Now is your big moment.
"Hi folks," you say, smiling sweetly, "How are you all tonight?"
"Three" is the grim reply, with barely a second of eye contact.
This is a classic moment in customer/server interaction. You asked them a direct question looking for an answer along the lines of "Fine thanks, we have a party of three for dinner, please."
Instead you have been given a numerical answer to a question that really requires a qualitative description. In fact your question has been brushed aside as irrelevant to the business at hand, namely the quantity of people in the party.
But is there not more to life than business? Is there no place for niceness in the arena of commerce? Can we not observe the bare minimum of social graces in our interactions? Can we not share our humanity for an instant?
That's why when I ask people how they are doing, and they respond, "Three," I like to say,
"Well, I hope that's on a scale of one to three!"
Usually this is like talking to one of the heads on Easter Island. You can be as witty as you like and they still just stand there staring blankly ahead. Every now and then you might get a glimmer of recognition, like they are thinking "Oh, what did they ask me?" Sometimes people even laugh and may even apologize for not answering your question more appropriately.
Regardless the reaction of the customer, I never fail to get a laugh from the co-workers, and lets face it, sometimes that's all you got!
sounds like someone needs to get out of the restaurant biz.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. We're looking for stories, though, not mean comments about the post itself!
ReplyDeleteMight I suggest getting a job in the service industry, working it for a while, then coming back and appreciating this blog and the stories for what they are, which is insider stuff.
Preesh.
the worst thing about hosting is when you take reservations, and the entire restaurant is full except for the reserved tables, and customers (without a reservation) come in and whine because they see those tables open and feel entitled to them. even though the sweet, kind, patient host has explained many times that those tables in question are reserved for folks who took time out of their busy lives to make a call for a reservation, it never fails, someone will flip out and get snotty with the host, who is just doing his/her job and trying their damnedest to get you a freaking table. if you don't have a reservation, then you need to calm down! we want you to eat, too, i promise!
ReplyDeleteI love when people don't have reservations, and you ask them if they do, and they get all indignant, like "Do we need one?" It's like, folks, we have to mark off the people with reservations as they come in so we don't keep holding tables for people we have already seated. So we have to ask EVERYONE whether they have a reservation.
ReplyDeleteI also love when people do have reservations, and they answer "Yes but it doesn't look like we needed it!" then laugh. It's not funny, and we will destroy you.
I have to say, my personal gripe about the host stand is when you say hi to the customers walking in and you don't even get a "three" you get the stare of, "You know what I want and how large of a table I need without me even speaking a word." I sometimes think that they are working on their mind communication skills, but then see that they aren't very good when I guess "two?" to the two people standing in front of me and they say, rather indignantly, "No, FOUR!", Right I should have known . . . sorry for my stupidity
ReplyDelete