What if I tell waitstaff to stop being so "friendly"?

[Yorikke]

@Sigmagirl

There’s a cashier at my Giant Eagle who always used to comment on whatever I bought. A 2-liter of pop and a bag of pretzels? “Oh, you must be having a party! Can I come to the party? How come I’m not invited to the party?” Or if I bought a roasting chicken, “What time should I come over for dinner? What kind of wine should I bring?”

Jesus, there was a guy like that at the Save-Mart store in Visalia, CA, when I lived there. Every time, he’d make some kind of “humorous” comment. I wanted to slash his eyeballs with a butterknife. I’d avoid his lane unless it would clearly save me at least a 5-minute wait.

Joe

[DrDeth]

@Frylock

Esp. interested in people with experience in this area, from either end.

Sometimes waitstaff are too “friendly.” They feel a need to chat me (and my companions) up, try to “connect,” and so on. I don’t really like this. But I have never been sure whether this is a result of personality, or if there is a general idea amongst waitstaff that customers want to be treated this way.

Were I to politely tell my waiter or waitress at some point that I’d really just like them to take care of my dining needs, and that I am not here to socialize with them (gah, how do I do that “politely” is another question!), will this, do you think, be taken as an insult, or as providing them with some relief?

Well, the best that can happen is cold food and another tipping thread started about you here. The worst is “substances” in your food. :eek:

Generally, I’d like to see my waitstaff often enough so that I think they are getting too friendly. Instead, usually, I start to think I am going to need a compass, a bloodhound and a team of native guides to even find my waiter. Damn, I wish I had your problems.

[Amygdala]

I hate it when servers are super chatty too. I’m one of those “just take my order and bring my food, then bring the check when I’m done” people. I don’t even want them to check up on me, because when they do I always have a mouthful of food, and trying to answer through it is embarrassing. Actually, I hate all forms of overly friendly customer service. It’s weird, because I work in customer service (god knows why), and we’re encouraged to engage customers in conversation, which is exactly what I wouldn’t want as a customer. It’s difficult for me to believe that other people actually enjoy that kind of service. But I guess they must, or it wouldn’t be so prevalent.