Thats one thing I hate. The ole excuse of how many tables he/she has and how busy he/she has been blah blah blah.
Not saying its the servers fault, but it certainly aint mine. When the family and I want to go dine out, its to get out of the house and relax, not listen to someone complain about how horrible their job is.
Now I can understand if they had an unexpected party of 50 people show up un-announced. But save the bickering and excuses. Do the best you can with a smile on your face will go along ways toward getting a better tip than wasting time complaining about how busy you are.
having worked hand in hand with food service industries for the last 17 years, I can tell you that many problems are management/owner level problems.
When a non newbie server is having issues due to too many tables, they are being oversat. While it may be directly an issue of the host not doing their job correctly, or and issue of a rush of customers, ultimately, (owners ) management / training should be at fault on errors of how to handle this.
For instance, some companies in a rush to not have long waits or lines, instead, seat tables as fast as they can wipe them. If they have 3 servers on the floor and seat 40 people... it sure ain't the servers fault! At better tended restaurants, you will sometimes see tables open, but a full waiting line or room.. these places are keeping their waitstaff with a managable number of tables, so the tables already sat aren't neglected.
Order correct-ness.
Some places are structured that there are food expaditers delivering food instead of the server. IE, server takes your order, rings it in to the kitchen including any special info. that ticket prints or displays ont he line and is prepped. many times the runners ticket ONLY shows what table, and if they are LUCKY, what position the food hits ( ie.. seats are numbered and then clocked, so food being dropepd off gets handed to the correct person instead of having to ask who gets what. ).. in those cases, the server doesn't get a chance to see the food inbetween order in and delivery, however depending ont he equipment they have, may get a ding or page or text that their food is up or has been ran, so that they can then go check the table for correctness.
In the years I worked at establishments that had food prep hooked to entertainment venues, the VAST majority of incorrect orders going out were kitchen problems. I'd call it 1:8 ratio EASY of server missrings vs kitchen fubars.
Not defending anyone.. just saying.. if you want to get something done and complain... figure out who/what/where the problem is.
As an example.. I was at a cracker bbl at lunch, the host was seating people and wiping tables as people were sat. We came post lunch. our office went in 2 groups of 3, one group getting their a bit later than the others. They were keeping the waiting line at the front low and moving.. .. however.. I counted only 3 servers on the floor. I'm pretty sure we waited 4 minutes from being sat to being recognized by one of the 3 servers as not being seen yet, who took our drink order. another 4 minutes and our server came with drinks and took our order. took another 15 minutes for stuff to start hitting, and everyone at the table ( 3 ) either ordered 'the special' pre-made baked chicken.. serve out of the pan, or scoop-up stuff like the vegi plates. (me), or an egg biscuit with sunny side up eggs. Biscuits and corbread are premade items such as the chicken, and the vegi's. the eggs take? what? a minute to plop and get a little thick/runnyish stiff. ? Our second group of 3 seated about a minute after we got our drinks, and as I hear, waited 20 minutes for the same type of 'pre made' foods.. ie scoop and serve.
That is an example of a resturant overseating it's servers.
Some places cut servers after a rush and then if they get a 2nd rush are under staffed. That's where you need management and owners to know the area and the typical crowds, etc.
I do notice I did not see any managers on the floor.. sometimes managers will help run food or put out fires. I can only speculate that the managers were in the kitchen, and they had a light labor force in the kitchen and servers.. but that is a guess. In either case.. that's an example of NOT your server's fault...
Again.. I'm not defending bad business practice in the food industry... I'm the first to shoot off a detailed email or letter to a company about unaceptable service ( or praise when deserved ), and I tip based on service. Exceptional service gets exceptional tip... A few places I go witht the wife we shoot for a specific server... those servers have our drinks and know our little special wants or needs ( kind a like cheers! ). Their tips START at 20%...
