Banker Leaves 1% Tip On $133 Lunch Bill In Defiance of ‘The 99%’ [UPDATED] – The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/02/24/banker-1-percent-tip-receipt_n_1299280.html

Showing that some bankers, besides being dicks, can’t even do simple multiplication. Thankfully, the bankers who frequent my joint, are not only NOT dicks for the most part, can also add, subtract, multiply and divide.

Study counters prevailing restaurant menu theories | Nation’s Restaurant News

This is interesting. I didn’t know that there was an “industry standard” diagram for menu reading. Look for corporate minions to over-react and rush new menus out to their far-flung outposts via Fed Ex.

http://nrn.com/article/study-counters-prevailing-restaurant-menu-theories?ad=news

Gordon Ramsay’s Dwarf Porn Double Found Dead in a Badger Den in Wales | thetelegraph.com.au

Best headline ever!

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/weird/gordon-ramsays-dwarf-porn-double-found-dead-in-a-badger-den-in-wales/story-e6frev20-1226137951576

Waiter hits Batali with harass suit – New York Daily News

This is a slightly older story but worth sharing. Plus, it will keep this blog in life support!

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-12-22/news/30548900_1_babbo-lawsuit-charges-joseph-bastianich

Angry CEO Allegedly Breaks Waiter’s Finger – ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/angry-ceo-allegedly-breaks-waiters-finger/

Time to give the finger back…

…AND lighten the wallet a little…

Languedoc – France’s lab for a new wine wave

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2012%2F01%2F08%2FFD0Q1MKP3B.DTL

Nice article for wine geeks.

Here’s to a safe and prosperous New Year!

I wanted to pop in and hope that each and every one of you is safe this New Year’s Eve. For those of you who have to work, I hope that the guests are generous and cheerful and I remind you that you’re getting off work about the time that crazy, drunk motherfuckers are getting behind the wheels of their cars. Be careful and make sure that you’re not one of those crazy, drunk motherfuckers.

For those of you who are dining out on New Year’s Eve, I hope you get the best service and I hope you have a little patience with your service staff. And, by all means, be generous, both in money and in spirit.

I hope to be more prolific in the coming year, but I haven’t been very successful in getting back in the swing of things. Keep your fingers crossed!

Be cool, jewel.

Holidays

Well, the holiday season is officially started. In many restaurants, this week is a sort of calm before the storm. Next week is when it gets started in earnest.

Now’s the time to get into the correct head space. Things worth considering:

Shifts, especially lunch, get longer. Cuts usually can’t happen when they usually do and this can be tough since we tend to get into a groove and a rhythm. Might as well just accept it now.

The closer you are to the mall or shopping areas, the more stressed out shoppers you’re likely to encounter. Try to be a little more patient with people when they seem to be on their last nerves. It’s hard when they don’t seem to understand that you’re just as stressed, if not more so. But this is the time where a little bit of compassion can pay dividends in the form of higher tips from grateful diners. Try to accommodate this as much as you can and you’ll find that it will pay off more often than not. This isn’t the time to really push table turns, even if you’re getting that pressure from management. A good manager will realize that table times are just naturally longer, but, as we know, not every manager is a “good one”. It’s hard to veer away from your normal practices but I guess I’m saying just try to roll with the flow of each table.

Be more aware of alcohol consumption and remember that sometimes, guests might already be coming from parties or other gatherings where alcohol has been served. Start watching guest behavior early and try to keep them safe.

Try to be as upbeat as possible, even as you’re getting your butt kicked or having the holidays kicking your butt just as your guests are experiencing.  This goes without saying, but sometimes it’s just hard to reflect a joyful spirit when the shifts are long, the diners testy, etc. Here’s one way of getting through it – remember that for most of us, December is like June and July combined. Your wallet will thank you.

And speaking of that, now is the time to squirrel some of that extra cash away, whether it’s to add to your tax withholding for the next quarter or as an emergency fund for the slower summer months (assuming of course that you aren’t in a tourist area that’s busy during the summer).

And, of course, now is the time to count your blessings, stake stock of your personal situation and plan for the next year. Just don’t make any resolutions please. Most of the time, they are just stupid and get forgotten by Valentine’s Day.

Happy Holidays from me to you and yours!

Waiters are people too

Did you see the special guest commentator on CBS Sunday Morning last Sunday?

If not, go here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7388992n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

 

 

Business dinners redux redux

In part one, we discussed the beginning of the business dinner.

We’re going to wrap up the discussing in this post.

After presenting and serving the wine, it became clear that they weren’t going to need a lot of entertaining, as people kept talking about this and that to each other. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason or any particular direction that the various conversations were going in.

So, this was my cue to ask if they wanted me to order some appetizers. Which they did. And I did.

 This gave me another clue as to how to wait on them. I suspected that they wouldn’t even need me to give them a song and dance about “The Specials”. Sometimes you can just tell that they are simply going to order directly off the menu. When this happens, the best thing to do (especially with a group of 6 or more) is to simply start going around the table and quietly ask each person if they’ve decided. This accomplishes two things. First, it establishes that the meal is going forward and, it gets the menus out of their hands. Menus can be a real distraction if you have appetizers coming.

So I started around the table and, sure enough, I got an order pretty quickly.

The rest of the meal was pretty standard. Appetizers were served and eaten, app plates bussed and new silverwear marked, salads dropped, salad plates bussed, silver marked and entrees delivered.

Finally, about 3/4ths through the entrees, one of the principals started making a low-key pitch. Apparently, they were trying to entice a couple of potential new account managers. At this point, I made myself scarce, although I stayed within eyesight most of the time. Whenever I had to refill a glass or remove a plate, I did it as silently as I could. I was like a Ninja!

As is the custom with a lot of this type of group, when they finished their meal, they were pretty much ready to wrap up the eating.  I gave them a cursory “W0uld you like to see a dessert menu”, knowing that they wouldn’t be interested. I did have a couple of coffee and espresso orders though.

At the end of the meal, I presented the check and the guy said, “Great service as usual”. I was pretty sure that this wasn’t the kiss ‘o death that it usually was. The bill ended up $1150. I thanked him and shook his hand and them proceeded to shake each of the other guests’ hands one by one.

The tip?

$240.

Nice.

I guess the thing that I’m trying to get across is that the business dinner can be lucrative if you follow the cues that your guests are giving you. Not every business dinner is going to go this smoothly or have a huge payoff.  The key is to go where they lead you, establish yourself with the table, and try not to step all over whatever business that they might be conducting. Just remember this as well - they don’t have to be overtly discussing business to be conducting business. Sometimes, the dinner IS the business.