Every one deserves to go out to dinner sometimes, to eat nice food, and to have someone else deal with doing the dishes. For you, it is a beautiful night off but never forget that is a job for everyone else. Your hostess, cooks, bartenders, and servers are doing everything the can for you so that they can make a livable paycheck. You will interact with your server more than anyone else at the restaurant though, so as much as they are trying to make you happy, try to make them happy too. Cause if you don't you can guarantee they are leaving the dining room and making fun of you in the kitchen complete with imitating you voice and hand movements. You'll most likely be the person they talk about for the rest of the night if you do any of these things.
1. Not tipping/tipping badly.
If people only listen to one thing I ever say, I hope it is this: TIP YOUR SERVERS. Servers make less than $3 an hour, so most of their paychecks say $0 after taxes. Whether you tip us or not, we are still tipping out to bussers, bartenders, expos, hostess and possibly other people, meaning we are not getting at least 4% of our tips, maybe more already. We work our asses off so that you have a good experience. So even if your server wasn't the best, they deserve at least 15%, most deserve 20%. Remember your tips are our income. Don't go out to eat, if you can't afford to tip.
2. Making dumb jokes.
Servers have heard every joke you can throw at them.
"Is their anything else I can get you?" "A million dollars?"
"Oh you forgot the baby's gin and tonic"
"how was everything?" "Oh absolutely terrible we hated every bite"
We are going to fake a laugh so you leave us more money but honestly, the joke wasn't funny the first time, it's not funny the 12th time I heard it today.
3. Asking when your food will be done.
You can see the full dining room around you, you waited an hour for a table, we are obviously very busy. I'm sorry, I cannot have your well done steak out in 5 minutes. Whether we are busy or not, this just isn't going to happen. Your food will be out as soon as it's ready but we do not control how fast it is cooked.
4. Complaining to my manager.
If there is anything wrong, please let me know, I will do whatever I can to help you. But DO NOT go right to my manager without discussing it with me. It makes me look like I didn't help you at all and puts my job at risk. I will help and get my manager if needed. Just talk to me.
5. Asking for something every time.
If I ask if you need a refill and you are at least close to needing one, say yes. Don't say no than when I bring back someone else's you need one. I'll get you everything you need but it makes my job so much easier if you ask for everything at once.
6. Having me take pictures.
If there's no one in the dining room, sure. But if you've seen me literally run past you multiple times and you can see me serving 8 tables. Don't ask me to take a 1000 pictures for you only to say none of them are good and have me do it again. I welcome you to enjoy your family meal, but it's not my first priority, but I do it for that tip money.
7. Not liking your food.
You won't enjoy everything that's fine, but please do not eat the whole thing and than tell me it was bad and you want it taken off the bill. You enjoyed it, you ate it, you're paying for it. That's it.
8. Being on your phone.
If you're in a restaurant, I'm pretty sure your phone call can wait 5 minutes. Let me take your order instead of having to wait an extra 10 minutes because of your "important" phone call that I can hear is about your plans for later. Please at least glance in my direction when you I'm speaking instead of texting the whole time. What annoys me most of this one, is it's normally adults, not millennial who are doing this but that's another topic.
9. Sitting down and immediately going to the bathroom.
I have a short window of time that I have to greet you but it's super awkward to go up to a table, you know is set for 5 and only 2 people are there because the rest went to the bathroom. If you have to do it, at least leave your drink order with someone who's still at the table. Or go before you sit down, there's no line. I'm pretty sure you can run to the bathroom first.
10. Complaining about prices.
I have ZERO control over prices. My manager had ZERO control over the prices. To be honest, I have no idea who controls the prices. If you care that much about what you're spending, look at the menu before you come it. I can't magically make that burger cheaper, or cut the price because you don't want the sides. I do not have that power.
11. Not leaving.
My entire income is based on flipping tables and getting as many people to sit in my section as possible. So when you are done with your meal, have paid the check, and are just sitting there, you're taking away so much money from me. Yeah I want you to have a nice night catching up with friends, but go sit at the bar instead of taking up my table for an extra hour.
12. Coming in at closing.
When the dining room is empty and you proceed to ask the hostess at 9:50pm what time they close and she says "10pm" GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. The kitchen have already stopped cooking, the servers have started cleaning, and everyone just wants to go home. We don't want to have to be there another hour just to make the $5 tip you're going to leave.
We do really want you to have a nice night out but we also don't want to leave a 12 hour shift with no money and less patience than we had when we started. So help us out, be courteous and understand we are just human. We cannot always be perfect but we are trying for you. And don't forget, TIP YOUR SERVERS!
