The Waitress Has Left the Building!

[Yossarian]

So, yesterday I went out to lunch with my friend, and had the worst waitress I've had in a long time. This woman would never come to our table of her own volition. We sat down, and had to wave her over to get menus. Then we had to wave her over to order. My friend asked for a glass of water without ice, and I got a cup of coffee (also, we got food.) It literally takes her five minutes for her to bring over the drinks. And I could see the coffee maker from where I was, so it's not like she was waiting for the coffee to brew.

Finally, she brings the water with ice, and my coffee black, and then leaves. I have to wave her over again to ask for cream and sugar, which she then takes three more minutes to bring. I pour it in to my coffee, and it immediately curdles. I try to wave her over to get some more, but she doesn't seem to see me. I'm actually getting up to bring it to the cook (at a counter nearby), when she actually comes by. I tell her about the cream, so she takes it and tries to take it back to the kitchen. I politely stop her and hand her my coffee mug, and ask for another cup. She seemed surprised that I didn't still want that one!

So the food comes and it's actually pretty good. My friend's water is never refilled, but whatever. It comes time to get the check....and we wait, and wait, and wait... Finally, we are about to get up from our table and stand near the cash register to try to get her attention, when she suddenly goes to the front of the restaurant and runs out the door.

We just stand there incredulously, waiting to see her...maybe someone left their purse, or whatever, and she'll be back in a sec...nope. Gone for a good 5-10 minutes. This time we actually do have to ask the cook to ring us up. When I paid, I gave him a couple bucks in cash and said "this is for you guys, in the kitchen." Guess what she got...

According to someone who knows an employee there, the owner is a total jerk who tends to hire waitstaff on the basis of their looks and chest, rather than experience or work ethic.

[Canarr]

Well, her looks don't help you when you never see her at your table....

Had a - not really sucky, but annoying - waitress a few weeks back. A few friends and I were out to watch the game Germany-Argentine, and we'd found a table in a cafe with a big screen. Of course, the place was packed, so we were willing to take some waiting time into account for our food and drinks.

When the girl (can't have been more than 20) came to our table, she took the orders from five people while standing calmly next to our table. So far, nothing unusual here, except for her not writing anything down. It was only AFTER we were all done placing our orders, that she cleared a bit of table of menus, placed a small notes block on the table, then LEANED FORWARD, placed her elbow on the table and her head in her palm, and proceeded to let us re-state our orders, which she then wrote down, never abandoning her apparently very relaxing position.

We were stunned, since none of us had previously experienced something like that before. Well, at least she was better than the last waitress we'd had at that place, who didn't really speak to us but communicated through a series of grunts...