Waitress Nightmares

We brought a few extras.

It's a busy night and every table in the dinning room is booked sometime between 6:00 and 7:30. The reservation for 10 people at 6:30 is right on time. The person that made the reservation says, "Some friends stopped by so we brought them along. There are 15 in our party now, we just pulled these two tables over here and we have plenty of room." Then someone asks, "Why did our waitress just walk away crying?"

If the number in your party changes after you make a reservation, please call ahead and ask if that will cause a problem. Usually something can be worked out. Sometimes knowing just a few minutes earlier can make a big difference.

Separate checks please.

It was a rather large table, the waitress did a fine job in getting the food delivered. Everyone had drinks, some had two, four had dessert. The plates were all cleared away and the waitress brought the check. Then someone said, "That will be separate checks. Put the one in the middle and the one on the end on mine." Someone else said, "The lady in the pink dress is with me." As the waitress walked away she was mumbling, "Now, I'm supposed to remember what everyone had."

Separate checks are often a good idea. The diner can order what they really would like without feeling bad about sticking Joe with the bill. But, along with customers that change places after the order was taken, separate checks rate close to the top of the waitress worst nightmare list. There are some things you can do to make it easier.

• Tell the waitress before you order that you would like separate checks.
• Let the waitress take the orders in a sequence that works best for her.
• Let the waitress know which meals are on each bill.
• Don't insist the orders be written separately when they are taken.

Waiters and waitresses develop a system that works best for them. The system that I suggest to new waitresses is to take the order just as they would if it was all to be on one bill. Put a little notation in the margin as to which go together. (In my case they say, "Yeah but if I write Bald Guy it takes to much space.") How about capital A gets the bill and all the lower case a's go on the same bill. Capital B gets the bill and all the lower case b's go on that bill etc. The separate bills can be written up later, and the order should be set up in the order it was taken.