Monday, September 8, 2008

Venting of a Struggling Actor/Waitress, or, Suck It: An Essay

I think everyone should be required to be a server in a restaurant at some point in their lives. Last night a couple middle aged women and their teenage daughters were sitting at my table. I check on then a few times, they said they were fine. At the end of their meal, they said they wanted the check. Then they said, "Oh, we have to leave in 10 minutes, but could you sing happy birthday?" It was 6:20pm, dinner rush time, and at that moment I got triple sat. I said to them, "I'll see what I can do about that." I took all 3 orders, and was going to get the whipped cream to make a "birthday surprise" for their 13-year-old brat, when they got up and left. They passed me saying, "Uh, BIRTHDAY?" I said "Yes, I was actually just going to sing to your daughter right now if you want to wait just a second." "No," they said. "We have to leave." On the way out they complained to the general manager, who happened to be standing there. He then suspended me from work for a whole week.

Nevermind that the policy is 3 write-ups and then you're suspended. Nevermind that the ladies asked me to sing 10 minutes before they had to leave at the height of dinner rush. Nevermind that I am one of the few servers who always does every single bit of their sidework. Nevermind that I am one of their better singers. Without the first warning, I get sent home for a week for my "great infraction," for which apparently I should be thankful they didn't fire me. Now, here are some reasons why people have been fired in the past 4 months...
  • Leaving $1000 cash out in the women's bathroom overnight and forgetting to give it to a manager.
  • Sleeping with a manager. (which I think is his business and none of the restaurant's, but whatever.)
  • Mouthing off and being rude to customers.

How does this make any sense whatsoever? You know, it doesn't matter what the circumstance, if a customer is mad, the server will pay for it. That's why everyone should be required to be a waiter. Those ladies knew that they were giving me short notice to sing happy birthday. Look around! It is busy! I am only 1 person, and I can only be in 1 place at a time. Be patient, or be understanding - you only gave me 10 minutes notice! I mean, of course, if I was a terrible waitress and never checked on you and put the wrong order in, then by all means, COMPLAIN! Whine and scream to a manager for all I care. But that didn't happen. Because I am a good server. And I hope they are able to sleep at night knowing that they cost a struggling actor/waiter $400.

It's ok. People who go around sewing bad karma will get theirs. It will come back to bite them in the ass. And I'm leaving in a month to go do what I love to do.

1 comment:

Moscato D'Nasti said...

Hi I've been reading your blog and just wanted to extend an invitation to you.

My name is Gregory Dal Piaz and
I have recently been hired as the Community Manager here at Snooth.com. As such I am working not only to grow the community activity on our site but am also planning a series of events for Snooth members. These will range from free in-store tastings much like what one typically finds in retail stores to wine dinners featuring extensive vertical and horizontal tastings and even the occasional winemaker.

Some highlights of upcoming events include; a 10-year after blind retrospective tasting of 1998 Barolo, a series of tastings focusing on wines from one of Californias golden ages with line-ups that will include wine such as Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon 1975- 1984 and Mondavi Reserve Cabernet from 1975-1981.

I am also working on assembling a panel to blind taste new release wines that will include both wine professionals and amateurs from the ranks of our Snooth members. As a blogger with an interest in food and wine you are an ideal person to partner with for the promotion of, participation in and reporting on these types of events. I look forward to speaking with you and hope that you can become a member of Snooth.com and benefit from these events.



Thanks for your time.


Gregory Dal Piaz
Community Manager
Snooth Inc.
gregory@snooth.com