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.