On Sat, 26 Nov 2005, Dee Randall wrote:

> >>
> >> We were laughing our ass off, I swear, we left after paying the bill,
> >> you didn't even have a place to put the thing down so you could sign
> >> it. None of this seemed to faze the waitress AT ALL.
> >>
> >> Honest, I was waiting for Peter Funt to come over and say we'd
> >> been had.
> >>
> >> nancy
> >
> > This is why, if I owned a restaurant, there wouldn't be any duces (tables
> > for two) except in the bar area where most likely only an appetizer would
> > be
> > served along with drinks.
> >
> > Part of a good servers' job is to pre-bus the table - remove empty bowls,
> > plates, glassware. God, where do you have to to go get good help these
> > days?!
> >
> > Jill
>
> I don't know how many times I've been served my food and after the person
> walked away, I realized I didn't have fork, knife and spoon. ARRRGHHHH. A
> normal response if you ask another person is that they will "have to locate"
> your server. Then when the utensils are delivered, you put up with the
> server's apology (if there is one). At my last dinner out where the food
> was wonderful and the waiter was good natured, there were no napkins, so we
> got up and got them off another table instead of 'harrassing' the wait
> person for napkins, we didn't want to break the spell.
> Dee Dee
>

LOL. Been there, done that! I've helped myself more than once to the wait
station items.

Having been in the restaurant business for so many years, I understand a
lot of the problems - including spread-too-thin employees,
having-a-bad-day employees, and plain, ol' lazy-assed employees. When I
sit down at the table, I take stock. Napkins? flatware? salt & pepper?
artificial sweetener? etc. When the wait person comes to take drink
orders, I ask for anything that is missing right then. I also try to
always remember everything that I want when I order - like tartar sauce,
extra mayo, honey mustard, etc so the wait person can write it down.
It doesn't always solve the problem, but it increases my odds. Waiting
tables is probably the hardest job - and often the worst job - to have in
the "service" industry. Sadly, dealing with people is a female dog.
Dealing with people who are dining out is a rabid female dog.

Elaine. too