20 Secrets Your Waiter Will Never Tell You

Yahoo ^ | 12/4/09 | Reader's Digest staff

[Daisyjane69]

What would two dozen servers from across the country tell you if they could get away with it? Well, for starters, when to go out, what not to order, what really happens behind the kitchen’s swinging doors, and what they think of you and your tips. Here, from a group that clears a median $8.01 an hour in wages and tips, a few revelations that aren’t on any menu.

[I still care]

I always watch the credits too! What interests me is where the movies are made. That’s usually at the very end, but it’s always fun to know.

[randita]

As a customer, one of my pet peeves is a constant parade of restaurant employees coming over and asking you “How is everything?” I can understand being conscientious about customer satisfaction, but it disrupts good conversation to have so many interruptions.

[pnh102]

If I like the service, or if the waitress is cute, I have been known to tip much...much...much...higher.

I always tip higher when we get a waitress, she's hot, and she wears less.

[m4629]

If the service was decent, I’ll tip in cash, which is not traceable by Uncle Sam, and put the rest on the credit card, which is traeable. That would sure help the server.

Given the service is equal, in similar situation, I’ll tip the overweigt, older, not so good looking fat chick server more, because she works hard and probably didn’t get much breaks in life. The nice looking chicks could do less with my money. That’s my little way of making things more fair.

[RobRoy]

Yep. My wife and I like to enjoy a nice meal and not have to wait around for a bill, go find the car, sometimes pay for parking and then drive home.

When we make a meal together we clean up as we cook and the meal is more romantic, MUCH cheaper, we’re already home and ready to relax - or, whatever.

And we may already be dressed for “whatever”. ;)

[savedbygrace]

I start at 20%. If the waiter/waitress refers to us as ‘hey guys’, I cut it to 10%. If s/he is slow and inattentive, or the food is not hot, I cut it to zero.

Rarely, I’ve been so impressed by the service that I’ve tipped more than 20%, but it has happened.

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

Best tip of the whole article and follow-up - if you are using a discount coupon, be sure you tip on the full amount of the food/bev bill. I have watched a lot of people bring a BOGOF coupon into a restaurant. They are so pleased at the low cost of the meal. They never think to tip the waiter for serving TWO meals!

[Starboard]

“In most cases my meal is better, I have the wine I enjoy”

Totally agree, especially on the wine issue. I can buy three bottles of a good wine for what one mediocre bottle in a restaurant often costs. Wine by the (semi clean) glass is ridiculously expensive.

[visualops]

Some of that stuff is ignorant.
The nonsense about the carrot cake from Costco- doesn’t that server realize that’s the case with all ingredients, that there’s a markup, and desserts are always going to be a big markup? What an idiot.
I waited tables for many years and while I worked with more than one disgusting jerk, for the most part they were hardworking people who generally wanted the customer to have a good experience and cared about what they served.
Also the line about not being honest about whether you like a dish- a customer loves to think they got some inside info so expressing personal likes or knowledge tidbits about certain dishes is a good idea.
As a server it’s often easier for you to accommodate the customer doing favors like splitting a dish if they are sharing or sauce on the side for picky people etc.
The one who complained about giving water that people didn’t drink- I’ve never worked anywhere where a table didn’t automatically get water with perhaps the exception of coffee or drink only customers or diner counter customers.

[DollyCali]

BTTT

[JohnLongIsland]

If the service was decent, I’ll tip in cash, which is not traceable by Uncle Sam, and put the rest on the credit card, which is traeable. That would sure help the server.

Once you put the sale on the credit card, it doesn't matter if you leave the tip in gold buillion, that tip is recorded.

[Shimmer1]

Meanwhile Plain Jane has just as many (or more) responsibilities and obligations but doesn’t get as many tips just for being cute.

[Squantos]

Agree !

[visualops]

If the service was decent, I’ll tip in cash, which is not traceable by Uncle Sam, and put the rest on the credit card, which is traeable. That would sure help the server.

Wrong. Many years ago Uncle Sam figured that out, and counts that as a server you make a minimum of x amount of the restaurant's receipts. The days of cash tips under the table are long gone. The only way around that is being off the books entirely.

[Squantos]

Who cares as long as she keeps rubbin.....:o)

[GreyFriar]

Or if the “waitress” is the coffee serving gal in the Cowgirls Coffee Shops in Seattle, who are quite scantily clad and serve coffee that tastes better than Starbucks.

[Labyrinthos]

Apologize for special orders. Something like “I am so sorry but I really cant have any Avocado on my COB salad. I can’t even scrape if off.”

Then don't order the freaking Cobb Salad. You know it has avocado. Get something else.

[visualops]

One place I worked at, the most popular waitress was an older German woman. She was fast and precise which of course matters, but I think most of the customers liked her gruff no-nonsense manner. She would always approach the table and say “Alright. Vat you vant?” LOL

[cripplecreek]

I haven’t been to a resturant in several years. I do order the occasional pizza from a local shop but thats about it.

[ought-six]

I pretty much agree with you. In my younger and leaner days I worked in food establishments (mostly as a bartender, though I have waited tables, and in high school in the 1960s I bussed tables). The restaurant staff were usually very hard-working, conscientious, and very much wanted their customers to have a good experience so they would want to come back and would spread the word to their friends (the best advertisement, for good or ill, is word-of-mouth from a trusted source). Sure, we had nicknames for regulars, and joked among ourselves about their peccadilloes, but when we served them we treated them like royalty, and, truly, we meant it.