Monday, February 21, 2011

OG Waitress Rant.

I know. I've been in a bit of lapse, but truthfully? I spent most of my weekend being ticked off for one reason or another, and I blame most of it on being a waitress and the bull I put up with on a regular basis, from my co-workers and from patrons.

Actual conversation:
Guest: "So how much do guests usually tip?"
Me: "Well, it depends on the service. 10% if your service wasn't so great, 15% if you felt it was mediocre, and 20% if you felt like you had a wonderful experience. Sometimes, guests tip a little extra when the experience was above and beyond. We as servers appreciate 15-20% tips."
Guest: "How much would a 20% tip be on my check, because you were fabulous!"
Me: "On a $120 check, 20% would be $24."
Guest: "Oh, goodness. Well I can't afford that, I have bills. Here! [Stuffs a $10 bill in my hand]"
Me: (hating my poor luck) ... "Thank you."

Really? She had bills? Oh I'm sorry, and how exactly do I pay for my RENT...? I'm sure my landlord would love it if I gave them a note that said: "Well, this guest said that I was amazing ..."

Thought: if you can't afford to tip your server, then you never had enough to go out to eat with. Putting up with the common man's bull shit is not something I'll do for free. Don't get me wrong, most people are intelligent, pleasant and leave me an appropriate tip on a large check ... but then we get the ignorant crazies.

I could work at a hundred different places, but I choose to be a waitress because I walk out of the restaurant sometimes with $100+ for 5 hours of work. Where else can you do that, and simultaneously have a super flexible schedule?

Winter and spring is usually very rough ... all the way up until June when the tourists start coming back to Maine. And then I start walking with $100 each shift, and life is great up until Christmas.

3 comments:

  1. I used to waitress and I "usually" loved the money that I made and really enjoyed working with and seeing different people all the time.

    There was once though that I had a guest get mad that we had rice in the salt shakers, to absorb moisture, and he wanted me to bring him a clean salt shaker. I explained the reason for the rice and he still wanted one sans rice. I did it for him and then he wanted the other one back because his salt was not coming out properly and maybe the rice helped. That same man had me running around all day like crazy on a $9.99 meal and he left a 10 and walked out.
    REALLY?
    I was so angry I could have screamed!

    Things will look up, just enjoy the nice ones and take time to have conversations when you are slow, I loved that part!

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG... why did they even ask if they were just going to give you $10 anyway? PEOPLE!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just think.. only one more Christmas to go ;)

    ReplyDelete