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Waiting tables not for faint of heart
Bath County servers share tips, stories about their work
BY MARGO OXENDINE • STAFF WRITER
 | | Emily Adams has worked at Cucci's in Warm Springs for just one month. That's long enough to learn that she enjoys serving customers like Jackie, left, and Clayton Plecker. (Recorder photo by Margo Oxendine) |
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DINING OUT - What can make an ordinary dining experience a dining delight? Good service. And what does good service deserve? A decent, if not stunning, tip.
The tipping standard across the United States is 15 percent, and 20 percent or more for an exceptional server. In small, sparsely-populated locales such as Bath and Highland, with few restaurant choices, the standard should be 20 percent. The person who serves your breakfast, lunch or dinner could be your neighbor, friend or relative. He or she knows who you are; chances are, your server knows what you'll order even before you do.
"Are you having your usual?" one often hears a waiter or waitress ask. That, folks, is great service. A waitress who knows you want sour cream atop your omelette, lemon in your water, or your salad dressing served on the side - even if you forget to mention it yourself - is certainly worth at least $2 for every $10 you spend.
 | | Nora Gibson has been waitressing for almost 20 years, the last 12 at the Country Cafe in Hot Springs. She enjoys working with the public and meeting new people. (Recorder photo by Margo Oxendine) |
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Of course, not all who dine locally are locals. This area attracts tourists by the busload. (And a busload of tourists is something no waitress is happy to see.) But what about the tourists? Are they better, or worse, tippers than residents?
The Country Cafe in Hot Springs is one of those allaround, three-meals-a-day, restaurants that attracts perhaps an equal number of tourists and locals. It's a dependable place; residents here know the menu by heart. The food is consistently good, and the same can be said of the service.
Nora Gibson, who has served at the Country Cafe for a dozen years, and spent the eight years prior to that at the now-defunct Milton's Pizza, believes, "Visitors seem to tip better than the locals."
Deb Snedegar, who has spent her 27-year career at The Gristmill's Waterwheel Restaurant, says she really can't say. "It all depends. I have a loyal group of locals who request me, and always tip well. And I have certain people who come in when they're in town and make a reservation requesting me. They're good tippers, too."
A Homestead waiter whose career spans several decades, and who requests anonymity, serves tourists almost exclusively. He cannot make a distinction, since a service charge is tacked onto every check - between 17 and 19 percent. Still, he has "repeat guests who will ask for my section, and then leave $200 to $400, on top of the service charge" for the course of their stay. "That doesn't happen often," he says, "but it is sure welcome when it does."
Emily Adams, 18, has waited on tables at Cucci's Pizzaria in Warm Springs for just one month. She's still too "green" to make a distinction, but she knows she loves the job. "It's a nice place to work; I like it. But it can be hectic at times," she adds. "You have to make sure the food is warm, the order is correct, the drinks are filled. There's a lot to keep track of."
"Hectic" surely describes what a food server's shift can become. Picture a restaurant packed with tables of hungry, demanding diners. Picture hauling out high chairs and crayons for vocal babies and toddlers, many of them gnawing on crackers, which quickly crumble across the floor. Picture at least several substitution requests from each table - mushrooms instead of onions, egg-white-only omelettes, no gravy, extra gravy, fruit instead of fries.
A food server must wear numerous hats - psychologist, culinary advisor, juggler, nanny, maid. He or she must be an expert at time-management, organization and troubleshooting; in short, a multi-tasking Jack or Jill of many trades. Most importantly, this must all be carried out with a sincere smile and a cheerful demeanor, at a zippy pace.
This is not a job for the faint-hearted or thin-skinned. The ditz, the grump, the smart-aleck, need not apply.
Now, consider the compensation for such an exceptional person. Most restaurants pay their wait staff less than minimum wage, a perfectly legal and accepted practice, if tips are in the equation. Across America, few restaurants consider their wait staff "full time"; ergo, no health insurance or other perky benefits are provided. When a waitress takes a two-week vacation, chances are there will be no check waiting when she returns. When a waiter throws out his back hauling heavy trays, chances are he's paying his own medical bills. What about workman's compensation? Well, many food servers are confused and intimidated by the paperwork involved; instead, they "lay out" for a few days, then hobble back, clock in, and grab their order pads.
Service charges In case you don't already know, here is a tip about those service charges tacked on by hotel and resort restaurants across the land: If you think you're tipping your waiter 19 percent, think again.
"That is not the case," our Homestead waiter explains. "Let's say the service charge for one dinner, without alcohol, is $12. The waiter gets $5.60 per person; the captain gets 1 percent, or $1.20; the rest goes back to the hotel." Few diners are savvy to that surprising split, he notes. "Not too many guests leave extra, over and above the service charge. They really believe that servers are getting all that money." In reality, your 19 percent service charge at a resort translates to about a 6-percent tip to the waiter.
This waiter also had a beef to air about overtime.
"Just after the holiday crowd checked out, the hotel told us that we are no longer getting overtime pay," he says. "There was some federal law enacted in 2006 that says they don't have to pay overtime to tipped employees. We had always been getting it, so many of us were counting on it after the holidays. Some of us had 60 or 80 hours of overtime we were counting on. When we questioned it not being in our checks, they said, 'Oh, we aren't paying overtime anymore.' The least they could have done was let us know that before we got paid, but no one told us until that day. Management needs to communicate better with its employees; that is the biggest thing right now."
Carol Stratford, director of the marketing for the resort, responds that it is The Homestead's policy "not to disclose" any information about its employees' salaries or benefits. "We are not doing anything outside the industry standards," she notes.
The waiter emphasized he would like to stay on the hotel payroll. "The people who work there are a great group; that's my main reason for being there," he says. "And I do love the idea of the hotel itself and its traditions. But these days, we aren't made to feel like we are part of the hotel anymore; they don't have the interest in us that the 'old' hotel did. Overall, though, I love being there."
Side work
Here's another thing diners might not know about: Side work. That's what waiters and waitresses everywhere are required to do before the restaurant opens, and after it closes. If a restaurant opens at 7 a.m., it's a safe bet the wait staff is there by 6:30 at the latest, putting out jellies, making sure sugar bowls and salt shakers are filled, rolling silverware into napkins. If a restaurant closes at 9 p.m., the wait staff probably won't make it home until much later. There are latecomers to serve, crumbs to vacuum off the floor, tables and chairs to scrub, and yes, more silverware to roll and napkins to fold.
At The Gristmill, there's laundry to be done. "Oh, the laundry," laughs Snedegar. "Laundry doesn't go up the stairs and jump into the machine by itself. We've tried that, and it just won't cooperate!"
The Country Cafe closes at 9 p.m. Gibson doesn't usually get home until 10 or 10:30, she says.
Snedegar sometimes takes a turn working the bar at the Gristmill pub after her last diners depart around 11 p.m. Even Homestead waiters must tend to side work. If they're serving breakfast, they're in that dining room by 6:30, and an hour before the dinner service begins at 6:30. If they're working a split shift, they're there at 6:30, and back again at 5:30, bustling about. "I usually get out from dinner by 11 or 11:30," our waiter says. "The last reservation is 9 p.m., but if people walk in at 9:30, we will serve them."
Good Tips Often, those who slip in under the "clos- ing" wire at a restaurant will make their gratitude known with a nice tip.
Gibson recalls one of her best tips ever. "I had a big group of golfers, about eight or nine of them, come in late one night, about 20 minutes before we were to close. Of course, we served them; we don't turn anybody away. They left me about $75. That was a good table," she smiles.
Adams gives a big grin when she recalls her best tip during the month she's been waiting tables. "My old boss, Mark Nelson, came in and got a sandwich and a drink, and left me $20!"
Bad Tips
Ironically, in the short time she's been working, Adams has also shared what every person who's ever been in the trade has experienced: The Cursed Penny Tip. Yes, there are people who, for whatever reason, decide the person who served their meal deserves a single penny. This can either reflect bad service, or bad manners on the part of the diners.
Adams still can't figure out why that certain party left a one-penny tip. "It made me pretty sad, actually. I felt like, Did I do something wrong? I always try to do the best I can," she avows.
Gibson has been at it long enough to know this: "Some tables will work you to death, and leave almost nothing. But you can always make up that tip off another table that treats you right. It evens out."
Dreams and Nightmares
One of Snedegar's nightmares occurs "when you're busier than crap, and running your butt off for a table of five or six women who don't ask for everything at the same time. You're going out, bringing them one thing, and then the next one asks for something - you go in, bring it back, go in, bring it back all night."
When a large party doesn't request separate checks up front, things can really get hairy when they decide to do so at the end of the meal.
"Separate checks for a party of 10 can really cause a break in the flow," Snedegar says with a not-too-merry laugh. "And it's a problem when people don't read the menu carefully enough to know what's included, and what's not."
Still, Snedegar's dream tables far outnumber the nightmares. "I have so many good tables," she says. "A good table is one where people say, 'Thank you,' or, 'You did a wonderful job and we appreciate it.' If that table shows their appreciation with a good tip, well, that's all the better."
Snedegar allows as how food servers "make darn good money, and bust their butts doing it."
She tries to keep an eye on the small details, she says. "If I have eight tables seated about the same time, I try to serve them in the same order they were seated."
What about diners who are not happy with the meal they're served?
"I have no problem with people who want to send back a dish," Snedegar says. "If they order their steak rare, and it's too done, I urge them to send it back. I like my steak bloody, and if it's not, well, I will send it back. I won't eat it, and I wouldn't expect my customers to, if it is not to their liking. I want them to be satisfied and have a good experience."
Our hotel waiter says, "For the most part, our nightmares are caused by the kitchen itself. We are short-staffed in the kitchen to save money, plus, at least a few of them are typically in a bad mood or something. I've seen that here more than any of the other resorts where I've worked."
Stratford responds, said the resort is "focused on providing a superior culinary experience for all our guests. We continue to try to grow our recruiting efforts, and have enhanced it by recruiting from some of the nation's top culinary schools."
The waiter adds, "They've changed the set up" for dinner. "We no longer serve a three-course menu. Now, they just get an appetizer and an entree. That is the hardest thing for us waiters. Our regular guests were used to a threecourse meal, and so were we. You had a nice cushion when there was a salad between the appetizer and entree. That is gone now. Taking away the second course created a complete slow-down for the whole meal. Guests who've been coming here for some time don't understand that; they think the service has gone down; they look at us as if we are not doing something."
Stratford responds, "We recently introduced, a threecourse menu to replace our existing four-course menu, based on feedback from our guests."
The Perks
The perception, or reality, of bad, lackluster or harried service is almost always reflected in the tip. But at the end of the night, servers know they will go home with cash in their pockets. The luxury of a daily influx of cash, along with the knowledge that there will be a paycheck every two weeks, soothes the psyche of many a food server.
"I love the idea that I will have some spending money in my pocket every night," says Adams. "I know I can get some gas, or a sandwich or something, without using my debit card. It's embarrassing to have to use a debit card for, say, something that costs $2.50. It's fun to know there is some cash there for little things."
The Certainties
One thing can be said for certain: A food server must, above all, be a "people person." And their service reflects it when they enjoy their work, and know they are appreciated by employers.
"I like dealing with the public and meeting different people," Gibson says. "And I like where I work. I couldn't ask for a better environment. (Caf owners) Wanda and David (Bradley) are really good to work for, even when I know that I'll be on my feet from the time I walk in the door until I leave."
Another thing can be said for certain: The best tippers are those who serve food themselves. It's not unusual for waitresses, resting their tired feet while relaxing over a meal in another restaurant, to throw an extra $10 or $20 on top of the standard 15 or 20 percent. They've been there and done that, and know what goes on behind the scenes.
"I always over-tip, because I know how hard it can be," Gibson says. "I think any waitress or waiter probably overtips."
Adams, too, has already learned this.
"Working at a waitress has sure made me a better tipper," she says. "I know now that the person serving you has to be devoted to making you happy. It's important to let your customers know that you want them to have a good time. It's important to keep a smile on your face, and try to make everyone feel comfortable."
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