Just in time for the weekend...50 things servers hate

This was in SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle's online edition. (The headline says 100, but the other 50 is coming next week.)

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/jrivera ... -test-now/

OMG! Yes, some of these things can be annoying, but this list just sounds like a litany of whining.
Of Course so do the lists of things people don't like about servers.
Can't we just try to get along? Life is way too short.

Waaayy to short.

I agree with GaryF. The list sounds awfully whiney, and I'll add that it reflects poorly on the establishment at which the author is employed.

I agree, Gary. Writing a Top 50 List to vent one's frustration of being a Server seems more peevish than fact. I DO concur there are things people , on both sides, do that "people hate" but HATE?

Come on. Inconvenienced, perhaps, but not hate. It's apparent some people need to dial it down a notch and life live outside of their bubble and step back from the Cliffs of Insanity.

Thought you'd be amused. Sure, there are some really valid points, but some are things that I find hard to believe happened more than once. Also, there seems to be a lot of complaints from a few people, as 'top 100' isn't accurate, as it's not ranked. I think they should have a counterpoint list with 50 things diners hate. Maybe we can start one and send it to them.

I think they should have a counterpoint list with 50 things diners hate. Maybe we can start one and send it to them.

Better idea: A list of things that diners love about their server(s).

1. I love that my favorite server(s) know my name and greet me with it.

Next!

Thought you'd be amused. Sure, there are some really valid points, but some are things that I find hard to believe happened more than once.

I'm not getting into whether it's appropriate or not, nor am I interested in dissecting that list piece by piece, or weighing in on how I feel about any of the issues one way or another; but suffice it to say that all of those things happen with relative frequency. All of them.

Also, there seems to be a lot of complaints from a few people, as 'top 100' isn't accurate, as it's not ranked. I think they should have a counterpoint list with 50 things diners hate. Maybe we can start one and send it to them.

You already did.
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/one-hundred-things-restaurant-staffers-should-never-do-part-one/

Ed- awesome!

[Robin Garr]

Thought you'd be amused. Sure, there are some really valid points, but some are things that I find hard to believe happened more than once. Also, there seems to be a lot of complaints from a few people, as 'top 100' isn't accurate, as it's not ranked. I think they should have a counterpoint list with 50 things diners hate. Maybe we can start one and send it to them.

It IS amusing, Eve. Thanks!

Oh yeah, Jeremy! Good memory.

Drinking melted ice and calling it a cocktail. I’m sorry, you already drank your cocktail. Now you’re just drinking a memory.

Someone want to explain this one to me? If I want to chew on my freakin ice, I will chew on my freakin ice.

Many (not all or even most, thankfully) male servers say that they dread female groups because of bad tips. This guy included.

Isn't it possible that maybe, just perhaps, your negative attitude is affecting your service.? I'm not saying that you're ignoring the women or intentionally giving bad service. Just, well, isn't it possible that some of your attitude shows in your demeanor?

I go out with women, and I always tip at least 20%, but I have to say that many times the service does feel worse than when I'm with men. It often isn't anything overt, just a vibe I pick up on. Women may notice and tip less.

Not saying that the writer is giving worse service, but he's one angry man, and it's quite possible that some of that anger is seeping out. Most of us aren't nearly as good at hiding our feelings as we think we are.

I really want to try to not "get into something" but if you ask a lot of servers, both male AND female, they will agree: large groups of women can be a real pain. Here are some legitimate complaints I get (and experienced when I was a server):

1) In general large groups of women always get separate checks and are EXTREMELY anal about it. It can be frustrating for a a server when they have tried their damnedest to keep a check separate but a stoli ($7) and an absolut ($8) ended up on opposite tickets. Women freak out about an extra dollar here or there, men don't. They just don't. It's not that much of a big deal, but it happens day in and day out, so I can see why it would bother some servers over time, especially if they have a full section.

2) Large groups of women have a habit of proclaiming how good tippers they are and then proving the opposite.

3) The "some people paying cash and some paying credit card" dilemma happens most frequently with women. It's detailed in the article but not well. Here's the bottom line: One person in a large group divides the check up so many ways, some pay credit, some pay cash. The credit card people tip on their bill, the cash folk assume it's included or already added in, thus the server gets an accidental terrible tip on a table that most likely took up their entire section for quite a while. It happens A LOT.

At the end of the day do I want to dissuade large groups of women from coming in? Hell no. Is every group like this? Absolutely not. But the stereotypes do exist for a reason. I'm not really trying to argue here about how terrible waiting on groups of women are, I just want to illustrate that the complaints listed aren't just made up or super rare. It's made rather clear that the person complaining about women in the article is a woman, so Eliza is mistaken in her interpretation of the issue as seeping anger from "one angry man," it's across the board from both sexes. Ask a server.

Hmmm....nothing about moody G.M.'s......

I really debated about posting anything at all, but it frustrates me when people have a hard time believing that servers really do an amazing job dealing with some pretty bizarre/rude behavior on a regular basis. The vast majority of guests are obviously awesome, but the bad apples can really get under your skin.

It's just important to me that the server perspective is well represented, because my servers are freaking awesome and work really hard at what they do. I've seen them give stellar service to super cool guests and total jerks, and that's not easy sometimes.

For that matter, 95% of our guests are fun, adventurous, wonderful people, so I don't want to imply that I think all guests are difficult. The difficult 5% are real though, and I just want to be sure that we acknowledge how hard servers work to accommodate them anyway politely and gracefully day in and day out.