I don’t agree with the opinion that if the appetizer arrives at the same time as your entree, you should just go ahead and eat it. Appetizers are meant to tide you over until your entree arrives. Serving them at the same time as your entree defeats the purpose. Besides, I like to have one plate or one bowl in front of me; I’m at a restaurant not a viking wedding feast.
Wow, and I can only re-iterate the fact that cunts like you have no business being anywhere near people who pay you to do a job so simple that a monkey could, and yet you’re incapable of doing 
[fast food manager]Either do the no-salt method as suggested, or just ask politely for fries that are just coming out of the oil. If there’s not any cooking already, they should put some down for you. And if you’re friendly, there’s no reason you should get any bitterness or attitude. It wouldnt be dickish of you at all, but some customers have a tendency to be rude and loud about such a request, which would classify them as a dick[/manager]
I’m not sure what part of “volunteer” keeps escaping you, but apparently I’m arguing with someone who isn’t quite on the same mental level as the rest of us. You have a good day now, and remember- the key to getting what you want is throwing tantrums and food at people! You go, girl!!! Whatever works for you!
I didn’t know Anthony Bourdain was a doper.
What a thread… The only thing that pisses me off at a restaurant is the waiting for the bill. Other than that, no problem.
Although if Litoris’ husband ever threw a pickle at me, violence would ensure.
:eek: What? I’ve never seen that. But then the type of places where I’ve gotten cold fries I can see the fryer from where I stand at the front counter. I’d also be able to tell if they were double fried, because as you say there is more grease and they’d be extremely overcooked. I can taste when the fryer needs to have the oil changed, I have no doubt I’d be able to tell that fries gone cold and soggy have been recooked.
I was going to stay out of this (famous last words), but I couldn’t let this one go by. While it’s not completely clear from the context, I think you are saying that waiting tables is a job so simple a monkey could do it. This, in my opinion, is a bunch of hooey.
Sure, any idiot can keep one table happy. But the thing is that restaurants don’t want to pay a server for each table (and if they did, it would drastically increase the cost of the meals). So each server has to take care of multiple tables. This is not actually so easy a monkey could do it. It requires multitasking, time management, and sometimes intuition. The fact is that a lot of the people that do it aren’t actually completely fantastic at it. They don’t get paid enough to be fantastic at it, to be honest.
If you want unimpeachable service, you should only go to very expensive restaurants, where you will get it. I’ve had that kind of service a few times in my life, and it’s completely awesome. I loved it. Most of the time, though, I’m not willing to pay for it.
And since I’m at a place where things cost less, I accept that the service will probably be adequate, but not fantastic. It’s the price I pay for not being independently wealthy.
And on a personal note, Litoris, I’m a little sad. I read your story in the giving up thread, and I was impressed by your willpower and tenacity. In this thread, though, you’re kind of acting like a jerk, and I’m disappointed. I know it’s just a message board, but I’m always happy to find people to admire, and I found one and lost her in the same day.
A couple restaurant irks in passing:
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The widespread replacement of “Can I get you anything else?” with “How does your food TASTE?”. I don’t want to give you TASTE reports or do a comprehensive cuisine review on the spot, I just want a drink refill, or not.
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Frenzied efforts to clean up the joint starting half an hour before closing time, including the loud use of vacuum cleaners under the adjoining table. If your restaurant is open until 10, prepare to be congenial hosts for at least 45 minutes or so after that, unless you clearly indicate that everything shuts down at 10 and the last chance to order food is 9:15 (the numbers are somewhat arbitrary, but you get the point).
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“Have you ever dined with us before?” is really overdone. I just heard a waiter use this on a party at the next table, followed by “Well, the menu is really self-explanatory but I’ll go through it if you like.” If it’s so self-explanatory, why bother asking the question in the first place? Only ask this if there is something truly weird about the restaurant that first-time customers need to be warned of, such as the waitstaff suddenly breaking out into a country music-inspired line dance during the evening’s proceedings (this actually happened when we were at one of those faux-Texas steak places in West Virginia).
After 40 minutes? No. You had every right to disturb them. After 10 minutes you should have. After two hour? That was just ridiculous and I wish you’d have done something 1:50 before that.
But I’m coming from a frame of American culture. Maybe you just can’t get away with being assertive in Germany. I don’t know.
The part of volunteer that seems to be escaping me is the part where you mentioned that the woman paid for the food. If you can’t handle doing the work, don’t volunteer. I don’t give a shit whether or not you were paid, the woman paid for the food. Is it so unrealistic to expect you to do what you volunteered to do? Seriously, if you are incapable of doing it, don’t volunteer. I sure as hell wouldn’t want someone volunteering for my cause with your atttitude. But ya know what? Keep feeling self-righteous because you volunteer to act like a cunt.
I would also like to give you some advice – don’t go looking for rats in my house until you clear those out of your own. I, strangely enough, am not my own husband. I have never thrown food at anyone. My husband threw a pickle at his plate, which landed on the waiter’s shoe. Never asked for details, but sure made assumptions, huh? Especially the part where you assumed that I was somehow married to myself. Odd that. Reading comprehension – a skill in which you seem deficient.
StuffLikeThatThere thank you for the compliment, even if it was part of an issue. To be sure, I don’t expect perfect service, people are human. what I expect, and what will ensure a nice, big tip are as follows:
- try to get my order correct, mistakes happen – don’t blame the kitchen, just fix it
- pay us some attention
- don’t act like a cunt
Just because I take issue with things that have happened, doesn’t mean I am unreasonable. I just expect that if I am paying someone to do a job, they should do that job – if they don’t wish to do the job, they shouldn’t be there.
The day I tire of people asking me “what colour is the sapphire blue tissue?” is the day I will leave my job and seek other employment. It’s pretty simple, if you can’t handle it, don’t do it.
I waited tables at one of the busiest places in the town where I went to high school for almost 2 years. I have worked in fast food and then customer service both in person and on the phone for roughly 21 years. To be sure, I cut people more slack because of my background than I would otherwise.
Jackmannii – I think the reason many places have switched to “how does your food taste” as opposed to the “can I get you anything else” is the same as why call centers are directed to ask “what else may I assist you with today” instead of “is there anything else I can help you with today” – open-ended questions are more personable. It’s marketing.
Sweet tea isn’t much different from unsweet - the only difference is sugar. Run tea bags through coffee machine, pour into large stainless steel urn (already on the premises - two of them - one sweet, one unsweet) add sugar. No biggie.
I did not expect miracles the first night - none of us did. The restaurant may have been surprised by the number of people who showed up; I know they didn’t have sufficent staff. After the first night it was just plain bad management. They knew they would have a crowd - they did have enough wait staff after the first night - so there is not an excuse in my eyes.
Don’t want to serve tea? It’s not free, it’s almost $2 for a non-alcoholic beverage in that bar. Don’t want to serve it? Take it off the menu.
The manager of this restaurant does have the concept of limited quanitites down - her nightly special always says that there are limited servings available. I’m not sure why the tea thing throws her off.
When you write “he may – he has before – throw the pickle at you in revulsion if you bring it to the table.”, it’s not a sign of poor reading comprehension to assume that your husband threw a pickle at someone who brought it to the table. Now, all of a sudden, he threw it at his plate, but how was anyone to know you weren’t telling the truth the first time?
Nice touch with the irony there BoBettie .
I was coming to this thread to post this. The “giant portion” thing seems to be invading Canada as well. Though judging by my last trip to the States, it still isn’t quite as prevelant.
I’m a big guy - 6’ and 190 pounds - and at some restaurants, the portions are too large for me to contemplate eating, even on my hungriest days, much less my (much smaller) wife. I’d really prefer having the option of ordering smaller sizes.
Thanks- I try to make everyone happy.
Well, I don’t have an answer for Litoris’ latest rant about how fucking stupid and cunty I am for bringing out the garlic bread that was asked for. I guess if that’s the perception- that serving tables is so easy a monkey can do it and any mistakes are unforgivable and should be dealt with rudely, then that’s that.
I’m going to go ahead and let this thread go on and not provoke the crazy people any longer. At least now I can say that I’ve heard the other point of view on this topic, so that’s something. I had no idea people actually had mindsets like that. You really do learn something new every day.
OOK! OOK! OOK!
Juuuust practicing…
The lack of reading comprehension I was pointing out was in fact her proclamation that I threw the pickle. In the end, my husband threw the pickle at his plate, it landed on the waiter’s shoe – that, in my ever-so-humble opinion is throwing it at the waiter. But, well, as some exceedingly idiotic cunt keeps pointing out, I am a child, what do I know of the affairs of grown-up monkeys?
Thanks for enlightening me there on the sweet tea, Never made it as a Yankee. I didn’t know it was that simple. I thought maybe there was a period that you had to stir the tea or perhaps an extended time that you had to wait before the tea was solute and servable, or I thought maybe they make it in the back of the house or something. But yea, it’s definitely a disservice to not make more if it’s that easy, and even if it’s not easy they should make more ahead of time knowing your crowd.
It sounds to me like they don’t have enough people on shift. You guys probably slam the 3 or 4 servers who are on and they can’t find the time to make more. I assume they are all running around like chickens with their head cut off on the nights you all come in?
Litoris and her husband are exactly the reason that waiting tables is such a shitty job. Absurdly entitled, abusive, petty, humorless, control freak douchebags who get off on harrassing waitstaff. What a fucking joy it must be to see those two walk through the door. Litoros has made it clear that the feelings and opinions of restaurant servers are beneath her contempt and deserve no consideration but I wonder if she knows how uncomfortable it is to even sit at the same table as someone like that. having one person or couple at a table that keeps bitching at the waitress brings down the whole mood for everybody. “Oh noes, I got a glass of water that I don’t want to drink!” Who gives a fuck? Throwing a fucking pickle? What kind of self-important, grandstanding horseshit is that?
Also, why is the husband the one telling the server what his wife will have or not have? Is she a child? Is she verbally or mentally handicapped? What kind of controlling asswipe still orders for the woman?
Throwing it on the plate is still a douchebag, inappropriate, obnoxious thing to do which is grossly disproportionate to the level of perceived offense.