Monday, July 12, 2010

It's That Time of the Year Again..

With the summer heat comes summer thirst and of course non-stop refills. Clothes come off and air conditioning goes on, unfortunately with that comes endless complaints that it's too cold in the restaurant.

I swear, if one more person looks up at me from their table, hands rubbing their biceps in a mock shivering pose saying "Ohhh it's COLD in here!" I'm going to snap. For real.

In my place we have decent a/c, just a regular size central air (nothing too crazy). It gets the dining room to a comfortable (even too warm some say) 74 degrees farenheit. Still about 3 or four times during the night you'll have the "too cold" performance, complete with shuddering and shivering as if it's strange that we have the air on. Sometimes they continue to do so after their husband has fetched a sweater from the car for them, just for effect.

Let's ignore the fact that 74 degrees is a perfectly acceptable temperature to keep the room at (I know some places set their thermostat in the mid 60s). It's SUMMER people, if the a/c weren't on it would be 90 degrees in the dining room!! What do you do when you go to movies in the summer? Say it with me folks, you "Bring-a-sweatshirt!" very good, well done.

So why is it then, people waltz into a restarant wearing nothing but short shorts and a tank top, then get upset with ME that the air conditioning is on.. get real!

Lets move on to the already mentioned non-stop refills. I don't mind getting refills for people, being consistent with refills is a great way to increase your tip; BUT when I drop an initial drink order to a table and as I'm taking the order I hear that annoying straw on ice sucking sound, (meaning someone's downed their soda in less than 60 seconds) I get a little annoyed. I know you probably spent the day in the sun and are dehydrated, but don't run me! If I'm getting you your 4th refill before your entree has come (and this is no an exaggeration) slow the fuck down. I honestly don't mind if you ask me for a pitcher if you know you will be drinking that fast. Acknowledge the fact that you have a thirst problem and I'll help you out in a way that works for both of us. If I get a little busy I can't always be watching your glass. It's obnoxious to drink that quickly in a restaurant and if you are that dehydrated maybe you should have had a few glasses of water before you left the house, or picked up a big bottle at a convenience store before you sit down to dinner.

The kicker of this, of course, is that many of the insane refill people do NOT tip accordingly. The tip really should be a little over 20% if you need that much extra attention. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about people who even drink a total of 3 sodas or Iced Teas throughout the meal. I'm talking about when the numbers get to be 5+ for a 45 minute sitting. It's taking my time away from my other tables, and possibly effecting my tips on my other tables.

So in retrospect, the most important thing to remember about dining out in the summer, (or going anywhere indoors for that matter) is BRING A SWEATER!!!

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