The I Can’t Believe It File

I was looking through my notes for a good story idea and decided there were a number of things that were too small for a full story but could be used as a collection of rants. So I present The I Can’t Believe It File.

I feel the need to clarify something at this point. I do not hate this industry, I have worked with some really great people, and continue to, I would not have stayed this long if I did not enjoy it. Perhaps one day I will write about why I like serving. However, at the moment I feel like getting worked up about a few things.

I can’t believe some of the things that take place in restaurants. For example, I can’t believe you could own/manage a restaurant for more than a few months and not know what we use for pop glasses, what we use for water glasses and how we garnish our plates. How can you not know that we sell bottled root beer, and not fountain? I Can’t Believe you don’t know your own product.

I am one of the worlds worst spellers, I need to spell check everything and would love a phone that spell checked text messages. Yes it’s that bad. Having said that, we live in a technological age with all kinds of programs to help with spelling, grammar and all manner of things related to publishing documents. Perhaps this reliance on computers to fix our mistakes explains why people do certain things. People have become lazy. What other explanation is there for some of the things I have seen. As an example read the following story. We get a daily fish order, and thus our menu changes on a day to day basis. I have seen several things happen with this. For example, one day we ran a rib special (I know, a rib special at a seafood restaurant?!?!), the price was set at $14.95, except the menu said $4.95. One word Tweedledum, proofread. I Can’t Believe It.

I have had several guests comment on the perceived work ethic of our owners. A few Saturdays ago we had a packed house, no hostess, no busser and not enough floor staff. There was a couple at the bar waiting for a booth to become available. After about a 20 minute wait a booth opened up. Instead of cleaning the table so the couple at the bar could be seated, Tweedledee runs around looking for the server, and then stands and watches her buss and set the table. I wait for him to come and walk the couple to the table, five minutes pass and no sign of Tweedledee. Eventually, he yells across the store for me to seat them. I seat the couple and when I arrive back at the bar some of my guests comment on it, stating their shock at his work ethic. Something like this happens on a weekly basis, and I Can’t Believe It.

I can’t believe Kiss Ass came in for dinner with his wife on his night off. How romantic.

I am constantly stunned at how few people really understand the concept of teamwork. A few weeks back we had a staff meeting. This was an opportunity for the Tweedles to formally introduce themselves. It was also an opportunity for them to explain their concept and clarify some issues. One of the points they stressed was teamwork, they talked about supporting one another, running each others food, busing tables, etcetera, and etcetera,. If you run another tables food you should offer the guests P&P (parm and pepper), this was something the Tweedles talked about at our staff meeting, as this was not being done on a consistent basis. I am sure you can guess what I observed the very next day. Practice what you preach Tweedledum. I Can’t Believe It.

I Can’t Believe how many guests send food back. This is true regardless of what type of restaurant you work in. Guests are constantly sending food back and some of the reasons are truly amazing. On the flip side, I Can’t Believe how personally chefs and cooks take this. Guests send food back for the most ridiculous reasons, and when they do, the kitchen staff goes absolutely ballistic. Instead of fixing the problem, they rant for a good five minutes. I Can’t Believe they can’t see the big picture.

It felt good to get that off my chest. Have a nice week.

The Barman