specials. I wonder if there is a way to say, “I am ready to order and don’t need to hear it.”
I’ll tell you a secret - “No, I haven’t been here before” frequently results in a free drink or app. Try it.
If you don’t want the spiel, just interrupt and say “Thanks, but we’re ready to order.” Trust me, the waiter doesn’t enjoy giving the spiel anymore than you enjoy hearing it.
And if you have a problem with a waiter telling you his name, well, you’re just kind of an asshole.
But what’s the point? Nobody ever shouts, “Hey, Steve, can we get some more sour cream?” across a restaurant. We all do the same thing - glance around until we can catch our (or somebody else’s) waiter’s eye.
The point is, when you need to locate your waiter to complain that there’s a pubic hair in your clams oreganata, you can grab any passing waiter and tell him “please have Steve get his ass over here, double-time”.
You know how Sideshow Bob reacted each time he stepped on a rake? That’s I feel when I read these posts. Seriously, people: waitpersons hate their jobs enough - trust me - you don’t need to make it more miserable and embarassing for them. They’re introducing themselves to you because they have to.
I don’t know why you think every waitperson would be embarrassed by this. They seem just fine with it. Everyone has a little laugh and we move on a little more relaxed.
The point is that you *can *ask for him by name if you’d like to.
What’s the point of being pissy about him introducing himself? Perhaps anyone who is offended by the waiter infringing on their consciousness with this declaration of his humanity should stay home with their microwave.
Not sure where you get this idea from. The overwhelming majority of wait staff I know enjoy the job. Obviously not every day is perfect, and customers can be a pain, but that’s true at any job.
My caveat - I have waited tables twice. But I bartended for 9 years, and many of my current circle of friends are waiters/waitresses or in the restaurant business somehow. Admittedly part of the difference might be they tend to work in good restaurants, not corporate chains.
I would, but the microwave has its name printed below the door in bold type. Fucking GE.
I don’t get pissy about a server introducing himself, I just don’t think it’s necessary. When they say, “Hey, folks, my name is Farquhar and I’ll be your server today,” I always want to say, “Hi, I’m Neil and I’ll be your customer today.”
ETA: I’m going to need a cite for the novel idea that waitstaff are human.
I don’t always mind the “have you been here before?” question, but only when they’re trying to determine whether to bring something interesting to your attention. Like, for instance, the Mexican restaurant that we went to which had a huge and very impressive wine menu and the waiter then brought our attention to the scope of it; people don’t expect that kind of thing. Too many restaurants do this for no apparently good/useful reason from the customer’s point of view, though.
Ease up, Mr. Angry. Sometimes people have food allergies or, og forbid, just don’t like some ingredients. In this case, it’s probably more efficient to ask if a certain dish contains such ingredients rather than get the whole recipe. On the other hand, I’ve witnessed hopelessly picky people, too. Those folks really need to stay home and cook their own damn dinner.
I like knowing the name. Both for asking for him, and what if he is the Worst or Best Waiter Ever? Then it’s easier to go to the manager. I have done both, though I have only gone to the manager about a bad waiter once.
The post to which he responded was clearly someone looking for the recipe so they could cook it at home, not someone who has allergy problems. Typically, someone looking to avoid particular ingredients wouldn’t ask for a “recipe”.
And what’s wrong with wanting the recipe so I can try cooking it at home? It doesn’t mean I’ll never come back. If anything, it makes me feel like an insider with a special interest in the place.
If the only reason you get people to patronize your restaurant is your secret recipe, you’re doing something wrong. People go to restaurants for good food, yes, but good food that they don’t have to make or clean up after, and to have a pleasant outing.
My (then-future) husband and I asked for a soup recipe once, and got it, and have sent that restaurant as much business as we possibly can ever since. The restaurant was struggling at that point (1997) and we were moving out of town. Shortly after, they stopped serving anything but desserts and drinks and are doing crazy well, with five locations. We still make the soup (a sort of Russian borscht / beef stew) and we also still give their prepackaged chocolate sauces as gifts, ordering online from 3000 miles away. We’d never visit Seattle now without a trip to them for our other favorite of theirs, milkshakes made with their chocolate sauce and port wine. If they did still make the soup, you can bet we’d get it there as often as we could.
It’s called proprietary information. Why SHOULD they give you the recipe so you can make it at home? They want you to come to their restaurant and pay for it. That’s how business works. It’s similar to why we have patents and copyrights. It’s their product, so they get to control who knows how to make it and how best to maximize their bottom line. If they want to give out their recipes, fine, but they’re not jerks if they choose not to.
However, someone who asks for the recipe and then throws a hissy fit when they’re refused is definitely being a jerk.
