Awkward...

Where do I begin.  Today was filled with the typical weekend craziness.  From awkward business diners, to practically every table needing separate checks, to lack of helpful management, to high maintenance guests, to server assistants who are suddenly MIA when you need them the most, to lack of glassware early into the shift, to not taking a lunch break and feeling famished most of my shift... this day couldn't have ended soon enough. 

A few points of interests from my day ...

The jerk from yesterday - mentioned in my last post - (who didn't tip me on a $200 check) came back.  He was one of the first people to walk in the door.  As soon as I saw him walking in I told the host not to sit him in my section.  He was given to a male server instead and ended up stiffing him too.  Big surprise.

During one of the busiest times, a manager who used to work in our department was helping out.  Although he meant well, he actually ended up making things worse.  He tried to split some checks for me and didn't do it properly.  I ended up having to help him back pedal out of the mess he created, and in turn, spent more time on that than I would have if I did it in the first place.

One of my guests flagged down another server (who happens to look like me.. simply because we have blonde hair and blue eyes) and rudely asked her to bring him the check.  She politely replied, "Who is your server?"  He gave her a confused look as to say, "YOU dummy!"  She curtly replied, "I'll let your server know you're ready for the bill sir."

A lady actually asked for just one ice cube in her lemonade.  Okay, that's funny.

Practically every single one of my tables motioned the universal check sign:  the thumb and index finger together, squiggling along in the air.  "Check please!"  I know, I know I KNOW!  I knew you wanted the check five minutes after you started eating.. I could tell by the way you ordered your beverage that you'd be waiving the universal "Check please!" sign irritatingly from across the room in a frantic hurry like the building is getting ready to collapse.  I'll be right back with that. Geese.

At some point a young man walked up to the host stand from the boardwalk.  He actually said, "I have a condition.  I might have a brain hemorrhage if I can't talk to my mom on the phone right now.  Can I use your phone?"  Seriously?  Yes, this actually happened.  I can't make this stuff up.

The awkward-moment-of-the-day-award goes to table #112 -  a party of six.  It was business luncheon which flowed rather smoothly until the end.  They waived me down for the check (yes, using the frantic thumb and index finger air squiggle).  Because it was a party of six, I was able to add an automatic gratuity of 18% (in the industry we call this an autograt).  When I dropped the check, I saw a few people take out cash.  I was thinking (and hoping and praying) they didn't want separate checks (because with an autograt it's even more complicated and time consuming than it is normally).  I gave them a few minutes and came back.  Two gentlemen asked, "Can we get a separate checks?"  Grrrrrr.... Although, because I saw people take cash out, I suggested I could swipe a specific amount for the credit cards and take the cash for the balance.  Again, I reminded them the gratuity was included.  This plan worked.  I swiped two cards for $24 each and took the $100 cash.  The bill was about $150 (including the tip).  I bought them the cards back and thanked them. One of the gentlemen who put cash in asked, "Wasn't there change?"  I thought about the math to make sure I did it right.  I told him, "I believe there was only a couple dollars left over sir.  He asked, "Wasn't the tip included?"   I could hear the crickets... I could feel the awkwardness sit like stale musty air at the table. It was obvious theses people weren't friends, they were hardly acquaintances.  And this man was asking for a couple of bucks back when four people gave cash and the change was only a few bucks?   Did they really want their fifty cents each?  I kept my cool and I told him I'd be right back.  Just to confirm I wasn't in the wrong, I printed the check, subtracted the two credit card amounts and the cash.  The change was literally $1.48.  I went back to the table with the printed check, including the math, and wrote the balance on it.  It was obvious that was the correct amount of change.  It was also obvious the embarrassment was at an all time high.  In his defense, maybe he thought the change was a lot more than that.  But when it was all said and done, he looked like the cheap-o at the table.  And it was awkward as hell to break the news to him.  But that's a part of my job...  One of the other servers said I should have just given him $1.48 in nickels and pennies.  That would have been hilarious.  I wonder if he would have taken it.