Top 100 things that a guest should try to avoid doing, #26 – 50

A continuation of my post from yesterday. 26. Don’t ask if I’m sure that the coffee is decaf. Why would you think I would tell you if I wasn’t sure? 27. And don’t follow that with the worn-out “If it’s not, I’m going to call you at 3am”. 28. Don’t lie about what you’ve ordered. [...]

Your waiter could be a lawyer

So remember, not only can you be served by your waiter, you could be served by your waiter. http://www.abajournal.com/news/tales_of_deferred_associates_your_waiter_could_be_a_lawyer

Where are the snarky Top Chef posts?

I know that some of you have been overwhelmed with grief over the screeching halt to my awesomely awesome and semi-acclaimed recaps of this season’s Top Chef episodes. It’s a long and torturous story of benign neglect, natural selection, Mother Nature’s revenge, and a horrible sense of ennui. Well, basically what happened was we had a huge [...]

Top 100 things that a guest should try to avoid doing

This is a list of things that a guest should consider not doing (in no particular order). Note that these aren’t intended as absolutes – there are always exceptions to the rule depending on the type of restaurant that you are patronizing or special circumstances. Here are the first 25. Who knows? I might not [...]

100 things that a restaurant staffer should never do (first 50) – from the New York Times

From The New York Times Small Business Section: October 29, 2009, 12:39 pm <!– — Updated: 2:09 pm –>One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do (Part 1) By Bruce Buschel Herewith is a modest list of dos and don’ts for servers at the seafood restaurant I am building. Veteran waiters, moonlighting actresses, libertarians and [...]

End of the month nag post

Yep kiddies, it’s that time again. Time to look over the old uniform with a critical eye. Tennis shoes just about split at the seams? Pants frayed at the cuffs? Shirts irrevocably stained? If so, replace them and get into some fresh duds. With business picking up, you’re going to be needing to look good, [...]

BBQ sauce recommendation

The next time that you’re hanging out around the Dollar General Store, check out their “house brand”, Clover Valley Original BBQ Sauce. They have a Honey version that I haven’t tried. If you don’t particularly like sweeter BBQ sauces, you might not like this one. If you are a fan of a strong hit of [...]

Holiday season redux

I talked recently about going into the holiday season. Here are a couple of headspace adjustments (you military peeps who have ever worked with the Browning .50 cal machine gun know the reference): Assume that you’re not going to get cut early. Assume that you’re there for the duration. This can be a bit of [...]

Anniversary

When you come in for your 25th anniversary and order the dead cheapest bottle of wine on the list and when you say, “We know about your special (unsaid was this ending –  ”-ly priced all-inclusive”) dinner”, I guess I should expect a $20 tip on your $140 pre-tax bill bill, even when I treat you to [...]

Getting into holiday mode

As you might have noticed, my posts aren’t as frequent as they were during the summer. There’s a reason for that. In my market, Labor Day signals the start of the holiday season after the traditionally slow summer period. It’s a fits and starts sort of thing – shortly after labor day, you get an [...]