Enter party of 6 to table 44. Well at least half of them anyways. She gets drinks and an appetizer started. As she's getting appetizer plate for the table and drinks for the man and two girls currently sitting, a kind old gentleman walks in. He finally settles in table 46. So far, not that bad of a night. She goes and takes his drink order...a gin martini-straight up, dirty. He also wants the TV changed to the Ole Miss game. "Ok sir. Not a problem!" He also decides to take a moment to order.
She rings in the drink order in the computer and grabs the TV remote. As she's changing the channel, the other 3 people come in to table 44. She takes their drink orders and tells them about the specials. She goes to get their drinks and stops back by table 46. Still not ready to order, but he asks about his drink (which she's obviously not had time to run back to get--the TV remote is still in her apron for crying out loud). However, she sees that it is ready on the bar so she says she'll be right back with it.
She goes to get the 3 other drinks from the kitchen area, sets them on a tray, walks back by the bar to pick up the martini, and realizes that she has had another table go down at 48. She drops off the 3 drinks at 44 where the first 3 people have already guzzled down their drinks (one of which was a diet coke--she'll have to walk to the kitchen to get it). She promises to refill them as soon as she can. She looks around to see if her co-worker is available but sees she's just as busy taking an order at one table and at least another one that hasn't been greeted yet.
She runs the martini by 46 where the man has now decided he's ready to order. She glances at 48 where they have started counting seconds. Luckily the man's order is short and easy. She writes it down and rushes to take 48's drink order. They ask for two sweet teas and an appetizer so she rings in the app and runs to get the drinks. As she goes to get their drinks, the kitchen is calling for runners (someone to take food that is ready out to the table it goes to). A glance around reveals that no one else is around to hear it. "Got it!" she screams. She fills up 2 glasses with tea, one glass with diet coke (for the man at 44), puts it on a tray with 2 other tables' food, and heads out.
She takes the food by the tables where they procede to ask for extra dressings, A1, and one of the entrees is actually missing! Their server walks up at the moment and she relays the message. Then she drops the teas off at 48 with some appetizer plates she picked up on the way back up (she actually probably looks pretty silly with a huge tray and wooden jack for just two drinks and a couple of small plates). Before she leaves, she says she'll be right back for their order.
She sees that tables 45 and 47 have both gone down and remembers that 44 still hasn't ordered yet. She grabs the diet coke off the tray and stops because she realizes she never rang in the man's order for 46. She swings around to the computer to ring it in and grabs a pitcher of sweet tea off the edge of the bar. She also grabs some menus for the two tables. She drops them off saying she would be right back and heads for table 44.
She refills their drinks and asks if they are ready to order. They say yes so she sets the pitcher down to write their order. It's not too complicated but they do have some questions and one little girl has to rethink her order because they are out of what she wanted. Needless to say, it takes a few minutes. Finally, she finishes and can go greet the two other tables. She doesn't know which one was first so she stops and the closest one, table 45. She apologizes for it taking so long and gets their drink order-two sweet teas and a coke. They haven't decided on an appetizer yet. She gives them a minute and moves on to table 47 and does the same thing. They want a glass of wine and a beer. She finishes her spill with the specials and hurries off to ring in table 44's order, 47's drinks, and get drinks for 45. At this point, she is thankful that her section is now full.
**At this point I'm going to skip over all the other business--her going back to take food orders, ringing them in, and keeping drinks filled while they wait on their food. There's still plenty of action going on believe me, but most of it's redundant. Cut to the end of the meals.
Table 44 finishes their food and gets their check dropped off. They do not pay right away so she lets them take their time. Soon after the man at 46 and the couple at 47 finish too. She gets their tickets where they both pay promptly with credit cards. She heads back to the computer to take their payment, but on the way, 48 stops her and asks for a box and bowl for their leftover food and soup. Also it's the girl's birthday and she would like a dessert--strawberry cheesecake. She says that she'll get it for her and will be right back with the boxes.
She takes payment first, then heads down to get the boxes and a bag (she always gets a bag for them if they have more than two to-go items because it's easier to carry). She comes back and drops the payments off, thanks them, and wishes them a good night. Then she heads to table 48 where she offers to box up their food for them. She makes conversation during this and learns a little about her guests (when she has time, this is her favorite part of the job). She finishes about the time that someone brings up the girl's cheesecake. She wishes her happy birthday again and excuses herself to let them eat.
She grabs a spray bottle and towel to wipe off the two now vacant tables. As she's doing this, she notices that only one person remains at table 45 so she stops what she's doing and goes to print their check. (This is where it starts to get interesting!) As she is dropping it off, the woman still at the table says she would like to see a manager about the check (the one she hasn't even seen yet). The woman procedes to explain that the guy didn't like his pasta and this was his first time here and he would like it taken off (despite him having eaten all but like 2 bites). The waitress smiles and politely says I will go get her.
Now the manager, being a busy woman herself, is not easy to find. It takes the girl a minute but eventually catches up with her and explains what is going on. She hands her the check, and the manager walks back up to the table. At this point, the girl is informed that she has another table (her co-worker has now finished her shift and is working on going home so her section is now combined with the other girl's) however the bartender has already gotten their drinks, she just needs to ring them in.
The manager has now resolved the problem with table 45 and they are ready to pay, along with table 44. They both pay with $100 bills. Of course she doesn't have change for 200 dollars so since the to-go person is now gone, she has to find the bartender who has taken over to-go orders and is outside with a car. She patiently waits but the guests can see her. To them it probably looks like she's not doing anything. She's stuck helpless to do anything while they grow ever impatient. When she finally does get a chance to get change, she counts it out quickly and returns it to the tables, wishing them both a happy night and thanking them.
She ends up with $2.05 from table 45, more than what she was expecting. She continues to wait on the new table and continues on with her night.
If this seems hard to follow, then you realize just how much goes through your server's mind everytime you go out to eat on a busy night. Even if it's not busy, you can watch and see that your server is doing the best she can. This scenario played out in a span of about an hour. You might have expectations for how your night's going to go, but she can't help who comes into her section or what she has to deal with. So next time, maybe you'll be a little more patient, ask for extra items when she's taking the order to save her some steps, or just simply stop being so uptight long enough to remember your server is a person too. She has feelings and whether it looks like it to you, she really does care about her job and her guests she waits on. Because you remember that extra dressing that you asked for and never got? She didn't forget. I promise! It was only stored away in her mind where after getting in bed after midnight, she woke up at 3:30 in the morning only to remember that she never took it to you!
