*Ramblings from the Front of the House*
One of my biggest pet peeves as a server is that some people don’t look at their servers. Notice I said some people. some people are greta, they make eye contact, they smile, they might even look at your name tag and make an effort to remember your name.
Others might look at you, but they don’t see you. Or maybe they just don’t care if your their server or not when your running past their table with a tray full of drinks in one hand a pizza in the other and they decide to wave their hand in front of you and say “Can I have another beer over here?”
Uhmm yeah, sure you can have another beer, after I serve MY customers, then track down your server and tell her you want one, because you do realize that I, the short round brunette, am not the same tall, blond who’s been serving you for the past half hour right?
Now, I admit, where I work, there are several brunettes, and we all wear an all black uniform, so maybe it could be understandable that you’re not really paying to much attention. But a 5’10 tall blonde I am not – not by any stretch of the imagination.
And it’s not just the walking by thing…cuz again, when it’s busy, maybe you need a refill and your server has been too busy to keep up, so you ask whoever is near by. Sure, I understand that. But that doesn’t explain why after being served your drinks, and meal, and dessert, by a 5’5 Asian dude, that you would walk up to the 6’2 whiter than white guy and ask for you check.
There’s also the argument that some people just assume that everyone is there to serve everyone, and we don’t have specific tables/customers too look after, but I don’t buy it. I think most people know that they have one main server meant to look after them. I just think some people don’t see their server as a real person.
To read what writer Sasha has to say today, visit me at GENREALITY.net.
I know exactly what you mean. I only worked as server for a month, but I worked in the restaurant for almost a year, and have experienced what you described. Because of my experiences, I try to make sure I at least look at my server when I’m dining out.
So true – way back in the day when I was a waitress that happened all the time. Funny I had a comment about how to treat servers today too….
“You can tell the true inside of a person by how they treat their waiter/waitress” Take a look it’s so true – they can kiss up to the people their with, but when they think someone is there to seve them and they treat them like crap – that’s who they really are inside.
There are some real idiots out there. I always try to be especially considerate of restaurant/bar servers because I know how hard they’re working. One thing I always do, because of memories of clearing tables as a teen, is to hand the server a clean area of the plate when they’re taking it away. Who wants their fingers in someone else’s food? Not me! Big hugs to you.
I always small talk with my waiter or waitress. I never treat them as servants. Ever. Because aren’t we all in the customer service industry no mater what we do.
Thoughtful post, Sasha–I think that some people tend to look at all people in service that way–sort of non-people, whose only role it is to make their wishes come true. It was certainly true of some customers when I worked in retail. Some people are genuinely nice to everyone, and other people really are just awful. Bleh!
Yeah, I really have a problem with people who can’t seem to get it through their heads that restaurant servers, busboys, hosts/hostesses, clerks in any establishment, etc. are human beings and as deserving of the courtesy and respect *they* demand as customers.