As the Plate Spins @lyricalechos - Tumblr Blog

As the Plate Spins - Cramped Spaces.

Sunday evening, normally relaxing, smooth sailing and various other descriptions fit this time of day in a restaurant. My shift begins right after the Lunch rush ends, which gives me time to roll silverware and helping servers catch up before shift change. I check my reservations - two today! I love when I have reservations, it gives me time to plan ahead and I don’t have to force a large table onto a server. With about an hour and a half to spare, I check with my server M to see if he can take the 13-top (which he says Yes). I get a bit into the silverware, not worried about any rushes past the reservations that would result in not having any, so I roll half a basket. Oh, how wrong I was... 5:30pm strikes. The unexpected rush hits. I’m unprepared and my half basket is immediately depleted as tables of five, six, and seven′s enter the restaurant. My seven servers who are normally relaxed and pacing are now racing around the restaurant setting up tables and picking up orders. I still have my tables reserved for the reservations - absolutely not to be touched. Luckily I am able to save them, reservations arrive and are happily seated with M (13-top) and K (11-top). I get a call-ahead for a party of eight. Alright, I can work with this. The 13-top finish just in time as the party of eight arrive in combination with a walk-in six-top. M takes the party of eight, and V takes the party of six. I’m desperately rolling forks as fast as I can, catching breaks to eat in between. Another hour passes - my restaurant is packed to the brim. I reached max capacity twice so far into my shift. My coworker A comes to me and begs me not to seat her anymore because she’s overwhelmed, which I agree and continue rolling forks. 7:30pm - A party of nine. No call-ahead and I have no silverware rolled and three To-go orders to ring up. A is less overwhelmed, and I ask her to take the table if she can separating them between a table and booth. The rest of the restaurant I am seating based on what is available. A is being treated horribly by the nine, the eight are camping, and the eleven-top has been there for two and a half hours at this point. 8:30pm - I still have a waiting list to break through, and only now do my large parties start to get up freeing up much needed table space. I was schedule to be off at 8pm, but I guess not tonight! I finally get through the waiting list after 15 more minutes, roll as many forks as I can and I was out for the night. Definitely unexpected... *Camping - When a table stays past paying / For longer than expected.

Questions & Answers #2

Question: “What determines how guests are seated?”

Answer: “Hosts determine where guests are seated using what we call a server rotation. As guests or tables arrive, we seat based on who is next in the rotation and what they have available. We use this rotation method as a way of distributing tables as equally as possible among the servers, so that they can earn money (and hopefully prevent bickering). If you request a certain table or booth, we will do our best to accommodate - but sometimes we can’t without risks. If the server is overwhelmed and you demand to be seated in their section against recommendation, then you will ultimately get poor service.”

#restaurant #server #rotation #question of the day

Questions & Answers #1

Question: “Do servers actually talk about customers? I cannot recall how many times I’ve been out to dinner and seen groups of servers talking in hushed voices while looking over a table. Am I right to think they are possibly talking about me, or is it paranoia?” Answer: You can revel in the feeling that you are indeed not paranoid - Because we are most likely talking about work, our days off, or you. It’s not always negative, sometimes we are admiring a customer’s nails, hair, or even clothes. Sometimes we talk about how nice they are, being low maintenance, or tipped above 15%. Don’t get me wrong, we do bitch about customers... a lot. Especially if they are rude or downright intolerable. You think we don’t remember you, but we do. We alert other staff to who you are, and what you look like, and will only seat you with servers that can put up with your bullshit better than others. If a customer berates or verbally abuses the Hostess and/or server, their service plummets. We’ll try to get you out of our restaurant as fast as we can and avoid your table unless it’s necessary. We don’t care about you not tipping us or leaving a bad word with the manager - because we already know how you are.

Essentially - as long as you’re not a fucking asshole, we’ll give you the best damn service you could ask for, and we’ll have nothing negative to say.

“You cannot demand a service while simultaneously degrading those who provide it to you.”

#q&a #restaurant #server #hostess #rude customers

As the Plate Spins - A Million and One Things.

Saturday night again, one of the most difficult nights at a restaurant - but simultaneously the best night for making money. I was surprised that I actually was able to host with my favorite co-worker C that night, as I was starting to fall apart at the seams. I had had a waiting list for over four hours by 8pm, which is more than usual. However, I was thankful it wasn’t all at once like it normally is, steady but a never ending stream of hungry people. One of our newer servers J, had about four tables, and was falling behind even more than I was. When it had slowed down to a steadier pace, my Lead Server A told me to stop seating his section because he couldn’t handle it (she ended up taking over eight of his tables over the course of three hours). By 8:30pm, my waiting list was sitting around one or two tables rather than nine. I had to leave J’s section empty so he could catch up so seating around it was not easy but manageable. In order for him to still make money, I was allowed to seat him every second server rotation (going through the list of servers once is called a rotation) just to ensure he could take care of them. I had noticed his 102 was unattended, so I walked over and talked to them. “Hi guys, how are you this evening? Has J stopped by?” The woman, was very sweet, responded. “Oh yes, but we haven’t seen him in awhile. I ordered a Piña colada and an appetizer awhile ago...” “Oh my, I’m so sorry, let me go check on that for you.” I quickly go over to the P.O.S. and type in the table number. No drink or appetizer was even listed. I was in shock. I go to L at the bar and ask her to make me a Piña colada for J’s table and that I would add it to his ticket. She happily obliged while I grabbed J and told him to place an order for their appetizer. I walked back over to 102 and bent down a bit so I was eye level. “Hi ma’am, I’m so sorry, the bar is a little backed up on orders at the moment, but I’ll have your drink for you in a few moments.” “Oh it’s okay, you don’t have to, I can live without a drink.” She laughed. “Don’t worry ma’am, I’ll personally see to it that you get your drink.” I walked back to my hostess stand and sat a few more tables off my waiting list and grabbed the drink from the Bar and their appetizer from the kitchen and delivered both to the now happy table. They thanked me and I went about the rest of my duties. Trying desperately to help my servers, get tables cleaned, seat guests, roll silverware and a million other things. A couple had reached the top of my waiting list, and I happily finally had a table for them after a 20 minute wait. I take them over to their table because I was multitasking and let them know V would be right with them. The man stopped me. “Can we have a booth instead?” I stand there and purse my lips. “I’m sorry but the only booth I have available cannot be seated at the moment.” It was J’s booth, which I wasn’t allowed to seat for another part of the rotation. The woman crossed her arms and huffed quietly, sitting down as V rushed over to get their order. Later (roughly 15-20 minutes) I was able to seat J’s section and had seated his booth. The woman came up to me and talked to me. “Um, you told me you couldn’t seat that booth and now there are people there, that doesn’t make any sense.” I looked at her, clearly exhausted and busy. “Ma’am, my lead server gave me the OK to seat that section, when you were being seated I couldn’t. If you wanted to sit there, you would have had to wait and extra 20 minutes.” “Well I still want a booth.” I paused and thought about it. “Fine, if V has a booth open up in her section, she’ll be more than happy to move you.” I walked away to continue doing my duties. I don’t have time for idle chat about moving to a booth because our perfectly fine tables aren’t good enough. Much less, it irritates me that on a night were we’re clearly busy, and don’t have tables to spare that someone has the galls to ask to move. I make it a habit to ask at the stand, if they want a booth or a table as both are limited; if they wanted a booth I would have noted it (extra wait time as booths are in shorter supply). No time for nonsense. I continued out the rest of my shift, staying until 9:30pm instead of 9pm in order to finish everything. Finishing notes: Table 102 tipped me for being so good and giving them service. I was very pleased and happy. The couple got their booth towards the end of their meal in V’s section. C and I were able to roll almost all the silverware before being cut for the night. Why is it when I have a million and one things to do, is when I am questioned?

#restaurant #stories #patience #asking questions

As the Plate Spins - Wait Your Turn.

Another packed Sunday lunch at the restaurant, however today was different, as I was training a new Hostess - M. She was doing wonderfully, nervous about her first day. Although, I was concerned because Sunday’s are no picnic for a restaurant staff, much less a trainee who has never even worked in one before, she was doing well. It was about 1pm, around the time things start slowing down for my waiting list and I was going over the server rotation with M. While discussing, a Mother walks in with her family (a party of five) and we place her on the waiting list, about a 20 minute wait. I had two other parties ahead of her, one was a six-top and the other was five plus a high chair. 20 minutes is actually pretty reasonable for how busy we were. Roughly five minutes in, M and I had seated a few smaller parties (mostly pairs of groups of three, which fit nicely into the few booths and small tables we had available). The Mother re-approaches us and asks us when they will be seated, which I leave M to respond so she can practice dealing with customers (I go to clean a nearby table). M politely responds, “Yes ma’am, it shouldn’t be more than 15 minutes as some of the larger tables are paying and should be leaving soon. We’ll call your name as soon as we have a table cleaned for you.” The Mother purses her lips. “What do you mean wait?! I’ve been watching you seat people ahead of us. Why can’t we sit in that booth there and add a chair?” “I’m sorry ma’am but we can’t do that because of the already crowded isle way, the booths only fit four. But, it should only be a few more minutes and a couple tables will open.” “NO NO NO!” *she stops her feet* “This is such bullshit, I want to be seated right now.” I wander back over and calmly place my hand on M’s shoulder and give her the ‘Don’t worry, I have this’ look. Normally, I would be able to seat a party of five in a booth and just throw a chair on the end, but the only one I had available was in the main isle way, which was already sporting a make-shift eight-top and I couldn’t risk the tight space. I take a deep breath and look at the Mother with a firm expression. “Ma’am, You are third on my waiting list for a party of five. We cannot seat you in a booth because the only one available would be in the way of the isle. I’m sorry you are upset, but you have to wait your turn like everyone else.” The Mother raised her voice further in her anger. “I WANT TO SEE YOUR MANAGER. THIS IS BULLSHIT.” I sigh, and look at M. I explain to her that this is an example of when it’s a good time to grab your Lead Server or the manager, whoever is available to handle the situation. While I explain, the Mother’s children (thank goodness they were the reasonable ones) were asking her to calm down and that it wasn’t a big deal. I take off to go hunt down A (my Lead Server) and my manager. I notified them both of what the situation was, and brought them to the Hostess stand. By the time I returned the Mother was gone. M told me she left the second I did. I showed my manager my waiting list and told him which tables would have been available in the next 10 minutes for seating. He looked it over and nodded, saying that I did everything correctly then took off back to the kitchen to keep helping the preps. Patience, Patience, Patience. It seems like more and more people don’t understand the virtue well enough anymore. I was surprised a Mother raised in an era that taught etiquette would be so hostile over a small wait in a small restaurant.

#Restaurant stories Patience Hostess Training day

Excerpt #2 - Just Your Friendly Neighborhood ... Dealer?

I was working the evening shift at the restaurant, when my section was seated. I approached my table and noticed the intense odor of marijuana. I commented, "Well, y'all smell really good." They were all nervous and trying to play it off. I laughed and reassured them, "No, no, we're good, I promise. My husband just threw away my last 2 G's. I'm so sad." They all had to know why. "Well, to make a long story short, he got paranoid. It's fine. You know how it is." The guy in the group was asking if I needed any, he could hook me up. I told them, "Just tip me in weed" and laughed it off, not expecting anything serious, just going about my shift. Eventually, they asked for the check and handed me a wadded up $5 bill, telling me it's for me. I unroll it and my eyes got as big as saucers. They tipped me, alright. With weed.

Server - C.J. / San Antonio, TX

#server #stories #restaraunt #funny

Excerpt #1 - Go Fish!

I was working one evening, when a gentleman and his wife came in. He ordered our fish with crab and craw fish sauce, and said he only comes in once a year to enjoy his favorite meal. So I go ahead and bring out his order, and he asks me, “Could you please stay for a minute?”. I said yes and stayed by his side as he takes a bite. About 40 seconds later, he begins convulsing and turning bright red. It turns out he is highly allergic to shellfish and his wife keeps an epi-pen on her so he can enjoy his favorite dish once a year. I damn near had a heart attack. Server - T.H. / Seattle, Washington.

#server #stories #universal #relatable

As the Plate Spins - A Question as Old as Time.

“Another day, another dollar, I suppose...”, I mumble to myself standing at my podium. It was a slow night, not uncommon for the middle of the week, but no less boring. We had a few tables left, most had finished eating and were conversing. I was cracking jokes with M as he would come by my podium. He has the most wonderful singing voice, and a wicked sense of humor, which I think is why I like working with him. I was about to walk away and go pace the kitchen when two young ladies walk in (I see them once every two weeks), I greet them happily and they let me know they would like a To-go order because it was getting late. I wrote them a ticket and let them proceed, giving them my usual banter about meeting them at the bar when they were ready. Surprisingly, after they had gone into line, another couple walks in. The boyfriend greeted me and asked what time we closed, which is 9pm for the weekday. I asked him, “Would you two like to dine-in tonight, or would you like a to-go order?”. He pondered it for a few moments, and responded with, “Dine-in, please.” I began to gather up my menus and some silverware, when he prompted another question. “Would it be alright if we sat in that booth over there?”, he points towards F’s section. She had just been cut for the night (so that means I cannot seat her sections anymore). “I’m sorry, the server for that section was cut a few minutes ago, so she is no longer taking tables. However, M still has one of his booths available if that is okay?” “Oh, sure, yeah that is fine.” I proceed to take them back to M’s section when his oddly quiet girlfriend speaks up. “Ummm, excuse me?! That was so fucking rude.” I look at her in an awe, trying to scramble my brain for anything that could have been taken wrong, but failed to find anything. “Pardon?” “Yeah, that was really rude, I know you all want to leave early, but don’t try to shoo us out the door.” (*In My Head*) Okay, seriously, what the absolute fuck is this woman’s problem? And then it clicks. “Ma’am... Did you take offense to me asking if you wanted to get an order to-go?” She angrily huffs and begins tapping her foot impatiently. “Yes, that was incredibly rude.” “Ma’am, you do realize that all restaurants ask that... Right?”, I smile politely. This doesn’t seem to please her, but her boyfriend catches my attention and motions to be brought to the table (he is obviously hungry and doesn’t care about the fit his girlfriend is throwing). So I begin walking him to his table and happily tell them about M, and how good he is.

I hear nothing from her the rest of my shift (all 20 minutes of it), but that is how it goes. I am still baffled as to how anyone could possibly take offense at asking a question that nearly every restaurant asks. But, as I’ve realized, I cannot please everyone - and that is okay. A question as old as time, yet still, somehow, offends.

As the Plate Spins - Greater than the dozen, 14?

It was a typical Saturday evening, steady yet busy in my small restaurant, which is usual for the weekend. About one or two tables remained in each server’s section, except for L (she works the Bar, and her section is always full). My reservations had been filled, happily chatting and enjoying their meals in my party rooms. Since the dinner rush had slowed, I decided to go about my normal Hostess duties: rolling silverware, checking on tables for my servers, and bussing tables. As I was finishing cleaning off a booth in K’s section, a man walks in with a few little ones. I return back to my hostess stand while peeling off leftover noodles from my fingers (little ones are cute, but sure do leave messes). I greeted him and asked, “How many will be dining with us today, and how many high chairs will you need?” with which he responded, “14 total, and we will need about four high chairs.” I knew I had already filled my reservations for the day, so I asked him if he had at least called and spoken to someone about coming, which he replied “No.” My manager was standing near by, and I beckoned him over to ask how long an appropriate wait would be. He told me it would be around 45 minutes, so I relayed it to the gentleman. He thought it over and decided that his family did not want to wait the time quoted, so I wished him a lovely night and continued on with my duties.

A few minutes later, his (presumably) wife with more little ones re-enter and ask why the wait time is 45 minutes. While the little ones begin tugging at me, and running around my podium, I respond with, “I apologize, as you may be able to see we are quite full at the moment, and only a few tables remain; hence the 45 minute wait time.”

“Can you just move two tables together or can we just sit near each other? We don’t want to have to be on separate sides of the restaurant.” I took a deep breath. “Ma’am, I do not have tables that would accommodate 14 persons at the moment, as well as all my high chairs are currently in use. The only tables I have available are four-tops and they are scattered among the restaurant. She paused, and pursed her lips. Her son began to point at K’s section and his Mother followed his gaze. “What about right there? Couldn’t you move those tables together? I looked into K’s section, and as suspected, they had laid eyes on her only two remaining tables and what I recognized was her six-top which was currently occupied but the diners were in line. Two four-tops would leave me with only 8 seats (still not enough) and I wasn’t about to go commandeer four high chairs from tables still using them. “I’m sorry ma’am but those tables would only fit eight of you, and her six-top is currently occupied. As I stated earlier, I cannot accommodate 14 persons at this time, it will be at least 45 minutes.” She continued to purse her lips and turned to her husband, whispering out of my earshot. She turns back to me, angrily. “I just don’t understand how you can’t just move two tables together and seat us. We’re looking right at them.” At this point, I’m losing patience. (*In my head*) “A’ight fam, I’m gonna take it from the top, tell me where I lose you. WE. DON’T. HAVE. TABLES. TO. FIT. FUCKING. 14. OF. YOU.” “Ma’am I’m sorry you are upset, but there is nothing I can do at this time. I do not have high chairs to accommodate your children nor tables to seat you all together or even near each other.” “You just don’t want to seat a large family!” She storms out with her brood, glaring at me as she does, and I simply shrug. Even if I had had another table with which to form a 12-top, it would have been positioned in the walkway of K’s section, which can be dangerous in the event of a fire and from the fact alone that people walk through there with hot plates of food. On top of that, I could not accommodate four high chairs - even if the parents were okay with the children being on their laps, it’s not alright. I also noted that there were only three adults, and eleven small children, all roughly under the age of nine. It would be difficult to monitor all eleven children because we have an open grill that they can hurt themselves, or forbid they ever run into someone carrying their meal. I try my best to accommodate families, but I can’t always do it at the snap of a finger. It takes time. Greater than the dozen, but not as mighty as my patience.

#Excerpt one #Restaurant stories #hostessing #My patience #as the plate spins

As the Plate Spins - An Introduction

After much consideration, and support, I have decided to move forward with a blog talking about one of the most harshly criticized job positions - Customer Service. My blog will focus especially on the under-appreciated positions in the food industry, including servers, bussers, and hosts/hostesses. I will be collecting and sharing stories from all over the world from previous and current servers and their peers in order to show you, the reader, what we go through is international. Some will be heart warming, and others funny; but also more serious ones that will highlight the misunderstanding there seems to be about our jobs and what we do. I hope that society will come to realize that we are but humans trying our best to please others. We make mistakes, and we are by no means perfect. So hopefully, my stories will reach the eyes and ears of those who need the insight, to walk a mile in our shoes and see the world how we do - even for a story.

#restaurant servers hosts hostesses stories mutualunderstanding

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Part of an exhibit titled Earthshine by Tomoko Konoike.

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