Amateur Weekend

This weekend we kindly refer to as "Amateur Weekend" because this is the time of year when people come out who don't usually come out...amateur.
That preface is exactly why tonight was not as lucrative as we all would have imagined. We were on a decent wait for a few hours, but I don't think we surpassed 40 minutes. Not bad for our restaurant. When I worked for a chain years ago, we would go on 3 hour waits sometimes--insane! Anywhoo...
People were not in friendly moods tonight...perhaps they received their credit card bill maxed-out with Christmas cheer...who knows.
My very dear friend, and co-worker, shared this story with me tonight:
She was sat a table that, at first-glance, would be pegged as a "non-tipping table." Regardless, she greeted them kindly, giving them the benefit of the doubt (hoping that they were the exception). They were rude to her the entire time, and were shocked upon receiving an $86 check (I was shocked that they were shocked because there were six of them, and $86 is NOT bad for six people to eat AND have some drinks). So, after they left, she finds that they had left a total of $93--not even 10%--what the fuck!!! It's just a shame because that table set her mood for the entire evening...After having a bad table, it seems like all the rest are bad tables. It just fucks up the whole ebb and flow of the evening. Those motherfuckers.

My personal gripe for the day stems from something we all are guilty of at one time or another: gluttony. Of course, working in the restaurant biz, I see gluttony every second of every shift, but sometimes it is completely out of control.
At one point tonight, I was triple sat (a 2-top, a 6-top, and a 4-top), so it was slow-goings at first, but I made sure everyone had munchies to tide them over while I got drinks together. As I was setting the chips/salsa down at the 4, one of them ordered a dip from our appetizers. I told them I would have it to them shortly, but I would be back momentarily with their drinks. I brought the drinks out (for all three tables) in two trips (a bar trip and a soda trip), and as I was setting the drinks down at the 4, the woman who ordered the appetizer says to me (as if I didn't know), "Uh, we ordered the dip..." as if I were supposed to pull it out of my ass that very minute and serve it to her..."Yes, you did," I said, and continued delivering the drinks. There is no reason she should have asked me for that dip. It had been maybe five or six minutes (three tables of drinks, come on). So, after all my tables had drinks, I sped off to get their precious dip so they would quit looking at me. (It also occurred to me that no on bothered to run the dip that sat in the app-window, but whatever). I returned quickly with the dip and two baskets of chips (since they had already inhaled the one I brought them)--that was me being the Passive Aggressive Waitress again. I was wrong when I thought THAT would keep them happy...Before their meal arrived, they had finished off both baskets of chips (plus the one I brought at the start of their experience), licked the dip-bowl clean, and cleared all the chips off the appetizer plates (our dips come with extra "fresh" chips). So, without asking, I returned with another basket of chips, to which I receive "Oh my god!" and giggles from the girls because of all the chips they consumed...that's what you get for being gluttons--gluttonous treatment.

It was just like the man months ago who successfully drank three diets BEFORE his meal, so I brought him two WITH his meal (kinda bitchy, I know, but it was busy, and he was waisting my time). When he finished those mid-way through his meal, I brought another two...to that he says, "Do you want me to float out of here?" No, sir, I want you to vomit your way out of here...I don't WANT to bring you extra drinks, but you ARE drinking them! If you're not thirsty, don't drink. Idiot.

Lunch tomorrow.