Life as a server isnt all that you may think it is. There is so much more to behind the scenes than you may know. Many people that become servers usually do not know what they are getting themselves into. The hours are very long and usually no breaks just eat what you can in between.
Throughout the day you meet many kinds of people and each of them get served to the way they are. For example if you have a customer who looks like there having a bad day, either you try your best to see them smile or let them be so you do not make their day and yours bad. When employed at a certain restaurant for a long period of time you start to acquire many customers of all kinds. On wednsaday we have two dollar margaritas so you always have the same people come in to get their drink on. When you establish good relationships with your customers, you look forward to see them and they ask for you personally by name.
For all the other customers they are all there for the atmosphere , good food and service. These customers are were we as servers have to give our all and make them want to come back. There are steps in serving that we have to do and say to the customer because it is our job to do so and it may be a secreat shopper. Secreat shoppers are people hired to rate your service from a scale from 0-100, and this could hurt or make your store better. We first have to introduce ourselves and make sure we are prompt to our table, than offer if they would like a special drink, than offer an appitizer of your choice, you than take their order and make sure after they get their food everything is okay and offer dessert. If you miss any of these things with a shopper you may get fired. So if you ever wandered why when you go out to eat and the server asks you all those things...there just doing there job so let them.
Many people also do not know at what rate servers get paid, and it is not minimum wage. As servers we recieve 2.13 an hour and this is because the government thinks that with tips we get the same amount as minimum wage and sometimes this is not even true. So when it comes to check time we are lucky if our checks equal 20 dollars and that is bi weekly. We live on our tips and I feel as if the customers do not always realize this. We work hard for our money and we are the center of the communication core with the customer.
When a customer recieves the wrong food they automatically think it was the servers fault, but in all actuality it could be many people who made that mistake. It could be the server running the food to the wrong table, or the cook not reading the ticket right.
What I am trying to say is that serving could be a major money making business, but it is all about location. You have to give good service to get good tips. The employees you work with have to work as a team, and there must always be a vast amount of communication to make a restaurant run correctly.
1 comment:
"When a customer recieves the wrong food they automatically think it was the servers fault, but in all actuality it could be many people who made that mistake."
I agree to an extent, but for MOST of the mistakes, it's usually the server's fault.
1. The server inputs the order into the computer wrong. I've had this happen SEVERAL TIMES. The servers ADMITTED doing it.
2. If the same server that took the order brings out the food, then the correct entree, correct side dishes, and no missing items should be verified BY THE SERVER, meaning, if you bring me food that's wrong when it's things you don't have to touch to see it's wrong, then it's definately the SERVER'S FAULT for taking the food to me wrong. Intially, the cook messed up if the server put the order in correctly, but the SERVER should have a little "COMMON SENSE" not to run beans to me when I ordered fries. Also, condiments are missing a lot from same servers as well as food runners. ANY condiments usually don't have to be cooked, therefore, my SERVER is totally responsible for them, meaning if you trust a food runner for your tip, that's just stupid. Usually when my condments are forgotten, my server is the person that ends up bringing me my forgotten condiments, NOT the food runner, so there was truly NO POINT of the food runner I feel when this happens. I truly hate the food runner system, because most of the time, they don't read the tickets, because they will get tipped out NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS at the end of the shift.
The things that I wouldn't hold against the server unless they admitted they were at fault would be like a pickle under a bun(I don't like pickles) or inside a burrito or an undercooked steak that's not obvious that it's wrong such as the difference between medium well and well done. Now if I ordered a medium RARE steak and you bring me a VERY black steak, I know that you didn't verify my plate of food with the written order. In other words, I take off for the server not noticing OBVIOUS mistakes. It's NOT the customer's job to have to repeat their order when their food arrives without even having to touch their food to see the mistake. If I can see a mistake without touching my food, SO CAN MY SERVER!
"cook not reading the ticket right."
If you've written down the order, if there is an OBVIOUS mistake, DON'T take it to the customer. I thought a waiter that brought me quesadillas instead of bbq chicken nachos looked like a complete idiot. He ended up admitted he pressed the wrong button, but he made 2 mistakes. 1. Inputting the order into the computer incorrectly 2. When the food was ready, he didn't take the written order that he wrote down and compared the OBVIOUS things that were wrong with the order.
That waiter got stiffed because of the uncaring way he handled it. I didn't receive the quesadillas for free as I feel most of the time, extras go in the garbage when a mistake is made or get eaten by the staff. Also he never called a manager or tried to get something comped. I also had to go up to him to find out an explanation why my husband had his entree, but I didn't. ONLY THEN, did he say a tiny sorry. I would have PROFUSELY apologized for a wrong entree if I was the server. That's pretty major of a mistake. I would have also told a manager and asked if the manager could comp something. This way, I could save my tip and at the same time treat people like they have feelings, but NO, he didn't care about me, so I didn't care about his tip. It truly does look stupid if you took the order to bring out the COMPLETELY WRONG entree. I mean really, WHERE WAS THE "EFFORT" IN MY SERVICE?
I usually tip 20%-26% for great service, but I also do tip 15% for average service and sometimes below that even if the service is crappy. I hardly ever stiff, but when it's deserved, it's deserved. It's how he handled the mistake, not the "MISTAKE" itself that got him the stiff. He showed us the plate and both my husband and I said we didn't order that. He left the table after he delivered my husband's order without giving me an explanation of what happened, probably all because he was embarrassed. I feel what kind of person does that and expects a tip period?
"The employees you work with have to work as a team"
MOST DON'T, that's why the food runners get the orders wrong a lot of times with OBVIOUS things wrong and also why we've gotten seated a number of times without utensils. It seems people sometimes don't want to work as a "TEAM."
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