I love holidays set forth to force you to show someone you care about them. Not particularly for the emotional value, seeing as I have no significant other, but for the monetary value. If you work in a restaurant the best days to work are holidays like these, some establishments even see these shifts as prizes that they give away to good employees. Thankfully at my job were a bit understaffed so for these days the whole family works together. I walked in at about five and the store was already about seventy five percent full of customers, which means in our language “balls to the wall”. As I looked around just to see what I was dealing with I noticed one thing, almost every table sat had only two people, adorable.
As the night progressed, it seemed every table I had were two hungry valentines. Couple after the couple, it felt so monotonous I wanted to cry. Especially because being a single person it was a defeating feeling seeing how many couple seemed unhappy or awkward sitting there together, like they had better things to do. I literally had a table that sat there and texted on their iphone’s while their kid colored quietly. I mean I could be making completely irrational judgments about people that I literally encountered for an hour and a half at best, but people say more then they think. A person’s body language and demeanor can normally say a lot about who that person is. If a girl is sitting a table with her special valentine (which you wouldn’t go to dinner with anyone else but your valentines on Valentine’s day) and her arms are crossed, her lips are squeezed shut, and she just looking around its clear this is not the place she would like to be. Then out of the nowhere, the clouds to heaven opened over my section and showered two of the most please ant butch lesbians I have ever met in my life.
They were hysterical. I was eating up everything they said, through the bantering with the drink orders and the “you get this and I’ll get that, and we’ll share” ten minute ordering extravaganza I was dying of laughter. I was busy though, and as cute as this Laverne and Shirley situation was I had to move, and they were killing me on time. I threw their order into the computer and when on about my rounds, trying to catch up on them as much as I could. As I walked back to the counter I noticed their ticket to their food was a few tickets back I asked, how long their food was going to be and they told me a minute so I waited. As I stood there they took the two pizzas out of the oven, cut them, threw them on a pan and then slid them over the counter to me. I was confused, but then they threw down the ticket, I rang in their food wrong.
Now this is where you see true colors, you mess with someone’s food after they have been waiting a half an hour you could see blood. No, it’s not that serious but people treat it like I just accidently stabbed them sometimes. I walked back up to the table and the lesbians knew something was wrong. See, body language. I explained that their food came out wrong and before I could finish, they instantly started consoling me, then blamed everything on the kitchen and then grabbed all of the food out of my hands. I felt horrible, it doesn’t normally happen to me but I’m human and some people just find that impossible. It’s mindless work by all means, but sometimes you get it wrong. I really did explain to the ladies that it was my fault and I had made the error when inputting their food, first because I wanted to be honest to them, and second the receipt is an exact copy of what I ring up so if they would have remembered would they ordered then they would have clearly known it was my fault. But the response they gave me was more then I could have given them. They gave me hope. Because after I explained it all and blamed myself they told me there was nothing I could to do to ruin their night of “lady time”. They got their bill, the extremely butch one of the two thanked me for “gettin ‘er drunk” and went on about their night. There are good people in this world, I swear.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
There really are. As a server, I learned not to make customers get to me. There are bad tippers, extremely needy people, bitchy moms, and ruthless kids. You name it, and we've probably encountered them. When I was pretty new to the business and I was still getting emotionally affected by people who get mad at me just because they decided that they wanted to make me suffer due to their miserable lives, I had one of the worst couples ever.
ReplyDeleteThey ran me like crazy asking for little things that they could have told me when I was previously at their booth. No kidding, they made me go back to their table at least ten times. It was a Friday night too. So, you could just imagine how busy it could get. When they finally left, I was hoping I'd get a pretty decent tip since I was able to cater to their every need even if my feet were hurting from walking back and forth just because of them. I also figured they would leave me a good one since their bill was huge even if it was just a two top. But, no. They left me close to nothing. They left me less than 3% of the whole bill. It wasn't even a dollar for each. I was furious, I wanted to throw the change at their face and be like, "Here. I think you need that so much more than I do."
I went to the bathroom to just breathe, but for some reason, tears came running down my eyes. I couldn't help it. Thankfully, I remembered that one of my regular customers gave me a card. It was nearly Christmas time then, by the way. I opened it just to cheer myself up. It said, "I hope your holidays are as bright as your smile! Merry Christmas, Smiley!" That just made me forget the couple that I wanted to throw food at. Oh, and that customer even gave me a 200% tip. I'm just so grateful that there a people who actually make everything better amidst customers who just don't care at all.
Wow, I honestly don't think I have the strength, both emotionally and mentally, to be a server. I always imagined myself getting all the orders wrong and dropping the trays of food and drinks all over the floor. It may not seem like alot of work when I'm the one getting served but when I sit back and think about it, the job comes with alot of stress, especially dealing with hungry people. I give all the good servers out there credit for what they do, because I don't think I could do it.
ReplyDeleteVery good post, you never know what to expect from people. Some people scream and holler while others just want an apology. I was at a hospital this weekend and a lady was upset that the hospital would not custom cook her eggs for her. Probably because the eggs are in a carton already scrambled, but this little old lady said she no longer liked that hospital for that reason. And to top it off she was upset she had to get her own fork from the dispenser.People can be very comical when dealing with food.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your post. That is great that they didnt care. I never care when they get my food wrong. I think more people should be kinder in this world. What a great person you are for being open and honest with them.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found some good people on your valentines day shift. Sometimes on day like these, people are in good spirits and will take things a bit lighter. Unfortunately for me, valentines day is what i like to call "amateur night"; all of the people who never come out to eat are in my section. They obviously dont know the proper american tipping standard, and proceed to leave an average for 10 percent. gotta love amateur night.
ReplyDeleteAwww, I know exactly how you feel. The worst tables to mess up are the tables who are nice, funny, understanding. It feels like you slapped your mama when you have to come out and admit error, especially on a "holiday". Luckily I work in a Jewish deli with absolutely no ambiance so no one bothers to come in on V-day. And seriously, in my experience, lesbian couples are *the best* to wait on. Most of the time they are so chill, and have nowhere to be at any particular time. It's fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI think people put too much pressure on workers. Working at my fair share of customer service jobs, I know how easy it is to make a mistake, therefore if someone who is waiting on me makes a mistake I am very willing to overlook it. I feel as though people who have never had a job in customer service do not see how difficult it truly is. On top of this already being a stressful job, it is so easy to get blamed for things that are not your fault. Countless times I have been yelled at because a cook messed up someone's order, or because we were out of a particular item. People need to realize that many things are out of the worker's control and as much as you may like to help it is not always possible.
ReplyDelete