Restaurant Etiquette - Page 2

Yes, I think you've nailed it.

The right hand wants to two-finger type, but the left hand uses all 5 fingers. I don't know why this is, but I'm sure you could tell me where I'm going wrong. It's probably just a discipline thing. Keep the right hand in the proper position on the keys and that'll solve my problems. It'll be a little slower at first, but soon things will speed up nicely once I adjust to typing correctly.


All joking aside, this thread is *primarily* about how customer actions in a restaurant affect the level and efficiency of service--regardless of the best efforts of the staff. It's also dabbles in what I (and others in response) feel is the proper tipping standard. And lastly it's an attempt to get people to think about just generally having a little empathy and patience for the restaurant staff in the context of what we all know about the traditional customer-staff relationship. A little more organization would have helped, but I think I did a good job of clearing things up in my subsequent posts. Give 'em a read perhaps!

And yes I'm still in school. Just on break.

Well said, Hassan.


Of course it's not the customer's job to "run" the restaurant.

I'm not suggesting it is.


I do not think closing times are not up to the restaurant.


I find it very difficult to believe you don't check posted closing times before entering a restaurant that late at night. If it's 10-11 on weekday nights, that's the time I think everyone realizes most restaurants are closed or closing. If it's around 11-12 on weekend nights, then most people understand the same thing.

Whether the employees "take it out on you" is another matter that I sympathize completely with the employees about. The staff will not give you very good service, will not care about whether they give you very good service, and will face very little repercussions from management as long as they don't screw up your order.

But at the very least out of basic consideration for other people: (1) order quickly because the kitchen closes, (2) order something that doesn't take long to make, (3) don't linger after closing. The restaurant does not make money by staying open after closing for you.


The point is that *if* you decide to split a check in a large group after you've received all your food and after-dinner items, *then* understand two things: (1) to do this will take time-- more time than if you told your server up front about your payment plan and (2) mistakes are far more likely under these circumstances. The staff could ask beforehand, but my instincts are that this isn't really a good idea unless the group is huge.


I think you're misunderstanding me.

Restaurants want families as customers for obvious reasons, but a little consideration for the staff that has to clean up after their children when they make a mess everywhere is all I'm trying to get across here. If that's too much to ask, then they, personally, are inconsiderate. No one's saying it's not the staff's job to clean up after them, but just because they *can* let their children do something doesn't mean they're not asshole customers if they do let them do that and then leave it.


Sure.


My point is that *if* you do use cash and want change, *then* expect to wait longer for the server to process it because (1) credit cards are always faster and (2) all servers everywhere have a limited amount of change on them and must wait to get change elsewhere when they run out. I do not think customers categorically should not use cash.


I do not work in a restaurant, so I cannot "run the restaurant." I am not looking for more money for tips for myself because I am not a restaurant employee. I am a customer just like you except I'm writing from past working experiences.


No it's more complicated than that.

What customers think of as "good service" depends on customer actions in part and luck in part in addition to the best efforts of the staff.

At buffets.

Huge difference.

And I'm not a server.

You obviously did not read the thread.

Shetline agrees with a lot of the stuff. As does Flounder. As does Flat Stanley. Spindler agrees with parts of my perspective after I explained it. Hassan understands where I'm coming from. Anyway this doesn't have anything to do with anything except your inability to read a freaking thread in your efforts to be acerbic and mean-spirited.


Most people *get it.*

They're there late at night. No one else is in the restaurant. They manage to get there early enough before closing to get sat. The server tells them the kitchen is closing at a certain time so that they only have a certain amount of time to order. They'll order, eat and leave for the most part. But, after a closing time, it takes a certain breed of asshole customer to then linger after they've eaten. If you don't understand this, then you lack basic empathy for the people who must stay later for you.


They could.

I don't see doing that as too much of a problem. Some customers might not understand why the server is asking about the check before anyone even orders. So that's why I think customers should at the very least be *aware* of the problems that check-splitting at the end poses.


Again with your thread-reading issues.

Yes, obviously, customers should pay with whatever they've got. Use your traveler's cheques! (That one will take even longer because the server may need to authenticate it with a drivers license and write all sorts of crap on it, and *then* get change because it's considered "cash.") The server conscientiousness points obviously don't apply to you because you don't give a shit about anyone but yourself. But what does apply to you is that getting change will take longer than a credit card nearly every time. Not all that greatly longer most times, but the server *will* run out of change at one point and will need to ask others for it. If you're in a rush, use a credit card or don't ask for change for the fastest service.


Try ongoing issues that servers and restaurant staff currently face.


I do not need to defend myself as a former server. You do not know how I was, and you're delusional if you think you have any idea. What I am talking about are my thoughts and opinions on restaurant issues. If you can't separate the two, then maybe you shouldn't participate here.

Is this Applenut? You were banned.

You don't tip at all oftentimes?

You do understand that tipped employees do not receive the standard minimum wage, do you not? They receive just a portion of it. From 2000 to 2006 (when i worked) restaurants in Pennsylvania were required to pay servers just $2.83/hr in wages "to do their job." I believe the federal minimum wage for tipped employees was just $2.13/hr during that time. Servers also never get raises. They are paid through tips. Your food is cheaper because a restaurant's labor costs are reduced by not having to pay its wait staff their full wages. That's why tipping is customary.

I don't agree with paying servers that way; I think they should get a living wage and that tipping should be reserved only for exceptional service. But understanding the system is not constructed that way, I won't screw servers over because I disagree with the system. And believe me, you are royally screwing over whichever server has the misfortune of waiting on you. The opportunity cost of waiting on your table is huge. Instead of getting a table that tips, they get one that doesn't AND they actually *lose* money in a real sense by having to wait on you. Yes, because you don't tip, servers *lose* money because they have to tip out bartenders, buspersons, and oftentimes food runners based on a percentage of their sales, which you are adding to. Where I worked it was 5% of the total liquor sales for bartenders and 1.5% of the total food sales for buspersons *and* food runners.

You can't feign ignorance knowing all this.

I never ate at a restaurant that generally hired "indifferent and aloof young kids."

Managers find out pretty quickly the servers who are just going through the motions. If you have one of those, by all means, let the manager know. Chain restaurants give pretty much the same level of service and hire basically the same broad range of people. You might get better service at an Olive Garden because they restrict their servers to only 3 table sections. (Unlike other restaurants, a small table section is worthwhile for the servers there because of the high table turnover rate and the high check averages). But by and large, your overall service at chain restaurants isn't going to differ very much from place to place for casual dining. Unless some of the smaller restaurants in your area somehow don't care about its wait staff? Some of these smaller, ultimately unsuccessful businesses don't always have the right acumen on hiring and firing.