service?

[SIR]

for those of us that do 'eat out' (i myself try to limit my exploitation of the industry due to repeated disappointments and general lack of justifiable quality), how important is 'service'?

Discounting food that is late or never arrives, or simply waiting too long to place an order or even over-attentiveness; 'service' for me is of no concern, i am happy to be insulted disgustingly if the quality and value of the food and drink is good! And... having worked in at least one well known establishment, jazz and cheek from clientele is guaranteed to get your food fucked with {and not in a good way}.

[Fermata]

Timely.

Went for lunch today, it was a hot buffet. Sat down and eating my food, waitress came over and started talking, I apologised and said I only had 30 minutes for lunch, she carried on talking and I said come back when I had finished, she said she was only doing her job and went off in tears, I felt like a heel.

So I didnt want service, just a quick buffet, pay and go.

[SIR]

'Don't talk to me while i am eating' isn't a thing round your parts?

[azkid]

The best service, for me, is when my water or soda is always topped up, sometimes to my surprise (like the appearance of a magical beverage fairy).

I know that is asking a lot because I drink a lot of liquids with meals. So I settle for checking once in awhile. If that doesn't happen I get annoyed quickly.

Of minor imporance: delivering the salad / soup before the meal and waiting until I am done with same before delivering the entree.

Otherwise, I am not terribly fussy. I don't mind waiting a bit.

If I am in a rush I go fast food or microwave.

[Jon Szanto]

I appreciate considerate and professional service in a restaurant and act accordingly. It's a pretty crappy job and serving the public is no picnic <ahem>, so I recognize that they are human beings and show appreciation when they have done a nice job of it. I tend to not get particularly bad service, maybe it is the way I interact with the servers.

[VertOlive]

Probably the most abominable "service" we ever received happened this week. We went to a steakhouse for the first time, all dressed having come from church so my 11 yr. old was wearing a full suit.

A waitress who was not our server came to the table to compliment him on his suit and began asking him questions about school and such. He revealed he'd been born in Guatemala. She then launched into a monologue about when she worked for the Sheriff's Dept all the Guatemalans were the worst prisoners and in general were of such low quality they should never be allowed in the country since they were all murderers, thieves, etc. She was livid as she showered this on us. This from a young woman who was herself from a Spanish speaking country.

My poor son. By the time we drove her away from the table our food was cold. I called the manager the next day and reported our experience. He apologized but she still works there...

[Pterodactylus]

Probably the most abominable "service" we ever received happened this week. We went to a steakhouse for the first time, all dressed having come from church so my 11 yr. old was wearing a full suit.

A waitress who was not our server came to the table to compliment him on his suit and began asking him questions about school and such. He revealed he'd been born in Guatemala. She then launched into a monologue about when she worked for the Sheriff's Dept all the Guatemalans were the worst prisoners and in general were of such low quality they should never be allowed in the country since they were all murderers, thieves, etc. She was livid as she showered this on us. This from a young woman who was herself from a Spanish speaking country.

My poor son. By the time we drove her away from the table our food was cold. I called the manager the next day and reported our experience. He apologized but she still works there...

I think your post was ok beside the last sentence.

What did you expected?
Not saying that you had no reason to complain.

That somebody will be fired because 1 guest complains about somebody about a talk?
That one opinion about a talk between guest and staff has influence on an employment status?
That a manager fires an employee because he got a call (even a day later) from a guest he do not know, about a talk he did not heard by himself?

I know that such things happens (hire and fire) in the US, I’m grateful that such things normally do not happen in Europe and that employees are much better protected also from the law.

As Jon said, jobs in the gastronomy are usually crappy ones, dealing with bad working conditions, working times, low salaries, and dealing with all kind of guests, sometimes also quite weird and unpleasant guests.

I worked never in the gastronomy, but during my studies at the University I worked as a taxi driver to earn some money, and to be honest I hated it because of many disgusting and often also drunk people.
Of course there were also normal people but it is incredible how many weird people are out there.

Getting good staff for these jobs is difficult all over the world.

And yes, I also appreciate good service in good or at least say expensive restaurants.
And good restaurants with good service are a rare good.

[jar]

Service is important, very important.

Ambiance is important, very important.

Food quality and presentation is important.

And loud music is an immediate "Place the place on the list".

Went to a local restaurant well known for fine food but one the counter was a hand grenade with a number on the pin next to a sign that said "For Complaints, take a number." I immediately left and placed the place on the "Little List". Yes, I've got a Little List and surely none of them will be missed.

You may put 'em on the list — you may put 'em on the list;
And they'll none of 'em be missed — they'll none of 'em be missed!

[Kaputnik]

My first job as a teenager, many years ago, was as a "counterman", basically a short order cook at a restaurant belonging to a now defunct chain. Although I rarely dealt with the customers directly, I certainly heard enough of the waitresses' perspective to give me an idea of what it was like. I did once help to push a customer's car out of a some snow in the winter.

As a customer, I'm pretty easygoing, I think. I'd prefer service to be efficient but unobtrusive. I didn't come there to chat with the waitress, but sometimes it's nice to chat with the waitress. And I keep in mind that the waiter or waitress is not solely responsible for any problems there might be.

[Wuddus]

My attitude is simple. Don't make life harder than it needs to be.

That applies not just to those serving me, and what I expect from them, but also how I behave as a customer too. If they make my life harder than it needs to be, they fail, and they get told about it. However, if I make their life harder than it needs to be, I fail, and I order a slice of humble pie for dessert.

[Dragonmaster Lou]

'Don't talk to me while i am eating' isn't a thing round your parts?

It may be due to the difference between tipping/gratuities in the UK vs. the US.

I'm not sure about the UK, but in much of the rest of Europe (or at least Portugal and France, which are the two most recent places I've visited in Europe), restaurant service staff tend to be paid fairly by their employers and tips/gratuities are only given as a token thank you or for exemplary service. For example, when I asked my uncle in Portugal about tipping at restaurants there, he said it's not necessary but he usually leaves one or two Euros extra as a thank you to the server.

In the United States, however, restaurants are allowed to pay service staff far below the minimum wage (and said minimum wage itself often isn't even enough to live off of in many parts of the country) because it is expected they will make most of their income via tips. Therefore, restaurant service staff pretty much have to work their tails off to please customers in order to make their living as their pay is based on the "generosity" of the customers and not on what they get from their employers. Yes, there are rules of thumb for how much to tip (generally 15-20% of the bill for decent service with anything more than that for amazing service), but there is nothing requiring a customer to tip that much and there certainly have been instances of customers with a bad attitude leaving minuscule or zero tips behind.

That poor waitress was honestly just trying to do what she can to please Fermata as her customer and get to know was needed/wanted in order to try to earn her tip.

[Fermata]

'Don't talk to me while i am eating' isn't a thing round your parts?

That poor waitress was honestly just trying to do what she can to please Fermata as her customer and get to know was needed/wanted in order to try to earn her tip.

You are making me feel guilty now.

I had a bowl of pasta from the buffet, it wasnt that hot to start with, the waitress came over, I stopped eating whilst she tried to sell me extras like wine and dessert, I said no, just the pasta thanks and I need to leave soon. She kept on talking, I stopped eating so that I could reply. She asked if the food was ok, I said it was cold because I hadnt eaten it yet, that was when she left and said I am only trying to do my job.

Not so sure I would call her a poor waitress, at least not in the sense that you mean.

[Bold2013]

No matter what service I get I still tip well...

[adhoc]

Probably the most abominable "service" we ever received happened this week. We went to a steakhouse for the first time, all dressed having come from church so my 11 yr. old was wearing a full suit.

A waitress who was not our server came to the table to compliment him on his suit and began asking him questions about school and such. He revealed he'd been born in Guatemala. She then launched into a monologue about when she worked for the Sheriff's Dept all the Guatemalans were the worst prisoners and in general were of such low quality they should never be allowed in the country since they were all murderers, thieves, etc. She was livid as she showered this on us. This from a young woman who was herself from a Spanish speaking country.

My poor son. By the time we drove her away from the table our food was cold. I called the manager the next day and reported our experience. He apologized but she still works there...

Something tells me this isn't the full story.


I'm generally not really picky. Over here, most cheaper restaurants employ students that can work at during their studies. For an everyday meal, whatever is fine, as long as the food is good and timely. For expensive restaurants I have pretty high expectations, but I am also ready to pay quite a bit for a nice dinner.

[VertOlive]

I think your post was ok beside the last sentence

Thanks for the critique. I've worked plenty as wait staff in the past, but in No. Job. Ever. could I have continued after such blatant prejudicial talk with a customer about their own ethnic group.

[VertOlive]

Something tells me this isn't the full story.

Then feel free to pose a question.

[Pterodactylus]

Something tells me this isn't the full story.

Then feel free to pose a question.

Let me make a wild guess......

Normally it is easy to end a conversation as a customer/guest immediately if it goes to a direction which is not appreciated.

On the other side it is much more difficult as normally you have to smile and agree to whatever nonsense the customer/guest tells you, keep them calm and pleased in their own comfort zone, tell them whatever they want to hear.

You let the conversation ongoing until your food was cold and did not end that conversation, which would have been quite easy.

So here is my wild guess.

The conversation started with simple small talk.
The waitress most likely started it in good fate to make you as customer happy and feel cared.
Then the smalltalk turned into something different, become more serious when she ignored making just normal Blabla smalltalk to make you as a guest/customer pleased happy and started to talk about her personal experiences in her previous work.
Which she for sure not should have done, as this is dangerous territory for staff as she do not know the people on the other side.
It’s always better to stay with shallow Blabla smalltalk, agree to whatever the customer/guest tells you and let them talk mainly.

This was the point when you started to feel unhappy about the talk, but instead of ending it (which as guest/customer would have been quite easy) you let it continue.

The question is why?

I guess you became emotionally involved with the topic and started also to argue against the opinion of the other side instead of stopping it.
The conversation turned from smalltalk to a disputation.....

At the end after you already left the resteraunt you kept/started thinking more and more about the dispute and you were angered more and more, which ends at the call one day later.

Am I completely wrong?

But as said, itˋs only a wild guess

[SIR]

'Don't talk to me while i am eating' isn't a thing round your parts?

in much of the rest of Europe, restaurant service staff tend to be paid fairly by their employers and tips/gratuities are only given as a token thank you or for exemplary service.

In the United States, however, restaurants are allowed to pay service staff far below the minimum wage...

This is probably why I tend to prefer French style 'formal' service.

[adhoc]

Something tells me this isn't the full story.

Then feel free to pose a question.

Thanks, but I am currently not interested in a one sided tale of victimhood.

[sharmon202]

No matter what service I get I still tip well...

Why would you do that? It gives that person feedback that everything was great when it was not.
I think the tipping practice is a good one. If not, employees would do whatever kind of quality job they wanted with no incentive to do better. TIPS - To Insure Proper Service.

Anyone here a manager in a non restaurant and try to get people to actually put in 8 hours a day? They think the cell phone is ,more important than working. Don't want that in the restaurant business.