Newfound respect for restaurant hostesses and servers

This past weekend, to help out a business associate, I was enlisted to help hostess and serve because she was shortstaffed. As I was attempting to do each, I could hear myself mentally checking off a checklist on a report:

Hostess made casual conversation while leading you to your table: No
Beverage order served within 2 minutes of ordering: No
Entrees served within 15 minutes of ordering: No
Orders placed by correct patron: No
Payment processed in timely manner: No

I would have failed if it were a shop, but thank goodness for the good people who do their job every day diligently and efficiently. I'll stick to evaluating and leaving a good tip for good service.

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As someone who was a server for over 10 years, thank you! People very rarely realize just how demanding the job is, and when you are making $2.13/hr, tips are your lifeline!

I don't know how you did it, but thank you!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2013 09:41PM by surveygrrll.

llamm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As someone who was a server for over 10 years,
> thank you! People very rarely realize just how
> demanding the job is, and when you are making
> $2.13/hr, tips are your lifeline!

Me too! I travel a fine line between high expectations (knowing how easy it can be sometimes) and pure compassion (knowing how impossible it can be sometimes) when I'm on dining shops.

Sometimes it's tough to just do my job and be objective when I KNOW the only reason my server didn't check back with me within 1 minute of my first bite was because she was kidnapped by a 10 top of people who have seemingly never eaten out before.

I had the opportunity for dinner shops on Friday and yesterday. Both were nicely bonused, in addition to reimbursements. I turned them down because Labor Day weekend in a resort town is going to really mess up the timings and service, and, having worked in the service industry years ago, I didn't feel this weekend would reflect an accurate picture of the service.

.
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei

Mystery shopping has also made me more sensitive to good service, often leading to me calling up or writing to the company to let them know!

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Newfound respect for restaurant hostesses and servers

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