Saturday, January 16, 2010

Annoying People Come in Groups

It was a Friday night and I was almost ready to be cut. There were 2 hours til close, but I had only had 2 tables for the last few hours and they were getting ready to close out. Being at the bar for 13 hours without a chance to sit for even a minute had made me tired and my feet hurt. As I was bringing the check to the first of the two tables ready to close out a couple of girls walked in the front door. They stood by the bar for a few minutes before turning and walking to the dining room and seating themselves. With an internal sigh I walked over to greet them. After taking their drink order the second of my tables asked for their check.

I quickly ran the check out to the appropriate table and went back to the POS. As I was ringing the drink order in, 2 young guys walked in the door and up to the register. They needed a table. With another internal sigh and an outward smile I grabbed menus and sat them at a booth, taking their drink order immediately. When I returned with their drinks, the taller of the two said they were ready to order. His friend looked at him and said he needed more time. I told them I would return shortly.

After dropping off the drinks for the two women, another table walked in. I seated them and asked for their drink order. They spent 5 minutes asking me the prices for various drinks and beer, as well as our drink specials for the day. In an attempt to speed up the process I told them our specials were listed on an insert on the table. One of the kids (they were all between 22 and 24 but acted like kids) told me, as a joke, he couldn't read. After finally extracting an order for food from one of the four and drink order from another I told them I would return. On my way to enter their order, I gathered the check from the earlier table and went to the register to close it out. As I was doing this, the tall guy came to the register and started telling me his order. I smiled and entered the order before scooting off to the bar to gather the drink for the kid's table.

The kids had a few more questions and the proceeded to play argue with me standing there. After a minute of this I asked if they would like me to return. The illiterate guy ordered a drink. Back up to the POS. The tall guy was there waiting for me. I told him I would come to his table in a second, thinking he would sit back down. Nope. He waited at the register for me as I dropped off the drink that had been ordered. Smiling, I told him I would have come to his table to get his order. Keep in mind, tall guy and his friend were not waiting long, and I was visible to them the entire time, so they knew I was occupied. Maybe they aren't used to going out to restaurants? He seemed to prefer to order at a counter.

Eventually tall guy's table and the kids were fed and happy. The kids split their check and one paid while the other joked he was going to walk out on his as he sauntered over to the bar. I told him he would need to close out with me if he were sitting there and promptly got his check, which went unpaid for another 30 minutes though he ordered nothing. Seems he preferred to lean against the bar making out with his girlfriend. Tall guy and his friend paid and left.

Throughout all this, the two women had issues with their drinks. First, the mai-tai had too much juice so I added more grenadine making it a sickly bright pink. The the long island had too much sour so I added more coke, making it look dark brown. Their waters also tasted "wrong".

I practically ran out the door as soon as all my tables were closed out at last call.

1 comment:

A Nova Server said...

This post made me laugh out loud! Dude was trying to continually order FROM THE POSI!? Oh my gosh!!!

Ah, the "internal sigh" - that was so well-written. It is honestly that, like your heart hurts when someone walks in the door just after you mentally closed. Lately I've been trying to stop mentally closing, stop allowing that thought or feeling to enter that says "no one new has come in in an hour, I'll start some sidework, I'm almost out of here..." If I can avoid allowing that thought to even enter my mind, and tell myself I'll likely have more tables, then my life will be a bit easier at the end of a shift!