Usually I limit my blogging to celebrities, music, entertainment, and occasionally a random picture/post here or there.  But tonight at work (I work as a server in a well known restaurant chain) I was SO annoyed by one of my tables that I need to vent.  Also maybe by other people reading this they will learn how NOT to act when out to eat, especially in this case, when you are with a big party.

So I go into work, its relatively slow but steady enough.  My manager comes up to me and a co worker and tells us that a party of 18 will be coming in and that we would both be taking care of them.  Splitting a party of 18, knowing we’re guaranteed an 18% (but hopefully more) tip sounded good to both of us.  So we set up the tables, and wait for the party to arrive.  In trickle the first 5 of the party, two adults, three teenage girls.  Me and my co worker greet the table and ask if they want us to start them off with drinks or wait until everyone else arrives.  The woman then tells me that the girls who will be arriving all play softball together and that everyone is going to need a separate check.  She said that usually servers learn the girls softball numbers and then keep track of the kids/parents orders in that way(get the hell out of here like I have time to learn all these numbers).  At this point I am already annoyed.  Restaurant customers just don’t understand the pain of splitting checks.  Sometimes its alright but when it comes to splitting a table of 18 up, especially when the people aren’t sitting relatively close to each other when they order is just a pain in the ass.  Think about it, I have to take one persons order then ask who else they are with, walk to the other end of the table, walk back, you get the point. Its not easy or fun.  Now remember also that I still have other tables I need to take care of too.  So I divide my sheet of paper into 6 sections (the number of checks they assumed they would end up with) and begin writing drink orders down according to who is with who.  More groups of the party begin coming in and me and my co worker continue this system, take orders, write it down on my sheet according to groups.  The table is finally completely full, drinks out, so we divide the girls/families up (she took 3, I took the rest) and start taking orders.  Again, when you have to point me to the other end of the table just to get the other person on your checks order, that is ANNOYING. And wasting my time.  So we finally have all the orders written down so we go into the back of the restaurant and neatly write them out on my divided up sheet so we knew how to split them up later when we needed to.  Well, of course more people decide to join the party, we have to pull up another table and again have to take orders of people who are randomly scattered throughout the tables. Foods all in, and comes out for the bigger chunk of people who were there first.  Everything came out correct, no complains what so ever.  Let me add in that before the food came out every 5 seconds another person needed a refill or more chips.  So this party of now 22 had us running the entire 2 hours they were there.  The rest of the food came out and again nothing wrong and no complaints.  We take their plates away when they are finished and its about that time to start splitting up the checks. 

At the time its a good thing both of our sections died down enough we could take the time out we needed to to split the checks (which takes a lot longer than most people would think especially when its a big party).  First we have to find our manager to swipe his card so we can start the process (pulling a manager aside on a Saturday night isn’t always the easiest task) then we can start.  Checks split, with an 18% gratuity added to each (better safe than sorry) and we hand them out.  The total before splitting was $280-some dollars so the 18% would be around $50, but for the way they ran us around and were pain in the asses about splitting the checks all over the place, a lot more than 18% was deserved.  Also let me throw in there that servers usually have to tip out at the end of the night.  On weekends we tip out 3% of our sales to the food runner, busser, and bartender.  So on that $280, $9 will be tipped out.  So that 18% is now even less after tip out. 

Most of the groups hand the checks back with cards but I see two groups looking at the check with that look like we had rung something out wrong.  So I approach them and ask if there is a problem.  They show me the check and explain that they think they are being charged the 18% gratuity twice because it is first listed as gratuity then as a service charge farther down the check.  I tell them no, you were only charged once but they insist they are being charged twice, now making me second guess it so I take the check and pull out my phone and start doing the math.  I add up all the food, add the gratuity, then tax, and surprise surprise, I was right (well, more like the computer was right) and they were NOT being charged twice.  One of our shift managers at this point comes up and asks me what is going on, I explain and tell her that maybe she should talk to the table.  Honestly when tables give me trouble and they are clearly wrong I don’t want to waste my time and energy trying to convince them otherwise. My shift manager now does the same thing, adds it up for them, on her phone and written out and they are still insisting they ‘don’t get it’.  After her explaining for 10 minutes they now ask to see another manager.  So our GM goes over and does the SAME thing, explains the check and why they see what they see and as I’m cleaning tables near by I can still hear them saying ‘it doesn’t make sense’ ’ i don’t get it’. Are you kidding me??!! How do you NOT get it?? And why can’t you just pull out your cell phone, as everyone has one now a days, and add it all up yourself? You will clearly see that the checks are correct and your charges are as they should be.  At this point I’m worried the manager is going to give them something for free, because clearly that is what they are after but then that would screw with our tip.  In the end he took the gratuity off of the check in front of them at the computer then added it back on so they could see that it was indeed correct.  That shut them up, they paid (not a penny over the 18%) and left us 4 with huge headaches to say the least.  No other group paid more than the 18% either so in the end we have about $50.  My co worker got 20, and I got 29 ($9 which will be tipped out as I explained earlier).  So we each made $20 off of an almost $300 check.  I make $20 off checks that are less than $100 and do less than half of the work I did for this party.  I’m beyond annoyed at this point and I swear the next time I get offered a big party I am going to politely decline.

So the point behind this post (besides the need to vent) is that when you go out think about how your actions and request are going to affect the servers.  If you ask for separate checks the least you can do is sit with the people you are paying with.  Or how about this..you all bring cash and split it up in the end yourselves!! You have calculators on your cell phones, you can do it I promise!! And it would probably take less time than having your server do it. Simple as that! I honestly think there should be a rule that with parties that big you cannot get separate checks but that’s just my opinion.  Also, if you run the servers dry the entire time at least leave 20%.  Just because that 18% is already added, you’re allowed to leave more! And in most cases you should!  Then that whole end thing where the two groups fought tooth and nail with the managers, you just made yourselves look dumb and cheap.  Both of which you obviously are.  Your argument was awful, it was right in front of you that you were wrong yet you chose to keep fighting and fighting.  Sorry, this time you didn’t get off with any freebies!!  Also when going out with big parties remember that usually 3% is tipped out at the end of the night so that big tip you leave may be not so big after tip out.  All friendly little pointers that will make your servers that much happier to take care of you and guarantee you have a better experience.

PS. I came across Marta Daniels website/youtube videos awhile back and she gives out great tips on how to be a better restaurant customer (http://howrc.com/) or if you are a kindle owner you should check out Marta’s book ‘How to be a better restaurant customer’ (http://www.amazon.com/How-Better-Restaurant-Customer-ebook/dp/B0043RSDY6).  Its only $.99 and well worth the read whether you are a server yourself or a customer.  As a server I read it and laughed in agreement at her stories and really do think that a copy of her book should be at all tables so that people can understand the restaurant business better.