Sunday, January 25, 2009

And the problem was...

After thinking long and hard about every aspect of the previously mentioned Friday night I have come to the following conclusion of where the problem occured.
After the open bar ended at 10 I received a party. They are regulars that come in every week and I adore them. They are polite and easy to care for as well as being organized. If I come by to check on them they make sure everyone hears me speaking and asks for what they need at once. They never play run the server. Being that these are great customers that come in every week with a group of 10 to 35 people we do our best to take care of them quickly and efficiently.
Most of the people from the party were hanging around waiting to hear the outcome of the 15 item raffle. While the numbers were being read off the group crowded around the server well at the bar and at the server station where we keep napkins, silverware, and our personal items like purses and coats. This area is obviously not someplace a customer should be standing. The way the Bar is set up, a server walks through the server station to reach the server well at the bar. Needless to say, this group was in my way. Usually I let people know they should not be standing in the server areas, but I was too busy at that point to say anything so I simply worked around them. On my way to the server well I said "excuse me" loud enough to be heard. On my way back through with a full try of drinks I felt the need to speak a bit louder since they had their backs to me. I have had people back up into me and spill an entire tray mostly on me, breaking glasses and wasting time, and wanted to avoid this happening then. Several times the men standing in my way apologized and I gave them a cheerful "it's OK" as I walked off. I usually don't get that much from customers. It's nice when they are polite and realize that you are trying to do your job. At some point I also had to disturb the ladies standing at the server station and using it as a table so I could reach the silverware and napkins needed by my customers. One of the women was the wife of the man running the party.
I believe that the wife complained that I was rude because of all the loud excuse me's and making her move when I needed to retrieve items from where she was standing. Also, I don't doubt that after the twelfth time having to say excuse me to the group I was no longer smiling idiotically. By no means was I rude, but to a self-important woman I guess it would be seen as rude for someone like me, a mere server, to ask her to move. I treated them no differently than I have people in the past.
Women customers sure can suck.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is frustrating when people just don't get out of the way for the tenth time.You have great patience.

Mike the Waiter said...

To be honest, dear (I hope you don't mind if i call you dear), the way I treat that is after the 3rd or 4th time.... I just "accidentally" bump into them increasingly harder.... you have more patience than me ... by the 12th time ... I can promise you this.... somebody would be wearing a diet coke ... and that's a fact!
Stories like this make my blood boil.... probably because I have lived these experiences. wishing you well from Indiana, USA
mTw

intheweeds said...

What a friggen awesome blog. Am going to catch up Lone waitress.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for visiting my blog and becoming one of my assistant banquet managers. Stop by on February 16th and see the shout-out I give you.
So You Want To Be a Banquet Manager

JoeinVegas said...

Yup, probably the wife that complained. It's usually the women complaining about the waitresses. Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong.

Anonymous said...

screw the bitch next time *bump* into with a nice full glass of red that spills all over her-certain clueless types need clear signals to get the picture.

as you can guess this is a pet peeve of mine-->at my last job this was mainly a food running issue as the food window was at the back of the bar. We had large heavy square plates so when grabbed on the corner you could use the opposite corner to "knudge" the clueless out of your way. They got the idea quickly for the most part.

Bev Rage said...

Why do people leave their brains at home when they go out to eat? After the third time of someone saying "excuse me" wouldn't you clue in and move? Do these people stand in front of subway turnstiles, idle their cars in the middle of a freeway, stand in front of the elevators at work? NO. But the minute they walk into a restaurant all intelligence and common sense goes flying out the window.