Another milestone

Just hit 30,000+ views since inception (April, 2009).

Very cool…

Thanks to all who have come by and special thanks to those who have linked to this blog. I appreciate all of you…

Mystery Shopper’s admiration for the blog “Waiter’s Rant”

How Waiters See Customers

This is a nice plug for Waiter’s Rant.

http://www.mysteryshoppersmanual.com/how-waiters-see-customers

Mystery shoppers are the bane of waiters, not because they are evil or anything, but because the threat of serving one hangs over the waiter’s head everytime he or she approaches a table. “Have I hit all of my service points”? “Is the kitchen getting backed up going to screw me over”? I sure hope that the lady that I dumped a carafe of wine on isn’t a shopper”. Thoughts like this go through a waiter’s head as he or she remembers the last embarassing recitation of the monthly shopper’s report in front of the entire staff (sometimes posted for a month on the bulletin board for all to see).

So it’s nice to see this particular shopper take some insights away from Steve’s wonderful blog. And every diner should take these hints to heart:

“For example, did you know that asking for a different table can affect the service you receive? Restaurants try to balance the number of customers being handled by each server, and asking to sit at a table by the window or in a booth in the back instead of the table they had chosen for you can affect the timing of your service”.

And:

“The guidelines for some restaurant mystery shops specify that you should not order off menu or request substitutions. These types of requests not only may affect the timing of your meal, the quality may also suffer. As Dublanica puts it, “In a restaurant kitchen, repetition is the key to consistency. You want your heart surgeon to have done ten thousand bypasses before he cracks open your chest, right? Same thing with a chef—if he makes the same entree ten thousand times a month, the odds are good that the dish will be a home run every time.”

I agree with this summation:

““Waiter Rant” will also help you to learn more about ordering wine, tipping and other niceties involved in fine dining. It is an entertaining and engaging read, and it will help you to understand more about the fine dining experience from the other side of the table”.

Not only should you check out Waiter Rant, you should buy the book. You can find the link to the blog in my blogroll.