We Just Like The Way It Looks
I was cleaning the bathroom one day when the bartender came in with steam practically coming out of her ears. She's the best bartender around, such a sweetheart, and one of our original employees. It really takes a lot to get her riled up. She starts telling me about these two women that were sitting at the bar. They asked for a special drink, one where you have to layer the two or three different kinds of alcohol, one that the bartender has made before. Whatever the reason, her mind was somewhere else or something else, she couldn't seem to get the alcohol to layer properly. It took several tries. During the time she was attempting to layer the drinks, the two woman were talking to each other, calling their friends, and asking the people around them in the bar what was in the drink and how to do it, all while the bartender was right in front of them. She knows how to make the drink, she's done it before, and these two women, who I'm sure were not bartenders themselves, were giving her a hard time about it. Finally, she was able to layer it and the drinks were done. One of the servers that the women had been talking to asked if it tasted different layered like that. Their reply?
"No, we just like the way it looks."
They gave the bartender all that grief and made her so frustrated all because they just liked the way the drink looked? How completely ignorant is that??
I'm Just Messing With You
This guy and his son come in one day. I ask if it will be just the two of them and the guy says, "Yeah, well, it might be three. Do you have a phone so I can call my wife and see if she's coming?"
I said that we didn't.
"That's mean." He said.
I told him that we had pay phones but they didn't work.
"That's really mean." He said.
Then he stormed off to the bar. He talked to the bartender before spotting a manager and then talked to him. He came over a few minutes later.
"You know, if you came to my house, I'd let you use my phone."
I tried to explain that the phone up here didn't call out at all.
"I'd still let you use my phone if you came to my house."
I told him that if I could call out I would most definitely let him use the phone, it just hadn't been able to call out for a long time.
"I'm just messing with you." He said.
I sat him, I told him to enjoy his meal, and I went back up to the hostess desk and exploded. I was furious at this guy. I didn't care if he was kidding or not, that whole this was totally unnecessary and completely rude. It's not uncommon for phones in restuarants not able to call out and it's not like it's my fault anyway that the phone can't call out. It used to be able to, I've let customers use it before. I've called out on it once or twice myself. But it got to be a bad habit for people to make personal phone calls from up there and the managers got rid of that feature.
Just Plain Wrong...
I don't have a big long story on this one, but these customers make me mad just the same. One of our servers had a party of about 6 or 7 (not enough to grat unfortunately), one of whom had worked with a couple of our other servers at another restaurant. Usually, that means decent tip, if the customer has worked at a restaurant before. Not this time. Their food took a little longer than it should have, but there were several of them and everyone's food was taking a little long that day. The guy at the table that had worked with our other servers was a cook at that restaurant, so he of all people should have known that it wasn't the server's fault the food took so long. Their bill? $80. The tip? $1. No, that's not a typo on my part. They actually left the server one dollar on an eighty dollar check for no reason other than their food took too long. *Shakes head* what is wrong with people??
Stinky Guy...
There's not much to this guy, just that none of the servers want him because he always smells like he hasn't showered in a week and he doesn't tip. Although, one of our cuter female servers did manage to get a decent tip out of him by being extra friendly. He always comes in by himself, (I think he orders a chicken sandwich everytime) sometimes a couple of days in a row, but at least once a week. It's not just that he doesn't smell very good, it's that you can smell him several tables over.
Chicken Guy...
This guy is a trip. He comes in with his family (his asian wife and two daughters), orders for them water and all three of them share one soup and one salad (the soup & salad combo) while he gets soda (alcohol sometimes I think...) and a big entree all to himself (the chicken sandwich). One time, he made a comment to either the hostess or the server about how they had fed the girls before they came, which makes sense, sort of...One of the theories about this guy is that his wife is a mail order bride and getting to eat out is a big treat for the family, even if all they get is soup and salad to share...If he does tip, it's usually not very good, I don't think...
Wing Lady...
This lady is mean! She usually sends her wings back at least two or three times before settling for what comes out and eating them. She has specific instructions for how her wings are made and she's not afraid to send them back if they don't come out right. None of her instructions are even close to what she wants either! She tells the server to have them cook the wings for a certain amount of time, and when they do, it's not long enough and she sends them back. And that wouldn't be so bad if she were nice about it and left decent tips, but noooo, she's nasty about it and none of the servers want to take her at all!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
What's a Monday Night without some drama?
We didn't have quite the same quality of drama tonight as with the cheerleaders' mothers, but your usual Monday night stuff! :)
The night started off normal enough, a little on the slow side, but perfect for all the trainees who are still learning the ropes. Someone in the bar had four kids with them who were running around screaming and yelling like it was Chuck-E-Cheese's or something, they were annoying, but they left eventually. It wasn't until around 9 or so that things got interesting. There were two hostesses left, me and my best friend who I was training, and these two guys came in.
One was slightly taller and the other one was shorter and stockier. The shorter of the two had a little too much bounce in his step, and I don't mean the filled-with-energy kind of bounce, it was more like a wobble. He couldn't open his eyes all the way and he slurred his speech, so his friend did all the talking. "Just two of us, we're not here to drink" -- um, okay? We definitely didn't ask if they had come to drink, the one seemed plastered already, except he was way too out of it to be drunk...
After my friend got back from seating them, we all (the third hostess hadn't left yet) agreed that he was beyond stoned and we wondered what his friend was thinking bringing him out to a restaurant like that. A little while after they were seated, the stoner gets up and goes to the bathroom (which as far as I know, he found by himself), when he comes back, he asks us if we knew where his "boy" was. I look back at their table, and there he is, just where the stoner left him. I point to his table, "He's over there, at your table." And the stoner shuffles off to his table.
Several minutes later, the stoner gets up again, this time, he ventures outside. Why is he going outside? Why is his friend letting him wander around outside? Who knows. We couldn't figure it out. The stoner was gone for ten minutes before his friend went to go find him. After he went outside, we saw the stoner to the left of our building (if you're looking at it from the street) and we saw his friend start walking in the opposite direction. We watched the stoner as he was doing his "drunk walk" over to our next door neighbor's, a Chevy Chase Bank, his arms are streching and going from his sides to the top of his head, and back down again. He can't hold still, he has to move. We finally see him start to come inside, so I say "I think we have stuff to do in the back, don't you?" my friend agrees and we try to get to the kitchen before he sees us, but we're too slow...
"Miss, miss!" He calls (at least he was a polite stoner) and we turn, 'cause we're good hostesses like that, "Do you know where my boy went?"
Luckily, his friend was right behind him coming through the door.
"He went out looking for you." my friend said.
"He's right there." I point.
The two reunite and go back to their table.
Within a minute of being at the table, the stoner has passed out. He's slumped over in the booth and his friend is on his cell phone. A few minutes after that, the cops show up. I think someone else called the cops (we had been discussing whether or not to in the back since the stoners showed up), and it must have been a slow night for the Anne Arundel County Police Department because four officers showed up!
"We got a call about a drunk wandering around in back of your lot." The first officer says to us.
I point to their table, "They're over there, and we don't think they're 'drunk'. We think they're stoned."
Another officer asks if they had a bill or anything like that. I told them no, they only had drinks. I got a funny look from a couple of the officers and I realized they thought I meant alcohol, "Sodas,"I quickly added. "They got sodas."
Then our little Manager In Training comes out to talk to the table. I point him out to the officers and they go over to talk to him and the table. Somehow, one of the servers got involved and was talking to them too, meanwhile, the whole bar had pretty much stopped what they were doing to watch. Me and my friend and one or two of the servers, were just leaning against the hostess desk just watching and trying not to smile too much.
"Only on a Monday Night." and "Gotta love that Monday Night Drama." could be heard from employees throughout the restaurant.
Eventually, the guys are asked to leave and they do. The cops linger for a few minutes and they leave too. I go into the back and everyone is still buzzing about it while doing their sidework.
Come to find out, the same server who took care of the stoners, (also the same one who was called a stupid wench by the gay cheerleader) also had the people who had the four annoying kids. The kids ran around the bar the entire time they were there, they would play with each other, they would think they were playing the games, they could yell back to mom that they were playing the games, they would fall down and go crying back to mom, then they would run away again, only to come crying back to mom once more. The entire bar (and possibly the whole restuarant) knew that the kids where there, it's kind of hard to forget four screaming, undisciplined kids, but turns out it is possible because the parents left them in the bar!
The server had to run outside with all four of the kids bawling behind her trying to catch the parents before they left. Then, the woman yelled at the server! :-O "We were coming back!" She snapped. The server was just doing what she was suppose to, "exceed expectations" (that's our silly little motto), what else was she suppose to do if a customer left their kids? If people leave food or jackets or credit cards, we chase after them into the parking lot to try and catche them before they leave. If the server hadn't chased her with the kids, she would have been angry that no one reminded her that she had four kids with her (although how anyone could forget those brats I'm not sure).
"Only at my tables" that server was mumbling at the end of the night when people were saying "only on monday night". Unfortunately, it's true! She had the gay cheerleader who looked like he was sixteen and tried to get her to serve him alcohol then started drama, she had the stoners (because the server who's section that was didn't want to take them), and she had the people who left their kids and then yelled at her for bringing them out to the car.
That is why I don't serve tables. Because some servers get all the good tables (by sheer luck) and make $95 on a Monday night, and some just get all the lousy ones. And with my luck, I'd get all the lousy ones. It's happened before when I served at Chi-Chi's, I'd get all the really nice people, I'd play with their kids and their orders were perfect, and I'd get less than ten percent as a tip (although, the two gay guys I had once were really nice, funny, and they tipped well). Or I would get the people who didn't tell me if their food came out wrong and write a negative comment card about how I didn't care about them. Don't get me wrong, there are awesome people who do come into the restaurants in this area, it's just that they are extremely out numbered by people who have no idea how to behave themselves or tip.
The night started off normal enough, a little on the slow side, but perfect for all the trainees who are still learning the ropes. Someone in the bar had four kids with them who were running around screaming and yelling like it was Chuck-E-Cheese's or something, they were annoying, but they left eventually. It wasn't until around 9 or so that things got interesting. There were two hostesses left, me and my best friend who I was training, and these two guys came in.
One was slightly taller and the other one was shorter and stockier. The shorter of the two had a little too much bounce in his step, and I don't mean the filled-with-energy kind of bounce, it was more like a wobble. He couldn't open his eyes all the way and he slurred his speech, so his friend did all the talking. "Just two of us, we're not here to drink" -- um, okay? We definitely didn't ask if they had come to drink, the one seemed plastered already, except he was way too out of it to be drunk...
After my friend got back from seating them, we all (the third hostess hadn't left yet) agreed that he was beyond stoned and we wondered what his friend was thinking bringing him out to a restaurant like that. A little while after they were seated, the stoner gets up and goes to the bathroom (which as far as I know, he found by himself), when he comes back, he asks us if we knew where his "boy" was. I look back at their table, and there he is, just where the stoner left him. I point to his table, "He's over there, at your table." And the stoner shuffles off to his table.
Several minutes later, the stoner gets up again, this time, he ventures outside. Why is he going outside? Why is his friend letting him wander around outside? Who knows. We couldn't figure it out. The stoner was gone for ten minutes before his friend went to go find him. After he went outside, we saw the stoner to the left of our building (if you're looking at it from the street) and we saw his friend start walking in the opposite direction. We watched the stoner as he was doing his "drunk walk" over to our next door neighbor's, a Chevy Chase Bank, his arms are streching and going from his sides to the top of his head, and back down again. He can't hold still, he has to move. We finally see him start to come inside, so I say "I think we have stuff to do in the back, don't you?" my friend agrees and we try to get to the kitchen before he sees us, but we're too slow...
"Miss, miss!" He calls (at least he was a polite stoner) and we turn, 'cause we're good hostesses like that, "Do you know where my boy went?"
Luckily, his friend was right behind him coming through the door.
"He went out looking for you." my friend said.
"He's right there." I point.
The two reunite and go back to their table.
Within a minute of being at the table, the stoner has passed out. He's slumped over in the booth and his friend is on his cell phone. A few minutes after that, the cops show up. I think someone else called the cops (we had been discussing whether or not to in the back since the stoners showed up), and it must have been a slow night for the Anne Arundel County Police Department because four officers showed up!
"We got a call about a drunk wandering around in back of your lot." The first officer says to us.
I point to their table, "They're over there, and we don't think they're 'drunk'. We think they're stoned."
Another officer asks if they had a bill or anything like that. I told them no, they only had drinks. I got a funny look from a couple of the officers and I realized they thought I meant alcohol, "Sodas,"I quickly added. "They got sodas."
Then our little Manager In Training comes out to talk to the table. I point him out to the officers and they go over to talk to him and the table. Somehow, one of the servers got involved and was talking to them too, meanwhile, the whole bar had pretty much stopped what they were doing to watch. Me and my friend and one or two of the servers, were just leaning against the hostess desk just watching and trying not to smile too much.
"Only on a Monday Night." and "Gotta love that Monday Night Drama." could be heard from employees throughout the restaurant.
Eventually, the guys are asked to leave and they do. The cops linger for a few minutes and they leave too. I go into the back and everyone is still buzzing about it while doing their sidework.
Come to find out, the same server who took care of the stoners, (also the same one who was called a stupid wench by the gay cheerleader) also had the people who had the four annoying kids. The kids ran around the bar the entire time they were there, they would play with each other, they would think they were playing the games, they could yell back to mom that they were playing the games, they would fall down and go crying back to mom, then they would run away again, only to come crying back to mom once more. The entire bar (and possibly the whole restuarant) knew that the kids where there, it's kind of hard to forget four screaming, undisciplined kids, but turns out it is possible because the parents left them in the bar!
The server had to run outside with all four of the kids bawling behind her trying to catch the parents before they left. Then, the woman yelled at the server! :-O "We were coming back!" She snapped. The server was just doing what she was suppose to, "exceed expectations" (that's our silly little motto), what else was she suppose to do if a customer left their kids? If people leave food or jackets or credit cards, we chase after them into the parking lot to try and catche them before they leave. If the server hadn't chased her with the kids, she would have been angry that no one reminded her that she had four kids with her (although how anyone could forget those brats I'm not sure).
"Only at my tables" that server was mumbling at the end of the night when people were saying "only on monday night". Unfortunately, it's true! She had the gay cheerleader who looked like he was sixteen and tried to get her to serve him alcohol then started drama, she had the stoners (because the server who's section that was didn't want to take them), and she had the people who left their kids and then yelled at her for bringing them out to the car.
That is why I don't serve tables. Because some servers get all the good tables (by sheer luck) and make $95 on a Monday night, and some just get all the lousy ones. And with my luck, I'd get all the lousy ones. It's happened before when I served at Chi-Chi's, I'd get all the really nice people, I'd play with their kids and their orders were perfect, and I'd get less than ten percent as a tip (although, the two gay guys I had once were really nice, funny, and they tipped well). Or I would get the people who didn't tell me if their food came out wrong and write a negative comment card about how I didn't care about them. Don't get me wrong, there are awesome people who do come into the restaurants in this area, it's just that they are extremely out numbered by people who have no idea how to behave themselves or tip.
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