Etiquette Tuesday: Are You Waiting on Me or Them?
Wait staff, this one is for you.
Scenario: Have you ever been to a restaurant or bar or the like and the wait staff seem more interested in conversing with one another than actually providing customer service? Yeah, well we’ve been to a few of these places and it is not a good look. Servers, wait staff and the like, when you are at work, that means you work not socialize. Now not to say when the patrons don’t need or want anything you can’t chat a couple of minutes with your buddies at the establishment but the key is remembering you are there to work. Again, not socialize.
Our interest was sparked by this bad etiquette when we went to an establishment (*Which shall remain nameless…) and proceeded to interject in a conversation that the waitress was having with another waiter. “Excuse me, can we have—“, the waitress swiveled her neck to look at our table as if she were sitting down at the table and we were waiting the tables in the restaurant. Basically, she gave us the “why are you interrupting me/frustrated/i don’t really want to work here but it pays the bills” kind of look. Mind you this was no hole in the wall kind of spot, actually a respectable Downtown establishment. We had to assume that she was not pleased to be helping us after the blank expression she gave us as she brought over what we had requested which was quite a contrast from the million dollar smile she had been giving her co-worker. She could have been flirting or really enjoyed that persons company (*of course more than ours, she didn’t know us from a can of paint), but she was at work and that’s the bottom line.
Despite many thinking work is a time to socialize, it can be but there must be boundaries. Social hour ends when the patrons need your assistance. Point blank. If not, then maybe restaurants/bars/others that are run like the scenario above should allow patrons to just go in the kitchen and whip up their own meals and drinks because at the end of the day isn’t this essentially the message you are sending to the customer (*i.e. Do it yourself…)??…
Category: Food.Fun.Stuff.
About the Author (Author Profile)
Johnna French is a Harlem NY native with deep roots in Panama, Washington, DC and North Carolina. All four places have heavily influenced her life and the foods she loves today. After graduating Howard University School of Law and beginning her life as a young professional in the city she was led to start Johnna Knows Good Food in November 2007 to keep family, friends and colleagues updated on where to go and what to eat while dining in the nation’s capitol. French, who still practices law, leads a team of three writers to cover the ever expanding Washington, DC food scene. French has been featured in print and television, appearing in Washingtonian Magazine and is a regular contributor to various local TV affiliates including WUSA 9, FOX 5 DC and WJLA (ABC Affiliate) News Channel 8. During the 2016-2017 football season, Johnna aired on Comcast Sports Mid-Atlantic (CSN) show, Redskins Life, as the weekly tailgate host. Johnna is currently a regular contributor to the FOX Baltimore Weekend morning show.Subscribe
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