Splitting checks…

…is up there with hot tea as the waiter’s “Public Enemy Number One”. But it doesn’t have to be angst-producing. There’s little that you can do when the guest makes it unusually complicated. For instance, sometimes everyone shares appetizers but wants separate checks. Or, people want to pay 2/3rd of the bill and want to [...]

Housekeeping note

The use of the term waiter on this blog is non-gender specific. It refers to both male and female food servers. If you have a hard time thinking of a waitress as a waiter, just mentally add the -ess suffix on the end. That is all.

Regulars

I’ve talked about regulars and call parties in the past. They are the bread and butter of the restaurant business and waiters. They can get you through lean times and they can make your job easier (most of the time). There is a minority of waiters that don’t care for call parties or regulars. They’d [...]

My Labor Day observations backed up by “More Bread, Please”

http://morebreadplz.blogspot.com/2010/09/asshats-rated-pg-13.html#more Yes, another restaurant slammed the Sunday night before Labor Day. Here’s where most people get it wrong: “Started off SLLLOOWWW, which was to be expected as it is the night before labor day and we have been having some AWESOME weather lately, so we all figured that people would be out at the lake rather [...]

Viognier

It’s French., It’s sexy. It’s a rising star. It’s Viognier. Pronounced “vee own yay”. it’s a white varietal that has long been famous in Europe, especially for it’s use in Condreau, one of the more exotic French whites. I say “exotic” because it’s flavor profile is different from the typical Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc/Pinot Grigio-based wines that Americans have become accustomed [...]

A waiter joke

Q: How many waiters does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A. We’ll never know. You can never find them because they’re out back having a smoke. Yeah yeah, I know…my day job is safe (for the moment). At least it’s original…

Change of seasons

We are now on the cusp of a new season. This has implications on several levels for waiters. The main one is the effect of seasons on the guest. This drives everything from eating habits to dining patterns to mood. Eating habits change. This drives culinary offerings in restaurants that have seasonal menus as well [...]

Happy Labor Day!

For those of you who are lucky enough to have restaurants that close for Labor Day, enjoy the fruits of your labor. For those of you who still have to work, I hope that you have been lucky enough to be compensated with an extra day off sometime during this Labor Day weekend. I meant [...]

And speaking of The Waiter’s Depot…

…we’re adding them to our blogroll. They have some well-chosen items for sale and I suspect that they’ll be adding more as time goes on. Tell a friend about them and let’s welcome them to Ye Olde Blog Roll with a hearty, “Can I get that delivered overnight”? I wanted to use their penguin waiter [...]

Waiter’s Caddy

Our friends at Tip20! have just highlighted the new Waiter’s Caddy, in Deluxe or Standard version (the main difference that I can see is that the Deluxe has a spot for your pen). The Waiter’s Caddy is an exclusive product of the Waiter Depot. The folks at Tip20! have a thorough description and photos, so, to [...]