Sunday, April 27, 2008

The Last Laugh.

Today was touch and go at the restaurant. The day started out pretty strong for me during the lunch shift, then the whole place completely died at dinner. I honestly didn't mind, this weekend was pretty crazy.

A reservation for an 8-top was being sat in my section in the early evening so I figured I'd make a little money, then get cut and be on my way. If only it were that easy...

The 8-top comes in on time (about the only thing halfway decent they actually did). I did my greet and they do the classic "I'll start with water..." routine. Eight waters later I have the lamest drink order to hit the table that night. This is when it gets interesting, and by "interesting" I mean completely fucking ridiculous.

They had coupons, not *a* coupon, but multiple coupons, and they insisted on using all of them for their dinner. I explained that we only allow one per table. They spiked the ball back at me by insisting that I work something out (split all the checks) because it doesn't say anything about one per table on the coupon (well played, cheap asses).

The meal came and went without event, nothing cold, nothing being sent back. After about an hour of useless conversation, water drinking, and stuffing their faces, they were done eating.

I threw out the old "Did you need anything else?". One woman looked at me and said "no", two men started discussing the idea of sharing a dessert but I was long gone. All I needed was that one person to say, "no" and I was off printing the checks.

The saving grace was that since it was technically an 8-top, gratuity was added, and on our computer system the gratuity is calculated BEFORE the discount. They made a face when this was explained to them but there was nothing they could do. Game, set, match.

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