Top 15 Things That Annoy Me in Restaurants

Skip is right...I know a lot of people in the restaurant biz who tell me what happens behind the scenes...waiters and cooks are very good at sabotaging or not really caring what happens to the food they are serving.

Restaurants in general annoy me. I enjoy eating in the comfort of my own home and to know that it was cooked right and from the right places

 

only one thing really bothers me.. no vegetarian/vegan option! :frown:

i went to a place like this years ago.. ordered a GARDEN SALAD.. it was more cheese than salad.. i cried.. i was not having a good day already.

 

This is true. A good friend of mine is vegetarian and she hardly ever goes out to eat based on the poor options of food. I feel bad for her because her choices are so limited with restaurants...

The only way vegetarians/vegans can go out to eat is if they go to the specific restaurants in the big cities that cost a fortune most of the time

 

You spat in the drink of an eleven year old?

 

Twelve-year old, actually. Yes, I did spit in her drink. But I, too, was twelve and immature.

 

Oh, lol when I read

I assumed you were a teacher, I didn't even notice your age.

 

Quality of the food.

Rudeness on the part of patrons or servers.

Poor service.

Although to be fair I have rarely had a problem when dining out. The few times I did, I never returned to that Establishment.

 

I used to work in a chinese restaurant...im pretty sure my immune system was at its peak at that time of my life

 

Chinese restaurants are usually so gross in the kitchens! We have one that keeps getting shut down nearby because of cleanliness

 

at least here in ohio, any and all tipped employees can be paid half of the normal minimum wage. here minimum is 7.40, so tipped employees need to be paid at least 3.70. tipped employees include severs, bartenders, and pizza drivers (although drivers usually make at least 5, usually normal minimum). maybe some other jobs i'm forgetting. you aren't actually 100% reliant on tips though, as someone mentioned earlier the restaurant is legally required to reimburse you the difference between what you made and minimum wage, if you didn't make minimum. so no matter what, you will end up with at least minimum wage one way or the other.

i think these things happen more in my own kitchen than in any kitchen i've ever worked in...

 

I don't understand though why the employer doesn't just pay those with serving jobs minimum wage and not consider the tips part of the income. Technically the employer saves money if the employee makes enough in tips. They act as though it suffices the rest of the income, as though they need to cut back on payment when really it's not even their money that's paying the employee in the case where one makes sufficient money in tips.

 

A variety of reasons
1. Keeps cost on menus lower
2. If waiters and such made full pay, people wouldn't tip them, at least not as much
3. People really like tips, customers like them because it gives incentive to the waitstaff to be more alert, waiters like them because really, people I've known who worked at restaurants that had decent weekend traffic made a freakin ridiculous amount of money for putting food onto a table and it was almost all from tips. And it's money not taxed since no no one ever actually reports the real amount of tips collected.

People like the system as is.

 

Tips should not be part of the income, the full income should come from the company. The customer should not be held for how much the employer is paid, although this is how it is in most places.

 

Poster catch phrase for the United States.

By the only comparison I'm familiar with (Canada);

1. Menu prices are decent, if they're more expensive it's likely only because it costs more to ship certain foods from elsewhere.
2. People tip when they're being served, regardless of what the server makes, that's just the way it is. One tips for service because it's the right thing to do.
3. Servers make good money in tips because people are decent and tip after meals/drinks. The server also makes a decent income paid for in full by the employer, above and beyond the income of tips.


From the sounds of it the American system you have sets it up so that the server makes a relatively normal income, even after tips. Here a server makes a normal income, plus an extra $200+ in tips per month. What's with trying to put a cap on people's income?

 

If there's one thing vacationers visiting America seem to agree on it's that our food, both in supermarkets and in restaurants is cheap as all hell, and our serving portions in restaurants are huge. People do tip when being served, but they tip a hell of a lot more when they know most of the waiter's income is coming from it, especially in a culture that's use to tipping. I had a friend who made normally $300 just on the weekend working at freakin Friendly's between tips and income, I can only imagine how much higher it would've been if one he wasn't goofy as fuck, or two he had had tits. And that's just friendly's, people at more high end restaurants, especially ones with bars can be pulling in over $500 just on the weekend.

Why would we change something when it works out for everyone involved. If waiters were making actual wages people would start leaving $1 tips to be nice. 15% is the standard everyone always to tip, but everyone I know almost always leaves upwards of 20-25%, 15% is basically the minimum not to look like a douche. Why change it if it works, waiters make a ridiculous amount of money they otherwise sure as hell wouldn't, and menus remain cheap so people with little money can still go out to a decent restaurant once in a while. If anything this is one aspect of the US other countries should take up.

I wouldn't say it's the poster catch phrase for the US either since both parties campaign on the fact the system is entirely broken, than do nothing to fix it.

Like I said above, who the hell wants min wage plus $200 a month in tips when a goofy as bastard as Friendlys can make $300 a weekend. Servers(*edit* I realize by servers you probably mean waiters, I'm thinking hosts and hostesses) at any decent restaurant make shit, waiters, waitresses and bartenders are freakin rolling in money at any decent restaurant, it's a job you have to work up to. I've known a lot of people who have worked in restaurants and I don't know one who'd want to change the current system. It's the only job populated normally by 20 year olds that can actually feed a family if need be.

 

To be honest I stabbed at $200 a month. I used to work at a full service gas station and on a bad day would make $10-$15 in tips, on a good day I'd make $25-$35, occasionally $50. Five days a week, add that to $12-$10.50 an hour and you have a decent income you won't starve over.

If restaurants simply upped the price of their food a little bit, they'd be able to pay the servers a full income, and on top of that people would tip. They may tip less, but to counteract that the server would be making a full income as paid for by the employer.

 

People would tip, but it'd be pittance of what they tip now since the entire system is built on the fact people know most of a waiter's income comes from tips, and the amount in tips taken in in a busy restaurant far exceed min wage and then some. On top of it for the waiters it means most of their income isn't taxed. Raising food prices would also just make it so poorer people ate out less. Changing the current system would in fact only benefit resturaunt owners in the fact it really wouldn't effect them at all, waiters would see their income drop most likely, and if not see a much, much larger percent of it be taxed, and the higher prices needed to cover the base wage would result not only in fewer choices for poor people, but a slower customer base in general which leads to less income for the restaurant, less tips for the workers, and less workers in general due to lack of activity..

 

I've worked in a number of restaurants and diners....all varying levels of hell, to tell the truth; however, that is basically the only business that won't suddenly decide overnight they don't want me for no reason...anyhoo...
The employers (owners) are ALL cheap-ass, I have come to decide. They will ALL tell you they are "just barely making it", no matter how much money you make for them that day/night. It is an unwritten rule in this grand ole US that NO WAIT STAFF is going to make even close to minimum wage. It is not fair, and the waitress/ers literally have to justify their positions (often) if the employers judge they haven't made enough tips. Never mind how much they expect of them....Waiters/waitresses do MUCH more than take an order (which can truly amount to dealing with the devil) and take drinks/refills. According to where they work, they have to "tip off" the cook, the bus boys, etc...all whom ALREADY make more than minimum wage! How fair is that?

Unless the law on this changes (which I sooo doubt it will), nothing is going to change about the pay of waitresses/ers, and overall, people in restaurants.

I read about all the supposed stuff that goes on "behind the closed doors" at restaurants. I'm not saying it never happens; but it is certainly the exception to the rule and in my experience it is the OWNER and/or Manager that does the "questionable stuff". If you want to keep your job you don't say anything about it either!!! You shut up and act like you didn't see it.

 

I base the tip on whether or not they refill my coffee without me asking

true story

 

in canada, i only tip the strippers