Eating out... 13 things waiters know

[Cat]

User post: 13 Things Your Waiter Won't Tell You

 

Reader's Digest Magazine, on Tue Jun 23, 2009

Waiters share insider secrets about restaurants -- from tipping to what days to avoid dining out

 

1. Avoid eating out on holidays and Saturday nights. The sheer volume of customers guarantees that most kitchens will be pushed beyond their ability to produce a high-quality dish.

 

2. There are almost never any sick days in the restaurant business. A busboy with a kid to support isn't going to stay home and miss out on $100 because he's got strep throat. And these are the people handling your food. UGH!

 

3. When customers' dissatisfaction devolves into personal attacks, adulterating food or drink is a convenient way for servers to exact covert vengeance. Some waiters can and do spit in people's food.

 

4. Never say "I'm friends with the owner." Restaurant owners don't have friends. This marks you as a clueless poseur the moment you walk in the door.

 

5. Treat others as you want to be treated. (Yes, people need to be reminded of this.)

 

6. Don't snap your fingers to get our attention. Remember, we have shears that cut through bone in the kitchen.

 

7. Don't order meals that aren't on the menu. You're forcing the chef to cook something he doesn't make on a regular basis. If he makes the same entrée 10,000 times a month, the odds are good that the dish will be a home run every time.

 

8. Splitting entrées is okay, but don't ask for water, lemon, and sugar so you can make your own lemonade. What's next, grapes so you can press your own wine?

 

9. If you find a waiter you like, always ask to be seated in his or her section. Tell all your friends so they'll start asking for that server as well. You've just made that waiter look indispensable to the owner. The server will be grateful and take good care of you.

 

10. If you can't afford to leave a tip, you can't afford to eat in the restaurant. Servers could be giving 20 to 40 percent to the busboys, bartenders, maître d', or hostess.

 

11. Always examine the check. Sometimes large parties are unaware that a gratuity has been added to the bill, so they tip on top of it. Waiters "facilitate" this error. It's dishonest, it's wrong - and I did it all the time.

 

12. If you want to hang out, that's fine. But increase the tip to make up for money the server would have made if he or she had had another seating at that table.

 

13. Never, ever come in 15 minutes before closing time. The cooks are tired and will cook your dinner right away. So while you're chitchatting over salads, your entrées will be languishing under the heat lamp while the dishwasher is spraying industrial-strength, carcinogenic cleaning solvents in their immediate vicinity.

 

From Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip-Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by The Waiter (Ecco/HarperCollins)

 

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/user-p...ell-you-479179/

 

 

 

More Must-Reads from Reader's Digest:

 

13 Things Your Pizza Guy Won't Tell You

http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/13-t...icle122354.html

 

13 Things Your Grocer Won't Tell You

http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/13-things...icle118923.html

(And 16 MORE tips!)

http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/16-more-t...icle119347.html

 

13 Things Your Dry Cleaner Won't Tell You

http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/13-t...icle115321.html

[Necie]

Wish I could print this out and put it at every table in the restaurant where I work!!

[Momo]

Good points!

 

I also heard not to order seafood on Sunday since no one gets fresh fish delivered on Saturday/Sunday.

 

I don't understand stiffing the waitstaff. If you can't afford at least a 15% tip..stay home.

 

Thursday DH and I got our local pizza lunch bargain. The waitress is always great and so is the food. For $5 they give you unlimited garlic bread, a large slice of pepperoni pizza, nice salad with homemade dressing and tea or pepsi with all the refills you want. Next to us was a table of 7 "professional/office type" women. They all enjoyed their lunch, I saw the good service they got, and was shocked when the entire table tipped a total of 2$! I feel so bad for the waitress cuz I know how hard she works. After they left I asked her to be sure that's all she got and she said yes. It made me tip a little extra, even though I can't make up for them.

 

 

[Ambergris]

Never eat seafood on a buffet except on Friday or Saturday. Avoid any seafood Monday through Thursday, except in a seafood restaurant, because it's usually delivered Thursday for the Friday fasters.

[CrabGrassAcres]

Once I left several dollar bills on the table. When we got out to the car and I started to buckle daughter in, I realized she had picked the $ up and brought them with her. LOL, I had to run back into the restaurant with them.

 

We don't eat out but once in a blue moon and the last time made me so sick I don't think I want to do that again. I can buy a huge block of cheese and a gallon of juice for less than a meal out. We can eat a couple or three times on that and be happier.

[cowgirl8]

I dont eat out except for rare occasions. Like, Friday i went out with friends and they love eating out. So i got stuck being out all day without food and needing something to eat, so i ordered a hamburger. It was the worst food i'd eaten in a long time, probably since the last time i had to eat out. I paid 8 bucks for crap that made me sick the rest of the day. ugh

[Snowmom]

 

Wow, what a list.

 

We do eat out more than we probably should, but, we don't go to movies, don't drink, or smoke, so this is our entertainment.

 

We go to Pizza Hut and have have great service most of the time.

 

We have another place in town we go to and we have gone there enough that the one hostess knows which table we like.

 

 

We do have a couple waiters, in both places we like best and do ask for them if we see they are there.

 

I learned years ago not to buy a hamburger at most places, I have to know the place and the type of food that is served before I would order one. I am very fussy about that.

 

Sometimes people leave tips in the check, that is what we do, so there is no money left on the tables.