Monday, December 7, 2009

See all those people up there? You're making them wait.

Saturday night, I was just utterly thrilled to see I had a three table section. Yeah, fuck you, managers. Actually, I shouldn't say that--it may have been a vote of confidence. It's always hard to say if that section is a big middle finger because of it being three tables, or if it's because I can handle three six-seater booths if they get jammed to maximum capacity (can fit nine people, if there's a chair on the end and a few kids). It's one of those sections that can really, really pay off--or really, really not.

I thought I was headed for the second option when a man and his very young daughter sat down to wait for three other people. They ordered drinks, and then they waited. And waited. And waited. During the absolute peak dinner rush, they waited for half an hour for the rest of their party. Finally they arrived, and to my horror it was two adults and four more children. So I had three adults and five children under the age of ten crammed in to this booth. Never a good sign.

An even worse sign? The ordered two appetizers, one kid's meal, and one steak. That's it. That's all. And then after they ate, they stayed. And stayed. I ran a detail report when they were walking out the door; from the time they ordered food to the time they left was exactly 100 minutes. Two hours and fifteen minutes they monopolized my table. Now, they did tip me 30% on their pitifully small bill--but $9 for two hours plus? If they would've arrived at once and left at once, I could've run at least one more table through there in that time, like another one of the six tops waiting up front, and at least doubled my money.

It also raised my hackles that the kids got bored and made a carpet of crap underneath the table--chips, chunks of chicken fingers, ripped up napkins, sugar packets, etc. If you can't keep an eye on all your rugrats when you go out to dinner, maybe you should stay home, huh?

4 comments:

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

Your blog just brings me right back to the Chinese Restaurant.
I'm dismayed at the way people treat restaurant wait staff. Many of them have that attitude that the restaurant 'should pay minimum wage', and it's not 'their fault' if the place is too cheap to pay their help. Like 'we're not gonna pay them'.
I've heard it time and again. But,it just ISN'T that way, nor is it likely to change so LEAVE A REASONABLE TIP.
Sigh........
If you saw myself and the girls sit at one of your tables you'd be thinking, oh shit. We're in our 50's and we'd probably chat too much before ordering BUT the tip would be at least 20% and if we sat really long it would be considerably more because we KNOW what it's like to work in the service industry.
You'd be pleasantly surprised ;)
Wish we could drop by and make your day!

Steven Nicolle said...

That was a tough table.

purplegirl said...

Mary, I'm sure you and your friends would be a riot. :)

Waiter E, they weren't too terrible, I guess, other than the hellacious mess!

Waitersfriend said...

Inconsiderate huh? It's tough when tables are like that but made even tougher when they are nice people.. hard to get pissed off with them!