I would like to present the ever growing ignorant publics attention to a few basic courtesies they appear to be lacking when it comes to customer service. I have been a waitress and bar tender for about 7 years now, and many of my fellow colleagues would agree there are number of petty details and behaviours patrons almost always display when entering an establishment that delivers customer service.
I would like to introduce my first point and a pet peeve of many colleagues who like me; suffer from a silent rush of annoyance and internalised rage when they catch customers walking into the establishment and walking straight past the very big, very bold, and very clear 'please wait here to be seated' sign. Much to many peoples surprise, these signs are not for decoration and yes they are in fact there for a reason. Maybe I'm being a tad dramatic, but I'll tell you what really grinds our gears more than the public walking past this simple sign: the public walking past this very big, very bold, and very clear sign and sitting on the ONLY dirty table in the restaurant, before demanding that the waiting staff clean the disgusting table and that they've been waiting ages to be served.
Allow me to explain why this tiny little issue gets us so wound up. The basic purpose of this sign quite simply allows a host to disperse customers into different sections of the restaurant. Each section will have a different server who is responsible for everything that happens in their section; and the host will seat parties according to each servers' strengths as well as taking into consideration future bookings for that day. This system also allows each server to be aware of what is going on in their sections and what stage of service all of their tables are at. So it is incredibly unhelpful when a party seat themselves in a section (most often than not- on the ONLY dirty table in that section) and gets snarky with the server for ignoring them and not cleaning their table. Well let me put this out there: we were not ignoring you, we did not know you were there because you sat your f**king selves!
This action may also mean we have to deal with angry reservations because you sat yourself on a table that was about to be turned over for someone who has actually had the courtesy to book a table. I've experienced many customers walking in and seating themselves on a table that is reserved for about an hours time, before proceeding to argue that they will be gone before the booking comes in. Well I'm sorry love but in the 10 minutes it will take for you to sit down, decide what you want, order, the half an hour wait on food, the time it takes you to eat your meal, pay and leave; there is always the possibility (which is almost always) the reserved party will turn up early, have to wait for you to finish, for us to find the time to clear and relay the table, and for them to then get snarky with the server for not having their table ready; it really isn't worth it. This cycle will more often than not continue to repeat itself throughout the day, prompting even more snarky customers blaming the waiting staff for wait times and dirty tables that could've been avoided. So go back to the host stand where there is a very big, very bold and very clear 'please wait here to be seated' sign, and someone will be more than delighted to receive you.
In short, this sign is designed to give you the customer, the start to the customer service you expect and are so quick to complain about; so please respect it and any other signs that establishments have up for that matter, and in return the establishment will respect you and provide you with the service they are trained to give.
Many thanks,
Your everyday happy to help waitress.
No comments:
Post a Comment