Saturdays with an Attitude

I made it through another Saturday; another dreaded weekend crowd.  Although Saturday never seems to be quite as irritating as the Sunday crazies, it's probably the second most annoying day of the week to work in Food and Beverage industry.  Perhaps it has something to do with our perspective, our continuous awareness heading into the shift that it is the weekend.  Obviously we, as servers (and general industry people) know we signed up for weekend shifts, and most of us make better money on these days.  However, it's just hard to shake that "it's the weekend and I wish I was out of town or doing something a lot more interesting than this" mentality.

It was a beautiful Saturday this morning as I drove into work.  And while most people enjoy their Saturdays shopping, lounging at home, gardening, catching a movie, taking a romantic stroll on the beach or enjoying a leisurely bottomless mimosa brunch, I have to drive into work knowing unruly kids, pompous guests and cranky spouses are headed my way with a vengeance.  One of my first tables today was a party of six women.  I greeted them with a smile, but not one smiled back at me.  One of the ladies snobbishly told me they were waiting on one more person.  So, I took a few drink orders and left them alone for a while.  Ten minutes later, shortly after I saw the final woman take a seat in their party, I saw one of the women call over another server to ask where I was and practically began to order with her.  Of course I saw this all going down and so I quickly rushed to the table.  I politely reminded them that I was waiting for the last person to show up to take their order.  Most of them acted like I was speaking a foreign language.  The lady tells me her order and insists everything be very quick because they all needed to go to a meeting (which I'm sure was much more important than anything I've ever done in my life).  The attitude from these women made me cringe beneath my skin.  Happy Saturday to you too ladies!  I made sure I was at their table immediately after they finished their meal.  I cleared their plates and promptly brought them their check.  And of course, they sat .. and sat .. and sat.. for at least 15 more minutes!  Ugh!  Really?  It's a major pet peeve when guests act like they are in a huge hurry and then stick around chit chatting.  It truly makes me feel like they enjoyed bossing me around and treating me like crap, only to rub in my face that they had time after all.

There is no need for arrogance in this world.  It's one of the characteristics in people that I truly have no patience for.  Especially in this industry.  I am waiting on you.  I am serving you.  And you're going to treat me like this?  But at the end of the day, I know I treated everyone who I encountered today with respect, kindness and a genuine smile.  And no pretentious person can ever take those characteristics away from me.