Waiting for service
Today a writer friend and I went out to lunch at The Daily Grill in Burbank. The waitress was friendly and attentive, but as my pal and I made our way through lunch, she became overly solicitous, popping by seemingly every minute to see if we “needed” anything else. How was the water? Could she get anything else? Was everything tasting okay? Did we leave room for dessert? No, the restaurant wasn’t stacked up — we weren’t hogging the table, in other words — but every time I was pulling a fork to my mouth or trying to say something, there she was with yet another interruption. The capper came when she presented us with the bill, my friend and I agreed to split it, he set his credit card atop it while I was still fishing for my wallet, and she instantly reappeared to say, “Can I take that for you?” To which I replied:
“Can you give us a minute????”
She pulled a face, tried to make a joke of it (“No, no I can’t,” which led me to think that now she understood her error), and left.
And then, of course, in proving again the Chinese proverb to be careful what you wish for, we couldn’t get her back to the table to take the card. We looked up and down, asked a busboy about her whereabouts, called for her, and were about to get the manager, when finally she returned. She asked flatly if we were now ready (which left me thinking that no, she had not understood her error), we assured her that yes we were now ready, and she left with the card and with the cash I had put in with it. Two minutes later she was back, triumphant, card and pleatherette check bill presenter in her hand, thrusting it at me because the card wouldn’t go through.
“It’s not my card,” I said, “it’s his.”
The waitress put the bill and the bad credit card back onto the table and walked away, even though my friend was ready instantly with another credit card. Again, we looked around and waited and I was getting ready for the manager, but I figured I’d take the opportunity to use the restroom. When I came back — she still hadn’t taken it. Eventually she came and took it, and this time his card went through (my cash was always good), and eventually we got out of there.
If someone could train her to even out her lags after I snapped at her, with her constant interruptions earlier on, her timing would be perfect.
March 13th, 2012 at 3:20 am
I get a lot of overly-attentive female servers, but I alwys attributed it to my near-lethal good looks & general sexual magnetism. Perhaps that’s the case with you or your friend, and the lady lashed out at you with all the fury of a woman scorned.
March 14th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Professional wait staff practice an art form. Wait staff who are passing through on their way to some other career can ruin a meal. There is a restaurant on Venice Blvd that has excellent food and horrible service. We have speculated as to whether the prime example is a daughter who has been dragooned into service against her will as she always managed to tinge our dining experience with regret that she was involved. We gave it two shots and now we’ll never go back. Other places we’re the staff obviously know their business and we always leave happy.
On the flip side, we had a conversation with a restaurant owner in Arcadia who loves to feed people but not at the expense of his soul. He came by our table and said he missed us now that we live on the other side of town.
Me: Oh, you say that to everybody.
Him: No, I don’t. It’s always a pleasure when you come in. But there are others. I’ve told them they can’t come back. I want to serve you. I want to feed you. But you can’t treat my people that way so you have to go.
And along that line, I have friends I won’t take to any restaurant I like because they are horrible to everyone. They ask innumerable questions about the dishes, inspect the food when it arrives as if they believe it may be poisoned and nit pick the meal to death, calling the servers over to send things back because it does not meet their standards, or it wasn’t what they expected. It’s amazing how easy it is to ruin something as simple as having a nosh with a friend.
March 14th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Tom: I love this comment, especially re the owner who says “you can’t treat my people that way, so you have to go.” That’s a philosophy we adhere to at Counterintuity (although there has been very little need in our eight years — we’ve got great clients; part of that is because while they’re screening us, we’re screening them).