I HATE Soup, Salad, & Breadsticks

My least favorite menu item is served between 11-4:00 p.m. and is priced at only $5.95. It is unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks. It may sound like a good deal to guests, which it is, but it is not a good deal to servers. On a daily basis, I probably get on average 8-10 soup and salad tables. This is by far one of the hardest things to serve. Most people think they're making it "easy on me" by ordering the same soup, and like to mention that they think they're being easy, but it is not easy people!! Since it is unlimited most people think they can come in and eat two bowls of soup and salad. Now this is fine, if they know how to tip and realize that servers in Wisconsin only make $2.33 an hour, but for most of the people out there, a $2 or in some cases $.72 tip is not cutting it! I do not find it easy in any way to run back and forth from the kitchen to get them refills of EVERYTHING! And what is even worse, is when I go out to a table and ask if anyone needs anything and one person will speak up and say they want a refill of something and the other person says, "no I'm okay right now." When I come back with the refill the other person now says, "Can I have a refill?" Why couldn't they have decided that two minutes ago and told me then! Now I have to run back to the kitchen AGAIN for them. Do the math.. If I have three tables with two people at each who all order soup and salad. If each person leaves me $2 (and sometimes this can be exaggerating) I've made $6 in at least an hour of work of running back and forth - manual labor! This is not okay! Just because your bill is only $6.28 (soup & salad with water) does not make it okay to only leave $.72! Why not give a $10 and say keep the change. If you really need that extra $2 or $3 and can't afford to leave it then you SHOULD NOT BE GOING OUT TO EAT!!! Bottom line.

So my first day at work this week was pretty entertaining...

I walk up to a table of two middle-aged men (about 45 or so) and say "Hi, my name is Danielle and I'll be taking care of you two today" I couldn't get another word in, I was interrupted (which happens all too frequently). The man on the right responds, "Oh you'll be taking care of me huh?" and he kind of winks and smiles at me... Then the man on the left says, "Can I have a pillow?" The other guy responds, "Can I get a hug?" I looked at both of them with a very surprised and probably disgusted look on my face and replied, "Uh, no." Where do people get off thinking it's okay to just harrass a server like that? It's sad to say, but this happens to me and a lot of my friends at work quite often. It's something I don't think I or anyone should have to deal with at my place of employment. And then to top it off, they left me $2 on a $20 bill!! I was furious! They had the nerve to harrass me and then leave me 10%! What would you do in a situation like this?

My Very First Post

So this blog is basically going to talk about my ups and downs of being a server in a restaurant where I get paid $2.33 an hour. At times I pretty much work for nothing and am expected to deliver 100% guest delight all the time. Would you be able to put a smile on your face knowing you're not even making minimum wage that hour you're there?