The angst of restaurant seating

[djkeev]

So, It is Valentine's Day, we went out for breakfast and again I noticed the visible angst and confusion that host/hostesses go through to seat you.They stare at a chart of the restaurant for awhile, sometimes confer with other staff nearby, lead you off to a table, sometimes changing course mid way for no obvious reason and then more often than not put us by the waiter station or the bathrooms!!!This morning, a HUGE diner, one other patron, you'd think this was the most complex maneuver mankind has ever come up with! Even at that she chose a crappy spot to which I said "we'll sit over there".What is so dang hard about seating? I know, I know, waitress load and balance but more often than not it just makes me chuckle. I wish the hardest part of my job was simply guiding people to a seat!Am I alone with this level of amusement with the industry??Dave

[ou.grizzly]

Did you ever think maybe she was new to the job or had a difficult morning where she had some anxiety which caused some confusion?Getting a kick out of someone who is struggling is not kind in my eyes.

[djkeev]

Quote, originally posted by ou.grizzly »Did you ever think maybe she was new to the job or had a difficult morning where she had some anxiety which caused some confusion?Getting a kick out of someone who is struggling is not kind in my eyes. Yeah, but it is often in places we frequent and it is the same people over and over and over.Dave

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by djkeev »Yeah, but it is often in places we frequent and it is the same people over and over and over.DaveWell, there must be a reason why you keep on going back; give it be the food or the service.

[djkeev]

Hey, I eat happy!! Got a chuckle before the meal and everything is good!

[Caretaker]

OK, here's my guess: it was Applebees (home of the worst service of any national chain). Either way, it bugs me too. You go to places like Olive Garden where they make you wait. When it is your turn, you go into the back only to see 6 empty tables. This is the same poor management that you find at store checkout lanes too. Places that make me wait to give up my money normally don't get it again. Is it really not more profitable to hire another cashier and have ample lines to take people's money, than it is to have patrons walk in and right back out when they see the massive lines in the store, taking their cash elsewhere? Business people continue to amaze me too Dave.

[djkeev]

Quote, originally posted by Caretaker »OK, here's my guess: it was Applebees.........While I've noticed this at Applebees,(I don't think they serve breakfast do they?), this was a local diner today . It seems to be almost everywhere I go, even at the "nicer" dining spots.

[Tubaryan12]

Quote, originally posted by Caretaker »This is the same poor management that you find at store checkout lanes too. Places that make me wait to give up my money normally don't get it again. [rant]I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, another thing that makes my blood boil is self check out lines. Every time we use them in a store we make it one day closer that someone else will loose their job to put more profits into someone's pocket. If I shop at a store, get to the front counter, and there is a line of people at the 2 registers they have humans running and the store has self check out, I leave my cart in its place and walk out. There will be less and less of us working if we continue to tell businesses that they can continue to take our money, and they don't have to hire us to do so.[/rant]sorry for getting off topic

[joatmon]

While I'm sure there are worse jobs, I feel sorry for waiters/waitresses, and am glad I don't have to work that kind of job. If nothing else, I know I'd have a really hard time always being nice. As a result, I have a lot of patience for wait staff. Same for cashiers in stores

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »While I'm sure there are worse jobs, I feel sorry for waiters/waitresses, and am glad I don't have to work that kind of job. If nothing else, I know I'd have a really hard time always being nice. As a result, I have a lot of patience for wait staff. Same for cashiers in stores*applauds* Respectful...

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »While I'm sure there are worse jobs, I feel sorry for waiters/waitresses, and am glad I don't have to work that kind of job. If nothing else, I know I'd have a really hard time always being nice. As a result, I have a lot of patience for wait staff. Same for cashiers in storesYeh - I do my best to be patient and keep telling myself just be thankful and happy that I don't have to work retail. I sometimes thank the cashier for doing what they do (because I know they aren't getting rich). At my local Kroger there is this older man (looks 75 if he is a day) bagging groceries. I am sure he is there because he has to, not because he wants to. There is another guy who looks to be in his sixties usually running a cash register. Both probably are good employees that show up on time etc. Very few get enough hours to qualify for any benefits. That is the name of the game these days.

[jimincalif]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »Yeh - I do my best to be patient and keep telling myself just be thankful and happy that I don't have to work retail. I sometimes thank the cashier for doing what they do (because I know they aren't getting rich). Absolutely!!! The fact that they are working, they deserve respect. Yeah, maybe its not a dream job, so all the more reason to treat them well.

[Sputnik]

I worked as a cashier in a large bookstore chain. It was horrid. I was call stupid because someone jumped the line and tried to go next and I wouldn't serve him. My coworker was punched. We got every little complaint. "I couldn't find this book, I couldn't find that book." "why is this section over there?" "why don't you have this in stock." You name it I heard it. If the lineup was long, I got yelled at by customers (and I was a fast cashier - is it my fault that customers are slow... digging out their money, counting pennies, asking questions). There really is no pleasing some people. They just hate everyone. Finally I'd had enough and just quit. I was unemployed for two months before I got into software testing (which is what I currently do).

[jimincalif]

Quote, originally posted by Sputnik »I worked as a cashier in a large bookstore chain. It was horrid. I was call stupid because someone jumped the line and tried to go next and I wouldn't serve him. My coworker was punched. We got every little complaint. Yeah, it's a shame. And what's the point? Who are you going to be more helpful to, the person who abuses you, or the person who smiles and asks nicely? A little kindness goes a long way toward both getting what you want, and making the world a little better place.

[tribalman]

as for the self checkouts, they aren't just put there. at the store i worked at the union had to approve them. and actually, they CREATED a new job. at my store there would just be 3 cashiers but once they put those in there was another person there.plus there is now the person who has maintain them, fix them, update them.i usually use them cause it's wwwaaaayyy faster, unless i start talking to co-workers. xDD

[Whelan]

OK I'll bite on the whole seating thing.Problem 1 is that you went out to eat on Valentines Day. I refuse to go out that day. You get the best service the day/night before V-day because they are slow, everyone is going out 24 hours later. So you get personal attention, great food, no selective menu, overpricing, etc. Also there are many different servers who each have sections typically anywhere from 3-5 tables depending on the restaurant and the skill/experience of the server. Take into account that if it was busy, the server you are given is backed up with catchin up to other tables as a load of people walked in at once and there is more than one hostess. Meaning that if they decided to put you in a certain section but the previous hostess already sat it and did not note it you could be tossed around a bit.Most hostesses are young, unexperienced, and not able to manage the charts very well. Sure for an adult it seems simple enough, but when your 16-18 and not familiar with the restaurant or were given instruction properly by the manager, it is very easy to get overwhelmed. Most good restaurants when they encounter a rush will have a manager up front (FOH Manager). That would be the Front Of the House Manager who sole responsibility is helping with seating and guest relations. So when they are busy he runs the charts because he knows the waiters better and can keep the right ones busy and not let others fall behind. Staggered seating works wonders. When I hosted before jumping into serving years and years back while in college I would always quote people 10-15 minutes MORE than what it actually would be. This resulted in people being happy that they were seated sooner, it would give the wait staff time to breathe. And it would weed out the problems. Problems would be the people who get flustered about waiting so long and would go somewhere else. You cut them from the beginning so they do not get seated and cause a stir holding everyone else up.Most restaurants have the following for management during busy times.Front of House ManagerKitchen ManagerGeneral Manager (MOD - Manager On Duty) - head guy of the nightBar Manager

[BlueCrush]

While mine is not about seating placement, it is about the length of time to be seated. My wife and I tried to go out to eat yesterday at 4:30pm. Apparently the rest of Minnesota decided to also go to an early dinner. There was a 2-1/2 hour wait at 4 freakin' 30. I know it was Valentine's Day but we figured we would maybe have a 30 minute wait at 4:30 not 2-1/2hours. We postponed our night out until Wednesday, went home and had leftover heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's from the night before...lol.

[Whelan]

Once again best time to go out around V-day is the evening before. You can go whenever you want cause nobody is out to dinner. they all wait for the special menus and roses, but your serrvice and food will never be better than it is the night before.

[tribalman]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Once again best time to go out around V-day is the evening before. You can go whenever you want cause nobody is out to dinner. they all wait for the special menus and roses, but your serrvice and food will never be better than it is the night before.i dunno about the day before. i would think that if valentines day is on sunday(like this year) or on a monday that the day prior would be rather busier than normal being the weekend and most people having off work. i find the easiest way to celebrate is to not celebrate valentines day, but instead celebrating Singles Awareness Day. it means doing something much more fun and spur of the moment (don't have anybody to tie you down ;D ). I've gone paintballing in previous years and the field was just perfect. you are also avoiding the places that are going to be packed; restaurants and other "romantic" spots.

[rebbierae]

I can see both sides of this. Yes it IS frustrating to have to wait so long, then find many empty tables, etc. But we as customers typically don't know what is going on behind the scenes--maybe there weren't enough servers on staff, or there were other issues. I used to work PT at a department store and it never failed--get some high school girl who decided not to show up for work today because her hair hurt, and 3 other people calling in sick, and bam--suddenly I'm the only one covering an entire department. Of course the customers are yelling at ME because they aren't getting served fast enough, and I'm trying to help everyone as quickly but as thorough as I can, all the while keeping a smile on my face. There were several times I felt like walking out because I didn't make enough money to have to deal with that. Like Joat and others have said--think of the poor person working a menial job for little pay, ask yourself if YOU'D do that job willingly, and have a little respect for the person, if not the company and their ways.

[Kari]

Working in customer service can be very trying, because it sometimes feels like no matter what you do, it's wrong. I've even had customers continue to be nasty to me even though I'm being very nice, AND I'm giving them what they want with no issues...it's like when they call, they are determined that this is going to be a difficult process in which they MUST be mean and nasty to get what they want. You'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar...and customer service agents are more likely to go farther for the customers who are nice than the ones who curse and yell. Anyway, I've never worked in a restaurant, but any time I've had to wait and I see empty tables when I'm seated, I know it's because they don't have enough waitstaff to serve those tables with the level of service they wish to provide. I'd rather wait and receive good service than be seated at one of those tables and receive poor service because the waiter/waitress is trying to cover too many tables at once.

[Sputnik]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Once again best time to go out around V-day is the evening before. You can go whenever you want cause nobody is out to dinner. they all wait for the special menus and roses, but your serrvice and food will never be better than it is the night before.Exactly! Hubby and I went out a couple of weeks ago as our V-day celebration. Last night I just cooked us pre-made cannelloni and some salad.

[star_deceiver]

Went out at 5:30pm to a popular local restaurant on Vday. BIG line up, impatient people... should've seen the looks on their faces when we walked by straight to our table! Good ol' reservations (and brownie points for me)!!!