Write my Order down
The experience you have at a restaurant is mostly controlled by the waiter. Yes, the cook might turn your steak into a rubber boot and the hostess might irritate you by estimating that the wait time is “12 to 43 minutes”, but the waiter is the face of the operation.
So, at what point do you determine that “the face” has failed you? After the failure has already occurred, or sometime before that, when you suspect failure is imminent? If you order a salad or an appetizer, and the time keeps ticking away towards the inevitable arrival of your entrée, and you’ve yet to catch sight of your stuffed mushrooms, when is the right time to start the nasty glances in your waiter’s direction?
And also, why do so many waiters refuse to write orders down? Do they think I’m impressed? Is it too much trouble to scribble a few notes AND make a few selections on a computer? Are those little green pads too expensive? I mean, I don’t want to throw your profit margin out of whack, but you are charging me about 1000% over cost for my glass of iced tea.
What makes it worse is that I’m living with Meg Ryan circa When Harry Met Sally, which means she’s making so many adjustments to her order that it’s pretty much a whole new entrée that you didn’t know existed. The odds are that Meg’s meal isn’t going to come out right, and even though I told her to stop being so high maintenance, she’s going to complain about it the entire meal, and then I’m going to be in a bad mood. And guess who’s in charge of your tip?
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