Can I just say that I hate waiting tables? I know that as a bartender in a restaurant I am still serving people, but there is an entirely different attitude with bar service. I can joke around with the customers, dish out witty sarcasms, and learn about who they are. When we know that it is going to be a slow night at the restaurant, I have started working the floor as well as tending bar. After tonight, I came to the conclusion that if I had to work as a waiter every day I would go crazy.
People sitting at tables are just plain annoying. Here is a recap of tonight's irritating events.
"How was everything?" I asked one of the tables as I was clearing away three completely clean plates (usually this is a sign that they liked the food). I don't usually finish everything on my plate if something about it is substandard.
"Well, I was really disappointed with the bun. I can't believe they didn't toast it. It tasted like it was still frozen," commented one of the diners.
Really, I thought. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that perhaps the bun could have been better quality. I personally prefer not to eat our hamburgers for this very reason. But, why choose to tell me now? When you have already finished your meal, must you actually give your honest opinion to the server? It's not like I made the food. Keep it to yourself, critique the food in detail amongst your friends, but when the server asks how everything was after you have already finished, just lie. Say, "Great." give a pseudo convincing smile and move on.
Next annoying moment of the day happened with a three top of women. These are the kind of women who are all show and no real sophistication. Shopping at Cost Plus world market is probably about as worldly as they get. One of the women asks, "Do you have any Pinot Grigio?" When I reply, "No, sorry, we do not," she wants a recommendation of a wine that is similar to a Pinot Grigio. I begin to explain to her that there is a great Pouilly Fume that is actually quite different from a Pinot Grigio, but it is still light bodied and has wonderful fragrant qualities. The bottle that I suggested was $59. I could tell that she didn't want to spend this much when she inquired about the other Pouilly Fume which was $46.
"What is the difference between these two bottles," she asked.
"The difference is that the other bottle is a little more dry." Notice that I never said that it was a "dry" wine, I simply said that it was more dry than the other bottle. I didn't think she was entirely sold on the wine, so I was beginning to describe one other wine for her, a Licia from Spain, but she cut me off mid sentence and decided to order the cheaper Pouilly Fume.
When I opened the bottle and poured a little taste for her, she proclaimed, "This tastes sweet. I don't know, does this taste like Pinot Grigio to you guys?" as she offered a taste to her friends. "I don't really know what Pinot Grigio is, but this tastes really sweet to me, you said it was dry."
Stupid lady doesn't even know what she is looking for in a wine and then gets mad at me for saying it was dry, which I didn't even say, I said that it was drier than the other wine. The customer needs to know what they want before they have the nerve to complain.
And finally, the most annoying man of the evening. This guy was just all around irritating. His jerkiest moment came when I told him that we were out of the desert that he wanted to order.
"I'm sorry sir, but the kitchen has told me that we are out of the peach crisp this evening. Is there any other desert that you would like to try."
"Jeez, every time I come here you guys are out of one of the deserts. Why do you even bother to have desert on the menu if you are always going to be out of something? What do you have then?"
Wanting to grab him around the neck and choke him and cry out, "Loosen up you crazy, high strung idiot. If you don't like that occasionally we run out of one of our eight different deserts, than go somewhere else. No skin off my back." Instead, I replied, "We have everything else, sir."
After dealing with him all night long, he only left me $16.50 on a $120 bill. I really hope I never have to serve him again. If I do, I'll be sure to tell him that per his suggestion we decided to take desert off the menu.
So This Is Christmas
6 days ago
2 comments:
Um, she did tell you what kind of wine she wanted. She wanted a Pinot Grigio- and you proceeded to sell her something, as you say, "quite different."
That's because we didn't have anything like a pinot grigio...this wine had some similar elements like floral qualities and light bodiness. The point of the story was that she complained about it being too sweet, but never said anything about wanting a wine that wasn't sweet. It's just supposed to be funny anyway.
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