In an earlier blog I mentioned one rude thing people do - staying past close. In this blog, I will give short descriptions of some other frustrating things customers do in restaurants.
Gift Card Tipping: It's a great feeling when you receive a gift card to a restaurant and when you get there you want to make sure you get your money's worth. So if you have a $50 gift card for two people, you may get an appetizer and two expensive entrees so that your bill is close to $50. It may seem like a free meal so you do not have to tip - BUT you do! Your server still has to tip out (remember that is 3% of the bill servers have to give to busboys and hostesses) on the total cost of your bill. Also, they served you well and deserve compensation - they don't get tipped just because you have a gift card that makes your food free. Often times, guests will just leave whatever is left on the gift card. However, you need to make sure that is a sufficient tip. If you only have a couple dollars left on your gift card, but your bill came to almost $50 - that is not a good tip in the least. You should tip well since you didn't have to pay for your meal at all. Also, if you have $10 left on your gift card, but you only want to tip $8 to get to 20%. That is kind of a waste. You might as well leave the rest of the gift card to your server - are you really going to come back to the restaurant and use a gift card with $2 on it? At the very least, make sure you are tipping on the full amount of your bill no matter how you end up paying.
Soda Refills: At Outback, we charge $2.50 for a soda. So, if you are eating there you definitely want to get your money's worth out of that soda since you could have bought a whole liter of it for only a dollar at Wal-Mart. However, if you go through six sodas during one meal it is very frustrating for a server. At most restaurants, there are only pitchers of tea and water so each time you need a new soda your server has to go to the back and get you a new glass of soda. It's one thing if you do this on a Sunday afternoon when there isn't much business, but on a Friday night when your server is already overloaded - be aware how much extra work your server is going through just because you want to drink a gallon of diet coke. If you do want that much soda, at least be lenient with your server and don't get too upset if it takes them a couple minutes to refill your drink. As a side note - no one needs to drink that much soda in one sitting.
Straws: At Outback, we bring out bread and appetizer plates with our drinks so we always have to carry a small tray. If there are four or more people, that tray is pretty heavy. Luckily, we can usually set it on the end of the table in order to pass out the drinks, but not always. EIther way, it is quite common for the person who gets their drink first or second to ask for a straw before we even have unloaded our tray. We all carry straws on our tray or in our pocket - they are in plain sight to show that we brought them for the table. When you ask me for a straw and my hands are totally full, I have to hold back not to snap at you. Be patient with your sever, if they don't give you a straw once all the drinks are passed out, that is the polite time to ask for one. Not when their hands are totally full. It also undermines them and makes them look like they are not a prepared server.
Full hands: Severs are supposed to pre-bus, to remove plates when customers are finished with them. Often times we pile a large amount of plates into our hands and are quite strained since they are so heavy. One very rude thing people do is try and pass you plates when your hands are clearly already full. My way of dealing with this is to use humor, "Haha I think I am all full but I will be back in just a second to get that for you." However, sometimes customers look at you like you are weak or not taking care of them by refusing their dirty dishes. As a customer, if a server's hands are full, put anything you are finished with at the end of the table. They will come and get it when they have a chance and it will be out of your way too.
Asking for Things: It's the job of a sever to get a customer anything they want. However, customers should be courteous with requests and try to make things easier on a server. Something very frustrating that people do is ask for one thing and then as soon as you get back, they realized they forgot to ask for something but now they need it. On busy nights this is especially frustrating for a server who is already multi-tasking. You know you need to get that item for a customer or else your tip will suffer, but at the same time you need to take an order. Customers should be considerate and try and ask for whatever they need when the server heads off to get something the first time.
Taking Extras Too Far: This is a rare thing people do, but when they do it, it's extremely rude. People can take getting extra of something way too far. For example, once a table is finished with a loaf of bread we already offer more. However, you will get tables of three people who go through six loafs of bread. That is just a rude thing to do. Another example comes from a shift I worked last week. A woman at my table didn't order a salad, but her friends did. Instead, she asked if I could bring out a bowl of croutons, cheese, and dressing. Of course she did not want to be charged for this, although I should have. That is a very rude thing to do and is really just taking advantage of the restaurant. It's also a difficult task for your server, who doesn't want to anger their table by charging, but doesn't want to get in trouble for providing that for free. The last example comes when people ask for too much dressing. If you get a side salad, there is no reason for you to have four sides of ranch dressing. Not only is that horrible for your health and weight, but it's a hassle for your server to continue bringing you such large amounts of dressing.
These are just some small things customers do when eating out that are just rude. Keep these in mind next time you eat out!
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