Monday night is a funny night to work.One never knows if it is going to be busy or not especially a week after the kids are back to school and summer holidays for all intensive purposes are over.Usually though it is not a busy night.
Last night I would have been quite happy to just grab a few tables and be one of the first to be cut and sent home.Sometimes a waiter after he has been busy all day doing other things just kind of wants to go in make a bit of money and call it a night.With yesterday’s events such as my youngest son’s first day in Junior Kindergarten and a lunch with my wife celebrating our new freedom of 3 hours a day in the afternoon I just felt like having a nap rather than going to work.It was a busy day.
At work in my 5 table section I had them all going at the same time.Some tables were just making me run.My sales for a Monday was pretty exceptional so the tips were adding up too.
But I had a table that was very picky you can say about how they wanted everything done.Well really it wasn’t that bad.The one thing that was different about their request was they wanted the Deep Fried Calamari with no grease , in other words drained out in paper towels so no oil remained.Different but not a big deal.
Everything came out as they wanted and upon leaving asked what my name was.Saying thank you afterwards I knew they were going to the manager on duty to speak with her.
About 5 minutes later she came over and said that the guest had paid me a compliment and that after work the house was treating me to a drink.Very nice indeed.
After work I enjoyed the beer and recounted stories of what the parties were like on the cruise ship and the places I visited to all the remaining staff who were around to listen.
But the neat thing about this is no matter how hard and efficient or good you think you are the best compliment a waiter can get is when the guest mentions you to the manager on how great everything was.Owners or managers are always getting complaints but they rarely hear anything positive.So when they do not only does it make everyone feel good but it raises the waiter’s profile in the eye of the manager.
My tip to other waiters is if someone is delighted by the meal and your service was impeccable ask them to mention it to the manager or host upon leaving.Bad news travels fast , good news never does.
Who knows maybe you will get a beer bought for you after work……..
stevennicolle 