Let me preface this post by saying that I have NEVER been a waitress. Honestly, I don't like people enough to be in a situation where no matter what, I have to be nice to assholes and make them happy. It's just not in me. So I admire people who work in the service industry. A lot. (Either that, or they're crazy).
Mr. KK and I have the WORST restaurant luck. We're either forgotten about after we're seated, our meals aren't entirely correct when they come out, or we'll have to eavesdrop on other tables to hear the daily specials because our server never told them to us (for whatever reason).
But no matter what happens, we're still good tippers.
Saturday night, however, was a different story.
We were meeting friends for dinner when they finished up with their son's baseball game. Mr. KK and I headed to restaurant early, grabbed two seats at the bar and settled in for cocktails. We were chit-chatty with the people sitting around us and the bartender.
At 9:15 I got a text that our friends were on their way. We settled up with the bartender, letting him know we were going to grab a table with our friends.
"The kitchen is still open, right?" I asked him.
"Yep. We serve dinner until 10:30 so you have plenty of time," he responded.
Our friends arrive and we follow the hostess to our table.
"Here are your menus. Kitchen's getting ready to close, so you'll have to hurry and put your order in," she says and saunters away.
Well, then.
Our waitress comes over, bitchy resting face in place.
"You guys want something to drink?" she asks with a 'You're-making-me-do-my-job' sigh.
We scramble for the wine and cocktails lists while she waits there, examining her fingernails. We put our order in. Then she somehow brings herself to share the specials with us.
NOTE: the restaurant is half full of people. And two parties have come in since we've sat down. 'kitchen is closing' my ass.
The night – and our 'service' – continues in this vain.
Our dinners are served while we're still eating our salads. She takes salad plates away with forks and leaves us without forks for our main courses. She comes by a few times while we're eating and chatting to see if we're done, even though we're still chewing and holding forks in our hands.
And her attitude? She's downright rude.
Then the bill comes and it's the moment of truth: how much does this server deserve?
As tippers, Mr. KK and I usually let everything slide, but Saturday night we just couldn't do it. And our friends agreed: she.was.horrible.
So she got only a 15% tip. (Don't think I didn't contemplate 10%).
We were wrong to only give 15%? The tip she should have gotten is this: "Be nicer to your customers", but we're not those kind of people. I get it, she makes $2 a hour. But part of being in the service industry is giving GOOD service.
Right?
NOTE: the restaurant is half full of people. And two parties have come in since we've sat down. 'kitchen is closing' my ass.
The night – and our 'service' – continues in this vain.
Our dinners are served while we're still eating our salads. She takes salad plates away with forks and leaves us without forks for our main courses. She comes by a few times while we're eating and chatting to see if we're done, even though we're still chewing and holding forks in our hands.
And her attitude? She's downright rude.
Then the bill comes and it's the moment of truth: how much does this server deserve?
As tippers, Mr. KK and I usually let everything slide, but Saturday night we just couldn't do it. And our friends agreed: she.was.horrible.
So she got only a 15% tip. (Don't think I didn't contemplate 10%).
We were wrong to only give 15%? The tip she should have gotten is this: "Be nicer to your customers", but we're not those kind of people. I get it, she makes $2 a hour. But part of being in the service industry is giving GOOD service.
Right?
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