🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <none-080894091003@slama.pbs.org>, none (Rich Phyllisman) writes...
..
>I will say this: based on people's detailed descriptions of their 0% - 20% 
>scale, it's obvious who has waited tables and who hasn't. I also have to

Well, this discussion has given me a good idea of who I'd like to split
a check with, and who I wouldn't. I'm amazed at how many group lunches
I've been to where people with big salaries forget about the tax, the
$3 drink, and tip 10%, even when service was excellent.

>laugh at how DC diners seem to base quality of service on how many refills
>they get for their ice tea. How many new postings do we need to describe

OK, how about water? Keeping customers in fluids is not all there is 
to good service, but it's also a good measure of a waiter's attentiveness.
So is how long it takes a waiter to notice you when you want something. 
Whether or not the refill is free is irrelevant; it's equally annoying
to be ignored when you are trying to get another drink you're going
to pay for. 

..
>most of you have written pages and pages of diatribes against "bad service"

This is ironic humor, right? Clearly you know what a diatribe is...

>and said very little, if anything, about good service, I am sure you are
>what most waiters write off as lost causes (i.e. people who will look for
>anything to complain about, so they can find a convenient excuse for their
>cheapness and bad attitude). 

Then the interesting question here is whether that customer never gets
good service, or that waiter never gets good customers.  

>On the question of iced tea: Most restaurant managers tell their waiters
>not to refill coffee or iced tea more than once. Nevertheless, since most

Even places that advertise free refills? If so, then the customer is
hardly at fault for expecting the place to live up to its advertising.
Granted it's unfair that the servers suffer rather than the managers,
although they can suffer too in higher turnover due to a staff
dissatisfied with lousy tips.

>I would add that in most European countries, waiters make salaries, have
>national health care, decent unemployment benefits, etc. The results on
>service are thus obvious. However, most of my friends who are Europeans

Not obvious to me. Are they more proffessional, or less attentive
because they lack incentive? I've heard about the surly service in
communist countries, when there were some.

>remark that they find people in the service sector in the U.S. much more
>friendly and attentive than those in Europe. It's called the personality
>factor, which people like Eddy (who probably hits every TGI Fridays in

You got something against TGI Fridays? (Didn't know they were in Europe.)
Funny, since the service at the Greenbelt TGIF tends to be excellent.
I go there for lunch more than dinner (one of the few good local 
spinach salad places), and it gets real crowded. Even so, it's hardly
ever difficult to get your waiter's attention, and the staff really
hustles. They also seem to be hired for their friendly personalities. 

Oh, and for those of you who base opinions on it, TGIF gives you free
refills on sodas and iced tea. In big glasses. And you usually don't
even have to ask. Another glass appears before you're even done with
the one you've got. 

>lively discussion about service. Now, who will be the first to commend a
>waiter/restaurant for good service...? I'm sure it won't be Eddy.

Satisfied?

pyy