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  • Witless Waiter

    So yesterday me and my friends Tom, Sam, and Nami went out to "Boysenby's" for a late lunch after Sam's shift was up at "Backwards R Toys."

    Our waiter was not very good. Now, in his defense, he was apparently somewhat new and wasn't entirely familiar with the menu yet, but this doesn't entirely excuse him.

    Boysenby's wasn't very busy that afternoon. I think I could count the number of other tables that were filled on one hand. Despite this, it took Waiter Witless a very long time to do anything. Drink orders, food orders, checking to see if we needed refills on our drinks...

    What ticked him past "hapless newb" to sucky was when Sam got his food. Sam had ordered a dish that ordinarily comes with chicken tenders on top of some pasta. These tenders are usually covered in a sauce that Sam doesn't want on his pasta, so he'd asked for the tenders and sauce on the side. When his food came, Sam's chicken tenders were bare. Breaded and all, but no sauce. So Sam asked Witless about the sauce.

    Witless: "What sauce?"
    Sam: "These are supposed to have sauce on them."
    Witless: "No they're not."
    Sam: "... Yes, they are. I thought there's supposed to be [flavor] sauce on them."
    Witless: "You're wrong."

    We all looked at each other, bewildered. Finally, Sam asked Witless to bring us a menu so we could confirm for ourselves. A minute or so later, Witless returns with a cup of [flavor] sauce, apologizes, and says that he's still learning the menu. So we were prepared to cut him a little slack for that, but not so much for his slowness.

    And then we got our checks. We'd divvied them up so Tom and I had our food on one check, and Sam and Nami on another. We get our checks, pull out our credit cards, and Witless comes by in record time to go run the cards.

    I should note that we'd gotten three drinks-- Nami had just had water, the rest of us had soda-- but only two sodas were rung up on the checks, one each. We didn't mention the missing soda to Witless because, well, we were still annoyed by the whole "you're wrong" thing. We might have been in the wrong for not owning up about it immediately, but again, we saw it as 'payback' for it.

    When Witless came back with the receipts for us to sign, Sam & Nami found that the amount they'd been charged was more than had been on the check they'd been given. Witless had spotted the missing soda and had added it back in.

    This wasn't right. If Witless had come back, before charging them, and had owned up to his error and brought a revised check for them to approve before charging their card, that would've been okay. But he hadn't, and had just added it in without doing so. We objected to this-- because it's less about his screwing up the check in the first place and more about the fact that he'd added in an item that hadn't been on the check. What if he'd gotten the checks right in the first place, and then snuck in an additional charge? That would have been Extremely Wrong.

    The manager came over to address the issue, he took care of it by adding a discount to the adjusted check, which effectively removed the charge for the soda that Witless had added.

    This experience, coupled with a recent bad experience at "Wednesday's," has kind of soured Sam on going out to eat at restaurants for a while.
    PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

    There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

  • #2
    Quoth Jay 2K Winger View Post

    Witless: "What sauce?"
    Sam: "These are supposed to have sauce on them."
    Witless: "No they're not."
    Sam: "... Yes, they are. I thought there's supposed to be [flavor] sauce on them."
    Witless: "You're wrong."
    Hey, on the bright side, when Witless tries this on a SC, he'll get reamed. You never say "you're wrong" no matter how horribly wrong they are. I always go out with the customer to physically look at a sign when they say "but the sign said!" Then I read it out loud and point out whatever is the issue. (Usually it is specifically excluded) If they want to argue that it's confusing, that's a whole different problem. And guess what? Sometimes it's an expired sale sign and we honor it!
    Replace anger management with stupidity management.

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    • #3
      I hope you left an appropriate tip...

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      • #4
        Quoth eltf177 View Post
        I hope you left an appropriate tip...
        The total on my receipt was $23.xx. I left enough to round it up to an even $25. I can't speak for how Sam & Nami tipped, but I know they didn't tip very well at all.
        PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

        There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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        • #5
          Quoth Jay 2K Winger View Post
          The total on my receipt was $23.xx. I left enough to round it up to an even $25. I can't speak for how Sam & Nami tipped, but I know they didn't tip very well at all.
          I was taught that a tip was for service beyond the minimum. Telling a customer "you're wrong" brings it to below the minimum - especially when the customer is proven right.

          I would have left no tip. (If he hadn't half-assed apologized, I would have said a 2-cent tip, which I feel is a more pointed message than leaving nothing.)
          I will not be pushed, stamped, filed, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own. --#6

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          • #6
            Debates about tipping belong on Fratching. I tipped as I felt was appropriate.
            PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

            There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

            Comment


            • #7
              Arguing over sauce on the side--which Sam no doubt requested when making his order in the first place--is something a waiter should never do*. Even if the dish really doesn't come with sauce. So what? It's a condiment. It's not important enough to cause a scene over.

              I had an encounter with a sucky waitress once. The situation was somewhat similar, but even worse. She stuck to her guns and there was no reasoning with her.

              Dad, Friend, and I went to a Steel Pan late one night for some good country cookin'. Being late, the place was rather empty, we were almost the only customers in there. Dad ordered the salad bar, I ordered...something, don't remember anymore, and my friend ordered off the menu.

              Not only was sucky waitress slow, her attitude was poor the entire time. When the checks came, she had added a salad bar charge to Friend's bill. We politely pointed out the error, to which the waitress responds,

              "I saw Dad sharing food with Friend!"

              Wut.

              Cue incredulous denial from Friend, and WTF from me and Dad.

              Incredibly she stuck to her story. Tensions and voices rose. Dad's demand for a manager was met with "There's not one here." Oh, really?

              Dad, though a scrawny fellow, can be quite intimidating when angered.

              In the end, she paid for all of it. Unlike SCs who threaten to never come back, we never returned. Shame too. Dad and I had been regulars at the breakfast buffet, up til then.

              *Unless it's just that type of restaurant, I guess
              Supporting the idiots charged with protecting your personal information.

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