While it didn’t completely shock me, I was taken back to
learn the man who wrote, “Horribly slow service” on his credit card slip
proceeded to write a nasty review on opentable.com.
I was sitting at our pre-shift meeting when our manager
decided to read a few opentable.com reviews.
The first one was good. The
second one, however, not so much. The
review began with something about “waiting and waiting and waiting…” for their
food to come out. This comment grabbed
my attention and I began to listen more intently. My manager kept reading about their overall
experience and then commented on what food they ordered. At that moment, I knew it was the table I had
a few nights before (the one I wrote about in my last post).
The use of restaurant review websites like opentable.com and
yelp.com are a great forum to discuss food, ambiance, drink menus, décor, etc… And don’t get me wrong, I love and use these
sites. But I don’t write reviews out of
principle. As far as a public forum to
discuss service, people’s reviews can
be extremely bias and outrageously unfair.
From a server’s point of view, there are a multitude of
reasons why an open medium to discuss service
absolutely sucks. And it’s probably not
exactly what you’re thinking.
Take for example, my aforementioned post. I stated that this man seemed to be having a
bad night with his significant other right from the beginning. They hardly even spoke to each other their
entire dinner. It seems to me that, if a
couple is out to dinner and is generally unhappy, this is bound to reflect
their dining experience. This will
inevitably affect their perception of that restaurant no matter what kind of
service is provided. It was definitely
unfortunate their dining experience wasn’t as fast has he’d hoped. He was
after all “timing the meal” on his watch.
But I can’t help to think, if this man was involved an intimate conversation
with his female friend, or any time of positive conversation, I can safely
assume he would not have been as upset that the meal took a few minutes longer
than expected.
Equally as important as the unique human perspective is the fact
that quality of service can change in an instant. There are an excruciating number of factors
that can affect service, a lot of which are out of our control.
As a simple example, imagine how much a high maintenance and/or
large party can table can take up all of our time. While we are working extra hard on the
demanding table, other tables in our section might not get the impeccable
service they desire. This is highly
frustrating as a server, but again, something that can be out of our
control. Take that demanding table out
of the scenario and the remaining tables in our section will be taken care of
equally and fairly with no problem.
As another clear example, think of all the issues that can
arise when a restaurant is short staffed.
This can be a doozey. Imagine
what would happen if a line cook didn’t show up, if a bar back called in sick,
if a server failed to show up or if a busser called out. A restaurant can only function well if they
are staffed for it. If they aren’t, issues
can rise up in flames, taking the entire restaurant down in a stressful blaze. Again, another simple, yet complex, factor
that is out of a server’s control.
Bottom line, if you are having a bad experience as a diner,
consider what the server might be dealing with.
If your service is slow and you see your server hanging out in the side
station texting on their cell phone, then yes, you definitely have the right to
be upset and to yelp about it. But if
it’s obvious the restaurant is busy and you don’t communicate you are having a
bad time, it’s equally unfair to place full blame on the server.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; it’s all about
communication – from the server and
from the guest. I’ll let my tables know
if there are issues going on that will affect service. Most of the time, the guest appreciates this
info and is much more understanding. The
same rule applies for the guest. If
you’re not having a good time, tell us.
Otherwise how are we supposed to fix it?
It’s painful as a server to read a negative review online about service,
especially if the diner never said a word about being unhappy.
Sometimes, humanity sucks. And serving humanity is even worse, especially without proper communication.
Sometimes, humanity sucks. And serving humanity is even worse, especially without proper communication.
Don’t hate: just communicate.
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