The service industry has always peaked my interest and ever since I started working in it I learned about the Do’s and the Don’ts. I’ve grown to anticipate bad tips and have learned what kind of people will treat me badly. Being a bartender you experience many unspeakable things that make you wonder about society as a whole. When you go out with a person and they treat their server badly that is a true deal breaker in that new relationship. I remember my dad always telling me to make sure to tip the servers well because they are the ones that handle the food right before it gets to you, and without them we wouldn’t be eating. I take that very seriously now.
Many things, I have found, have become very irritating to me and they seem to be attributes that people have developed when being served. The first thing that stands out to me is eye contact. When you are in a restaurant and the server builds up the confidence to look you directly in the eye when he recites the corporate crap that he has to say, at least stare back at him. Give him/her the attention they deserve because they spend hours saying the same thing to each individual table and sixty percent of the time they are ignored. In addition they are most likely cut off mid-sentence. What kind of human deliberately butts into a conversation to just say, “Pepsi.” There is no please or thank you, but this enormous gap that develops between the server and the guest present. The expectation that we, as servers, are only there to serve your every wish is completely ignorant.
Once we complete the introduction there is usually some time for the server to relax and recollect on his/her life before your food comes out. What happens during this time will let me know what kind of people I am dealing with. The amount of liquid you intake into your body is not supposed to be 4-5 gallons within this thirty-minute period. Physically there must be something wrong with you to find it necessary to drink and slurp down four cups of strawberry lemonade each time I place the damn cup in front of you. It takes time out of my shift and away from my other guests to have to get each individual cup of soft drink for you and your three other teenage friends. All I ask in return during this hour/hour and a half of service is to at least treat me well and eventually leave me a fifteen to twenty percent tip at the end. If you don’t have the money I understand, but don’t belittle me and expect me to run to you when you snap your fingers. Seriously, never snap your fingers.
