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From a servers point of view!
I do not know the author of this but I found it to be funny and with all the service issues as of late I thought other would enjoy it.
Hi. I'm your waitress. Can we talk? This is a codependant relationship, and if it's going to work out, we need to get a few things straight. I really want this relationship to work because we both know we need each other. You want to eat in a place that makes you feel welcome, and I want to make a living and meet nice people. If we both move on to other restaurants, we'll encounter the same issues with other people, so there's no point in breaking up. But if you want to keep coming to my restaurant, I need to lay out my boundaries: 1) Yes, I am here to serve you. I even want to like you. Really, I do. So if we are having a bad day, let's not take it out on each other, OK? I won't snarl at you for ordering one of those skinny-decaf-soy lattes-with-not-a-speck-of-foam if you won't growl at me for forgetting you ordered water with no ice. Let's start out on the right foot and smile at each other. 2) I am a good waitress, but I am not super-human. If there are 100 other people in the restaurant clamoring for attention, I can't run errands endlessly just for you. Sweetener for your coffee? You got it. Skim milk instead of the half-and-half on the table? Ok. Another napkin? No problem. A to-go box? A slice of lemon? Fine. More hot water? Side of sour cream? Yup. Directions to the zoo? Crayons for your daughter? ALL RIGHT. Just try and ask for as many things at once as you can at once, rather than have me scamper back and forth from your table like a golden retriever who never tires of the ball. Please. 3) There are some folks out there who object to the tipping system, and >actively protest by not tipping their servers. This is like starving your cat because you object to the cost of pet food. Write your congressman, start a petition, or run for office on a "no tipping" platform that will revolutionize the industry. Be my guest - it's a weird system, and a change wouldn't hurt. But depriving us of our livelihood isn't going to do anything constructive. 4) Guys. Do you know how many of you come in and make eyes at me? Ever wondered why you have a "thing" for waitresses? I'll tell you why: I always smile at you, and I bring you everything you ask for. You're probably not getting THAT in your personal life. Who is, come to think of it? You idealize me because I do everything to serve your needs and I never complain. Just bear in mind that in my personal life, the apron comes off, and I have needs and issues, just like everyone else. And by the way, staring at my boobs while asking me out is not a good tactic for getting a date. Waitresses keep telling you this fact on CL forums and in magazine articles and whatnot, and yet you keep staring at our boobs and asking us on dates. It's the darndest thing. 5) Girls. It's not my fault your boyfriend is staring at my boobs while I serve the two of you. Please don't tip 5 percent to get back at me. I'm just as disgusted as you are, sister. 6) Parents. Listen. A restaurant is full of hot things, pointy things, and slippery things that might hurt little Jimmy. Pinchy things, and big things that fall from above. Please keep an eye on the wee ones. Some kids are absolutely delightful and well-behaved, so I know it's possible to keep them in line, but some parents just pump their kids full of sugar and let them loose like rabid little pygmies. It's rather alarming to find Jimmy in the kitchen trying to empty a soup pot over his sister's head. For a start, he should at least have a Food Handler's permit. 7) Yes, you can split the bill, but splitting it eight ways with eight cards is a bit much. Four is stretching it, even. If you're meeting seven friends for dinner, perhaps you could all bring cash and just throw it all into the pot. Just a suggestion. It works really well and saves you waiting extra time while your bills gets sorted. Not only does splitting the bill and running all those cards take up a ton of time and concentration, I usually don't have eight pens on my person so you can all sign at once. I've usually given all my pens out to the kids by then, and getting them back can be tricky. 8) I realize this is Oregon, and we're all proud that we do our bit to make the planet a more sustainable place. We recycle, we buy local, and we pour leftover water on the plants outside. But it's awfully hard to run a restaurant without violating a few environmental precepts, so I'm sorry, but the Splenda is NOT biodynamic. The ten-minute lecture on sustainability (while I'm busy trying to split a bill with 8 credit cards) is not going to change that. ... and you are starting to get "rant spittle" at the corners of your mouth. Here's a napkin. 9) You know what time we close. Please stop coming in with two minutes to spare, then sit there for an hour, dawdling over your lunch and reading the paper from cover to cover. Sure, I enjoy talking with you after everyone's gone, but this is not your house, and I have to be somewhere. I've been here for ten hours and I'm tired. Please finish your meal and leave. 10) Oh, and a last one for the guys again: PLEASE do not take a magazine into the only bathroom in the place and stay there for ten minutes. That's just gross. >Big hugs, >Your waitress > |
Bravo!
signed, Former Waitress |
No_name, I am going to print this out and give it to my favorite waitress in my city who is an absolute angel. I have so often wondered how she keeps her cheerful attitude, her energy and her sense of humor. She will love this thread of yours!
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LOL! EXCELLENT! but if your boobs weren't sticking out of the skimpy top your boss makes you wear, I wouldn't be staring! I will try from now on to avert my eyes...:)
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I've been a musician for over 30 years and have seen it all. Some people don't think that a tip is any part of their dinner. They believe the restaurant pays servers. GEEEEZZZ. I think the best way to judge a person you want to date, marry or work for is to see how they treat a server. That person is not your slave or punching bag. They should help you select the food and wine you want and make your dinner pleasant. PERIOD. I always tip 20 % plus and I'm a woman who often eats with other women. Do me a favor...don't judge women (even the ones with their daughters in tow) as bad tippers or people who deserve less service. Last week, in a Mex place, my water was never refilled and the food was HOT. No excuse. For specific complaining, which you deserve, go to bitter waitress. This site is a hoot! Good luck, hang in there. I feel your pain!
http://bitterwaitress.com/std/index.html |
I was once the boob being stared at when I misread the waitress’s handwriting for the bill. I left her a very generous tip from the amount I discerned. She had the look of “kill” in her eyes when she said I could keep my quarter! Big Oops! I read the bills a lot more closely now, and get a second set of eyes on it if I’m not sure.
Keep your eyes on the price and not on the thighs! :)>- |
I love it!
Always take care of your server and leave at least 20% or more.. bitter waitress website is very funny.. Love to read from the celeb's to the super cheap.. Thanks for sharing No name. |
In regards to tipping, it is not the system I object to its the % system. Why tip 15 - 20% of total bill. Where did this come from, it makes no sense. Please explain the following scenario:
1.) I am at Dennys for dinner. Have a wonderful waitress with fantastic service. Bill is $40.00. Tip 20% = $8.00 2.) Dinner at Ruth Chris. Waiter is just average with so so service. Bill is $200.00 Tip 15% = $30.00 Why does average waiter deserve more than fantastic waitress? Shouldn't the tip be based on the service and not the total of the bill. |
This may seem like oversimplification, but I suppose the bottom line is that at Denny's people are normally seated for half an hour or 45 minutes and a server may wait on up to 10 tables. At Ruth Cris, the server probably has three or four tables and the people stay for an hour and a half to two hours. A really good server could make as much at Denny's as one at Ruth Cris. Besides, the Denny's server doesn't have to tip out (share) tips with a bartender, runners, and other "helpers".
I agree the percentage may not seem to make sense, but generally speaking the more expensive the restaurant -- supposedly the more intensive and better the service. |
And remember - Servers and the like are taxed on 8% of their sales or the total of CC tips. Its the government that makes that rule, not the house.
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EXcellent! Now that's the kind of information you just can't fake.
Thank you so much, from another proud ex-waitress |
gmoney- so give that Denny's waitress 30 bucks too!!
:-) |
Here's some more "food" for thought. I am sure you have been to places where you go in and order from the counter & get your drink and maybe dessert, pay, get a number to put on your table and go sit down and then someone else brings the food to you.
It is amazing that people do not tip in these kinds of places or leave a really small amount in the tip jar by the cash register. I have become acutely aware of this because my daughter recently started working at a place like this while going to college. Again, people don't realize that their paychecks are small, since it is expected that their <i>taxed</i> tips will make up the difference. Somehow patrons decide since this is counter service, tips are not necessary. Oh, did I mention that what does get put in the tip jar gets split between counter person, server and the bus boys?? One night there were over $700 of sales on credit cards and there were $17 of tips on them! How sad...these kids really count on the tips. Just my 2 cents worth... Debi |
This was great. I waitressed in college, and it was the most stressful job I have ever had.
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I haven't worked restaurant in several decades now, and *still* if I have nightmares... well they are set in restaurants, I am a waitress with too many tables, no food to serve, whatever. Absolutely the most stressful (memorable and fun) job I have ever had.
hey let's make this... be kind to your "server" week!!!! |
What an intriguing concept: Dining is all about the servers and their needs.
What are diners? Chopped Liver? |
Nope. Depending on the restaurant, they are sometimes pate.
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As long as they're not foie gras. :-D
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Well, only in Chicago! :-)
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Thanks, No_name! You made my day!
From a former full-time and current moonlighting waitress. |
Perhaps the waitress who wrote this letter should give it to whoever it was that busted their buns to create a restaurant in which she could hold court instructing customers how to conform to her expectations.
How many of us could have worked our way up the ladder of our business, profession, what-have-you with a frame of mind such as this? |
Just a side note...
This is from "best of craigslist" it seems: http://london.craigslist.org/about/b...205060189.html |
Re the men staring at your boobs: I worked as a waitress in college and for a few years in Hawaii and I stopped wearing my name badge when too many men asked me, "what's the name of the other one?"
((S))((*)) |
Happytrailstoyou: Have you ever waitressed?
It's a hard job. I'm a tax attorney now and I deal with a lot of different and demanding people, but it's still less stressful than my job waitressing in college was. |
ditto, kureiff, ditto.
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A question and a few comments. How can the IRS conceivably verify tip totals- what keeps the waitress or waiter from not reporting their true take?
I usually tip at least 25 % for good service. I have six kids for the waitress to keep happy. I like to have a good time and if a waitress helps me in my endeavor, why not give her/him another $5 or $10. And, as for men staring at a waitresses' cleavage, I might warn these waitresses that many men enjoy a shapely rear view as well. |
I always leave a 20% tip at a sit down restaurant unless the service is horrible and that is rare. I am starting to get annoyed though at the number of places with tip jars when I am the one placing my order at the counter and taking my food to the table. I have been to two places very recently that have signs on the tip jar that say "Tipping is not in China" - what the heck does that mean? It seems like a demand for a tip.
Debit is your daughter paid below minimum wage like most waiters/waitresses? |
She seems to be obsessed with her curves. Maybe she needs breast reduction surgery.
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Kudos No-name. Waitressed thru college and grad school and couldn't agree more.
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wtm003 - yes, she is paid less than minimum wage...about half.
And the manager takes the tip jar, counts it and distributes it...so they know how much each gets and they take withholding out for it once a month. Debi |
Debi - very interesting. Now I am wondering if this is typical of most counter type/takeout restaurants or if this is a case of the owner taking advantage of your daughter and his other employees.
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I tip even if the service is miserable, because I know how little these folks make. However, I'm ashamed to say that I ignore tip jars at fast food places.
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I assume a 20% tip and will drop down if service is awful. I tell the server that I tip on the basis of my water glass. Keep water in it = good tip. I am rarely disappointed and we are both happy :-)
Anyone else imagining what kind of customers posters might be? It's interesting to watch the dynamics in a restaurant. One out of seven tables a server is working = nothing goes right. The other six = perfectly okay with the service and experience. Reminds me of the saying "Wherever you go, there you are!" :-) |
happytrailstoyou- I'm guessing (as already mentioned) you were never a waitress.
It happens. It doesn't depend on size of anything. 'Your Waitress' was just telling it like it is. |
I draw the line at tipping for "counter" service, whether it be at Starbucks or McDonalds. It's unfortunate that the employers of these establishments do not pay sufficient wages, but it is not my responsibility to make up the difference.
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Debi - I used to do payroll in an organization that had a lot of hourly employees some of whom were tipped employees.
According to the Dept. of Labor, "If an employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the minimum hourly wage -- $5.15 an hour effective 9/1/97 -- the employer must make up the difference," If that's not happening where your daughter works, she might want to look at this: http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs15.htm |
I'm with Tom42 (and I was a waitress for a year)
Everyone expects a tips now days... I don't get tipped when your child makes straight A's... and my husband doesn't get tipped when he safely lands your plane. Nor do we expect them... but it seems like everyone else does. |
I always tip 20% or more, unless the service was absolutely horrible, then I only tip 15% and sometimes even let the server know why.
I'll admit that I don't always tip at counter service places, but I leave change if I have it. If I'm already paying $4 for a specialty coffee, tipping another $1 seems a bit much. |
We almost always leave a cash tip when we charge our meals, whether it's a $40 meal or $300 meal. I am assuming the cash doesn't need to be declared for taxing purposes or the employer doesn't need to keep track of it. Is this correct?
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I'm glad dsquared posted. I have worked every job in restaurant and hotel, both front line and back office.
Yes, the owner must make up difference if employees on the "tip-credit" system make sub-minimum wage. Tipped Employees do NOT have to pay taxex on money they never received. Additionally, they can subtract any tips they paid out to other employees such as bartenders, and need not pay tax on that. Don't trust my word; go to IRS and/or state taxation websites. If an employer is taxing 8% of your receipts as tips earned, and you didn't earn that much, then you need not pay it. MORE IMPORTANTLY if you do not receive tips of more than 8% of yhour receipts you should re-examine your career choices; you should not be a server. And keeping with that 8% - how much of those 20% and 25% tips are you only declaring 8% of, underpaying your fair share of taxes, which means the rest of us must pay more? Closing means when you CLOSE, not when the employees leave. Put up a "Last Seating at 9pm" sign if you want everyone gone by 10:30 Restaurant servers do hard work. I don't deny that. However, the kitchen door swings both ways. |
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