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.