Restaurants and Waiters

Hey, I've got a question ZU, how do you treat your waiter when you go out to eat? Now, mind you some places that I'll be listing, I'm not paying for, actually, none of them, but you get my meaning.

I ask this, because my future brother in law, IMO is an absolute jerk to every waiter we've ever had. Anytime we(my family and him/his) he is, atleast seemingly to me, very rude. He treats them like they are slaves instead of servants(servants are paid you know). Okay, example.

We went out to OutBack steak house on a friday night in a large city which will remain nameless. So that means, it is really busy, and so we waited like 30 to 45 minutes for a table, but that is expected. Anyway, our waiter was a woman, probably 20ish who I think must have been working since they opened because she seemed just kinda, out of it, but she was still nice, and alert to an extent. But she something was wrong, because the only order she didn't screw up, was my brothers, which was like cheese fries, I mean really, how can you mess that up? But everything else was wrong, she had the wrong steak ordered for the wrong degree of cooking(I.E. medium rare, well done, etc.) for the wrong person. Which meant they had to take em back and redo it. Now for me, that was no big deal, I'd already had a salad, and there was bread and butter, I wasn't starving or anything, no big.

Well, that wasn't her only mistake for the night, but anyway, my future bro in law was telling my sister(his fiance) over the phone about it sometime(she wasn't there that night), and I talked to her, and from her telling it of his, he just absolutely ripped our waiter apart. He was a total jerk about it. Now granted when she asked if there was anything she could do for us, my brother said he'd take a corvette. And she said if she had one she'd give it to him(liar!) but we weren't in a hurry that night, no problem as far as I was concerned.

But then again another time when we were out eating with everybody at Johhny Carinos, and he is despising our waiter just because of the way he talked. He was a little loud, and his voice had a slight I don't know, variance to it that I can't describe, but he is talking about this guy behind his back because of his voice? Come on. Does this make sense?

I'll admit my brother and I might get a good laugh at other peoples expense, but we don't just hate the person because of one thing or another.

And the way I see it is, no sense in getting yourself worked up over it, if your waiter does bad, they deserve a low tip, if they do good, they deserve a good tip(parties of 7 a must!, heh), but if they are bad what does that matter to you? Why get upset over it?

Anyone here treat waiters badly? Or know someone who does?

ummmm waiters are usually nice to me and my family.

once we had a waiter that wasn't to bright though

When I accompanied my sister and her boyfriend to a restaurant, her boyfriend totally thrashed the waiter and almost made him break down and cry. My sister is a vegetarian, and when the waiter messed on her order and brought her a salad with chicken in it, her boyfriend picked up the chicken pieces and threw at the waiter's face. I just kinda sulked back and tried to slide from the bench to underneith the table while I watched in horror and embarrassment.

Her boyfriend was super attached to and protective of my sister, he would get angry if someone brought my sister even the littlest of discomfort. He was also a body builder, and would often go into testosterone rages. Luckily they broke up shortly after that experience.

I've never once gotten angry with a waiter, and I've had many experiences with bad ones. I try to avoid getting angry in public in fear of creating a scene.

Me? Heh, it'd be unusual for me not to try to do something to make the waiter's/waitress' job easier for them ()_();

Maybe that has to do with the fact that I know a lot of them....or that I used to be a bar-night fill-in waiter...hmmm

Heh, would you guys believe...that I used to SING for the drunks?! Yep! Ah, those were the days.

Funny thing is, most of them were Christian songs haha! They LOVED ME!

*bows in memory*

I have never had a problem with any wiater, they have all been very nice. Never once have a seen a disgruntled waiter or waitress, and sometime they do such a great job we give them extra tip money. I have seen dumb waiters, and when I say dumb I mean retarded.

These guys are walking around at some retaurants and fast food places carrying your plate and they spill it all over you. They barely know how to talk right... I am not against retarded people, but a restaurant really isn't a place for them to be carrying you food... we got a refund for that. That is the only time I have really had a bad waiting experience.

mm... yeah, i've never been mean to waiters... i do admit that i did get annoyed at some people for doing stupid things and would say snotty comments or something...

but now that i work at a pizzeria, i totally stopped being the high and mighty customer. i get mean people come into my work all the time. this one lady called in an order, at first, my friend was taking the order but we were so busy she made me take the phone. so i get on, ask her what she wants and the lady is like, "did you already take me order?! why do i have to repeat my order?! are you the girl who i was talking before? i already gave you my order. i want a pepperoni calzone... what's in a pepperonie calzone?" ... what's in a pepperoni calzone?? this lady couldn't get any stupider. yeah then she got all pissed off at me because she had to repeat her order and all that stuff. she was like, "my husband is picking it up in 10 mins" blargh. yeah... i dunno what crawls up some ppl's bums.

but anyway, i treat waiters and all them people sooo much better now that i have to deal with it at work. it sucks when people talk to you like your stupid or be snooty to you, so i don't do it to anybody.

Meh, I'm mean to em'! >:-D Ok not really, but one time my dad let me handle how much the waiter gets and so I ask him to give me 10 one dollar bills. After a little argument he gives it to me. Then when the waiter comes to take our orders, I told how the system worked. "Everytime you do something that dis-pleases my family or I, I shall take away one dollar bill." The waiter just looks at me and says "You're kidding right?" And laughs. I take a dollar bill away. Finally the waiter gets it's for real and askes us our orders in his best manner possible. My family just stared at me with shock then laughed. After that the waiter didn't come to our table till we were almost done and everyone's drink was gone, so I took a dollar away. Etc, Etc. After the night was over I think he finished with 5 bucks.

I'm so evil!

Originally posted by Gecko
Meh, I'm mean to em'! >:-D Ok not really, but one time my dad let me handle how much the waiter gets and so I ask him to give me 10 one dollar bills. After a little argument he gives it to me. Then when the waiter comes to take our orders, I told how the system worked. "Everytime you do something that dis-pleases my family or I, I shall take away one dollar bill." The waiter just looks at me and says "You're kidding right?" And laughs. I take a dollar bill away. Finally the waiter gets it's for real and askes us our orders in his best manner possible. My family just stared at me with shock then laughed. After that the waiter didn't come to our table till we were almost done and everyone's drink was gone, so I took a dollar away. Etc, Etc. After the night was over I think he finished with 5 bucks.

I'm so evil!

Actually, my brother has a friend who does that. He lays 8 one dollar bills out on the end of the table. If the waiter does something stupid or wrong, he takes away one dollar. If he does something right, he adds a dollar. For the waiters who catch on, they usually try their best to keep those one dollar bills coming. I wouldn't call it evil, just a way to encourage good service.

ummmm waiters are usually nice to me and my family.

once we had a waiter that wasn't to bright though

heh, indeed, linkrules... and the same can be said by any of us here...

what did the not bright waiter do to make you think he was a moron? and why do you think waiters are nice to you and your family?

try to go a bit more in-depth with your posts; people will appreciate the effort.




heh, i've had horrible waiters, but i don't try and let that get in my way... as long as they don't disrespect me or mess up anything to the point of destruction or lateness, i'm fine... i don't start conflicts myself at all, but will if things get absurdly horrendous... ^_^

there are two types of waiters, i think - the type that are made to be customer-friendly (bartender-ish, or working for an outback-style restaurant), or the type that are told multiple times to keep out of customer affairs (snooty restaurants, or indian places i've seen), and while i definately prefer the first, it takes a LOT more skill and attention to be the second type of worker... so i usually just throw calculations out the window and pay both the same...

though if i have enough money and feel that the waiter put in a lot of effort for me or others (heh, i usually end up going to a restaurant near my school with 8 other kids at once), so i chip in a lot there... and then down the street, one of the breakfast place employees (on weekdays) always complains about how much the weekend staff stinks (which they do - i barely tip the bratlings - who has to give people drinks out of styrofoam cups because they've been too busy talking on a cell phone to throw dishes into the washer!?), and thus she has to do the dishes as soon as she comes in every morning...

meh, i think how you treat waiters is just the same as you treat others... there's some really cliche quote out there (i think it's by Mr. Abe, actually), that says that if you want to know the true character of a person, you have to give them power... either way, it's a rather silly quote. ^^

i've never had any particularly bad waiters or waitresses- and normally, i don't talk to them, my parents do.

my mom is perfectly nice to everyone, but my dad is a different story. he's nice to waiters at resteraunts, but he's terribly rude to drive-through people.

usually i get waiters/waitresses who either I know or I can talk to, so that's good

i dont tip very high though...

Im very polite to waiters/waitresses...........now, imcompatent fast food employees............very smart-asstic when nessicary.

Me and my family are usually nice to Waiters/Waitresses. I always say my Thank Yous after somethings been brought out. I don't really get pissed if they mess up my order.

I eh.. usuallly stay polite.. I've never really had any big problem with waiters though we had a pretty.. strange one in Alicante, Spain.

After a long day of walking through the city we decided we would eat something, so we walk into a street with lots of small restaurants. We pick one which seemed to have a pretty big menu with lots of things.
So we sit down at the table, the waiter comes out and we order drinks. He comes back with them, puts them down then grabs a chair, climbs on top of it and stands on a chair in between my cousin and uncle with his knee on the table to lower the sun-shade o.0 .. well anyway we get the menus and make our choice, chicken wings for me. My uncle and cousin order a lasagna and pizza and my aunt orders some meat (forgot..) the waiter gets back to us, there's no lasagna and we're out of pizza. So my cousin orders a hamburger and my uncle another italian dish. Waiter gets back, all the italian dishes on the menu aren't there, they don't exist o.0 3rd order was fish (measly meal if you ask me..) My aunt got her meat which looked like the bottom of a shoe.. certainly tough enough to go on pilgrimmage with.. and I get a plate withc chicken wings, not a single thingie of making it look better, you know a bit of lettuce or something, nothing
Well, my cousin's eating her hamburger, using ketchup, waiter comes up while she is eating, grabs the ketchup from her and sets it on the other table where some people just arrived o.0

...yeah strange guy heh.

I do notice I keep addressing waiters with the formal you (Dutch has an informal and a formal you) while nearly everyone around me addresses the waiters with an informal you..

I've been at all stages of the game in the past: Bus boy, waiter, prep cook, and line cook. Obviously I've had to deal with a lot of complete jerks in the past.

Be nice to your waiter. If your order's screwed up, chances are it's the kitchen's fault nine times out of ten, if it wasn't the fault of picky customers to begin with. If they're a bit out of it or non-responsive, it's because they're trapped in high-stress environment, and have been putting on the same social face for hours. I'd have none of snotty customers. If they're rude to me, I'm rude to them. If they're treating me like meat, or have a pile of money disappearing on the table, chances are we don't want repeat business, and once we have their order, they're paying. We just want them out.

I've done some mean things to customers in the past after they've treated me badly. Nothing illegal, mind you, but I would go out of my way to be a nuissance. Free refills and customaries would disappear. In one case, a customer who'd ordered a special order meal was complaining that it wasn't ready in five minutes. They had the pleasure of seeing me take a break, eating their meal one table over, while another was prepared in twice the time. In more than one case I had the pleasure of calling the police on particularly rude ones.

Even if your waiter isn't a jerk like myself, you'll see your service suffering as a result of rudeness. The kitchen staff will find out, and kitchens are a great enabling environment for pranks. You'll also find your waiter simply checking up a lot less. People tend to run out of drinks before they run out of food, and the money's made on the food, so ignoring customers halfway through their meal means a lot of thirsty people and little loss of income. Of course, the exception is alcohol, but those drinking anything expensive are the ones that'll still have their drinks later in their visit, so little harm done to them.

I always try my best to be polite to waiters and waitresses. If my order's messed up, I politely let them know, and I've never had a problem resolving such issues, very often with free appetizers. I always tip 20% or over; Leaving a good impression has earned me a lot better service at some very upstanding restaurants.

I'm usually nice to waiters/clerks. Unless they start on me first, which has never happened with a waiter. But clerks is a different case.