Gracias por los Mexicanos

One of the many reasons I love working in the restaurant industry is you never know what kind of day you’re going to have because you never know who’s going to walk through your door.  One bad table can ruin a shift; similarly, one great table can completely turn your day around and leave you with a huge smile on your face.   

I had one of those tables last night.  It was one of my first tables of the evening.  They were three energetic couples from Mexico City.  Naturally, we hit it off because they were impressed that la guera (the blonde, white girl - me) spoke Spanish.  They ordered bottle after bottle of ZD Chardonnay, snacked on sushi and were extremely high maintenance.  They were friendly but needy and demanding.  Every time I walked by their table, they needed another sauce, another bottle of wine, water refills, plates cleared, additional specialty sauces, lemon juice, sliced jalapeño’s, lime wedges, etc.. it never ended.  This is not a condiment buffet people.  But as the wine kept flowing, and as their bill kept increasing (and as my fortunate luck would have it, they were a party of six so I could include an automatic gratuity), I realized how much money I was going to make off of them.  And their annoyances turned into dollar signs.  Another bottle?  My pleasure!

I reminded my server assistant of how high their check was up to and so he began to pay extra attention to them as well.  He’s Columbian, so of course the Spanish was flowing with him as well.  I’m sure they felt right at home.   By the end of the evening, and after 7 or 8 bottles of ZD, it was like we were all one big freakin’ blended family out there.    

They eventually started to play music from their cell phones and singing along to trendy American music.   They definitely wanted others to take notice.  Luckily the people at the table next to them were two younger women who didn’t seem to mind. 

Finally, after apparently the host decided to cut everyone off, he came up to me and handed me his black American Express card.  His bill, including the automatic tip, was over $800.  I reminded him the tip was included.  He immediately said, “I want to tip you extra.”  YES.  That’s exactly what I was hoping for.  Did my manger just hear him say that?   He tipped me an extra $100 (in addition to the $125 included). 

I will never be annoyed with a high maintenance table at the end of the day if I am compensated for it. 

After all, that is why we do what we do.

Viva Mexico!  

And viva good humanity.  ~ HK ~