Moving Too Fast

My husband and I were dining out recently and encountered a hasty, impatient waiter. The kind that gives you the impression that he thinks he’s all that and a bag of chips. Doesn’t write anything down, can barely stand still long enough to listen to what you want to order, and wouldn’t bother to answer a single question let alone make any type of recommendation. He managed to bring the drinks and eventually brought the food. We watched as he zoomed around the place treating each table of guests as if he would rather be anywhere else but here.

He grabbed menus from one table to give to another. He stole salt and pepper shakers from this table for that one. He disappeared for what felt like hours at a time. Guests waited on water and coffee refills, the chance to put in their orders, opportunities to ask questions, and time to request their checks. He pointed impatiently at tables where guests could be seated, flung tablecloths off and on like he was performing a magic trick (except there was nothing on the tables), and all the while had an attitude that he was somehow above doing the work he was being paid to do. Is your blood pressure as high as mine was yet? Where’s the customer service? Where’s the hospitality?

Thankfully the food was absolutely amazing! Praise to the chef for saving this guy’s bacon. Had the food not been some of the best we’ve ever had, this restaurant would be barren. Nobody would put up with Mr. Important. Once we received our delectable dishes, we enjoyed our meal, each other’s company, and the conversation, and paid no more attention to what was going on around us.

Until we were offered dessert.

Sure, we’d like some dessert, so we ordered…waited…and ordered dessert again when Mr. Marvelous came back wanting to know what we were waiting for. I guess the memory wasn’t so good afterall. And, how dare we ask for coffee with our sweet treat. He’s very busy, didn’t we know. 

After sitting and dining for a bit, we could tell when either a regular or a big tipper (perhaps both) showed up. He would give this person his undivided attention as if his own mother had just sat down at the dinner table in his apartment to meet his girlfriend for the first time. The rest of the guests didn’t stand a chance when one of these high-rollers strolled into the restaurant. I hope you weren’t hungry because Big Daddy just dropped in.

Then, in his haste, he caught the corner of a bus station with his knee and a pile of dishes went crashing to the ground. Not just any ole’ pile. One that he’d failed to bring into the kitchen for hours and hadn’t been attended to by any bus personnel because, clearly, nobody wanted to work with Mr. Personality. This station was square in the center of the room. There was nothing to save him from total embarrassment. There he stood, ankle deep in broken china and glass, on display for the entire restaurant to see. 

We all make mistakes. Nobody is perfect. Everyone could use some grace. But when you treat other human beings with such disdain and eventually your bad behavior catches up with you, it’s hard not to find a modicum of satisfaction in your very public ego reset.

So, the lesson to learn here is this: treat others as you wish to be treated. And, for those of us who work in the hospitality industry (restaurant workers included) we have chosen a profession where serving others is at the center of what we do. If it’s not something that is built into your DNA, something that comes naturally to you, perhaps you want to consider something less challenging, like being a stunt man or an alligator wrangler.

What is a good lesson to share with others? Leave it here or send me an email!

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