"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> I'm by no means an expert but I've worked in a few. Dimitri (love you,
> dear!) made a comment in the Crying Child at a Romantic Dinner thread about
> the OP being peeved from the get-go for having to wait past the reservation
> time for an obviously empty table. Possibly so since they mentioned it
> right off the bat.
>
> I've been a server as well as a hostess. I also worked the back of the
> house doing payroll (and yes, Peter, I recorded what would be reported by
> the restaurant as taxable tips based on sales). From my experience: Tables
> are seated on a rotating basis so no one server gets slammed while another
> stands idle. (There are other factors, of course, such as guests requesting
> smoking, non-smoking, first available, someone requesting a specific server,
> etc.).
>
> So let us say the poster (assuming he's for real and forgetting the crying
> toddler) was seated immediately in a station where the server had just been
> seated twice with a party of 4 at each table. Now the server is busy
> getting drink orders (even if it's coffee or tea) for 8 people, not to
> mention food. The poster and his wife would have gotten less than stellar
> service without the lag in seating because then the server would be "in the
> weeds". Granted, the server could have asked someone else to pick up the
> table (a frequent occurrence) but then they would have lost the tip (not
> that the poster bothered to tip in the first place, but this isn't really
> about that poster). There is a method to this staggered seating madness.
>
> And let us not forget, servers have more to do than take orders and haul out
> plates of food. Someone makes sure there is enough coffee and tea made for
> the patrons and it sure isn't the kitchen staff. Someone makes sure there
> are condiments available, salad dressings are prepared, desserts are topped
> with whatever. It's not the kitchen staff. If they roll silverware,
> whether it's in paper or linen, it's the server who has to do it.
>
> If a server was really good I've had them come and *ask* me to double or
> triple seat them. They know what they can handle. They were always the
> ones with the most money in their pocket at the end of the night.
>
> If you sit back and watch (and I know you have) there is an ebb and flow of
> patrons. Some linger and chat, others eat and get out. Turning tables is
> essential to a server's income. But you can't just walk over and say "time
> to leave", hence the willingness of some servers to pick up tables in other
> stations.
>
> My point is, there is a reason for some tables sitting empty for 10 minutes
> before they are seated, especially on a busy night. And I think it was
> Lisa-Ann who pointed out, sometimes the manager didn't schedule enough
> servers, or, thinking it was going to be a slow night, cut a couple of
> servers and closed some stations early only to find a sudden influx of
> unexpected customers. This is why we estimated and informed customers of
> "wait times". They could leave or they could wait. There wasn't much to be
> done about that.
>
> Jill
> --
> I used to have a handle on life...but it broke off.

You're right on the money - there are a lot of reasons a table sits empty before
the patron is seated. I don't think the patrons understand nor should they have
to. It is the obligation of the host(ess) to communicate with the patron. All
he/she had to do was to say "We'll seat you as soon as your server finishes
setting the table" or some such BS. - Problem solved - instead the patron is
standing there staring at the EMPTY table and letting the blood pressure go up
and up.

It's just poor form to let the person WITH Reservations Wait.

Dimitri

PS love you too.
dc