Crappy Tippers....when it's not deserved!

So our restaraunt is quite a popular place to come eat and drink out on the west side of town.

(Kinda why I chose to work there but that is beside the point)

On Sundays during the day we are always quite busy and we get a lot of big parties, I had a four table section today, one of those tables happened to be a 9 top tble that can also accomodate 12 to 13 if you move the chairs around. Needless to say that table was not empty for more than 5 minutes from 1100 till I left around 445.

We were also on a wait, which ,not to insult anyones intelligance, means when people walked in the place was full and they had to wait 15 to 20 minutes (or longer) to get a table.

Now just for arguments sake I have also been a customer at plenty of restaraunts, So this story is not just coming from a server's side. I understand being hungry, waiting for a table and having to wait to get your food.

That being said our restaraunt serves chips and salsa to every table, by standard they are to be out to the table within a minute of the table being sat, and before the drink order is taken.

In a perfect world, or written down on paper that works out great, it also works great when we are slow. However, when we are busy, that just doesn't happen.

So with that intro to the table I am about to speak of....

My 9 top table had been sat with an 11 person party and I was in the kitchen getting the drinks they had ordered

Let me just stop and say the in the above mentioned perfect world I would have also been informed while I was back there that a 2 person party had been sat at another table, I then would have asked someone to take them some chips and salsa as I finished drinks for the 11 party.

Once again that perfect world does not exist when we are busy. It's just not possible seeing as how the entire staff is busy.

So as I walked out with a HUGE tray of drinks and extra salsa for the party I noticed the 2 women sitting at the table behind them.

(by the way they could clearly see me walking out with the drinks, not as if I was hanging out against the wall doing nothing while they sat at their table)

I distibuted drinks and let the party know I would be right back with them, walked happily to the 2 ladies sitting in the booth, introduced myself, let them know I was going to go and grab them some chips and salsa, and asked if I could grab them something to drink while I was back there.

They ordered their drinks and I also (which is our mandatory thing to do) offered to take their order right then if they were ready. They were, they had clearly been here before, they ordered their food and also informed me they would like an appetizer of Guacamole, I smiled said I would be right back with their drinks and chips etc.

Her reply, "Yeah thanks because we're starving" now not such a bad reply, you obviously come to a restaraunt because you're hungry, but it was her tone, she was completely sarcastic and rude.

I am NOT a person who really lets others get to her, esp at work so I smiled and said "Of Course" and honestly was not upset at all as some servers would have taken offense to her tone and facial expression, whatever I'm pretty grouchy when I'm hungry too.

So I went to the back grabbed everything for them, and also grabbed a drink refill on 2 Dr Peppers for my 11 top that I saw needed filled as I was walking back to the kitchen.

Took me 3 minutes, I know because there is a clock above the door we walk in and out of.

I dropped everything off to the ladies first, and when I dropped the Dr Peppers to the party they, of course, needed more chips, (sometimes the chips and salsa are a pain in the ass :) )

So then the 11 top was ready to order. It took a few minutes due to the fact that well, it was 11 people!

I took the order, turned around and the ladies needed more Ice Tea, now when I say more I do not mean they were empty as if I had been ignoring them, I mean they were halfway full which in our restaraunt is wrong (that perfect world calls for refilling at 1/4 empty)

I grabbed the Tea Pitcher from right next to their table, refilled their drinks, asked if there was anything they needed,they were fine, and then walked away to enter the 11 top's order in the computer.

Took a few minutes to enter the order, I then went back to do my rounds, I also by the way had another 2 top table who were well into their food while alll of this was going on.

The 11 top needed more salsa and some water, my 2 top of ladies needed nothing and I took an empty plate from the 2 top who was almost done, at the same time I noticed a new table being sat at my only free table which had been being cleaned as all of the rest of the story was going on.

So........

I went to the back, grabbed some salsa for the 11 top, some chips and salsa for the new table and walked out the door.

Greeted the new table as should happen in the perfect world, with their chips and salsa, asked for their drink order, offered to take the full order, they weren't ready so I left to get their drinks.

Dropped off the salsa for the 11 top that I had been holding the whole time talking to the new table, went by my 2 ladies with the guac and tea, asked how they were, they said fine, and I walked back into the kitchen to get the drinks for the new table.

I do not feel as though I am doing a bad job at any of my 4 tables out there, in fact, and not to toot my own horn AT ALL, but I know that I am good at serving, and to be honest I enjoy it,thats why I picked up this part time job for extra cash.

Anyway

So as I am walking out with table #4's drinks I notice my food for the ladies is up, I set my drinks on the tray and take the whole thing out,

(even though we have someone designated to run the food out to our tables, if I am not busy I like to drop it off myself more table interaction which leads to better tips I believe)

So I drop the drinks at new table, tell them I will be right back, and drop the food to the 2 ladies.

They thank me, I check on 11 top that needs more chips, and the old 2 top who is ready for their check.

I then walk back to newset 2 top, grab their order quickly, go into the kitchen, print the check for old 2 top, grab chips for 11 top and enter food for new 2 top.

Takes me 4 minutes.

Get back to table of 2 ladies after dropping chips at 11 top and they say they are fine, refill teas at 1/4 full, everything is great.

So it continues that way which honestly is how my tables work, I have a system and very rarely leave someone feeling not taken care of.

So explain to me why when the 2 ladies split their check making each one around 14 dollars, one leaves me NO TIP and the other leaves me 1 dollar???????

Honestly did I deserve that?

I really saw RED when I opened those books and wanted to run to the parking lot and throw their Damn dollar at them!

If I ignored them, or they had to ask for refills, or their food was wrong, or something happened maybe I could have understood,

but really??

If you can't afford to tip then you can't afford to go out to eat, and thats all there is to it, Do people realize that servers still only get paid 2.13 an hour??

I mean, I go out of my way to make peoples experience at our store enjoyable, I joke around, I smile, I play with kids, I conversate, and hopestly I think it works so well for me because I genuinely enjoy it, I am not just wlaking out faking being happy or interested, I do enjoy my job, I have liked serving since I was 15, which like I said before is why I went back to it.

SO when I go out of my way to make your day better, is it really fair to leave me such a tip??

C'mon.

Grrr, I really am over it now but Some People I Swear!!!

66 years and countin!

I had the greatest couple come in and sit in my section last night. They were older and most of the servers rolld their eyes when they saw them walk in seeing as how the majority of the time elderly people tend to not be the best tippers.
I never mind taking a table so I told the hostess I would grab them.

Turns out I had served these 2 a few weeks ago as they informed me when I brought the chips and salsa to their table.

I thought back and remembered they had come in on a cold afternoon and we had joked about warming up the margaritas.

I said "2 margaritas and 2 tacos right?"

They laughed and said I had a great memory.

We talked a little more and I convinced them that the 18 oz margaritas were a better idea and they decided on Chicken Quesadillas to share.

I was anything but busy with their table and one other so I spent a lot of time over talking with them.

We talked about fuzzhead whom we had also talked about last time they were in, we talked about J and his deployment.

We talked about their grandchildren, and they children, the youngest who is 53, so tells you they were not a young couple.

They have been married for 66 years!!!

Right after he told me that the old man's face lit up a little and he told me "she kissed me today when we were going down the escalator!"

He had such a smile as he told me!

I jokingly said "well she must like ya a little bit then!"

But in my head all I could think about was 66 years!

You don't see that anymore, marriages have a success rate that gets lower everyday, and that has become the normal to us.

Back when those two got married I'm sure that divorce was beyond unheard of, you married the person you loved and it stayed that way.

What has made it so acceptable in our society now??

What has made it okay that when things get tough instead of working things out you just end it?

I myself am guilty of this, J and I have went thru problems and divorce has crossed my mind more than once.

But why Is it really so okay now?

Even when I was in elementary school it was begining, when kids talked about their parents being divorced it wasn't all that uncommon.

Now its uncommon if you're parents are still together,and it just makes me wonder what kind of a world am I raising my Fuzzhead in?

Cowgirls Don't Cry

Have you heard the new song By Brooks n Dunn & Reba?

I have totally fallen in love with this song.

Her daddy teaches her to ride a horse when she's a lil girl

He tells her when you fall off just get back on

No tears just try again

He said that in time life shows you the reasons why.

In a sense this song has such a good life lesson,

instead of crying about things that happen,

brush yourself off and continue on,

eventually you are going to see that there is a reason for what happened.

Goes hand in hand with a saying I have always tried to apply in my life..

Everything happens for a reason.

It may not be a good reason, or one that you are happy with..

But still a reason just the same.

So every situation, problem, and issue you ever go thru in your life shapes the person that you become.

And whatever doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger right??

It's always pretty easy to look back on something and say all of this,

But I am going to try more and more to take things as they come and know that soon enough I will see a reason behind it, no matter how bad it seems at the time.

I just heard the song and felt the need to blog about it!!

Old Friends, and life in general

Isn't it funny that a problem or a situation in your life can be SO serious, and all you can think about, and you just dont know what to do, worst thing that has ever happened......and a few (maybe like 7) years later you think back to the same situation and are able to truly laugh?

There's a country song that say's "sometimes that mountain you've been climbing is just a grain of sand" It's funny when you revisit things that they really don't seem as serious and upsetting as they did at the time. Years go by and things change, new problems arise, so it makes me wonder...

If we just automatically looked at a problem and said oh well this really isn't as big of a deal as it seems...pretty soon i'll be able to laugh at it...would it make it easier to deal with tough situations??
Probably not, the way we are programmed, esp involving relationships, the here and now matters way more than looking at it as 'this will pass and be funnylater'
But maybe if we could just change how we looked at things we might handle the situation a little diferently........

Today I started a blog

Well today will be the first writing of I'm sure many, I came across the website and the blogging idea by chance, and since I usually have alot to say about, well, anything, I thought it could be a good timepasser, seeing as how with a 7 and 1/2 month old I have plenty of free time...right!!
But it does seem to be a good way to let off a little steam at the days end, and being a waitress most days I have plenty of steam to release!

Sometimes the hardest thing about being a foodserver (politcally correct for waitress I believe) Is having to go to that next table with a great big smile ready to do whatever that next customer wants after you totally got stiffed by someone who still thinks that with gas prices and food the way they continue to skyrocket they did you a favor by giving you exactly 10% as a freakin tip!!!

Really??? You do realize that we still get paid $2.13 and hour right??

Or you have the LOVELY people who take their in need of Nanny 911 children to a restaraunt and stuff their faces while completely oblivious to the fact that their child is running around the restaurant tripping servers with trays and leaving a papertrail from one end of the area to the other that they, of course, do not even attempt to clean up before they leave..because why?? Hey I just left her 5 whole dollars on a $52 dollar tab thats what she gets paid for, she can clean up the ridiculous mess my child just made with half the napkins in the building...wonder what their house looks like!!!

Thats a tiny insight into my waitressing world, I'm sure the rest of my blogs will contain quite a bit from that side!

The great part of my world....my lil man, who on my blog I will refer very lovingly to as fuzzhead. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me, I come home from work greeted with a smile that spreads from one little ear to the other and I forget anything that has happened and nothing is wrong anymore because this little person is so ecstatic that I just walked thru the door.
He gets so excited over the funniest things, lights usually, on the ceiling, on the cell phone, on the computer, seeing the world thru his eyes is the most fun I ever have.
Every morning it seems that he is smarter than the day before, he woke up the other day and just kne how to get up on his hands an knees and rick back and forth, he will be crawling before the month ends.
I don't know that I am ready for the crawling, he's a handful now and he's not really mobile yet.

I am currently functioning as a single parent, Fuzzhead's father who I will refer to as J is currently deployed in the middle east, he has been gone since last December, except for those 18 days in July when he got to meet his son and relax a little. He'll be home before too long but for now it is me and fuzzhead working it on our own. We're not alone by any means, I have my mother, the greatest woman I have ever known..My hero over anyone..we'll talk about her later.
I honestly wouldn't be able to make it without her, not just because she babysits etc. but because I can call her anytime and ask her anything, and she just always seems to know, thats not just now, thats anytime I have ever needed to, when I was gone in Texas, when I was in the Army and stationed in Korea, anytime I have a question or a problem I call her and she just knows the answer or what to do. I wouldn't be the person I am without that woman. And with fuzzhead...wow I wouldnt havemade it thru the first few months!!!

I also, sometimes, have my brother, we will refer to him as...wow I have called him a few names in our lifetime but I'm trying to think of something nice :-) We'll refer to him as Uncle P, (the P is for Poker has no relavance to his actual name) He goes to college out of town but is home on the weekends to get his laundry done. He actually just went back today after an extremely long Xmas break, and I must say I will miss seeing him daily, I got a little used to it. But when he is home he helps alot with fuzzhead, he'll make a great dad some day faaaaaar in the future, and fuzzhead LOVES him.

J's family lives in the northeast and have actually not had the pleasure of meeting fuzzhead yet, they will soon I hope.

So the name of my blog...it consistis of mine, fuzzhead's, and J;s top favorite things, and I figured a very random name might pull in a few more readers...plu I could come up with really nothing else, originally it was gonna just be Gummi Cherries because I was dreaming of them since I had finished my bag, but I decided to share the name with my guys!

Tonight I think this may be the end of my blogging, Fuzzhead has awoke and is currently attempting to choke himself with a hoodie he pulled from the couch, and I am rambling a little.

I'm sure there will be more soon, am I supposed to sign off or something??
Gummi CHerries signing off!!!!