🚀 go-pugleaf

Edward Rice (edward.rice@his.com) wrote:

: Personal scale (go ahead, folks, flame away):

:    10% for "I get food, but I don't have fun at the restaurant"

:    15% for "It all happens without my having to make a big effort"

:    20% for "Major extra effort was expended /gracefully/ on my behalf,
:             and/or one or more children shared my meal with me and left
:             the dining area somewhat less tidy than it was when we sat."

: That word "gracefully" is a big one.  Some whining Cafe Luna waiter who makes
: me /work/ to get his attention is going to get smaller tips than someone at a
: better restaurant who (as you mention) brings me the refills without my having
: to make any effort at all.

: PS: the 20% reference to "one or more children" is only if they're MY kids.

My wife and I use somewhat the same scale, but our scale includes a 0%. If
I feel that the waitperson is just there to do the minimum that is exactly
what he gets, 0. We have been in the VA area for 3 months now. I had one
waiter earn 20% in that time. Two waiters earned the 0% score.

The 20% waiter was always there to refill my ice tea. When the sun
started streaming in through the window next to use he came over and
closed the blinds. He was very friendly and looked over at the table to see
if we needed something without coming over and asking when my mouth was 
full. This was at the Sizzler on Lee Hwy in Fairfax.

One 0% waiter dropped off our cold food after coming in from smoking a
cigarette. I asked for ice tea refills at that time. I tried to wave
him down two more times in the next 15 minutes to remind him that we
still didn't get our refills. Finally I stood up and walked over to
where he was taking the order from another family, waited for him to
finish, when he glanced at me and started to walk the other way. I asked
him for our refills and he said "Sure." No apology, nothing. Five 
minutes later he dropped off our drinks and was gone. Didn't ask if 
we were ready for the check, dessert, nothing. It took ten more minutes
to get our check. We were in the restaurant an hour and it only took
fifteen minutes to eat our meal. This was Po' Folks on Lee Hwy
in Fairfax. I did relay this to the manager. He apologized. We haven't
been back.

The other 0% waiter was at Chili's off of Arlington Blvd. He brought
my two year old son one of their heavy glass mugs to drink out of.
I asked him to bring us a plastic cup that Chili's has for children.
Rather than trying to help he told me that they were out. About this
time a waitress brought a child's cup to a nearby table. I pointed
it out and he told me that the glass mug wasn't too heavy. I asked
him to get the manager and see if he thought the mug was too heavy 
or not. His response was "Fine, I'll go get your fu**ing plastic
cup." He followed this up by bringing us the wrong order. He argued
with me again. He then went back and found our order (cold) and
brought it out. It was also prepared wrong. My wife is a diabetic
and can't eat certain foods including the sauce on her sandwich.
I wound up having to eat her sandwich and she got my salad. We
still go to Chili's, just not that one. 

I really have to wonder just what some of these waitpersons think
about their customers. In Texas I had one 0% waiter in 28 years.
When I complained to the manager that time he gave us our meal
free and a free meal the next time we went in. 

Lee Conner