What Most People Fail to Realize (Part 2)

Welcome to Part 2 of what "What Most People Fail to Realize!" The topic I chose for this continuing series is "The little things mean the most." A few days ago, the boyfriend of one of the girls I work with brought her flowers at work sparking a conversation about how guys usually just don't realize how the little things mean so much.  Well, I gotta say that in most relationships the little gestures and words spoken mean everything to the receiver, and I've been learning how it's true when I do little things extra to make my customers feel like they're really getting great service.  Where I work it's not required by the management for the servers to do certain things like box the leftover pizza, serve the first slice of pizza, offer to take the checks up to the register or offer lids for sauce containers etc...but I always try to show that I care by doing those things and anything else I see may make my guests feel taken care of.  Even though many times they don't want me to serve their first slice of pizza or any of the other things I offer, I like surprising them with the courtesy of offering.  And, in return, I find that my customers return the favors like: thanking me for great service, complimenting my personality, leaving me thank-you notes or from my younger guests-coloring pages, and, of course, leaving bigger tips! Sometimes, I even gain their loyalty and friendship! I've been to a few restaurants, where the servers just do their minimal job requirements expecting to get the coveted 20% tips, but I find that restaurant's guests look to the little extra things to decide if their dining experience was good or not...like having the server engage them in entertaining conversation if appropriate. So, yes, I've come to realize that the  relationship between a server and their customer is very similar to a romantic relationship...it's a wooing process. And, sometimes, the wooing takes several different encounters before the customer expresses fondness, then there are times when the sparks fly from the very first! So, remember, the little things count in every relationship!


Also, I'm still counting down the days to the final count of my steps taken! I'm actually mildly surprised at what the results are so far, but there's one more week left in the poll so I'll keep any more comments to myself.  Well, except for this: Only three people have voted? According to the visit counter there are a lot more people paying attention to my Serving Tales than just three...so vote, please! All this talking about counting has me wanting to count my tip money...Hahaha, I think I've been a waitress for tooooo long.

So unexpected...

Okay, this isn't going to be a long post, but I had to tell this short story from today.  I got sat with a table of 5, set of parents and their 3 kids.  Their youngest was a boy of about 3 years of age, and he was throwing fits over soo many things, but he also said the cutest darn things! Like when I introduced myself "Hi, everyone. My name's Kate I'll be your server tonight, can i start everyone off with your drinks?" The boy's answer was: "No thanks, bye bye." And I was immediately dismissed by the child! Then when I brought out their pizzas, the boy dives into his to steal the sausage off of it...and I had to warn him "Careful, buddy, it's hot!" He says "You shouldn't make them hot, you should make them warm!" Hahaha! To a three-year old boy's logic, it seems very illogical to make cold food so hot that you have to let it get cool again to eat!

Really? Reeeeeallly? Seriously?!

One of my worst fears happened tonight...it was a very very(yes, I felt the need to bolden, italicize, underline and repeat the word in order to emphasize my point) slow night, and finally it was 15 minutes until close, and I was finishing up my last big task of the night: vacuuming, when...(insert drum roll here) a table walks in! (Gasp!) Our delivery driver walks over to me and says "Kate! Guess what?! Remember all those times you took a delivery for me late at night? Well...I got you a table! Have fun!" ::sigh:: Okay, so after some thought, I decide "No Big Deal" and reconciled myself to staying a little later than I thought I would. But, yah,  a table of three guys...They'll eat quick, not be complicated, and possibly tip well(because, guys generally do tip female servers well in my experience...regardless of whether we flirt or not!) I'll have them out in 30 minutes, and I'll be out 15 minutes later.  All of which, happened according to plan...except for the $1.77 tip? Yah, that wasn't part of the plan.  Seriously, you're going to come in, sit down, keep me, the manager, and two other guys past close, and then leave me not even enough to buy my own soda? I don't get it. So, yes see the title of this post to see where my thoughts were when I found out what they left for me.

Thoughts and Such...

I have not posted in a while, because there really hasn't been too much interesting or entertaining happening in the restaurant business as of late. I mean there was one frustrating moment on Friday, because of inappropriateness from one of my customers, but I really don't want to go into detail of that because it's not what I wanted to hear or what I want to have others hear from me. 

And...please, remember to vote on the poll on this blog! It just takes a moment, and my record-keeping of my steps is coming along quite nicely! I think you all will be intrigued to know the results.

Oh I just remembered a cute instance that I must share...I had a table of four on Monday, a mother with her two young sons (ages 8 and 10?) and another boy with an apparent mental handicap (age 16-17?) Well, I greet everyone with my normal "Hey everyone, how are ya'll doing tonight?" And the oldest boy immediately says "You're pretty." I smile and say "thank you." then before I can continue with the specials of the day, the other two boys chime in "He's looking for a girlfriend!" and "I agree with him, you're pretty!" Well, I immediately assure them all that I have a boyfriend, but I definitely appreciate the compliments...well, to make a long story short...the boys were more interested in me than in their food! Every visit to the table became ridiculous with comments of "You're a nice lady." "Do you have a facebook?" "You're so beautiful." "Does Pizza Hut have a facebook page?" And a hundred other things were said that I can't remember...it became a little embarrassing after a while.  The two younger boys were just obvious instigators...keeping themselves entertained with how I would respond to everything. The older boy was sincerely just trying to find true love! You could see the boy had an innocent and sweet heart. Seriously, though there was a refreshing bluntness and niceness about the boy...soo much that when he's walking out the door he tells me "My name is ______ ______ . Find me on facebook okay?" "Ummm...okay, I will." What was I supposed to say? I already told him I had a boyfriend, and I didn't think I should say "No, I don't really know you and I'm not going to look you up on facebook, because I don't want to give you false hope of a relationship."  Or should I have? I really didn't like the fact that I lied to him.

Also today there was an older man in his fifties with a mental handicap...I believe he was there with his caretaker who looked so similar to him that I believe it must've been his brother.  The man immediately offers me his hand and says "Hello, nice to meet you. " I smile and shake his hand and respond to the greeting in kind. There was such a sweet spirit about this man as well, that I started to think about how if only everyone was so friendly and genuine, the world would truly be a kinder place.  I also started to think about how there was a day where people with mental handicaps would've been rejected and treated as second-class humans...But I believe there truly is something to be treasured in these people...they have such innocence and genuine caring for other people, that it makes me think of Jesus saying these words "And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

So, yes, these are the thoughts that I have been thinking and pondering...and wanted to share with you.