By Heather Novacek
Walking into a familiar place you have been to before, having the doors opened for you, having the hostess pull out the chair, relaxing in a low lit atmosphere, and knowing someone is slaving over a hot meal just for you is wonderful. Seeing a jam packed restaurant on a Friday night at six o’clock on November 29th at the Olive Garden in Taunton is very exciting. Seeing all these hungry mouths that are just waiting to be fed and money to be made was making every server very happy. Walking past the crowded lobby and taking a left through the swinging doors into the disorganized kitchen, servers are already panicking about long ticket times, getting fifteen percent tips, and getting impatient about tables that are just camping and don’t look to be on their merry way anytime soon. Servers are yelling at other servers to get out of the way, people are not watching what they are doing, resulting in tall green glasses filled with beverages are getting broken and spilt on the floor, and nice hot dishes with fleshly made food are accidentally falling to the floor. Black books are being slammed once servers see what is written on the credit card slip. It looks to be another typical night at the Olive Garden.
Behind the kitchen door there is plenty of swearing from the servers, servers mocking their guests, and servers hating what they see in the black book. Being in this business and trying to pay for what everyone else has to afford is hard. A single mom trying to make extra cash, a cop looking for extra dough to feed her five month old daughter or a student trying to make their way through college by serving can become highly stressful with many pet peeves arising. Whether it is someone walking out on the bill, kids throwing cheerios all over the floor, guests not tipping appropriately, people walking in ten minutes right before the doors are suppose to close it is all quite overwhelming. What are some of the things that annoy the nice waitress or waiter that so lovingly take care of your every need when you are dining out? What are their biggest pet peeves? Here are the top seven pet peeves from seven being annoying, to one being the ultimate pain in the behind.
Number seven on the list is arriving at a restaurant right before it closes. Catching a late movie or wanting a late night snack usually results in arriving at a restaurant right before it is about to close. Usually posted right on the wall, right outside are the hours of business and if it is less than a half hour before the restaurant is about to close no one should come in. By this time the cooks have already started putting food away, things have gotten tossed and the closing servers have already done their side work and are waiting for minute hand to strike the closing hour. People that do come in this time are probably going to want something and the restaurant is not going to have it. The server is going to do their job and serve the table but they are going to try very hard to get the guests in and out. Serving is usually a second job to many people and do have places they need to be in the morning. Whether it is going to college, or bringing a child to the bus stop, servers have bigger priorities outside the restaurant.
Servers agree that six on the list is compliments with no product. Receiving praise from one table is like receiving a bonus in your check. When guests tell the server that the service was excellent and everything was great, servers see a good tip coming. However when the server goes to open that black book with the companies name on the front and they see a fifteen or even worse ten percent tip, their little heart breaks. Guests should never say anything nice unless there will be an action to show how grateful they were to the server. It makes the server question the guests and makes them ask why they even opened their mouths. The wait staff goes out of their way to please the table in every way to try and receive a little extra in the tip department. Servers from Unos said, “It’s kind of funny, the tables that you concentrate the most on and the ones you think are going to give you a good tip usually don’t. The good tips usually come from the tables you don’t even expect it from.”
Five on the list are those little devils that parents call children. Going out to your favorite restaurant and bringing the kids along is usually always a hassle. After coloring for a few minutes kids usually become very loud. They are wondering when their meals arrive to the table. At a table with children servers usually witness the kids walking around, getting in the way, opening all the sugar packets, and sometimes throwing a tantrum and hitting the parents. A three and a half year waitress Reni said, “Something else that is annoying and really makes it hard for us to do our job, is when you allow you little brats to run around the restaurant. They are bumping into servers, who in return bump into that nice lady with the Coach bag sitting at the table next to yours. What happens? The poor server being pushed by your misbehaved child, now spills an entire plate of spaghetti and a lot of sauce on the nice lady’s $400 purse.” Whenever kids are at the table the family should usually always throw an extra couple of bucks to the server for dealing with their child. When the children’s food actually does come it usually ends up on the floor instead of in their mouths. Instead of the parents kindly picking up the mess they leave it for the non English speaking bussers to clean. Servers not only tip the bussers for wiping their tables but also for cleaning the macaroni and cheese or the cheerios that were thrown all over the floor. When parents leave the floor looking absolutely disastrous it makes the server wonder what the guests’ house actually looks like.
Four on the list are the guests that are snapping their fingers or saying “hey you.” Another pet peeve that drive servers wild are the needy tables. When servers are repeatedly going over to the same table again and again it is affecting the tips coming from the other tables. Servers are only allowed three to five tables and when one of them is constantly asking for another drink, more bread, more anything; it ruins the potential for getting an extraordinary tip from someone else. When the server is at the table the guests should ask for everything they need and the server will bring it all out instead of things one at a time. It’s not fair when the server is having a nice conversation with a couple of regulars and they are seeing a hand waving, a finger being snapped, or just someone saying hey waitress to get their attention. A server of three years Brien says, “Too much attention to one table affects your tip from other tables.” Servers are people to and they can feel someone staring at them. They will go to the table when they have a chance. It’s all about patience and not a lot of people have it when they come out to eat. Yes, servers are doing their job and are waiting on the customers but there is no reason for the guests to treat them as slaves.
A consensus for number three is chewing and then screwing. Having a nice meal to eat and being able to afford it is wonderful. People that come into dine are expected to pay the bill. If they don’t, the server gets in trouble. The server getting written up for something that is totally out of their hands is not fair. If guests chew and screw twice on a server they could be terminated. Guests that bolt on the bill don’t realize that they could have possibly caused a single mother, a college student, or a father trying to afford nice Christmas presents for his wife and daughter their job and the company money for paying for their food. If the server catches the guests before they leave they can be arrested. Instead of ditching the bill guests might as well pay for it or not come out at all.
The grouchy old man starring at you waiting for his dinner takes number two. Having a table that makes conversation and seems very nice is always great. When you don’t have the “nice table” usually the server has an “it’s your entire fault” table. There are other people that make up the restaurant besides the servers. There are cooks, hostesses, salad makers, bread makers, and the people that refill soup and get what the line cooks may need more of. On a busy night people should expect to wait a little longer for their food then usual. Servers are there to make sure that all your needs are met not to except blame for things that are out of their control. Mallory, a bartender at Game On in Boston said, ‘It’s not always the waitress or waiters fault your food, your bar drinks are late, and it should not result in how you tip.” It’s true; there are other people in the restaurant. By yelling at your server or even getting the manager envolved will not make the food come out any quicker. Going out to dinner on a busy Friday or Saturday night guests should maybe rethink going out on a less hectic night if they are to impatient to wait for their food. Having a minute of down time and catching her breath near the wine hutch Nicole witnesses’ guest after guest going up to the host stand and asking how much longer it would be on a demanding Saturday night. Nicole said,” What do people expect? It’s busy, of course they might have to wait a little longer then expected.”
The last pet peeve that takes the cake is less then cheap people. Those that work in the restaurant business are always looking for twenty percent tips if not better. When any server sees a hundred dollar bill on one of their checks they automatically hope for a twenty dollar tip. Seeing fifteen percent or even worse, ten percent drives servers right over the edge. Servers always take notice on the regulars that come in the restaurant on a normal basis and if they are good tippers they try to get them to sit in their section however if they are crappy tippers they beg the hosts for them to be seated in someone else’s area. Many people that fall into the crappy tipper circle in servers opinion are usually people with accents, guests of Middle Eastern decent, hicks, and teenagers. Whenever servers see these people coming they already assume that the end result will not be profitable. Veteran server Stephanie said, “Teenagers don’t have a lot of money to spend so they should just stick to McDonalds. In other countries people don’t tip because that is what everyone does. Here in Massachusetts servers only get paid $2.63 an hour. Servers don’t even see a check due to the charges they receive on credit slips. Some people that do go out to eat do use the tipping book on how they tip their server. This book consists of different areas from the server being attentive to offering free re-fills. Every category is graded in different ways. From old people to young people, everyone tips differently. Joy, a cop and also a new mom works a few shifts to provide for her new family as a waitress at the Olive Garden in Taunton. She said, “If you don’t have the money to tip well, don’t go out to eat.” Servers live on their tips not their paychecks. Servers never really see a paycheck due to the fact that the hourly rate is two dollars and sixty-three cents an hour and all of the credit tips get charged. If servers due see a check it may range from two dollars to eleven dollars. Tips are very important to servers; it is like their daily check. Servers do agree that they don’t always perform their best and don’t always try their hardest for certain tables. Usually is servers have received a few bad tips then usually it continues for the rest of the night and the servers don’t really care. If guests tip correctly and keep and servers in a good mood then they will get great service then they come out to dine at any restaurant.
Going out to dinner is a luxury to many people. Everyone should treat their servers will respect and with the manners they were taught from their parents when they were younger. Guests do have the right to get what they want since they are paying for the food but should act accordingly when in a restaurant. From tipping the waitress appropriately to cleaning up the macaroni and cheese from the two year old would be greatly appreciated from servers of all restaurants. Sooner or later one guest is going to do something wrong that their waitress does not like and the server will snap and it will be on the front page of every newspaper.
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