A Word to the Customer

There seems to be a pattern among the various restaurants I have worked.  I am often confronted by customers with similar requests and the same demands. I guess its true what people say, wherever you go, you will end up serving some bad ones and great customers. You just have to learn to tolerate them.

When I was reading Phoebe Damrosch’s book “Service Included,” it reminded me of some of the customers I have served.  As a longtime waiter myself, I easily related to the same challenges of satisfying the most demanding customers.  Damrosch includes service tips for customers dining out which instantly gave me the idea to share some of my own.

Dining and Service Tips

• Respect authentic and traditional cuisine.  Don’t complain or ask us to change the way we serve our food. Green Tea is the traditional beverage for any Japanese restaurant. A customer had once asked us why we didn’t serve the green tea with milk.  Another time, a customer was angry and refused to drink his miso soup without a spoon.  Although we had explained to him the traditional method of eating miso soup, he complained it was unsanitary.

• Don’t order a full course meal and expect us to have it ready within 10 minutes.  If you don’t have time, there are plenty of fast food restaurants nearby. I hated being next to a movie theatre.  Customers would order a three course meal 15-20 minutes prior to a movie. Two sisters who regularly dined at our restaurant never quite understood that good food takes time to prepare.  They demanded that all their appetizers, entrées and desserts were to be delivered at the same time and within 10 minutes.  Funny thing, they ate their fried bananas with ice cream first knowing that it would melt.  Making things worst, they would only leave a 10% tip.

• If you need something, avoid hand gestures such as waving and snapping your fingers as a way to signal your waiter. I don’t know what it is about Asians.  Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against them as I am one too.  It must be a cultural thing, but you will notice in almost every restaurant that caters to Asians, it’s a natural way of getting something right away.  Whenever I saw someone doing this, I was so tempted to tell them, “Stop, we are not in Chinatown!”

• Keep your Public Display of Affection to a minimal.  Holding hands and a kiss is fine, but if you plan to straddle your partner in public, then please get a room! There was once a couple who came for dinner.  The boyfriend sat on the banquette facing his girlfriend sitting on the chair.  They were heavily into each other when suddenly the girl jumped up, straddled her partner and made out.  We immediately had to ask them to kindly stop as the restaurant was filled with other customers including several children.

• Don’t ask us if the food is fresh.  We wouldn’t still be in the business. Made-to-order is quite self-explanatory.  I worked at one restaurant that prepared almost everything from scratch and had several items that were made-to-order including sandwiches.  Is that tuna sandwich they make fresh? Do you mind if I taste it first? These would be the typical questions I would be asked.  Even though our rotisserie was in plain view of customers, a typical question would be, is that chicken fresh?

• If we are at fault, we will gladly compensate you. This doesn’t mean bringing your whole family in for a free meal. When a problem arises whether it is a food or service quality issue, our duty is to ensure the customer leaves satisfied.  Sometimes this requires a full dinner comp.  One time, a woman had lost her appetite after realizing a slight part of her chicken was undercooked.  After apologizing profusely and offering her a complimentary meal, she had accepted.  She informed us that because she liked everything about our restaurant, she would return the next day to allow us to make things right.  As promised, she returned but this time she brought along four of her family members.  Not only did she expect her meal to be comped but as well her entire family.  If that wasn’t bad enough, only the most expensive items on the menu were ordered.

• Please control your kids.  Avoid playing with the cutlery.  We would be happy to provide you a pen and paper for your child.  Glassware can be expensive. Refrain from hitting them. I have served my share of families and kids and to be honest very few of them have ever brought much joy.  I will never forget the kids who played with our cutlery or those parents who encouraged their kids to take cutlery from our service stations.  There would be forks, spoons and knives all over the ground and for the enjoyment of causing more noise, water and wine glasses were constantly banged.  You wonder sometimes, why we have to change our glassware so often or what happened to the parents?

• Be prepared to pay for extras.  If you want an extra item added, more than likely it will cost extra.  Just don’t assume it’s free. One of our regular customers would always order a vegetarian entrée which consisted of a mix of sautéed mushrooms.  He loved shitake mushrooms so he would always request extra.  Because he was a regular customer, the chef would add a bit more at no extra charge.  However, the customer was never satisfied.  We explained that for an extra charge of $2.00 the chef could create a small side plate of mushrooms. The customer was offended that we would charge him as he was a regular.  He never ended up ever paying the extra charge, but we also never ever gave him more than the norm.

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