It was a beamingly sunny San Diego afternoon. Yet, for some reason, ice water was bothering
people.
During my introduction at my first table yesterday, my
busser placed two ice waters down. The
woman said, “NO ice please.” He
instantly replied, “No problem, I’ll be right back.”
When I asked my second table what they wanted to drink, the
lady abruptly cut me off before I could even finish my question, “Two waters,
no ice.” Oh geese. Strike two.
After the second request for “no ice” at my second table of
the day, a server came up to me in the side station to vent about her table. “Oh. My. God.
You will not believe how this lady just ordered her water.” Apparently
it’s not just my tables today. Eager
with anticipation I asked her what she said.
The server disgustingly replied, “She asked for sparkling water. But she wanted two types of glasses for the
sparkling water: one wine glass and one tall cocktail glass. The cocktail glass is to be served with
ice. The wine glass does not need any
ice, but two lemon wedges on the side of the glass. Oh and the person with the cocktail glass
would like limes and lemons served separate on the side. “
Oh. My. God… is right.
What is up with people and their water
today?
Shortly after that conversation, I had another lady ask me
for “water no ice with lemon” at a table of six. My busser was too busy so I decided I’d remake
it myself. When I came back with it, she
said, “Oh, this is still too cold.” Seriously? I told her, “Our water without ice is this
temperature. If you’d like the water a
bit warmer, my only other option is to bring you hot water.” She glared at me like I just completely offended
her, then she pompously replied, “Well, I guess
you can just bring me the hot water. I’ll
have to wait for it to cool off.” Wouldn’t it have been faster to let the room
temperature water warm up then to send me back again to get scalding hot water
and wait for it to cool down?
Apparently, that’s what she wanted so I did it, albeit ridiculous.
What the general public doesn’t realize is that when a
server hears “water with no ice,” it signifies a huge red warning flag. Not only is it an inconvenience, (especially
during a busy lunch rush), but it suggests a high maintenance table and low tip
averages - a triple whammy red flag.
Allow me to explain.
An inconvenience:
Bussers are trained to bring ice water to the table as the
very first step of service. Nine times
out of ten, servers will not be able to catch their bussers before they bring
the water out to let them know the guest doesn’t want ice. This forces the busser to go back to the
station, remake the waters and return back to the table. As simple as that sounds, it can be a very timely
extra step. And during a busy rush this can
equate to a loss of precious time (on something as simple as water) when they
could be helping out with other much more useful tasks.
High maintenance:
If a guest is that finicky about their water, image how
they’re going to be when it comes to their food.
Low tip average:
The kicker in this “water no ice” scenario is that water is
a free item: a.k.a., we aren’t
getting any extra money for this running around monkey business (unless of
course you’re drinking still or sparkling water from a bottle, but I’m not
referring to those water drinkers). If I
(or the busser) have to go back and forth several times to appease guests’ tap
water preferences, we will most likely not see the financial benefit for our
efforts. And to make matters worse, people
who are picky about their water and drink nothing else generally have lower
check averages, meaning, yet again, I’m getting paid less for doing more.
I’m not suggesting that one should never order “water no ice” when dining out, just be aware that when
we do hear this, our internal red flag warning system will ignite.
So please keep that in mind; whether it’s a beautiful sunny
day or not.
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