It really is the little things that can get to you most. There hasn’t been any real drama at work lately, but lots of little things that are getting on my nerves. It’s standard stuff, I ignore it but it still bugs me just a little bit.
People who can’t decide if they want to sit in smoking or non-smoking and just stand there, ignoring me completely (until they want a seat in non-smoking that is), and talking amongst themselves.
People who say “We don’t care” when I ask “Smoking or Non?” or “Table or booth”. Worse is when they say that to both questions. I prefer to hear it for “table or booth” because that makes my decision of where in non-smoking to seat them a little easier. But sometimes when I hear it for “smoking or non” and then ask them (like I’m required to) if they would like a table or a booth, they get a little agitated that I didn’t read their minds and just assume they didn’t care about that either. The reason I don’t like hearing “we don’t care” for “smoking or non” is because smoking is in the bar and it’s all self-seating/first-come-first-serve. The hostesses have absolutely nothing to do with the bar at all. So even after I explain that the bar is smoking and self-seating and non-smoking is the dinning room and the hostesses will seat them, and people still say “we don’t care”, I feel like handing them menus and saying “Okay, bar’s over there sit where you want, enjoy your meal.” But I don’t, like the good little hostess that I am, I take them to a booth in non-smoking (or a table if I’m feeling slightly mean).
When people are actually able to make a decision and decide to sit in the bar, I ask them if they would like menus (some do, some don’t, depends on if they’re just drinking) they say “yes” and then turn and walk away before taking the menus from my outstretched hand! Puh-lease! I’m not chasing you into the bar just to hand you menus, it’s all self-seating, I couldn’t care less about the seating in the bar. You either take the menus from me or you can wait until your server gets to your table and sees that you don’t have menus. Thankfully, most of the servers completely understand why I don’t always give the customers menus and agree that if they ignore me or walk away, I shouldn’t have to follow them because that was rude.
The bathroom is a constant source of annoyance. I used to wonder why I would find paper towels on the floor on the complete other side of the bathroom from the dispenser (because the trash can is right under the dispenser, about as convenient as you can get) and then I watched this one lady. Whenever possible, she avoided touching anything in the bathroom with her hand directly. I know she used a toilet seat liner that are provided in every stall, but I know she didn’t touch it after she used it (because I had to knock it into the toilet to flush it after she left). She used her elbow like a doctor to wash her hands and get soap. When she left the bathroom, she pulled her long sleeve up over her hand to pull the door open so she wouldn’t have to actually touch the handle. That has got to be why I find paper towels on the floor every once in a while, someone used it to pull the door open then dropped it on the floor after they were done with it.
I also find little pieces of toilet paper on the floor constantly under the dispensers in the stalls. How hard is it when you accidently pull off a tiny piece to just throw it in the toilet? Is it really harder than just dropping it on the floor for someone else to pick up? I don’t mind picking them up, because I know they’re not dirty or anything like that, I just don’t like having to put my face that close to the toilet. I especially don’t mind picking them up if another guest is present and can watch me clean the bathroom so they know a) there’s not someone special just to clean the bathroom, it’s the hostesses job (and we touch the same menus that you touch, clean hands or not ^_-) and b) it’s a good little bathroom conversation point. I can talk about how it’s not that bad because I’ve had to clean up worse and some people think that because they’re not in their house they don’t have to keep it clean or worse, I’d hate to see their house. I’ve even gotten compliments in the bathroom about how good a job I was doing keeping it clean because the customer had seen it in worse shape!
