Thursday, November 26, 2009
Restaurants 'Are you still working on that?'
Posted by Cliff Bostock @cliffbostock on Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 4:25 PM
New York Times columnist Stanley Fish recently wrote a column on expressions that particularly annoy him. Readers, hundreds of them, replied with their own. I've culled a few replies that pertain to restaurants:
In a restaurant, while having a good, and perhaps intimate, conversation, a waiter comes over and says, “Is everything all right?” The correct answer would be, “Yes, it was, until we were interrupted.” Of course, that would lead to an apology, which would further delay our conversation. [Why do restaurant owners require waiters to infuriate their customers with that inane question?]— Posted by KenThe phrase at the top of my “most annoying” list at the moment is anything done “to perfection.” Grilled to perfection … broiled to perfection … pan-seared to perfection. This construction is so terribly overdone (as opposed to rare, or even medium rare) by those who write menus and otherwise promote restaurants that it might actually be pushing me away from the items described. Just do what you have to do to my food (I must trust you, or I would have gone elsewhere to eat) and be done with it. And please don’t stop aspiring to perfection, but also cease trying to convince us that you’ve reached it. — Posted by Fr. Laird MacGregor
“My name’s Chuck and I’ll be your server tonight.”
Would someone PLEASE tell the Chucks of the world that we’re aware of what his function in the restaurant is and that it doesn’t include intruding on our evening by imposing his acquaintance on us — as though we’d come to the establishment to make friends rather than have dinner.
If we needed Chuck’s help at some point when he is absent from our table, it would be easy to summon him if we knew his name from a name tag or a button that had “23? on it. Are we forever doomed to the phony-egalitarian bonhomie of the You-can-call-me-Chuck, who will doubtless ask someone “Are you still working on that?!?” during the meal, or can we perhaps have a dinner we’re paying for (and paying him to serve) in relaxed anonymity?— Posted by Titov0
Comments (5)
Showing 1-5 of 5
Personally to me, they all just kind of sound like a**holes. It is not they who are being rude but rather you with your snotty attitude.
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This is why in the service industry you hear "Working in restaurants is great.... if it weren't for the customers." Because of the snobby, snotty section of people that come in that think we are 15th century indentured servants.
I had basically the same reaction -- that these are silly complaints. The only server question that does get to me is the one I mentioned in the headline -- "Are you still working on that?" And I'm not sure why that bothers me. Maybe it makes me feel rushed. Generally, I like servers with strong personalities and wit. It's part of the theater of dining to me. But I'm well aware that many people -- like the commenters I quoted above -- think servers should be seen but not heard any more than is absolutely necessary.
How sad that in world full of rude and impersonal service that people actually get worked up over a service person introducing himself or caring about the quality of their customers' experience. I work in a retail esblishment and would like to voice my displeasure with customers who respond "just looking" when I ask "how are you?" What an unorthodox response. I was always taught that "fine, thanks" is appropriate.
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