Gracegirl

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

I'm Waiting...

So I've been thinking that I ought to blog more about waitressing. It can be so fun, and the people can be so interesting, that I think it might be fun to share. Yes, we get everything from tables of demanding, non-tipping teenagers, to the table of 14 good-natured construction workers that come in 5 minutes before closing. (I'm not kidding.) On Monday night, one of the other servers came up to me and told me that she was so angry at somebody that she couldn't stay long enough to close--she said she'd pay me $20 to close for her instead. Crazy, huh? I ended up getting $75 in tips that night too--much better than I would've expected. On a Monday. I don't get it.

I still haven't broken the Valentine's Day record, but I've been enjoying the steady tippage. I've had lots of fun getting to know my coworkers, and even my tables. One night, a couple weeks after we'd opened, I got triple-sat (three tables seated at the same time). I just quick-greeted each table, told them my situation, and assured them that I'd get to them as quickly as I could. They were all really cool about it, and later on my manager came up to me. I said, "Uh oh. Did I do something wrong?" He said "Yeah, uhm, actually--you have the vice-president of Red Robin at one of your tables." I looked over at the table he was indicating. It was the table I'd helped last out of all three tables. Oh boy. My manager continued, "He says you're doing a great job. Just treat him right, okay?" I said, "Yeah. Alright." But I couldn't believe it. My manager almost turned away, and then he said, "Oh, and one of the girls said that her table left a tip for you. Here it is." I looked at the slip--table 114. Earlier that night, I'd greeted the table, even though I usually don't do bar tables because I'm 19. I just wanted to make sure that they'd at least been greeted, and I could pass them on to one of the servers who could legally wait on the table. But the couple said, "Everyone else has passed us by. You're the only one that cared enough to stop. Can't you just be our server?" I told them that I wasn't old enough and that I'd get a manager to find them a server that could wait on them. I helped them as much as I legally could, and then talked to the manager. She pointed me to a server, and I handed everything on to her. I told the couple who their server would be, and said goodbye. I continued my night until my manager told me that they'd left me that tip--the slip was for $10. I couldn't believe it! They were so nice, when I'd hardly done anything to help. I kept waiting on my tables, and even got to talk to the VP of Red Robin a little more. He said he totally understood the situation I had when I got triple-sat. He said he would've done things exactly the same way. I got to meet his wife and his little boy too. That was a really cool night.

You get quite the assortment of people when you're waiting tables--everybody from the family that tells you that they want you to marry their nephew in Montana, to the little girls who draw you pictures on paper napkins, to the frail little old lady who can down a two-patty monster burger and numerous cups of tea, to the thirty-something ladies celebrating the latest baby born in their group of friends, to the mother-preteen son dinner dates, to the two guys who come in late and have the exact same burger and beverage.

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