ONE NOT TWO

I heard today from a waitress that recently on a popular talk show that has been on for a long time the topic was cutting back on the tip when going out to eat because of the bad economy. The host of the show said ,since the economy is not the greatest at the moment people are not eating out as much as the use to. Now take into consideration there are many different types of restaurants that each offer a different experience in their own unique way, the restaurant that I work at which is owned by a family, you can call it a mom and pop kind of business. Considering the downturn of the economy the restaurant is actually doing quite well. Anyways I have not checked the shows web site to find out more about the statement it made about cutting back on the tip. The reason I bring this up is because there are many different ways about saving money when going out to eat. A lot of people always mention that they like eating out, especially coming to a place like ours because it is reasonably priced, it’s a family restaurant, and the food is always great. I have always wondered if it is cheaper to eat out then to buy groceries and make all your meals. When a family goes out to eat it also means that everyone gets what they want as opposed to not everyone liking what’s for dinner at home. Going out to eat also saves a lot of time. No cooking, and no cleaning. Having a lower food bill when eating out is quite simple to go. You just need to take your time and see what’s on the menu. At every restaurant, if not most of them the portions are enough for two people to eat. And usually the most expensive item is the entrée. With most entrees you get a soup or a salad, so if you have dinner with someone share an entrée and order an extra soup or salad and that alone saves you half of the amount of money that you would have spent if you had ordered two entrees.

Please And Thank You

When you ask for something from someone, do you always say please and thank you? Although I always make sure to say please and thank you every now and then I do forget. Well, I don’t want to say that I forget about it but I sometimes am too wrapped up in a conversation with someone that I space out and forget about my surroundings. With this I am specifically talking about when I go out to eat. Every time that I ask for something I make sure that I end it with a please and follow it up with a thank you once whatever it was that I asked for is brought to me. Another thing that happens a lot is when people walk in and they are greeted at the door by the host with a hello, good morning, good afternoon, or are asked how they are doing, people don’t acknowledge that someone said hello or asked them how they are doing. This really gets on people’s nerves because they are trying to be polite and kind and are just trying to do their job. People when greeted or asked how they are doing usually walk in and just tell the host how many people they need a table for. Now, please do not get me wrong, I am not saying that everyone is like this because for the most part people are really polite and kind. I have always enjoyed working with the public because I enjoy people. I am sure you have heard the saying one bad apple spoils the rest. It does not take much for someone’s day to be rained on when they deal with a rude person. We have all been there before; one example is when we go to the DMV. Chances are we will walk out of there wondering why the person behind the counter was having a bad day. So always remember your please and thank yous.

Cold Fries

Today at my place of employment one of the waitresses came up to me and told me that there was a problem with one of her tables. She informed me that the lady was not happy that her fries were not as hot as she wanted them. Usually when there is a problem with someone’s meal I like to know about it so that I can fix and make sure that the customer walks out happy with our place. Once she told me what the problem was I immediately got the lady of fresh hot order of fires and took it out to her. The lady was surprised because she told the waitress that she did not want another order she just wanted to let us know about the fries. When I took them to her she told me that really was not necessary and I talked to her for a couple minutes and wanted to make sure that everything else was fine with their lunch. She also told me that the day before she went to go have breakfast somewhere else and that her biscuits and gravy were cold. She again told me that I did not have to get her those fires that I took out to her and I told her, yes I did because having hot is something that everyone should have when they receive their food either at my place or another restaurant. There is no excuse for someone to order something and when they receive it the food being cold or just barley warm. The lady was very appreciative about it which she shouldn’t have been because it should have been expected. Whenever you go out and something is not to your liking please say something. More than likely if you go about it a nice way the restaurant will do whatever is necessary to make sure the customer leaves happy.

Don't Rush

I wrote a previous post dealing with patience. It was about really having patience when going out to eat. Some examples dealt with your food order taking a little bit to cook especially if you ordered a steak and asked for it well done it probably will take about 15 to 20 minutes depending on how busy the restaurant is. Or another example is if you’re going out to eat with a party of 10 or more people please do not expect your food to come up in the next 10 minutes because it is not going to happen. Another thing that I encounter a lot is when people go out to eat and they are in a hurry they for some reason like to take it out on the server by telling them that they are in a hurry and if they could please rush their order. Now I understand that we are all very busy people especially now a days. But if you are in a hurry and don’t have enough time to sit down and enjoy your meal without looking at the time every three minutes, then you might not want to eat out. You should probably grab a bite to eat. This always happens to me when I am pressed for time. I never have enough time when I have so much to do with not enough time. I would never go out to eat and expect to be in and out within 30 minutes. People have to understand that the server and the restaurant will do whatever they can do to get people in out and out because the more the tables turn the more money they will make. I am sure a restaurant will never ever stop everything just to make sure that one customer will be put first before everyone else.

PAY UP OR ELSE!!!

I recently came across this article on MNS.com which I tried finding again to get the link so that you could read it for yourself but I was unable to find it. I have mentioned before that at some restaurants if you have a larger party they will automatically add a certain percentage for the gratuity, meaning that you have to choice but to leave your server at least a certain percentage according to what the total amount of your bill was. If I am not mistaken this happened in Pennsylvania. A couple at bar and restaurant refused to pay the mandatory tip that was put on the bill because they had a party of 8 people. The couple said they did not want and will not pay the mandatory gratuity because the service was very poor. The couple actually was arrested for not paying the gratuity. The manager offered to not charge for their meals but the couple still refused to pay the tip. This is another reason why I think restaurants should not automatically put include the tip on the bill because some people might not like the service but yet they are still forced to leave a tip. A server might have it in their mind that they are going to get a tip regardless of how well of service they provide. It was crazy that the establishment actually called the police because they did not want to pay the mandatory tip because the service was soo bad. That restaurant should be ashamed of themselves and I just personally think what they did is bad PR. Now I am sure there are two sides to the story but for some reason I really am on the couples side. If the service wasn’t that horrible I think they would have not gone to all that trouble and got arrested.

Don't Be Shy

Have you ever been to a restaurant before and ordered something, and after the first bite you realize you made a bad choice? I am sure many of us have been in this situation before plenty of time. I usually try to avoid this buy going to the same restaurants and ordering the same couple of things that I usually get. However, one of my goals is to travel and eat at many different restaurants as possible, but anyways back to my point. If you ever order something and don’t like how it tastes for whatever reason, please do not be afraid to say something and order something different. It’s all about how you go about it. “Ummm excuse me, but I don’t like this and want something else,” is not how you should inform your server about you wrong pick of the menu. Servers are there to help make sure everything is to your satisfaction when you eat at a restaurant. They deal with this issue all the time. It is a very easy issue to correct. All you have to do is when the server comes back to check up on you after your first bit, which they should just tell this, “I am really sorry but this is not what how I expected it to be, would it be too much trouble if I get something else in place of it?” They will usually reply by telling you that it is not a problem what so ever and ask you why you don’t like it. Just tell them the truth. If it has too much seasoning or you don’t like the flavor or whatever the reason is just be honest. You really won’t have to wait much because they will cook you re-order before everything else that went in before yours.

Reservations

Reservations are a very common thing in restaurants. Many people make them if they are planning on having a lot of people for a little get together. Making reservations for a get together is a great idea for many reasons. At most restaurants they have tables ready that seat four, five, six and maybe eight people already set up. Reason for this is because if groups of six or eight people come in they have the table ready for them as soon as they walk in and they are able to sit them really fast. I am sure you have walked in a restaurant before and there is not even enough room for you to stand up and have to wait outside to enjoy your personal space. Restaurants will try to sit people as fast as they can because they know that people hate waiting. You would be surprised how impatient people really are. Another reason why reservations are great is because if you make one especially if you are planning on having a large group the restaurant knows you will be coming at a specific time and they will make sure that when you walk in the door you will not have to wait at all. Your table will be ready for you along with a server or two depending on the size of your party. It’s nice walking into a busy restaurant and not having to wait for a table. Another reason why reservations are great is because it will help prepare the kitchen. If the kitchen knows in advance that there will be a large table coming in they will do all they can to ensure that they get the timing right. People have to take into consideration that it might take a little longer for them to prepare a meal for 20 people as opposed to just 2 people.

Screaming Kids!!!

I am sure you all have been in this situation before at least once. Your sitting down with your friends at a nice restaurant trying to enjoy your lunch or dinner. You watch as the host walks a married couple with two young children and sits them at the table right next to you. They look like sweet adorable kids until they start throwing things at one another. Then they start yelling as loud as they can. By this time you would think that the parents would take control of the situation but all they do is tell the kids to calm down and be quiet. You try not to look, but it’s hard not watching those kids putting on a show. I have seen this happen for many years. You would be surprised how children act at public places, but what is more surprising is that their parents do not take charge and let them continue misbehaving. The worst is when the kids get up from the table and start running around the restaurant. Yes, they literally run around the restaurant and their parents just sit there and continue on with their conversation. I don’t know if they think that someone else will control their kids or what? Kids running around a restaurant, is by far not the safest or smartest idea. There are people walking around with trays full of food and drinks and all it would take would be a little bump or a server having to put on the breaks for all that to come crashing down. The good news is that not all parents let their children act like this. The correct thing for parents to do is to take their children outside of to the bathroom and have a serious talk with them. Or do what my parents used to do and take us outside or to the bathroom and correct us, not by talking if you know what I mean.

Who Should Leave The Tip?

Lets say you got invited to go out to dinner with the in-laws, or a good old friend that you have not seen in a real long time, or your parents take you out you out to dinner. Fast forward a little and the server asks how he or she should spit the bill? Since you were invited to go out for dinner, your in-laws, or you good old friend, or you parents tell the server that it should just be one bill and they will get the bill. Since someone else other than you is paying for dinner it is only fair that someone else that did not pay the dinner bill should leave the tip. I would rather leave the tip instead of having to pay for the whole dinner bill. Every time I invite someone to go out and have dinner and lunch for that matter, I always pick up the bill. Usually the other person says oh let me give you half, or something along that line. I reply with, no that’s okay I invited you so I will pay but you can leave the tip. This way I made it clear that they should leave the tip. I always hear other people say this, so I am not the only one that thinks like this. Servers that I have worked with have came up to me before not too happy telling me that their large table of 10 people didn’t leave anything for them. First of all server should never talk about their tips to anyone, but unfortunately they do ALL THE TIME! I then ask if it was all on one check or multiple checks? They usually tell me that it was just on one check. When this happens it is usually because the person who picked up the check expected that the other people would leave the tip, but it’s not always the case. So if your ever go out and someone pays for you meal, just ask them if they would like for you to leave the tip, since it would only be being the polite thing to do.

A Review

Tonight I was searching for blogs dealing with food in general and I came across a blog titled “What We’re Eating.” I found this blog in the New York Times webs site and it was written by Mark Bittman. The blog talked about the spending habits of Americans in grocery stores. And for the past couple of years Americans have had the same spending habits as to what they purchase the most at grocery stores. Can you guess what was in the number one spot? Carbonated beverages took the number one spot. And has held on to the number one spot for a couple of years now, which isn’t hard to believe when you think about going over to someone’s home and that’s usually the first thing they offer you to drink. Runners up were milk and bread, followed up by beer and salty snacks. There were no healthy foods on the list that they showed, even though they only showed the top 11 purchases. I wish I could put numbers with this statement, but this explains why America as a whole is considered being overweight. Personally I don’t shop at the grocery store that often because I typically end up throwing away a lot of what I bought only because I really am not home during meal time. I am usually in school or at work, and working at a restaurant I never have to worry about being hungry. So if you happened to have a couple of extra minutes and want to check out this blog here is the link to it. http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/what-were-eating/
It is a real short blog and it gives you to stats about what Americans buy at the grocery store. Check out the comments that people left about the blog as well. Very interesting!!!

Biaggi's, TRY IT!!

This might be the only time that I actually recommend a restaurant. I do not work for them nor will I get anything from them buy recommending them. I think people should write more reviews about their favorite restaurants from their local towns. I do not travel much due to school and work but sometime later down the road I plan to do a lot of traveling. When I do get the chance to do some traveling I plan on finding out where the locals like to go eat and eat there. I have always heard that’s the best way to find great restaurants if you’re not from around there. At the restaurant that I work at I always have people tell me that they are from out of town and the car dealership recommend us to them. Same thing is said from people who are in town and are staying at a hotel. My favorite place to go eat at here in town would have to be Biaggi’s. It is a local restaurant here in Bloomington/Normal, IL. By the name I am sure you can figure out that it is an Italian restaurant. Even though it is a little pricy, it is worth every penny. I have been there many times and I have never walked out the door unhappy. If you are someone who loves Italian food like I do, you will love it. Or for you gentlemen who are trying to impress someone, Biaggi’s will sure score you some huge brownie points. One of the best parts of the dining experience is that you can eat all the free bread you want. This might sound real crazy, but they have some of the best bread I have ever had. The server also prepares an olive, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese mixture to dip the bread in. The atmosphere is very relaxing and quiet, and everyone that works there are very friendly and professional. Here is their web site that will give you more information about Biaggi’s and hopefully there is a Biaggi’s near you. http://www.biaggis.net/staff/dcp/category/content/id=6

Great Dinner

I just had an amazing dining experience earlier tonight that I wanted to share with all of you. As I have mentioned before I am not here to advertise for any particular restaurant or to talk bad about another. The only thing I will say about this restaurant that I went to is that is a well known Italian restaurant. Everything from when I first got there to when I left was perfect. The server I had did an outstanding job taking care of us. She asked if I wanted to try a seasonal wine that they were featuring. I am not really a wine person but every time I do go to that restaurant I always do try their wine because the wine that they offer I do seem to enjoy. After tasting the wine I ordered a whole bottle because it was really good. Even though I could tell that the server was still fairly new she still did a great job. She introduced herself when she first greeted us and welcomed us to the restaurant. I had a couple of questions that I had before I ordered and she was able to answer them very effectively. We had a full course meal with soup and salad, an appetizer, the entre, dessert, and a couple of drinks. Yes, I enjoy eating a lot when I go out. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to go out and eat as much as I would like to so, when I do go out and eat I take advantage of. The timing with everything was perfect. After I finished my salad the appetizer came out and after I was finished with the appetizer the entre came out. We didn’t wait long for our meals and when we got it was steaming hot. For myself and my date I spent $86 and change plus a $18 tip which was a little over 20%. I wanted to compensate our server for a job well done.

Waiter Rant

Hello once again. I was recently having a conversation with my girlfriend about she mentioned to me that she was watching Oprah and there was a guy on there who wrote a book titled “Waiter Rant.” The reason why he was on the show besides promoting his book was because she was doing a show titled “Are You Rude.” And I would have to say that for some reason when it comes to restaurants a lot of rude people go to restaurants. I wish I knew the reason why people go to restaurants when they are having a bad day and take it out on the employees there. It is very hard for any restaurant to make that customer happy if the customer has already made up their mind that there is nothing that can be done to change their mood. I understand that we all have bad days, and when I am having a bad I try to stay home and away from everyone just so that my bad mood does not ware off on anyone. I looked up the book “Waiter Rant” and found that he has a website where people can add to it and tell others their experiences they have had with rude people at restaurants or anywhere in public. I found the website to be very interesting because of what people wrote. I will warm you that if you get offended easily by language that is not allowed in school you might not want to check out the wed site or you might just scan over it really quick to see if you could tolerate the language that I am talking about. So, if you have a couple minutes of free time and want to check it out here is the address. http://waiterrant.net/

My Bad Experience

I am sure everyone has had a bad experience at restaurant at least one. Some of us have had multiple bad experiences unfortunately. I have only had one bad experience at one particular restaurant which I am not going to mention the name of it because I am not a critic and I am not on here to give reviews about restaurants. When I mention “experience,” I am talking about the food, the service, the atmosphere, and quality as a whole. I am a strong believer that service and food go hand in hand. For example, if you go out and eat and did not enjoy your meal for one reason or another your server if they were good, could make up for that. How? Well if they check up on you like they are suppose to, after you will find out after your second bite if you like your meal or not. If you don’t that is why you have a server, let them know that you do not like your meal and let them know why you do not like your meal. Your server will ask you “what can he or she get you in place of that.” Servers are suppose to be helpful and be there to make sure you enjoy your experience as a whole. On the other side, you could have the most delicious meal ever but the service is horrible. Chances are even though you had a great meal and because the service was horrible, you will probably walk out of the restaurant unhappy due to the service. My experience happened a couple of years back and ever since that I have never stepped foot in that establishment again. I will say the restaurant was a chain restaurant. Well when my date and I sat down and the server took our order we waited a long time just to get our drinks. Once we got our drinks we never saw our server again. It was breakfast time and they were not busy at all. We ordered very simple things that probably should have only taken ten 15 minutes to make. After 30 minutes of just sitting there wondering what was going on we got up and decided to leave. So I walk up to the counter where people pay and I informed whoever was up there at the time and informed them of what happened and he just looked at as if this was a daily thing for them. So I paid for our drinks and left and have never gone back.

Here is a tip for you

Hello as we all know fall is upon us and then followed by winter which means cold weather is right around the corner. Even though it might be a little too late for this piece of advice I am about to offer I am still going to take the time to give this advice. You would not believe how many times I have been called over to a table for them to tell me that they are really cold and would like for me to turn down the AC. I understand that some people get cold very easily because I get cold very easily. But here is the point. Why would someone ask for the AC to be turned down in the middle of summer just because they find it to be a little chilly? However there are a lot of people that keep a lite jacket in their car at all times just in case they get cold indoors during the summer. This is the piece of advice that I offer everyone when they do go out to eat, especially during the summer. Myself I would rather be cold than hot. You can always add more articles of clothing when you cold but unless you are in the privacy of your own home, you cannot really take off as many articles of clothing as you wish while you are out in public. Just take a minute to think about it, it is the middle of summer and you are in a restaurant and it is a little chilly in there. Why would you ask to have the AC turned down when the restaurant is packed and there are server running up and down the place trying to do their jobs to the best of their abilities? Would you really want someone to deliver your food while they have sweat dripping down their face? I WOULDN’T!! Carry a lite jacket when you go out to eat just in case you get a little chilly!

Check out my Web Site

If you have some free time on your hand and you just want to surf the web, take a couple minutes to check out my web site that accompanies my blogger. Just click on this link and it will take you directly to it. http://www.betterdinningexperience2.webs.com/ Once you go to my web site you will find a lot more information about myself. You will get to know me a little more than you would by just reading my blogs. As I have mentioned before I have always worked in restaurants ever since I have been able to get a job. I have only worked in three restaurants over a period of ten years and have learned a lot more than just the restaurant business. You will also find a lot more detailed articles on my web site. You will find articles about a variety of topics. Some of these topics include tipping, because tipping has always been a very controversial issue especially for people who work in restaurants. You will also find articles about crazy stories I have experienced working in restaurants. Yes, you will find some of these stories to be stranger than fiction but the funny thing is that this actually happened and I had to deal with these issues. And if you are feeling generous and want to contribute to my college fund you can also find out how to make donations. The reason why I have been working in restaurants my whole life pretty much is because it is paying my way through college. I work full time and go to school full time at Illinois State University. Yes, I know people think I am crazy for putting myself through all this stress but going to college is something I have always wanted to do and come May 2010 I will graduate with a Bachelors in Business Administration.

TIPPING

Tipping has always and will always be a touchy subject especially for people who work in the food service industry. A lot of people when they do go out to eat are not always sure how much they should tip. And yes, there are those people that do not tip no matter how exceptional the service was. As I have mentioned before ever since I was able to get a job I have always worked in a restaurant. I have done it all from washing dishes, hosting, cleaning tables, and am a manager now. So, I deal with tipping issues on a day to day basis. Every day I see people pull out that little card out of their wallet or out of their purse to help guide them on how much to leave their server. Another popular thing I see people do a lot is double what the tax is on their bill and leave that as a tip. What people don’t know is that Bloomington-Normal has one of the highest is not the highest tax rate for eating out. Since I have been working in restaurants the sales tax has gone up from 7% all the way up to 9.5%. People who are form out of town and stop and eat at my restaurant are shocked to see how high the sales tax is for eating out here in town. SO, the people that do double the tax and use that as a tip are leaving their server a 20% tip, which is really good. If you have a large group and go eat at a restaurant, some restaurants tack on a certain percentage known as a gratuity charge. We don’t do this, but at other restaurants it ranges anywhere from 15-20%. The way I look at it is if you go out to eat and are really happy with the service, take care of them. Most and all servers do not even make minimum wage, so they depend on these tips to make a living. Personally I think that 18% should be left as a tip if you believe you received great service. What’s your take on tipping???

Best Of the Best Dining In Chicago

There really aren’t that many if any blogs about people trying to help others enjoy their dining experience. The type of blogs that are out there deal with reviews about restaurants and the type of food they serve. So to some extent they do give some advice about dining, but its more geared to the type of food the restaurant serves and the experience as a whole. I recently read a blog titled Mini Review: Ted’s Montana Grill by Laura Hansen from Chicago, IL. http://www.bestofthebestdiningchicago.com/ She writes many blogs under a web site titled Best of the Best Dining in Chicago and searches for the best dishes in Chicago. She made it very clear that she is not a food critic and never goes to a restaurant announced; all she is trying to do is search for what is right about food in the fast moving city which she considers the culinary capital. In this blog she mentioned that she had been to Ted’s four other times and every time she kept going back she was more impressed with her meal than the last time. She described Ted’s Montana Grill as being very masculine and very prompt and professional. This specific time she tried their bison burger which she ordered medium rare. Even though many people are afraid to try bison she explained that not only does it taste great but it’s a lower fat alternative than beef. And of course the number one side dish to accompany a burger is a large order of fries. She was very pleased with the fires since she said they were fresh because they make their fires homemade and don’t come out a bag frozen and thrown into the fryer. Not only was this blog well written but it had great pictures to add for a visual.

TOP 10

Here is my top ten criteria’s that people normally judge their dining experience on. Let me know what you think or let me know if you think that they should be in a different order. Starting from number one to number ten.

1. The Food
2. The Service
3. The Atmosphere
4. The Prices
5. The Menu Selection
6. How Far Away The Drive Is
7. The Staff
8. The Appearance Of the Restaurant
9. Background Music
10. Free Mints

CHECK OUT PEN & FORK

I came across this blog that offered advice on saving a couple extra dollars when going out to eat, especially during hard times.

http://penandfork.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/5-money-saving-tips-for-dining-out/

Gwen Ashley Walters the author is a professionally trained chef an author of three award-winning cookbooks. What I found interesting about the advice she gave was that I actually see people doing this all the time when they order their meal at my restaurant. We have customers who eat all their meals outside of home. There’s many reason why people eat out more than they eat at home. Husbands will openly say that their wives cannot cook and the wives don’t deny it when the husbands say this.

And of course the husbands don’t know how to cook either. Then you also have people that are too busy to cook and it’s much easier to go out then to prepare a meal. Whatever the reason may be a lot of people prefer to eat out. A lot of people are just like me. I know how to cook and not to brag about it but I am a pretty impressive cook. But besides that I love to eat out and try new things. I must admit that if my budget for food was bigger I would eat out a lot more than what I already do. Now if I took the advice the Gwen suggested I guess I could go out more than what I already do.

As much as I wish I could try her suggestions, my will power would go out the door as soon as I sit down because great tasting food is a huge weakness of mine. Check out her blog and let me know that you think about it.

HOW TO ORDER YOUR MEAL

Hello once again!! I want to take a couple minutes of your time to talk about what the proper way is to order you meal when going out to eat. Although there really isn’t a formal way written in stone in regards to placing your meal order but there are certain suggestions that you should really consider and could make you dining experience a lot more enjoyable. First, when you walk into a restaurant and the host takes you to your table and you sit down PLEASE make sure you are not on your cell phone when the server approaches your table. Believe it or not servers will wait until you get off your phone before they come over and greet you and ask you what you would like to drink. Before I became a manager I used to be a server and yes, I would wait until my table got off their cell phone before I even approached the table so I know for a fact this happens. Most servers will take your drink order and possibly ask you would like some appetizers to give you a couple minutes to look over the menu if you are unsure of what you want to eat. When the server comes back and asks you if you are ready to order and if you are not please tell them that you would like a couple minutes to look over the menu. By saying these few simple words you get the chance to decide what you want without having someone standing over you looking at you. And in return the server has a couple more minutes to go do something else and you’re not feeling pressured to make up your mind. When you look over the menu, do not hesitate to ask specific questions about certain items when your server returns. It is part of their job to help their guest when they have questions over the menu. If you are stuck trying to decide between two things ask the server for their opinion on the two things you are trying to decide on. More than likely the server has probably had both things and would gladly give you their recommendation. And please don’t forget the PLEASES and THANK YOUS, you would be surprised how many times people leave that out when they go out to eat. As always hopes this helps you enjoy you next meal out.

Grumpy Man

I just want to tell you a couple of my all time favorite stories that dealt with people who were either having a really bad day and were taking out on me or that’s just the way they are all the time. My first one dealt with a man who was probably in his 70s, I’m not the best at guessing peoples age but he was older and had a full set of gray hair and used a walker so 70s sounds good to me. I was informed by his sever that he was unhappy with his meal. So I make my way over to his table and ask him what the problem was with his meal? He answered my question with a couple of words that I will leave up to your imagination. I of course apologized to him to and told him to let me fix our mistake. Any time a guest is unhappy with their meal for whatever reason a restaurant should always try to get it exactly how the guest wished to have to meal. Cooked to perfection, to put it in better words. When I asked him if I could take his plate away so that I could bring him out exactly what he wanted, he reached for his fork and told me that if I did not get away from him that he was going to fork me. And those were his exact words in which he replied to me. All I was trying to do was to fix his meal. I was only trying to do my job by making sure that every person that comes to eat at my place of employment leaves more than satisfied. Some people for some reason have to make things more complicated than what they really are. Everyone else at the table was completely embarrassed as I could tell when I looked at them. I will have to give him credit by saying that before he left, he did apologize to me for what he had said and how he reacted.

Much More to Come

Hello everyone,
When peolpe go out to eat with their friends and family, they are expecting to have a great time. Well this is not always the case. I have always thought I have heard and seen it all, but this is far from true. Every time I go out dine, 99.99% of the time I walk out very pleased. The reason for this is that i work with my server to ensure that he or she knows exactly what I want. Now I am not saying that i am a picky and fussy guest, but I try to make things as easy for my server in regards to how I ask for things. Lets just say that you would be surprised by how many people do not have any manners when they dine out. Makes you wonder if they are like this all the time. Please and thank you for some reason are not commonly used as much as they should be by people who dine out. Why, I wish I knew. I hope as you read my blogs you are not thinking that I am just on here to vent about rude people who go to restaurants. I am simply sharing my personal experiences with you both from a restaurant managers perspective and a customers perspective. People I have talked to before about this are really shocked to hear that people acutally act like this and behave in this manner. Yes, I will talk about screaming kids, PDA, people who hack up a lung while others are trying to enjoy their meal, plus much more. I hope you share your dining experiences with me and I always welcome feedback about my blogs. My plan is to wrtie a blog every time something interesting occurs at my place of employment, and trust me there will always be something new to wrtie about. Best wishes to everyone!!!

Many Years of Experience

As i have mentioned before i have worked in restaurants for many years. In the past 6 years i have been working as a manager at a local family restaurant. I will keep the name of the restaurant anonymous so that no one can get offended. Best wishes!!!!!

Better Dinning Experience

Hello,
My Name is EddieG. and i have worked in restaurants ever since i have been able to earn my own money. I have always thought to myself that if people were a little better informed when they go out wishing to enjoy a nice dinner, that they would have a better dinning experience. I have noticed that when i go out to eat, i always have a real good time and enjoy my dinner. Why? Well believe it or not but just by asking for something in a certain way or communicating with your server in a different manner, the server will make sure they please you to their best of their ability. And of course they are working for that tip. Best Wishes!!!!