Last night Chris and I were able to get away to Macaroni Grill for dinner while my mom watched Cam. Our waiter was GREAT! It got me to thinking about what makes a "great" waiter. I think it is probably different for everyone. I can say that for Chris, the main thing that he notices is if the waiter keeps on top of his drink refills. Chris is one that will stop mid-meal and wait until his drink is refilled because he has to have something sweet with what he is eating. So if he ends up having to wait several minutes while his food gets cold, it's not a good thing. I think for me, the thing I like the most is my food to come hot (I mean steaming hot) and I can tell it hasn't been sitting under the heat lamp for a long time.
Now this brings me to tipping. We always tip (at least now we do-don't get me started on how horrible and tacky I was in high school), but in cases like last night, we usually will double the tax and then add a few bucks. If the waiter wasn't very good, we'll just double the tax and that's it. I've never had a situation so bad where I hesitated tipping at all. My mom had a recent experience with her friends in which the waiter was rude and condescending. I wonder what I would have done in that situation. Have you ever not tipped because it has been so bad??
p.s. Could you not just make a meal off of Macaroni's bread?? Yum!!
p.p.s. Not sure if you can tell what time I wrote this blog, but let's just say I needed something to do while Chris went in and rocked Cam. Nothing more relaxing on a Sunday morning then getting woken up at 5:09.
5 comments:
To me a good waiter knows the product they are serving... they should be able to answer specific questions about the food. When they give me generic answers I don't like it.
I agree with having to have my drink stay filled as well... if I run out of water I HATE that.
Speed isn't a big deal to me. In fact sometimes I like it even better when they take a long time. At this point in my life I appreciate a nice long meal (as long as the baby isn't with us).
Oh, and I've NEVER not left a tip. I just feel way too guilty to do that. I figure everyone has a bad day now and again.
I too was up at 5:00 am (and 11:30pm and 12:30am and 1:00am.... with my sick baby).
Not related to tipping, but wanted to share that Abby was up at 4:40 am this morning. We must've got kids cut from similar cloth in some ways because she wakes up at the crack of dawn (or earlier) and takes whopping 30 min. naps. Nice to know there's someone else out there.....
Heather Heckler
Oh, dear--so sorry you girls are up so early!!
Don't think I've ever NOT tipped.
I'd like to hear from some of your friends who have BEEN waiters. Any input?
I feel like a waitress needs to greet us with a smile, not seem agitated or irritated with us, and be willing to offer suggestions for our meal. It is important to me to have my water filled too, but I think more important to have a cheery disposition. i have never tipped below 10%.
This may sound crazy, but we sometimes feel the need to show extra appreciation in the tip department when we have Mia or other kids with us. This isn't law set in stone, but we try to show our gratitude if having the kids there created more work (Do you have bananas? I need a new fork, this one fell on the floor! Can we get some crackers? I need a new spoon, this one fell on the floor! Can I get half a cup of hot water to heat her bottle? I need another new fork, this one fell on the floor! He spilled my drink. Can I we get a rag and a refill?) This doesn't mean we let Mia run wild when we go out. She's still little, so a lot of things aren't an issue yet, but they have been when we've gone out with others. Example: two broken wine glasses before deciding playing with them wasn't a good idea. That was a big tipping day!
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