Closed, without the Down.

Our restaurant is in a quiet quiet street. Maybe in its heyday it was busy, vibrant and a great place for business opportunities. Now, its just a quiet quiet street.

Inquiring-Customer: Oh... I thought you guys had closed down.
Me: No no, we have been opened for the last five years.
Inquiring-Customer: Really?
Me: Yep.
Inquiring-Customer: I drove past not long ago and it looked like you guys had closed down.
Me: When did you come by?
Inquiring-Customer: Oh, I think it was Tuesday afternoon.

We have started closing Tuesday nights since the New Year started. This was so that Our Boss/Owner could get a break from working seven days a week. We had signs up for two months prior to this actually happening. We sent out pamphlets and we gave all customers new pamphlets as well as telling them about it face to face.

Inquiring-Customer: I thought I would call to check. Do you have new owners?
Me: No, its been the same owners for five years.
Inquiring-Customer: Oh, okay.
Me:  Would you like to order anything?
Inquiring-Customer: Ummm.... I'll just call back later. Just wanted to know if you were still opened.
Me: Yep, still opened, like we have been for the past five years.

This has happened more than once and sometimes its not even about Tuesdays...

Delivering You with Two Faces.

Its amazing how two-faced customers can really be. One minute they are all smiles and happiness and then next, when they don't get what they want because you just can't do it, they turn mean and nasty. It's not something that I can control and I do apologise for not being able to meet with your demands but is it necessary to be so mean and vindictive? Did you ever think that being that mean will actually get you something? And when you are inquiring or asking a question it does not mean the answer that I give you will always be the one that you want to hear.

Tonight was quite an eventful night, in the good sense. What happened didn't really bother me because quite frankly it happens quite often, and also it was a good night so I'm not fussed by ridiculous customers.


Take Away phone rings.

Me: Good Evening.
Two-Faced-Delivery-Customer: Hi, I just wanted to order a delivery order. You do delivery right.

I'd like to point out that a lot of customers have tried the method 'If I say you delivery, you'll deliver to me'.

Me: No sorry we don't do deliveries. Only Pick Up orders.
Two-Faced-Delivery-Customer: Oh really. I thought you guys always did delivery.

I've worked at the restaurant for five years. The first two years there was a delivery service because Our Boss had just started out and we wanted to branch out to form a bigger customer base. Eventually, we weren't really making that much off deliveries and there was no point in hiring a delivery driver. So in the end we phased out the deliveries, THREE YEARS AGO. I'd also like to point out that even though we did do them in the beginning we never printed it or advertised this to our customers, therefore there is nothing that says we actually do deliveries. Customers find this hard to understand.

Two-Faced-Delivery-Customer: Oh, but you use to didn't you?

Now the answer to this depends on how cheeky I am on the night. I usually apologise and let it go. Or some times it goes like this.

Me: [Laughing a little]. We haven't done deliveries in almost three years.
Two-Faced-Delivery-Customer: Oh, but you guys delivered to me the other week. I'm sure of it.

So some customers like to pull the method, 'If I lie about you delivering to me, then you have to do it'. I turn around and give them this method, 'You and I both know you're lying but I'll just let you know gently so you know not to try that again'.

Me: Sorry, but we don't do deliveries. You must have remembered the wrong place.
Two-Faced-Delivery-Customer: Oh okay.

You think that they finally understand but this is the part where Two-Faced-Delivery-Customer will sudden change from being quite friendly to just plain nasty. In the beginning we use to tell them that they can come down to get it and that it would be much quicker that way. This usually causes a really rude reaction from Two-Faced-Delivery-Customers.

Two-Faced-Delivery-Customer: How am I suppose to get down there without a car? Why do you think I ordered delivery.

I don't know. Maybe because really you are just lazy. And that's the truth with most deliveries. So nowadays we don't even give that option to Two-Faced-Delivery-Customers. If they like our food that much they will come down to get it anyway.


The conversation can end a few ways. None of them pleasant.

Two-Faced-Delivery-Customer [Response 1]: [Hangs up the phone without saying anything].

Two-Faced-Delivery-Customer [Response 2]: Well then I'll just go SOMEWHERE ELSE where there is delivery.

Two-Faced-Delivery-Customer [Response 3]: I'm sure you guys delivered to me the other day. [Hangs up without saying a word of Goodbye].



Its true. I've worked at the same restaurant for five years, but Two-Faced-Delivery-Customers seem to always know more than me. Why do I even bother.

Behind the Waitress' Smile

Few new tweaks to the blog. 

Now renamed to:

A Waitress Smile

http://a-waitress-smile.blogspot.com/

Update your links!

Tales of an Eccentric Boss #1

Tales of an Eccentric Boss #1:

The Wannabe Waiter

Our Boss is strange, annoying but in the end not so bad. In fact he looks after his staff pretty well and we get a lot of benefits too. Yet some times, our Boss can equal to what three annoying customers can inflict. So here are the Tales of an Eccentric Boss where all the things that he says and does that some times do not really make much sense.


Eccentric-Boss is first and foremost, a chef. That is what he enjoys to do and that is what he has been trained to become. But some times, I think he wants to be a waiter. Why?

Very often he will walk out to the Dine-In part of the restaurant and pick up dirty plates from tables where customers are seating. He'll hand out menus when we were about to do it and he'll harass we about tables if they are taking too long on eating their entrees because he thinks that we have forgotten about them and generally just be on our backs about our jobs as waitresses

I know that as a boss you have certain responsibilities and that you want everything to be perfect. But it also means that you have to trust who you have. All the waitresses are well rehearsed in waitressing and have being doing it for years.

He secretly wants to be a waiter. I know it.

Strange Egg Conspiracy.

I personally find that some customers just don't really hear the things that you are saying to them, no matter how many times you say it and how many ways you say it. This definitely applies to customer who complain or even when they inquire about certain items on the menu.

Take Away phone rings.

Me: [Pick up the phone.] Good Evening.
Egg-White-Man: Hi. I just have a few questions to ask you.
Me: Sure. How can I help you.
Egg-White-Man: Okay. The questions will sound weird at first but there is a point to it.
Me: That's fine.

I have to admit because it was a slow night I was intrigued. Also on top of the fact that you work as a waitress, once in a while customers still surprise me on the strange things that they may ask.

Egg-White-Man: Are you one of the chefs?
Me: No.
Egg-White-Man: Are you related to anyone that's in the restaurant?
Me: No.
Egg-White-Man: Do you work in the kitchen?
Me: Sometimes I do.

It was a strange line of questioning. In fact I thought for a while that he wasn't even actually going to order anything, but just wanted to find someone. So it was getting a little scary.


Egg-White-Man: Do you know anything about how they make the omelettes?
Me: Yes, I do, I've made a few myself.

On top of being a waitress, I also help prepare foods during the night so I have had experience in making an omelette.

Egg-White-Man: Can you tell me if you use WHOLE eggs in it?
Me: [Sigh.] Yes, we use WHOLE eggs.

Why did I sigh? Egg-White-Man has called previously and had the same question about our omelettes. The funny thing is that last time he called I was also the unlucky one that was on the phone explaining the same situation to him.

Every thing that he is about to say, he had said to me in a previous conversation. Pretty much a case of deja vu but I actually REMEMBER doing it.

Egg-White-Man: I use to own a cake store and make cakes, so I know that you can just get buckets of egg whites.
Me: Yes?
Egg-White-Man: I think that you make your omelettes from just egg whites.
Me: I can safely tell you that our omelettes are made from FOUR WHOLE eggs.
Egg-White-Man: It doesn't seem like it.

One; I did not think that you could just buy egg whites at the time. (After the first conversation with Egg-White-Man I did notice that it is quite easy to just buy egg whites). Two; this is the second time that we have had this conversation and the fact that I am saying the same thing does not seem to make a difference to Egg-White-Man.

Me: We use four whole eggs per omelette. Two large ones and two small ones.
Egg-White-Man: Well it just seems the omelette is too pale for it to be whole eggs in it. It looks like you just put egg whites in it.
Me: That's just the way the eggs are. The two large ones we have have paler yolks and this probably makes it look pale.
Egg-White-Man: Are you sure?
Me: Yes. Like I said it probably doesn't look as 'orange' because the egg yolk in the larger eggs are quite pale.

I was starting to get annoyed at this stage. Egg-White-Man was convinced that there was some strange egg conspiracy going on in our kitchen. Egg-White-Man didn't seem to want to believe me, it was more like he wanted to interrogate me and see if I would crack and tell him what HE wanted to hear.

Me: You do realise that I have had this conversation with you already.
Egg-White-Man: Yes, but I don't really believe you.
Me: Well, that's how we make our omelettes and there hasn't been any changes to it.
Egg-White-Man: But the omelette doesn't taste right.
Me: Okay...

So all of sudden it's not about the way it looks but also the way it tastes. Now, I think Egg-White-Man just wanted to be right, whether it be about the taste or about the look of the omelette.

Me: I can only assume that it's because we put some cornflower in it, so that the egg stays together into a nice omelette.
Egg-White-Man: Can you take the cornflower out of the omelette?
Me: Yes... But it does hold the egg together so it might turn out a little scrambled.
Egg-White-Man: That's okay. As long as it turns out 'omelette-like'.
Me: Okay...

What classifies as 'omelette-like'? I warned him about the problems with not having the cornflower in it and yet he did not seem to understand what may happen to it if it does not. 'It may not be 'omelette-like' if you take out the cornflower', does not seem to comprehend with Egg-White-Man.

Egg-White-Man: We like the food at your restaurant but some times the omelette puts me off.
Me: Well that's how we make them. With FOUR REAL WHOLE eggs.

Egg-White-Man is a regular Take Away customer. In fact he orders a Prawn Omelette every time with no onions, no beansprouts and only egg, prawns and omelette gravy. In fact, he orders this dish for himself over the phone, then puts us on the phone to his wife so she can order the rest because he doesn't want to get the wrong omelette.

Egg-White-Man: Okay. I'll call back later with an order.
Me: That's fine.

Egg-White-Man must have beeen really paranoid to have this 'egg chat' with me again, and not even be ready to order.


Later that night he finally orders his meal. Prawn Omelette with no onions, no beansprouts, no cornflower (as well this time) with only egg, prawns and omelette gravy. Along with a few other meals as well. We had a waiting time of 10-15 minutes last night. He did not come in until half-hour AFTER the waiting time we specified.

I can't understand why he was so convinced that we use only egg whites in our omelettes. The look and feel of just egg whites is very different and I personally do not think our omelettes look white, even if they are pale yellow-ish.

I was annoyed about the fact that he did not believe me the first time. I felt like taking one of the large eggs and cracking it in front of him so that he could see that there was indeed a yolk in it. In fact, next time he should just come into the kitchen before we make his omelette and have him watch us crack the eggs, mix up the omelette and cook it. Let me tell you, Egg-White-Man, that omelette will look exactly the same as all the omelettes that we give all our customers.

Working At Work Just Isn't Enough.

In the past three months I have worked at my part time waitressing job six days a week.

When the restaurant recently decided to close on Tuesday nights so that my Boss could have a day off I thought I would at get two days off.

But of course something would happen 

(ie. One of the girls rostered on had an exam on her working day) 

so therefore I still only got one day a week off.

Yesterday I went out to dinner with a friend.

We decided to go to MY work to have dinner.

Go figure.

One of the regular customers recognised me.

Customer: The food must be good here if you come here to eat on your day off.

Me: Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

I need to get out more...

Few Bad People.

 

Our restaurant is in a small suburb where crime is not an uncommon thing. It also does not help that it is located in a quiet street where there is not a lot of business during the night. Six months ago I could safely say that we had been lucky despite all these things but lately its just common practice that there are more negative things in the community than positive.

Last night we were burgled again. It is now the fourth time in the space of twelve months. Each time it has happened it has become more frequent. The shutters are forced open, the large window plane is smashed and what for? For a few measly drops of alcohol. We never really stocked that much alcohol to begin with but it was enough for bad people to force themselves in just for it.

We have decided to stop selling alcohol for this reason. Which I think will end up hurting our business a little and be unfair to our customers. We encourage customers to BYO but some times I can understand that customers only want a glass of wine or a schooner of beer without having to bring it with them. Its hard to tell customers when you don't have certain things because the bad people ruin it for everyone.

I think the worse thing is not the missing alcohol, nor the hundreds of dollars that is continuously used to repair the damage but the feel of the whole place. You feel that you work in a wonderful place, with lovely people and have entertaining customers, but it can all be let down because a few bad people want to take it away from you. I can only hope that we all stay positive and not let those bad people pull us down to their idiotic level.

A Tip of Accomplishment.

The night started off in average fashion. Only one booking had been placed, a table of 8, so it wasn't a big deal. It seemed it was going to be an easy night. Then there was few things that happened that changed the situation really fast. The thing is that you never really see a busy night come at you, it just happens. It happens before you can blink and then before you know it you are in the thick of it.

Two consecutive phone calls were picked up, both to make a booking. A table of 5 and a table of 6. Which seemed pretty reasonable on a Saturday night.

Then a table of 8 walked in without a booking, so in speedy waitress fashion, we put some tables together for them. Worked out fine and soon enough they were all settled into their meal.

Few more walk-ins came in at around the same time. Then Take Away got swamped. Phone orders and walk in orders would not stop coming in. It was hard to find time to pack the meals let alone get them out in time.

At that moment in time I think it dawned onto all the waitresses that this was no ordinary easy going Saturday night. This was the BIG one. The one that comes every so often, the one where everyone decides that they want to have Chinese that night and definitely the one that you know as a waitress tests every inch of your skill whilst still balancing great customer service.

Then just as we thought that we had everything in control. The last table had their mains coming out and Take Away finally slowed down. The thing that I will also never understand, happened.

A table of 12 walked in, with NO booking, and asked if we had room for them. Lucky for them, unfortunate for us, one of the earlier bookings for the table of 5 had just left.

So once again in speedy waitress fashion a table of 12 was made. Then they inform me that in fact they have two more additions. I grit my teeth and say that's fine, I can work something out. And so an extra table was added and two extra seats were set up.


The night was insane. Everyone barely had time to stop and think about what had to be done next. Instead it was go, go, GO! And hoping that you didn't miss a thing. It was a night where the only way to keep sane was the banter off each other and work well with everyone around you, because everyone was just trying to keep their heads above water. Its nights like these that I know that we are not always at our usual customer service level, we barely have time to acknowledge our customers let alone chat with them and some times it feels bad. But you try and get through it by making sure that you are covering all bases and they are comfortable.

The table of 8, with no booking, had just left and told us to keep the change for their bill. We don't get tipped all the time, that's just the way it is. We get a few dollars and usually that's pretty good. That table left us with a $54 tip. That was 40% of their bill. That left us all flabbergasted. That is the biggest sized tip that I have ever received in the whole time I have been working.


At the time it feels impossible, but at the end of it you accomplished everything with minimal damage, especially to yourself and the other staff members.We must of done something right, despite the insane way we must of looked. Especially on a night like that it was nice to feel so appreciated.

More Positives Than the Negatives.

I'm feeling kind of negative about the things that are happening at work. Surprise surprise that all the negativity are all because customers are just so damn interesting when they are complaining. It's time to be a little bit more uplifting. Here are the things that make me want to walk into work every single shift.

1. Complete strangers interacting with you on this 'nice' basis, even if they are mean in real life.
2. Enjoying having a joke or two with the customers because after all humor makes us all smile.
3. Watching the chefs cook, wishing that I could learn how to do that.
4. Watching prawn chips and crispy noodles 'grow' when they are deep fried.
5. The smell of food on sizzling platters.
6. Hearing customers say, "that looks yum", when you put down their food.
7. The satisfaction that a job was well done when a customer not only praises the food but also the excellent service.
8. The smile you get from customers when you remember their specific needs.
9. The satisfaction of completing a busy night without any major problems.
10.Working with lovely waitresses. I absolutely would not be sane if I did not have the most wonderful girls to work with, who put up with as many stupid customers as I do, see as many unbelievable things as I do and who know how to work together to have a busy but fun night.

Hope you all have a list like that...

Clusters of Rude People.

It seems that rude people come in clusters. So unfortunately on Sunday I ended serving another obnoxious and rude regular customer. Regular implying that they come about every three months, but for all the waitresses definitely regular enough. In fact, we could probably all do with a little less regular.

There are so many things that they do that are considered rude to normal people. Of course they do not see it as rudeness, so the only way to even explain them is to just write a list about all the things that they could have done different to avoid being given the title, The-Rudest-Customer, but then who am I to judge, maybe they actually wanted the title.

The men in this group (which can range form 5-10 people at any one time) drink a lot. They drink so much that it's to the point that we really should refuse them alcohol. But when we do, they get aggressive and it just becomes an issue. Usually they leave before this becomes a major problem, so I can only be grateful for that.

Due to the three break-ins that have been targeted for our alcohol, in the last year and a half, our Boss has decided that we will not be selling any alcohol at all and will encourage BYO. As The-Rudest-Customer drinks a lot of our alcohol, our Boss thought it would be best to inform him that we will no longer be restocking our beers. I was taking their order at the time. The-Rudest-Customer looked at my Boss blanked faced. Why? Because the guy was already drunk! He had no idea what was going on around him. I didn't know whether to laugh because he looked so stupid or slap him for the same reason. Also at the same time I knew that it was going to be a long night because that was only the beginning.

As a waitress you get called a lot of rude things by rude customers. You get the "finger-over-here", "crazy-hand-wave" or even the "finger-clicking". By far I think the worse that I have ever had to endure is when The-Rudest-Customer calls me "bub" to get my attention. It makes me feel really disgusted. I know some people use it as a term of endearment, but when he uses it it makes me feel gross. It puts me in this really awful position and really makes me want to tell him that he should not be calling me that at all. So all night, all I got was "bub this" and "bub that" in his loudest voice.


Then there is the Devil-Child. The-Rudest-Customer's little daughter is called Angel. We know this because she is constantly being yelled at by her Mum who has no control over her children at all. Devil-Child has not changed since she was a baby. She is one of the main reasons why I do not want to EVER have children.

Devil-Child runs around with her shoes off, touches every other table's cutlery, and tries to run into the kitchen whenever she gets a chance to. Oh, and she has a little brother who has just learned how to walk. How lovely.

Little-Devil-Child tries to get out by playing with our entrance door. He pulls it enough to get his fingers caught. Now I try to move him away from it but he comes back repeatedly. So I tell the Mum that he needs to move otherwise he will hurt himself. She looks at me as if I'm the one that should be looking after him. You have got to be kidding. This is the same look she gives us when we tell her that her children should stop running around, that they should not be playing with fans, and also that they should not touch the blinds.

Devil-Child and Co. like to lick the Salt and Pepper Shakers and tip Soy Sauce on the tables. So now we have take all those off the OTHER tables in the restaurant. Also along with any napkins and cutlery that we do not want to re-wipe. All the surrounding originally clean tablecloths are already a lost cause.

The best way to deal with  Devil-Child and Co. is to not make eye-contact and ignore them. Otherwise they think that  you want to play with them and that this is highly amusing. So towards the end of the night I ended up having to stand guard to the entrance of the kitchen so that we wouldn't have an accident on our hands.


I do all the things that The-Rudest-Customer demands. He wants knives which are not set out on the table. So I wipe them and put them on the table before he even asks. He then proceeds to ask me to get him some knives. I simply point to the table, and tell him that they are there already.

The-Rudest-Customer-Wife wants a million little bowls and proceeds to take then from the staff only area without even asking. Wonderful. More useless cleaning on our hands.

The-Rudest-Customer brings in a friend to dine with them and she wants bottled water. We don't have any, we only have tap water. She asks if I can boil some water for her. I tell her that it will be hot, and if that is okay. She tells me that this is fine. Her husband thinks it's hilarious to say that I should boil cold water so that it will be cold. I would slap him if I could.


Finally at the conclusion to this crazy meal they want to have their left overs packed. Instead of asking a waitresses over politely, as this would be too easy and too nice, The-Rudest-Customer proceeds to yell "Boss" as loud as possible in the restaurant in hopes that my Boss, who is in the kitchen and cannot even hear him, will come out just to pack The-Rudest-Customer's leftovers. All I can say is that I'm embarrassed for The-Rudest-Customer, if no on else is.


There was no tips tonight. The truth is that I'm just glad they left when they did, and I would quite gladly accept that as my tip for the night. At least the only reassuring thing is that they won't be back for another three months.