I'm going to write this with the hope that it will stop running through my head. Apparently, it bothered me more than I thought, because the specific incident happened a week ago, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.
I'm a waitress. I enjoy being a waitress, am good at it, and take a fair amount of pride in the fact. I work at a reasonably posh private golf club (which shall remain nameless) on the East Coast. (For anyone who doesn't know, there's a subtle but fairly significant difference between posh on the east coast vs. posh on the west coast.) While lunch at our establishment is fairly laid back, we do serve a formal dinner several evenings each week. For either, but especially for dinner, there are specific rules of service we are to follow, including which hand to serve or clear with and which side of the guest we serve or clear from, and always serve the ladies first.
The club manager hires students from the Hospitality department of a local college with the intention of giving them some real-world serving experience. For a seasonal business that is busiest during the summer break, this makes a lot of sense. Some of these "interns", though, have never worked in a restaurant before. This confused me more than a little at first. I didn't understand how someone could decide to major in something like Hospitality without having tried it out at first...but after talking to a couple of them, I understand it a bit better. (Some are more interested in hotels than restaurants, and there are many facets to Hospitality.)
This year, we have two interns working in the dining room. One has been doing great, and I think has at least a little restaurant experience. He's personable, smiles, and learns quickly from his mistakes, such as toppling a tray of wine glasses filled with water because he tried walking too fast. (That's exactly why we were doing the practice with water-filled glasses in an empty dining room.)
The second, though...lets call him "Pat", I have some severe reservations about. Pat has no restaurant experience, which I can understand. Everyone has to start somewhere. Lack of skill I can easily forgive, as long as someone is willing to learn. Skill takes time. However, a lack of caring, is harder to forgive.
Last week was Pat's first week of shifts. He started working at the same time as we started serving the new, full menus. Friday night he was supposed to be shadowing me. I knew he was supposed to be following me and learning how to take the orders etc. but apparently he had been told to, basically, "stick to my back pocket". I kept turning around and he was gone, apparently wandering aimlessly around the dining room. So, Saturday night, the dining room supervisor told me to stick to his back pocket instead, and try to guide him in the directions he needed to go.
Following him was, I think, more frustrating than having him follow me. Essentially, I was to keep my hands in my pockets (not literally) and direct Pat to what needed to be done. Some things are just a matter of practice and timing. Putting orders into the computer is just practice. Talking to guests is mostly a matter of practice. Taking orders from and serving the ladies first is largely a matter of practice...but is something you have to try to remember.
When Pat was taking the tables (we only had two all night, so it's not like we were that busy) there were more issues than there should have been. Some of the issues, though, I think bothered me than any of the guests. For example, one of the guests had asked about what was in the compound butter on his steak. Neither Pat nor I could remember exactly, so I asked the kitchen. Then, when I went out to the table the next time, I told the guest...then went and found Pat to tell him. I got a blank stare back from him...and reminded him that he needed to know in case another guest asked him about it.
A bit later, when the guests at that table were done with their meals and we took out coffee and tea, Pat served the gentleman before the lady, with the wrong hand from the wrong side. When I gently reminded him about that after we reached the server area, his response was "Does anyone really notice that kind of thing?"
Blink
(internal scream of exasperation)
(mentally give him a "Gibbs Slap")
My external response was that some people would...my husband would...and the Club manager would.
A bit later, a guest at our other table had french onion soup that was not as hot as he wanted, and we needed to have it re-made. Unfortunately, it had also sat at the table for a long time before we went back to check on the soups, so the timing of everything from then on was off. Still, we asked the kitchen to redo the soup, then talked to the dining room supervisor to see what we could/should do for the guest, and we were told that we would take the soup off his bill.
I told to Pat to let the table know that the soup was being redone and that we would take it off the bill. Pat told me that he'd just let them know when he delivered the soup...then went and wandered around the dining room instead of waiting in the kitchen for the soup. He missed the entire point...which was to let the guest who was waiting know that we were taking care of the issue, and that it would be a couple minutes.
I know he doesn't have any experience. Still...Hospitality is a service industry. Even if he's not interested in the restaurant side of things (he's not - he's more interested in Hotels), some of the basics still transfer. You want your guests to be happy. The higher scale the establishment, the more invisible and intuitive the service staff should be. The bathrooms should always be clean, but guests should never see them being cleaned. Coffee and water cups should always be full, and ideally the guests won't actually notice you doing it. Dirty or excess dishes should vanish magically from the table.
"Does anyone really notice?" If you're doing it right, No. If you do it wrong, yes. That's the entire point.
I'm a waitress. I enjoy being a waitress, am good at it, and take a fair amount of pride in the fact. I work at a reasonably posh private golf club (which shall remain nameless) on the East Coast. (For anyone who doesn't know, there's a subtle but fairly significant difference between posh on the east coast vs. posh on the west coast.) While lunch at our establishment is fairly laid back, we do serve a formal dinner several evenings each week. For either, but especially for dinner, there are specific rules of service we are to follow, including which hand to serve or clear with and which side of the guest we serve or clear from, and always serve the ladies first.
The club manager hires students from the Hospitality department of a local college with the intention of giving them some real-world serving experience. For a seasonal business that is busiest during the summer break, this makes a lot of sense. Some of these "interns", though, have never worked in a restaurant before. This confused me more than a little at first. I didn't understand how someone could decide to major in something like Hospitality without having tried it out at first...but after talking to a couple of them, I understand it a bit better. (Some are more interested in hotels than restaurants, and there are many facets to Hospitality.)
This year, we have two interns working in the dining room. One has been doing great, and I think has at least a little restaurant experience. He's personable, smiles, and learns quickly from his mistakes, such as toppling a tray of wine glasses filled with water because he tried walking too fast. (That's exactly why we were doing the practice with water-filled glasses in an empty dining room.)
The second, though...lets call him "Pat", I have some severe reservations about. Pat has no restaurant experience, which I can understand. Everyone has to start somewhere. Lack of skill I can easily forgive, as long as someone is willing to learn. Skill takes time. However, a lack of caring, is harder to forgive.
Last week was Pat's first week of shifts. He started working at the same time as we started serving the new, full menus. Friday night he was supposed to be shadowing me. I knew he was supposed to be following me and learning how to take the orders etc. but apparently he had been told to, basically, "stick to my back pocket". I kept turning around and he was gone, apparently wandering aimlessly around the dining room. So, Saturday night, the dining room supervisor told me to stick to his back pocket instead, and try to guide him in the directions he needed to go.
Following him was, I think, more frustrating than having him follow me. Essentially, I was to keep my hands in my pockets (not literally) and direct Pat to what needed to be done. Some things are just a matter of practice and timing. Putting orders into the computer is just practice. Talking to guests is mostly a matter of practice. Taking orders from and serving the ladies first is largely a matter of practice...but is something you have to try to remember.
When Pat was taking the tables (we only had two all night, so it's not like we were that busy) there were more issues than there should have been. Some of the issues, though, I think bothered me than any of the guests. For example, one of the guests had asked about what was in the compound butter on his steak. Neither Pat nor I could remember exactly, so I asked the kitchen. Then, when I went out to the table the next time, I told the guest...then went and found Pat to tell him. I got a blank stare back from him...and reminded him that he needed to know in case another guest asked him about it.
A bit later, when the guests at that table were done with their meals and we took out coffee and tea, Pat served the gentleman before the lady, with the wrong hand from the wrong side. When I gently reminded him about that after we reached the server area, his response was "Does anyone really notice that kind of thing?"
Blink
(internal scream of exasperation)
(mentally give him a "Gibbs Slap")
My external response was that some people would...my husband would...and the Club manager would.
A bit later, a guest at our other table had french onion soup that was not as hot as he wanted, and we needed to have it re-made. Unfortunately, it had also sat at the table for a long time before we went back to check on the soups, so the timing of everything from then on was off. Still, we asked the kitchen to redo the soup, then talked to the dining room supervisor to see what we could/should do for the guest, and we were told that we would take the soup off his bill.
I told to Pat to let the table know that the soup was being redone and that we would take it off the bill. Pat told me that he'd just let them know when he delivered the soup...then went and wandered around the dining room instead of waiting in the kitchen for the soup. He missed the entire point...which was to let the guest who was waiting know that we were taking care of the issue, and that it would be a couple minutes.
I know he doesn't have any experience. Still...Hospitality is a service industry. Even if he's not interested in the restaurant side of things (he's not - he's more interested in Hotels), some of the basics still transfer. You want your guests to be happy. The higher scale the establishment, the more invisible and intuitive the service staff should be. The bathrooms should always be clean, but guests should never see them being cleaned. Coffee and water cups should always be full, and ideally the guests won't actually notice you doing it. Dirty or excess dishes should vanish magically from the table.
"Does anyone really notice?" If you're doing it right, No. If you do it wrong, yes. That's the entire point.
