Bad Service. Who is to blame?

Great customer service can leave you feeling as though the world really isn’t such a bad place after all. A genuine smile from a sales clerk or a free refill of coffee are tiny acts of kindness that can truly give you hope for all of humanity.

Then you frequent a local restaurant and when you least expect it, your server treats you like a minuscule piece of dirt. All of your newfound hope for mankind turns into utter despair!

Yes, it may seem a little dramatic, but the fact still stands that bad customer service is something we all have dealt with, its an ugly scar on the face of our culture.
So, who is to blame for our ever apparent bad service habits?

The first thing that comes to mind when bad service is brought up are restaurants. Any transaction of money for goods usually takes two people, the buyer and the seller. At restaurant establishments you have to deal with the hostess, chef, bartender and server. (Sometimes more or less people depending on the restaurant.) With this many people involved good service is at a greater risk of turning bad.

Yet, most servers will have no problem providing good service.
Take for example California’s minimum wage, $7.75 an hour. The average server who is lucky enough to get around 30 hours per week will make less than $12,000 a year. In other words, people who work in the restaurant industry rely heavily on tips for their survival. It is in their best interest to be friendly and give good service so they will receive gratuity for the service that they provided.

Although, receiving good service is only half of the transaction when it comes to dining out. Bad service can come from both sides of the table.

The patron, who pays for food, ambiance and a place to dine can be impatient and disrespectful which can quickly turn a day at work into a nightmare for a server.

With those thoughts in mind, two lists have been compiled with the help of a few local restaurant servers and people who love to dine out.

These lists present advice and simple tips, so both patron and server can ensure a great dining experience.

*These views are solely based on advice from a group of people who work in the restaurant industry, and do not reflect the views of every server or patron in the greater Sacramento area or world.

Tips For Patrons

1. Get a babysitter.
Servers do not want to sweep up sticky Cheerios and broken color crayons, and the entire restaurant does not to want to listen to a screaming child.

2. Please don’t hail.
Snapping, waving, and pointing to your empty cup to get a servers attention probably isn’t the best tactic... It’s insulting and degrading.

3. Be respectful.
We are servers are not servants.

4. Don’t take advantage of substitutions.
If you absolutely loathe pine nuts, fine. Peas instead of carrots, pasta instead of potatoes, sauce on the side, no onions and extra cheese... It’s too much!

5.Closing time.
If the restaurant closes at 9:00 and you come in at 8:59 and 58 seconds don’t be upset when they tell you the restaurant is closed.


Tips For Servers

1. Be patient
Sometimes customers aren’t sure of what they want, give them time to figure it out instead of constantly bugging them about ordering.

2. Keep the customer in the know
If their food is on fire in the kitchen, please don’t tell them it will be out in just a few minutes.

3. Know the menu
Many people have questions concerning the menu, having knowledge about certain ingredients can make answering, “What is aglio-olio?” a whole lot easier.

4. Don’t be overly polite.
There is nothing better than a polite server, and nothing worse than an overly intruding one.

5. Promptly deliver the check.
After the appetizer, main course, dessert and coffee, sometimes the only thing that people want to do is get the check and go home.

Hopefully the above lists will make your next dining experience void of bad service and much more enjoyable than the ones before.