OMG! There is Hope!

  You have to worry when teenagers are your customers. You wonder if the have a job or just an allowance. I give teenagers the benefit of the doubt and give them great service. Just cross my fingers it does not bit me in the butt.
  
   So yesterday I got a table with three young teenagers. One had to be at least sixteen to drive them. They girls were real nice. Order three drinks and split two meals. When I brought them there bill it was $30.26. When I collected the bill from the ladies there was a $25 gift card and $5.30. Great there change back is $0.04. Awesome. I brought it back to the ladies and told them to have a wonderful night. 

  
  The aftermath... I was cleaning the table and grabbed my tip. There was one crinkled dollar bill and, every penny and nickle from all there purses. Thank you for that $1.92! That makes the tip 4.5%. Man my night is going so well.
  
  Two hours have passed and, the night has slowed down. I am now sweeping my section so I can leave with all my great earnings from the day. As I finish I notice those three girls walking back over in my direction.


  Two of the three girls stay back five feet and the oldest walks up to me. We are so sorry for the tip early. We are young and you still gave us great service. We did not calculate are drinks into our budget. We went to a bank and pulled out money for your tip. Here is an extra $5. Hope you have a good night. 
  
  Holy-guacamole I have a shocked face on! Stunned I can only reply, Thank you! Have a happy new year. That just made my nigh. My tip is $6.92 on a $30.26 check. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!


  There is hope in the world. Hopefully more parents can teach there kids how to tip. Maybe those girls well help there friends. Thank you girls again. Just makes it that much easier to serve the youngsters.

 Your server
Christine

Gift Cards!

  Gift cards are a wonderful gift! If someone was to give you money in the economic time you would most likely pay a bill with it. I believe my fiance and I received seven gift cards this holiday.

  How do I put this. You can use your twenty-five dollar gift card at a restaurant. Very cool. When you total bill is $22.31 and, you pay with your gift card. Your balance left of the gift card is $2.69. Don't just give me the gift card as my tip. You and I both know that is 11%. I did not give you that bad of service. What is it hurting you to throw out another two dollars or a $1.31. Almost all my tables at work have gift cards. More than not I am getting shorted.

  The other way gift cards burn me is when you have a large check. Lets say your check is $140. You took the family out to eat. Then you put down to $25 gift cards and a credit card. After I take off the $50 dollars in gifts your balance on your credit card is $90. Please don't tip on the $90 dollars because, then I am only making $18 instead of $28 off your original bill. I believe I took that extra time to make sure everything was perfect.
  
  Just make sure you are tipping on your original bill. My co-workers and I deserve that much.


Now come spend your gift cards.
Your Server

Christine

WHY IS THERE MEAT IN MY RANCH?

  It is my turn in the rotation. I just see a family of four sit down. Not going to lie they looked easy. Man did I judge a book by the cover. Went over and greeted them and got there drink order. I want to say the parents were mid thirty's and the children 7 and 10. The parents told me they wanted to kids to choose new things on the menu. I thought that seemed like a cool idea. Both kids decided to get things off the adult menu. Daughter and the dad shared a salad and a chicken sandwich. I told them I would ask the cooks to split it up on to two different plates. The father asked for one type of dressing for the daughter and a different kind for himself. The mother son combo shared a hamburger completely modified. Once again I find it a little fun to manage to get seven modifiers on one item. I really don't care if you modify something. If that is the way you want to eat it just tell me. When there food arrives everything looks fine. They ran me a bit with extra napkins, then refills. When I went to check on the family a few bites into there meal the father starts yelling at me. "I would like to say a few things to you." yes sir, I replied. "First of all there is meat in my ranch! Really wondering how meat could even fall into a dressing. Second I did not want this kind of ranch! I asked you for jalapeno ranch and you brought me ranch with MEAT in it." Very sorry sir. I have no idea how meat could have gotten into your ranch. I will fix it right away and let my manager know about this. I run back to the dish room to dissect the ranch. Try and figure out this mystery meat that has my table so worried. I took a fork and pulled it out. -----Okay take a guess-----I know it could be something real crazy----- Nope wait it was just a fry. Woooo I can stop sweating now. Hey also when I was pouring out that ramekin of ranch I noticed big pieces of jalapenos falling out. Hmmm did I actually ring in the right ranch? So after that five minute ordeal that just has me smiling now knowing I am right. I walk back over to the table hand the man his jalapeno ranch. I nicely tell him,"Just so you can stop worrying that was not meat in your ranch. It was just a french fry. I would say it feel in when the food was in route to your table. Also that was jalapeno ranch. Look for the jalapenos at the bottom of the ramekin they like to settle there because of there weight. I played it cool. I believe he realized that was funny also. They finished there meal with joy. All has been restored in restaurant land.

I will grab you another ranch. ;)
Your server
Christine

We Should Be Chipper for the Hoildays Not Cheaper!

The holidays should be a blissful time. Should be about spending time with friends and family. Catching up and sharing. Going out to eat during this time should be relaxing and fun. One thing is your not cooking. That should make you happy right off the bat. Grin to grin. You know I asked a lot of my tables what they were doing after they eat. Response after response was shopping for Christmas. Exhausted written all over there face. I just recently moved and my money this year is about a pocket full. My Christmas this year will be amazing. My family and friends understand if I bought them or even made them a card I tried. Why can't we all just try and look beyond those expensive toys. 


I work really hard at serving. My biggest rules are trying to connect with my guest. Making sure your soda's have a refill. You food comes out hot and right each time. When your done eating your plates disappear from your table. I make you feel wanted and appreciated for visiting my work. 


Now like I said earlier tonight why go out if you can't afford it. There are a bunch of different ways you can eat with out spending each red cent you earn. I work real hard at what I do and, get upset a flustered when my tip is bad due to lack of your money. Most servers need that tip.

Funny This one table of mine told me tonight, "You were so wonderful. I was once a waitress and, I should know." She left me $5 of a $65 check. Um Thanks. Merry Christmas to you also.



 Not Ho Ho Ho but Shame Shame Shame
One of the guys I worked with today took a party of eight. Let be honest the call it a party so it can be fun. How is treating your server like crap fun? They ran him ragged. They always had a refill. There food came out of time. Eight separate checks. He made $.09 . Yep less than a dime. They only left him that to round up. They also wrote on all the checks the server was horrible. Please tell me how writting that on a check will make anyone feel better. People are awful people. Yes I have had a bad server in life but, at the end of the day I still realize there human. How RUDE. How do you think it made him feel. He spent a lot of time taking care of them. There is a better way to express how you feel. 

Look there is only ONE WEEK LEFT TILL CHRISTMAS!!! 
Enough with the bad attitudes and $2 or $30,$40 checks. Love one another and be happy. Next time you go out to eat enjoy your surroundings. Be merry! When your happy we are happy. When you come  in with that Christmas spirit it just spreads like herpes. Please act like its Christmas. Your servers have been very good this year.  

Will try not to vent like this on here again. Just worked eleven an a half hours on Friday. Wanted to get this off my chest so when I go back to work in less than twelve hours for another double I will be Merry. I will practice what I just preached. I will drink a Christmas inspired drink in the morning. I might even where Christmas socks to work. I will go to work with a smile. Greet every table with a happy holidays.  Welcome you into my work like a long lost friends. Just come see me with a smile. Tomorrow is here. May today be a wonderful day!

YOUR Very Good Server,
Christine 


HAPPY HOILDAYS TO EVERYONE
 Hope you get to spend it with love ones. 

You Crazy Lady!!!

Side Bar- I find it funny when guest think I look like everyone else. Yes we all wear the same outfit. I believe that is what we call a uniform. I look nothing like the other four brunettes I work with. They are gorgeous in there own ways. I wear my ponytail to the side. One has bangs. Another has has long pretty curls. If you took to seconds you could see I don't have a bunch of siblings working with me.

Last weekend my friend had a table of eight she was serving. I was randomly putting in an order to the computer when this lady came over and started yelling at me. "My food is so cold." I told her I am very sorry about that. Then I told her I was not her server so she would have to tell me what she was eating. She saw another server walk up with brunet hair and so she starting yelling at her also. I said mam she is also not your server. At this point she grabbed her plate and shoved it towards me. "I would like to have hot food!" I asked if she would like me to have them make her a new one or just heat it up? She screeched hysterically " What ever one is faster."

---- Okay I thought about that sentence for all about 3 seconds. Hmm I could put it in the microwave for thirty seconds or, make a whole new dinner which would take twelve minutes. Which one is faster? Gosh such a hard choice for that nice lady at there. Cough Cough.


So thirty-five seconds later I have her real server bring out her dish. The lady turns to my friend and says," I told that other girl I wanted a new one." For reals (NO YOU DID NOT). The cardinal rule, Guest are always right. Right?

Another Side Bar- What makes people think they need to scream? I can hear perfectly even my mom could tell you that. Do you think you will get a lot more accomplished if you YELL. If you tell me something is wrong in you INDOOR voice. I will sympathize with you. I will apologize and get you whatever you want. My manager will bend over backwards to make sure your happy and that you come back again and again. Soak it up everyone good is good and bad is bad. Santa is always watching so do the right thing.

Your Server
Christine

Apple Tart

Was bored at work and had one table of four. So I was joking with them. When they were done with there dinner. I asked them if they wanted dessert and they told me no. I kept pressing of the subject in a joking manor. The two couples came clean and said they were going home and making homemade apple tart. I said thanks for the invite. The little old man asked when do I get off work? I told him most likely ten o clock. He told me that is way to late and they will be in bed. I laugh and brought them there check. He tipped 20% and left. No joke and hour and a half later this little old man came back in and handed me apple tart. Can you believe that my table made and brought me dessert. Got to love those who still have hearts. Crazy... Thank you!

How to Spit out your GUM!

I LOVE Love Love GUM. I chew at least three pieces a day. I try every kind of gum they make. I also throw gum away when I am done with it. So my work decided this past Saturday night that we were going to de-gum a table. That means getting down on the floor and checking under each table to see if there is gum under it. I thought that would be an easy task seeing as I never put gum under the table. BOY WAS I WRONG.

It took me over an hour to get gum off the table. I used a knife and spoon to scrape it off. The experience smelt like cinnamon and mint. You think that would be okay to smell until you realize it was in someones mouth before under the table. Trying to cut old gum with a knife is alot harder than it looks. and some people really put thought into it. I $we@r that some people put a lot of thought into it. They gum is spread apart and placed under the table. Then you got some people who place it on top of another piece. Why Why Why. If you have put gum under the table did you ever wonder what happens to it. It is not like marking your territory its just plain disgusting. I was so grossed out I was just flinging it everywhere. My hand hurt from poking at it and, trying to scrape it off. One of my server friends found a big bugger under her table. I accidentally laid on a piece i scrapped off.

If you would like to go eat at a clean restaurant then, help keep it clean. Otherwise you could be sitting at a table that looks like this.
Now when you go out to eat think about that. There are many of other ways to dispose of your gum at a restaurant. You could toss it in the trash on the way in. You could tear off a piece of your napkin or ask for extra napkins. You could even put it on top of a sugar packet or a coaster.You could excuse your self and go to the bathroom and wash your hand while you were at it. Heck put it on the side of your plate or your cup. Or the other alternative is to swallow it. I just wanted you to think about what under a table really looks like. Nobody wants to rub there leg up against that. I am trying to help you help your self. ;)

I love gum as much as the next person. I just don't like to spend an extra hour out of my day scrapping your gum. If you have any funny gum stories I would love to hear them.

Always your gum scrapping server,
Christine