Things that Fly!

Bad People, Good People.

Forgot to Post this last Friday...

Most of you will know from previous posts and lengthy rants that I work in the service industry. It's not the best job, but its good money and I'll do whatever I can to save money for school and to move out. I won't lie about the fact that my job is a huge source of fuel for the cynicism I pass onto other perspectives in my life. I get angry with people who don't treat me like a human being (seems like an obvious response, but not many people choose places of work where this practice happens on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. The anger builds up when all you can really do at work is smile, and you're not allowed to throw food back in peoples faces). The majority of people are good people, but a small and persistant percentage of people are in my books totally evil. At least once a shift, a family, couple, single guy, older lady (It's totally random) will sit down pleasantly enjoy their meal, act happy and generous and when you give them the bill they don't tip you. At the end of the day these types of people get absorbed into the generosity of the majority and it all comes out in the wash. Also it's usually moderate sized cheques ($20-$50) and usually no more than one a shift.

A little background info before I begin my story. Where I work there is a mandatory tip-out of 2.5%. This means that if you sell $1000 worth of food you owe $25, it automatically is added to the amount of cash that you need to deposit at the end of the day. This money goes into a pool and is split up by the cooks and the hostesses. I'm supportive of this system, the cooks usually do an awesome job as well as the hostesses. The average I would say that people tip me is between %12-%15, and so subtracting the 2.5 percent isn't that big a deal.

Tonight was interesting. It was a really busy night and tables were moving in and out pretty much non-stop from 5-9. Rushes don't usually last more than an hour and a half, and so everyone was kind of spent. A table of 9 sits down in my section. They all order drinks (alchohol) and appetizers and then finally supper. I bust my ass getting their order together, getting it all put in the computer, making sure everyone's drinks stay full and taking numerous orders for refills. I run all their food out to them, make sure everything's tasting alright, do everything I can to make sure everything runs smoothly. This table spends about an hour and a half in my service and after bringing them dessert and coffee they want their cheque. The total now is $195. A guy gives me his credit card and I run it through for him. (It authorizes it for the total of $195, and I return a couple of paper slips to him to be signed, it's up to him to write in an additional tip amount or leave cash or leave whatever he thinks is right.)

After they all leave I'm clearing the table and go to check the slip. The guy left me $5. To put this in perspective the cook/hostess tip-out amount (%2.5) of $195 is $4.88. Something I didn't mention earlier was that on Friday and Saturday nights we have a bartender that makes all our drinks for us (normally we have to make them ourselves) and so we have to tip out the bartender on all the booze sales we made. This table drank two pitchers of beer, 4 Vodka paralyzers (doubles) and a vodka 7. The alchohol alone on the table was probably $50-$60. So I have to tip the bartender out about $5-$6. All of a sudden this table just cost me $6 so that I could serve them for an hour and a half.

It was the worst hit-and-run I've ever had but it didn't bother me that much. . . My Chicka and a couple of her cool friends were sitting at a table not too far away so at least I had a few smiling faces to grease the sad situation with, not to mention the fact that they left me an exorbitant tip-- of which I am wholly grateful but I always feel bad taking money from people I know.

So my bad table was a bit of a hang-up but not much. I've had worse nights, not where a table robs me like this but just where things don't run very smoothly and I let myself get hung up on stupid people. Right after the table left I showed a friend I work with the signed cheque with the $5 dollar tip and he was quite taken back. Obviously the people I work with will empathize this sort of situation the most everyone having been through similar situations. About an hour later a different server with came up to me with $25. I thought she had just taken money from one of my tables and needed me to get her some change and then another server ran wildly up to me and gave me a bear hug. At which point a few more servers appeared and Roy (the guy I showed the bill to) explained they had all put together a tip for me.

I was speechless. The money wasn't the issue. I didn't want it and as I said before I feel bad taking money from people I know even after I serve them, but taking money from friends I work with was something inconcievable. But despite great effort they wouldn't take anything back. It's the nicest gesture anyone has done for me in a long time and it takes a certain amount of time to sink in. I don't know how to describe it any other way than being overcome by the cliche warm-fuzzy feeling that won't let you stop smiling. It makes me really happy to know that I work with such great people, and that even though a small persistent number of stupid people will try to wreck my day that an equally small group of friends has my back.

I should have posted this a while ago, but after working that night I was too tired to finish the post. I'm thinking I should start up a sort of relief-fund with the money they gave me for people who are dealt similar tables. Anyways I have to get ready for work now...

posted by Rob and Lauren @ 1:41 AM