Sunday, May 04, 2008
Hospitality Desk
This weekend I had a fun service experience. Walking into a restaurant that shall remain nameless, we found that there was no waiting area to speak of -- such that aspirant diners simply had to sidle up alongside current customers -- and no hostess to greet new arrivals. After about five minutes of fruitlessly attempting to get eye contact from any waiter who wandered in our direction, we successfully got our name onto a list. This list was never heard from again.
"Mark, party of three?" a crazy-haired, potentially coked-up waitress would occasionally intone. "Wait, were there other people here before you? I'm sorry, I need a party of two. I've got a bunch of deuces ahead of you, though. Don't worry, everyone's going to get taken care of. We're going to have a lot of turnover, a lot of turnover. Everyone always comes at once."
When we asked how long she thought the wait might be, she assured us that there would be no wait at all because she was sure that a lot of people would be leaving right away. It sounded a little bit like a threat.
"Mark, party of three?" she continued. "Hey, I've got a four-person table. I can take two deuces, if you're willing to be friendly. Want to just share a table? I need a couple of deuces. Wait, who are you? When did you get here? Who was first? I don't know."
We did, in fact, get seated within ten minutes, so I can't complain too much. But poor Mark and his party of three waited another ten, even though they got there before any of us. And they kept casting us nasty looks while we ate. It was enough to cause serious indigestion.
This weekend I had a fun service experience. Walking into a restaurant that shall remain nameless, we found that there was no waiting area to speak of -- such that aspirant diners simply had to sidle up alongside current customers -- and no hostess to greet new arrivals. After about five minutes of fruitlessly attempting to get eye contact from any waiter who wandered in our direction, we successfully got our name onto a list. This list was never heard from again.
"Mark, party of three?" a crazy-haired, potentially coked-up waitress would occasionally intone. "Wait, were there other people here before you? I'm sorry, I need a party of two. I've got a bunch of deuces ahead of you, though. Don't worry, everyone's going to get taken care of. We're going to have a lot of turnover, a lot of turnover. Everyone always comes at once."
When we asked how long she thought the wait might be, she assured us that there would be no wait at all because she was sure that a lot of people would be leaving right away. It sounded a little bit like a threat.
"Mark, party of three?" she continued. "Hey, I've got a four-person table. I can take two deuces, if you're willing to be friendly. Want to just share a table? I need a couple of deuces. Wait, who are you? When did you get here? Who was first? I don't know."
We did, in fact, get seated within ten minutes, so I can't complain too much. But poor Mark and his party of three waited another ten, even though they got there before any of us. And they kept casting us nasty looks while we ate. It was enough to cause serious indigestion.
