bad resturant service

[jdthomas 0]

Last night my wife and I had once more bad service while out to eat.. it seems to be a trend with us as of late and as such I wonder if it just a phase that follows us or is there some connection with the average of the wait staff?
We where just about done with our dinner, this was obvious as I had already finished my meal and she was about done with hers when the "server" saw us last.. within a few minutes after that we saw her walk by our window (outside the building) getting a cig out for a smoke break.
A few minutes pass and a second employee walks to the same area and i can tell already that one smoke was probably going to be two now that she had company to chat with.
Time to find our ticket as about 5-8 mins had passed, found the boss and he took off to find the bill.. he quickly returns and hands us the check and bails rather quickly himself.. i think he could see that I was mad and I think he wanted to avoid a confrontation about this.
I was just signing the bill when the waitress, I mean server came by and said she was sorry, twice!. why is she saying sorry to me? was she really sorry she left her tables to go have a smoke break?
In the tip section I wrote, don't leave your tables waiting for your smoke break, 0 (zero) tip for you!
Kind of rude statement but she was rude.

what's your bad service story?

www.greenboxphotography.com

[BillyVance 34]

You did the right thing. She should know what she did wrong and why she got no tip.

Maybe next time she'll be more attentive.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Zep 0]

What the hell is a smoke break, Yeah obviously it's where some one goes off an smokes.
but is it a legal break?. Where I live my waiting staff have to work for five hours before they can have a break.
an I can assure you if one of them went out for a smoke an left a table waiting, they would be looking for a
new job.

Gone fishing

[downwardspiral 0]

It's not unreasonable for a server to go on break which is usually 15 minutes in length. The other servers are suppose to cover for him/her.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[jdthomas 0]

Quote

It's not unreasonable for a server to go on break which is usually 15 minutes in length. The other servers are suppose to cover for him/her.

Not unresaonable as long as you are not the one lft sitting and waiting for service and yes maybe others are supposed to cover, but in this case that did not happen.

www.greenboxphotography.com

[kbordson 8]

It does sound like less than stellar service. However, in this restaurant, is the tip divided between multiple staff members (waitstaff, bus service, kitchen service) and did your lack of tip "punish" them as much as her for her poor timing on the break.

Also... I would be MOST annoyed with the management. Not the waitress. He/She should have taken the time to make the customer happy and THEN deal with employee issues at a later time.

(just curious.... was it in KC? and where?)

[FlyingJ 0]

A sushi restaurant recently opened in my town. One of only 3 or so restaurants that fall outside of the whole Chilis/Applebee's/Fridays box. The food is pretty darn good, especially having not had access to anything but grocery store sushi for 3 years, but the service blows pretty hard.

We had a reservation. I realize a reservation is an estimated time for being seated, but we waited for 40 minutes after our reservation to be seated. We finally sat and waited 15 minutes for someone to take a drink order. 25 minutes later someone came to start taking orders. Took 3 or 4 orders (10 of us) and vanished for another 10 minutes. Did it again. Was 40 minutes before everyone had placed their orders. First dish came out within about 15 minutes. Last person did not get their food until 40 minutes after the first person got their food. All in all the guy serving us was enough to make me never want to go back, regardless of how good the food was.

On the way out the guy running the front half of the place (a bar, the reservations desk, etc.) asked how things were and my buddy asked if it would be possible to say a word to the manager. I almost shit myself when the guy that was called up to the front was the guy that had waited on us!

My buddy put it well, just telling the manager that he has a wonderful restaurant, etc. but that if he really wants the place to be successful he needs to leave the waiting on tables to capable servers and keep himself to management.

Killing threads since 2004.

[downwardspiral 0]

Quote

Quote

It's not unreasonable for a server to go on break which is usually 15 minutes in length. The other servers are suppose to cover for him/her.

Not unresaonable as long as you are not the one lft sitting and waiting for service and yes maybe others are supposed to cover, but in this case that did not happen.

All I'm saying is the service she provided was fine up to that point...correct? If that's the case then perhaps a goose egg for a tip was a bit harsh. Especially considering she apologized.....twice.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[jdthomas 0]

Quote

(just curious.... was it in KC? and where?)

Barleys brewhaus. Midland and 435 in Shawnee!

Joe

www.greenboxphotography.com

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

It's not just here in the US...its everywhere. I had dinner at a really nice restaurant in Switzerland with my husbands parents and the service was TERRIBLE..unfortunately the tip was included in the price, so my fatherinlaw complained. The server had the balls to tell him that "the day the customer is King is OVER"...so my fatherinlaw deducted the 18% and we all walked out as the server chased us and yelled insanities.

It is rare to get decent service in the restaurant industry, but when I get good service, I tip big to let the server know how much I really appreciate them.

_________________________________________

[hungarianchick 0]

I've been very lucky so far, but then again my husband and I fequent the same places for the most part. One of the worst I remember was a bar in NYC. I was there with friends for drinks only. The waitress was rude, disappeared for long periods of time, didn't ask wether everything was OK or we needed another round, generally she just acted like she was on community service. The funniest thing was that she had the nerve to complain when we paid the tab sans tip.

"I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food."

[JSBIRD 1]

Through the 70-80-90's I dated a lot of servers (One reason I tip VERY well for good service) and learned from them that the ultimate insult to a poor server was 2 cents, left face down.

I don't recall the entire insult associated with the two pennnies, but besides the amount, sharing such a pisspoor tip put you in bad stead with your coworkers.

I've only felt compelled to do this once, as I usually know what I'm getting into as soon as I drive into the parking lot at a certain time of day.

BASE359

"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

[BillyVance 34]

Quote

The server had the balls to tell him that "the day the customer is King is OVER"...so my fatherinlaw deducted the 18% and we all walked out as the server chased us and yelled insanities.

Awesome!

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban