Restaurant Stories from Hell

[meggyg8r]

Originally Posted by blah956

anyone know the ettiquette for this scenario? do you tip the people who work snack stands? whenever i get a smoothie or a cookie at like Thirstys or Great American Cookie, they have a tip jar on the counter. I say i tip 40% of the time (usually a dollar) but at the same time i feel silly tipping for a $2 purchase. I've never worked a snack counter so I don't know how much they get paid.. I read an article earlier on tipping on MSNBC and it says not to tip if they have a jar out.

Oh! This is a good question. I always wonder about that too.

Building on this, does anyone know the etiquette for to-go orders? I'm talking about like walk-up to a window take-out orders from a normal restaurant. The one I'm really thinking about is Sonny's. They have a separate counter and window for take-out (a lot of Sonny's even have a drive-through counter) and all the waitresses do is take your order, ring you up, and give you your food (like at a fast food restaurant like McDonald's or something). I always leave a tip (not 20%) but I always feel weird doing that since they really aren't "waiting" on me like they would in the normal part of the restaurant. Any insight on this would be super appreciated, especially from people who have worked in this kind of setting!

[Divyaangana]

Originally Posted by yeliab

Divy, do you get repeat offenders who do this? I saw this movie about the mafia carrying around huge dead cockroaches and would put it on their plate after they ate it to get the meals "comped" ... sleazy!!

Oh yeah. I've actually witnessed some customers get banned from the restaurant over this. We actually have a list in our office with names and descriptions of customers who are repeat offenders so that we can keep a closer eye on them.

[Divyaangana]

Originally Posted by blah956

anyone know the ettiquette for this scenario? do you tip the people who work snack stands? whenever i get a smoothie or a cookie at like Thirstys or Great American Cookie, they have a tip jar on the counter. I say i tip 40% of the time (usually a dollar) but at the same time i feel silly tipping for a $2 purchase. I've never worked a snack counter so I don't know how much they get paid.. I read an article earlier on tipping on MSNBC and it says not to tip if they have a jar out.

If I can I try to at least throw a dollar in there. Sometimes though I just put the change I got back in if I don't have anything else.

[divadivine682]

Originally Posted by lostnexposed

Ooh..Im so scared but so eager to hear your stories!

LOL TRUST ME! I wouldn't even know where to begin.....

Well, let me start by telling everyone: Booths generally are NOT the spot to change dirty diapers. Moreso, they are not used as a place to store your used dirty diapers. There are recepticles in the restroom for places like that! I'm pretty sure when I signed up for the job, the application did not state cleaning up human feces!! Or colostomy bags left on the sink area in the friggin' bathroom!!! Oh yea, you read that right!! A big, filled to the brim, colostomy bag. If that doesn't urge the appetite of a patrom using the restroom before their food arrives.....LOL

I'm honestly gonna have to ciphon my memory bank for the juiciest stories I can come up with!!

Oh yeah, I have soooo many regulars that my saturday nights are usually "booked". I only work sat nights now since having the baby for some extra money but now my regulars know I only work on saturdays that its obviously when they come to see me, everytime I turn around a host is saying "blah blah is here for you, how long til one of your tables open up?". Its really nice to build up a great clientele. Not only does it just make your night a bit better (especially if you have the kind of relationship where you can do a mini vent with them if you're having a crappy night) but they tend to leave you much more then you would get normally. I've had my "regulars" bring me gifts too (for christmas, my birthday...). Victorias secret gift cards (from a mom and daughter--NOT a creepy old man! lol), a giant bottle of rum from barbados, amazing coffee from colombia (after their cruise)....etc....

Now that I said the wonderful stuff, let me dig up some juicy stuff for you guys!!

[Divyaangana]

Originally Posted by meggyg8r

DF (well, he was my BF at the time) and I were out to eat at a restaurant. We had ordered an appetizer sampler when we ordered our drinks. The waitress came back a few minutes later to take our dinner order, and figuring our appetizer would be out any minute now, we put our order in. Fast forward to 15 minutes later; finally our appetizer makes it out. Fast forward to 2 minutes after that; our dinners come out. Huh? We had seriously each taken about 3 bites of food before our entrees were placed in front of us. We complained to our waitress and she brought the manager over. He was like "well, I can take your entrees back and place them under a heat lamp to keep them warm!" and we were just like uhh no, thanks, we'll just eat everything together. He didn't even offer to comp the appetizer or anything, or at least give us free sodas or something! This isn't even the worst part of the night! So, as I am eating my sandwich, I bite down and chew on something hard and then feel some pain in my mouth. I had eaten HALF A BROKEN TOOTHPICK! I was so pissed at this point that I couldn't eat any more. I complained to to the waitress, who again said she could bring the manager over. I was just like you know what, your manager isn't doing anything, you're not doing anything, just bring us our check and we're leaving. She didn't offer to comp anything, didn't even really apologize. So, then I got home and wrote a letter to the restaurant's corporate office who, in turn, sent us a $25 gift card to the restaurant. I'm assuming they were just trying to shake us off because I could really have gone after them for the toothpick thing since I practically choked on it. Anyway, that's the experience that sticks out in my mind as worst. The restaurant chain has since gone bankrupt, so I guess karma is a b*tch! Thanks, Bennigan's!

Okay first off, Bennigan's did suck majorly. But with the waitress, I was just gonna say that she probably couldn't really do that much else. Servers don't have the authority to comp anything or offer to do that kind of stuff with manager approval and so the only thing she could do was bring the manager over. Granted, she really should have apologized.

And this is in no way meant to give an excuse for your experience or anything. Just another possible side to the story.

[Divyaangana]

Originally Posted by meggyg8r

Oh! This is a good question. I always wonder about that too. Building on this, does anyone know the etiquette for to-go orders? I'm talking about like walk-up to a window take-out orders from a normal restaurant. The one I'm really thinking about is Sonny's. They have a separate counter and window for take-out (a lot of Sonny's even have a drive-through counter) and all the waitresses do is take your order, ring you up, and give you your food (like at a fast food restaurant like McDonald's or something). I always leave a tip (not 20%) but I always feel weird doing that since they really aren't "waiting" on me like they would in the normal part of the restaurant. Any insight on this would be super appreciated, especially from people who have worked in this kind of setting!

Okay, forgive the like 4 posts in a row. In my experience it is considered polite to give a tip. Most of the time, employees that work counters/bars/areas where they take to-go orders, do make more than servers do but not that much more since they are still deemed tipped employees. It doesn't have to be a lot, even just a dollar or two is fine in my opinion.

For example in my state/restaurant, servers make $2.13 an hour because it's also assumed we will be making tips. Our hourly wage stays the same no matter what. For our to-go area/bartenders (one in the same at our restaurant) we make $4.50 an hour. So yes we do make a little more hourly wage, but it's still assumed that we will be making tips so we still have a much lower wage. And it will also never go up.

[caitlin1214]

Originally Posted by krisluvspurses

And, BTW Frappuccinos really are a pain in the a** to make.

Oddly enough, for me, making them one at a time was annoying.


When it was multiple ones of the same flavor, it wasn't that big a deal. I just made more of the same kind in the same pitcher.


(And part of me secretly liked doing the whipped cream in the little dome!)

[caitlin1214]

One time, apparantly a customer filled out a complaint card about our store because one of us was singing behind the counter. (At first I thought it was me, but as it turns out I wasn't working that day.)

How could someone complain about singing? That shows we're happy working where we are.

And I have to say: while Starbucks was the hardest work, I had the most fun being there.


I jokingly told my fellow baristas that a complaint like that just made me want to jump on the counter and start singing, "One! Singular sensation! . . . ."

[caitlin1214]

You know how they say there's no space on the blender for two venti frappuccinos? As I became more seasoned while working there, I came to think, "That sounds like a challenge to me!"

For the record, you can make two venti frappuccinos in the same blender.

[caitlin1214]

A couple good Starbucks stories:


As a running joke, I would refer to the Macchiato as a "Mikado"

We were promoting the Maple Macchiato and I was walking around with a tray offering samples to customers. I stopped at a table and the topic of how to pronounce Macchiato came up. (For the record, it's Mach-ee-ah-to). I told them that I used to call it a Mikado.

The Mikado is a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. The customer asked how I was familiar and I told him that my college chorus sange selections from the show. He asked me if I could sing a little bit. I ended up singing a small verse of Three Little Maids.


Follow-up to that story, a couple months ago, it was a busy Sunday afternoon, a customer came up and ordered a couple of venti white mochas. I was concentrating on either marking the cups or getting it correctly on the register so I saw his face when he came in but I was looking at my register screen.


He then finished his order with, "And a verse of Three Little Maids, please."

[caitlin1214]

It was around Christmastime, and we had just came out with the eggnog latte. This really cute woman (she wasn't an old lady and she wasn't a young woman. She was more middle aged but there was something cute about her that made sense.) asked me about the eggnog latte and I told her about it.

She then asked me a question that included this little beauty, "Now I want the eggnog sensation but I don't want the caffiene."


AAAH!

She ended up with a decaf straight eggnog latte.


(I told her that we cut the 'nog with milk but if she wanted to taste more of the 'nog, we could leave out the milk and that's what she decided to do.)

[caitlin1214]

I had this one customer who would come in and order a decaf grande nonfat vanilla latte.


She once asked me if I was "that Louis Vuitton Girl" because on two separate occasions, I complimented her on her bag and her charm (pictures below).


One day she came in, I took her order and she wanted to tell me a story because she knew I would appreciate it: she was walking her dog and that day she was wearing her Eiffel Tower charm. Something happened with the dog, causing her to bend down quickly and the charm flipped up and smacked her in the eye. Her eye was fine, but now the Eiffel Tower has a bent leg.

She also said she had an interesting story to tell her optometrist.

[barcreperie]

Originally Posted by caitlin1214

An open letter to all Starbucks customers: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/wdc/54550251.html

I have zero doubt as to why this guy can't get a job in his field - what a jerk!

[krisluvspurses]

Originally Posted by quynn

just curious, why is it so hard to make frappucino ? thanks!

I never said it was hard. I said it was a pain in the butt.

[Compass Rose]

I know there are a couple of websites out there that have a database of bad tippers across the country where names and cities are posted so if any servers are out there who feel they have been stiffed, they can look these people up and add to the database. I can't remember the website, but I know it's out there.