When things go wrong during a visit to a restaurant, the customer tends to blame the only person they come into contact with: the server.
Unfortunately, this usually means a decrease in tip. Most companies forbid servers to inform customers of their ignorance.
However, thanks to my wonderful job as a columnist, I can do just that.
To the average restaurant customer, a server’s job may seem simple. Keep the drink full. Take the order. Bring the food. Take money at end of meal. Make great amounts of tips. Repeat. Believe it or not, it isn’t this simple.
Upon your arrival to the restaurant, your server must greet you with a smile, sincerely welcome you to the establishment and suggest the day’s particular drink specials.
Your server then gets your drinks, which may take anywhere from three to five minutes if the bartender must make them, and deliver them to your table.
If your soda tastes funny, it’s not your server’s fault. The syrup probably ran out, and there is no way to know that ahead of time. If your drink is too strong, it’s not your server’s fault. The bartender makes alcoholic beverages. The server simply delivers them.
These are not valid reasons to withhold tips.
After drinks are delivered and anything wrong is righted, the server must accurately record the food order as dictated by each member of your party. If this includes a long list of alterations, it is the server’s responsibility to keep track of each detail so that they may be ordered correctly.
The server must then immediately enter your order, taking time to ensure that salads, soups and appetizers are ordered so that they will be delivered to you in the order you request them.
If the slightest mistake is made in entering this information, your server must find a manager for assistance.
This can also add to his or her stress, as there are usually one to two managers per eight to 20 servers on any given night.
Waiting for a turn with the manager can take time away from your server’s tables. Please don’t let that interfere with the tip. Your server is only human. Servers make mistakes too.
If at any time you change your mind about your order, your server must go to the kitchen and interrupt the busy cooks to explain how the order is to be changed. At this time, the server must also explain to the kitchen staff why the order is being changed, as they tend not to be too thrilled when the server makes a mistake.
Sometimes, this requires interference from a manager, but not always. Cooks can be a server’s best friend or worst enemy.
Either way, a server’s job is to ensure you a quality visit to the restaurant. If you change your order, it is his or her job to make sure it gets changed. This will undoubtedly add to the time it takes for your food to be prepared. Please keep this in mind if you change your order.
Don’t hold it against your server.
When your food is ready, or “a ticket is sold,” the server must glance over everything one final time to make sure it is exactly how it was ordered. Assuming everything looks correct through your server’s eyes, the food is then brought to your table. There is no way, unfortunately, to check the inside of a steak for accuracy. If you begin eating your food and find it has been cooked wrong, please don’t hold that against your server. Chances are, someone else cooked it.
A server must maintain anywhere from three to five other tables, some of which are double and triple sat, while simultaneously keeping you and your party happy, keeping side work (extra restaurant duties) done, bussing empty plates and glasses from tables, expediting tickets as they are sold, helping fellow servers run food and drinks, helping hosts seat tables as they enter the restaurant, rolling silverware, answering the phone and singing birthday songs, all the while keeping a smile on his or her face.
As a customer in a restaurant, please keep in mind that the person taking care of you is making a mere $2.13 an hour.
The only other wage that person receives is the tip that you decide to leave them.
Fifteen percent of the total bill is considered a standard but servers should be tipped according to their performance.
I agree with tipping small if you have terrible service but, if your server never lets your drink run dry and does everything in his or her power to ensure a quality meal for you, show them your appreciation.
Keep in mind all the things that are not your servers’ fault and try not to hold those things against them.

Author