Where I write

Where I write

November 3, 2011

I'm not Picky.... I just know what I want

In my years as a server, I've actually seen people look like this middle aged woman. I've probably worn the expression of that poor server. Yikes! Forget the tip at this table. Privately I think.... it's just food lady. It goes in one opening and will eventually come out another. Anything can be fixed when it comes to food. Yet, people can look this aghast, angry, freaked out, about a steak cooked incorrectly, a drink improperly mixed, something ordered that doesn't taste or look as expected. I could understand if it was your last meal and you were on death role, but really?

And yet, I must admit, I can be a picky diner myself. (Can you hear all my friends and family shouting finally she admits it! She's high maintenance!) Notice how in the photo above they used a middle-aged woman. Could it be that it is common knowledge that woman of a certain age tend to be, well dare I say, demanding.

Last night a woman came into the restaurant and ordered a hot apple cider. Here in Arizona it just started to become cool enough to actually sit outside for more than a minute without fainting. We haven't yet stocked the apple cider in Phoenix. We are just putting away our flip flips and ice tea. So we didn't have the apple cider bubbling in the back, with sticks of cinnamon nearby. I asked the bartender, James, what the lady looked like who ordered the apple cider. "You." he said.

I know what he meant. A picky older woman. "There's a group of them out there," he said with a sigh. "And you know how women get when they get in a group."

I do. I have been a part of a pack of demanding women. (In fact, that apple cider sounded mighty good.) And yet, I confess I have groaned when I see I have a table full of women to wait on. Which is wrong. I know it. But so many times I've gotten horrible tips from women.



Now these women look nice but my first thought would be they would scrutinize the menu forever, then ask a zillion questions and have the server running back and forth for more salad dressing, more bread sticks, another napkin.  I do that myself. However, I tip very well. I'm not certain about these women and that's the problem. Sometimes women ask a lot and tip little. Now these guys look super easy to wait on.

Put a beer and meat on a stick in front of them and they'll be happy! A lot of men are easy like that, just happy to have food and drink in front of them.
Okay so I know I'm wrong saying this about women customers, but I'm just saying what is common knowledge in the server world. However, women who have been servers, or whose mothers were waitresses, will tip very very well. Many times, women who haven't been servers just don't get it. So while I can be very picky, because I know what I want, I show my appreciate by leaving an appropriate tip. If the rest of the women in the world could do the same, I think the entire world would be a happier place. Or at least just the servers.
Well, I've got apple cider on my mind now. Doesn't this look delicious!

2 comments:

Brandy Lee said...

so that's why you were asking me tonight who i thought tipped better? i think you got it right in your blog... but then again you are always spot on here

SunsetCindi said...

That is so true for the most part. I'm the better tipper between my husband and me and what really peeves me is if the server dotes on him and ignores me since that will reflect in their tip. Though I must admit that I tip ok even if I'm not satisfied completely as I start thinking that maybe the server had a bad day or her child is sick or something else so I overcompensate, and like you, I've been there, done that. So we'll have to watch out the next few Tuesdays how badly we aggravate the servers!