Written by Michelle Crouch
We asked two dozen servers to reveal what goes on behind the kitchen doors.
1.What You’re Really Swallowing
In most restaurants, after 8 p.m. or so, all the coffee is decaf because no one wants to clean two different coffeepots. I’ll bring out a tray with 12 coffees on it and give some to the customers who ordered regular, others to the ones who ordered decaf. But they’re all decaf.
—Charity Ohlund
2.What You Don’t Want to Know
We put sugar in our kids’ meals so kids will like them more. Seriously. We even put extra sugar in the dough for the kids’ pizzas.
—Waitress at a well-known pizza chain
3.What We Lie About
If you’re a vegetarian and you ask if we use vegetable stock, I’m going to say yes, even if we don’t. You’ll never know the difference.
4.What You Don’t Want to Know
At a lot of restaurants, the special is whatever they need to sell before it goes bad. Especially watch out for the soup of the day. If it contains fish or if it’s some kind of “gumbo,” it’s probably the stuff they’re trying to get rid of.
—Kathy Kniss, who waited tables for ten years in Los Angeles
5.What You Don’t Want to Know
Now that I’ve worked in a restaurant, I never ask for lemon in a drink. Everybody touches them. Nobody washes them. We just peel the stickers off, cut them up, and throw them in your iced tea.
—Charity Ohlund, Kansas City waitress
6.What You Don’t Want to Know
If you ask me how many calories are in a particular dish, I’m not allowed to tell you even if I know. I’m supposed to say, “All that information is available online.”
—Waitress at a well-known pizza chain
7.What You Don’t Want to Know
I’ve never seen anybody do anything to your food, but I have seen servers mess with your credit card. If a server doesn’t like you, he might try to embarrass you in front of your business associate or date by bringing your credit card back and saying, “Do you have another card? This one didn’t go through.”
—Charity Ohlund
8.What You’re Really Swallowing
Skim milk is almost never skim milk. Very few restaurants outside Starbucks carry whole milk, 2 percent milk, skim milk, and half-and-half; it’s just not practical.
—Chris
9.What You’re Really Swallowing
Some places buy salad dressings in one-gallon jars, then add a few ingredients, like a blue cheese crumble or fresh herbs, and call it homemade on the menu.
—Former waiter Jake Blanton, who spent ten years in restaurants in Virginia, North Carolina, and California
10.What Drives Us Crazy
The single greatest way to get your waiter to hate you? Ask for hot tea. For some reason, an industry that’s managed to streamline everything else hasn’t been able to streamline that. You’ve got to get a pot, boil the water, get the lemons, get the honey, bring a cup and spoon. It’s a lot of work for little reward.
—Christopher Fehlinger, maître d’ at a popular New York City restaurant
11.What We Want You to Know
In many restaurants, the tips are pooled, so if you have a bad experience with the server, you’re stiffing the bartender who made your drinks, the water boy who poured your water, sometimes the hostess, the food runners, and maybe the other waiters.
—Christopher Fehlinger
12.What We Want You to Know
Even at the best breakfast buffet in the world, 99 times out of 100, the big pan of scrambled eggs is made from a powder.
—Jake Blanton
13.What We Want You to Know
People think that just because your food took a long time, it’s the server’s fault. Nine times out of ten, it’s the kitchen. Or it’s the fact that you ordered a well-done burger.
—Judi Santana
14.What We Want You to Know
When you’re with the woman who’s not your wife, you’re a lot nicer to us, probably because you know that we know it’s not your wife.
—Caroline Radaj, waitress at a members-only club outside Milwaukee
15.How to Be a Good Customer
It’s much easier to be recognized as a regular on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays. Once you’re recognized as a regular, good things start to happen. You’ll find your wineglass gets filled without being put on your bill, or the chef might bring you a sample.
—Christopher Fehlinger
16.How to Be a Good Customer
Avoid Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day like the black plague. It’s crazy busy, so they’re not going to be able to pay as much attention to quality. Plus, they bring out a special menu where everything is overpriced.
—Steve Dublanica
17.How to Be a Good Customer
If the restaurant is busy and your child is shy, please order for him. Kids can sit there forever trying to decide, or they whisper and you can’t hear them. Meanwhile, the people at the next table are yelling at you to come over.
—Derek Dudley, a waiter at a casual pizza restaurant in Phoenix
18.What You Need to Know About Tipping
The best tippers tend to be middle-class or people who have worked for everything they have, not the really wealthy or the kid who inherited the trust fund. Which is not to say that we mind if you use coupons. But when you do, tip on the amount the bill would have been without them.
—Judi Santana
19.What You Need to Know About Tipping
First dates, especially blind Internet dates, are great for tips. You know he’ll probably order a bottle of wine and leave a 20 to 25 percent tip because he’s showing off.
—Jeremy Burton, waiter at a grill in southwest Michigan
20.What Else We’d Like You to Know
Don’t order fish on Sunday or Monday. The fish deliveries are usually twice a week, so Tuesday through Friday are great days. Or ask the restaurant when they get theirs.
—Steve Dublanica
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No.11, Mr. Fehlinger – the customer is stiffing no-one. The SERVER is the one who stiffed his colleagues by a sub-standard job. If the bartender, water boy, hostess etc are unhappy, they should focus it properly and get the server to do his job properly.
I really like how this article explains all the ways in which restaurants can and will rip you off at every opportunity, and then goes on to describe how these very same businesses would like you to be a better, more courteous customer to them. What a load of b.s.
#11. Do those people not get paid? Explain why I should tip, rather than the employer be held to account for low wages. If I go into a book store, and the assistent is helpful, I'm not expected to tip. You don't tip in department stores, banks or phone shops, no matter how helpful the staff member is BECAUSE THAT IS THEIR JOB.
Waiters get paid a minimal fee, 90% of what they take home comes from tips. If you want the restaurant to pay the waiters a decent amount, be prepared for your bill to go up by at least 10-15%.
Well having been a waiter for many years, the special is usually the stuff that will go bad if not used, this is not to say that the meal is bad though, it just helps the chefs know what to make. The meal still is prepared with the same etiquette. As for No. 13 this is true, and usually servers suffer the consequences. Lastly think of number 11 as a way for servers to give a tax free income. If you dont give them a tip then they would increase the bill amount or add a manditory 15% grat, this way you the customer get to decide what is reasonable, and if you liked the server then you could give extra. People who do not tip do screw up the balance of things because most servers are required to 'tip out' other staff and the kitchen on sales, so if the tips dont resemble the sales then it is just the server who gets screwed from problems that might not of had anything to do with them.
Tipping IS based on the service that you get. But take a couple of seconds to see if your server is not at your table the moment you need them because they are extremely busy working their ass off or they are just standing around goofing with their friends; there is a BIG difference. They might have a really highly inappropriate needy table, someone might have called in sick so they are short staffed, etc. Don't just assume that your server is terrible… pay some attention to what they are doing. (Yes, I am a server, a VERY good one at that!)
Well said Bear. Also tipping is performance based T.I.P.S. stands for To Insure Proper Service. So is your server is substandard you dont need to tip them well. Yes they still have to give money to the other people but that is their responceability. If their bartender or expo doesnt do very well they are the first to complain about tipping them.
Agreed. Is he trying to say that even if the service from our waiter is awful, were obligated to still tip 20% because everyone else shouldnt suffer??? No thanks.
Tipping is probably the most contentious point of discussion for people in the restaurant business. I have a simple rule of thumb for tipping: I start at 20% of the pre-tax total, then move up or down from there depending on the service and food quality.
And it DOES pay to establish yourself as a regular at your favorite places!
If you’re not prepared to pay for service, maybe MacDonalds is a better option for you, where you pour your own drinks, order your own food, get whatever you need throughout your meal on your own, tell your own jokes, get your own extra ketchups napkins, refills etc,clean up after yourselves, and tip yourselves.
Those servers who run their tails off for 20 tables who all sit down in their section at the same time, want to all order at the same time, want their food, drinks and bills all brought out at the same time as each other, coffee teas and deserts all brought out at the same time…… and oh ya, every single table in their section informs them they’re in a hurry for the same show or concert as everyone who walked in ahead of them AFTER their food is ordered and all require separated bills. Could these people be less oblivious?
Come earlier. If you’re running late, grab a hot dog off the street corner. Patience is a virtue, learn from your server, they use it daily. Please show some respect and consideration. Verbal abuse is not helping the matter of your food getting to you faster. Your server is not a robot nor mind reader, and is indeed a human being like some of you. If it looks like they’re busy, chances are, their busy, and are trying their best to get you what you want on time and in sync with the other patrons. I highly doubt they’re scheming to keep you there because you’re cute. If you feel they’re slacking off. take notice of what they are doing or not doing for you and the fifty others around you, that’s usually a clear indication of whether they are doing their job or not.
When you’re telling a server in a raised and or hostel voice that the food is taking long and you need to leave right now before you throw a tantrum, chances are, they’re just as ambitious to seek and or meet your needs as much as you are and are doing everything in their power to relieve you of your anger and quite possibly your presence. Their employers treat them no differently and pay them no differently. No need for extra harassment They have mouths to feed as well.
The next time you order a well done steak at 6 o’clock on a friday night, inform the server your show starts at 6:30 BEFORE you order this dish so they can suggest you order something that takes less time to prepare, or to maybe to dine after the show instead. This is purely common sense, folks.
They require a license to serve you, thus a license should be required to dine.
When the server checks on you several times throughout the meal, it’s usually the best time to inform them there is a problem with your food, instead of eating every last crumb and then refusing to pay for it. The funds for that food will likely come out of the servers pocket and not thin air, so there’s no point in tipping them either because they’ve already paid for you’re dinner.
There are a lot a bad servers out there but even more great ones who work just as hard as you. Please take notice, and tip according to their work they do for you, not the over done chicken the kitchen staff cooked for you or your bad day at the office.
A good server will apologize on behalf of the kitchen, ask if you would like it replaced with another chicken or a different dish or simply ask you how they can better the situation for you. Coupons may be given, the meal might be taken care of or drinks…etc. Even though this person did everything they could to sweeten the soured experience and with sympathy for you. That first chicken was so terrible you decide to give a zero dollar tip on your families $200.00 bill. At the end of the server’s shift he or she still must reward the kitchen with a 1.5 percentage of that $100.00 bill which is two and a half dollars to the kitchen plus another 1.5 % ($2.50) to the bartender, even though you didn’t order anything from the bar. You and your family just ordered waters and pop, which the servers prepares in his or her station….. oh and wait………don’t forget the 1% tip out ($1 of your bill) to the house which apparently pays for the credit card transactions for the restaurant even if you paid with cash or a debit card. So lets see 1.5 % for the kitchen and host/hostess, 1.5 % for the bar, and 1% to the restaurant is a total of 4 percent of your bill is covered on top of the price by who other than your server regardless of the tip you left or didn’t leave. Imagine if your bill was $1000.00, in the same situation….with no tip left. The server would have to pay $40.00 to serve you. This is when their $8.00/hour wage, hard work and time is wasted on a huge misunderstanding of how the restaurant industry works.
So for all the ignorant people who walk out on their bill or simply forget gratuity, remember all the effort and money most of us put towards taking care of your indulging needs.
The average tip left for great service is 20%. This is 2010, if you only leave 15% you’re telling them they were not great. 10%- not horrible, but not good. 5% or less, you hate them, and are never returning. 25% or more, you felt they went above and beyond what you expected of them, you loved them, and plan to return more frequently. Pennies are an insult and I’ve seen people actually though in the trash. If you need to get rid of your change the bartender has more room in his or her drawer, but if it’s a huge amount of change you may want to pay a visit to the bank.
A great customer is tactful and respectful (a lady or a gentleman), and is much more appreciated than some hateful *bleep* who chucks you a couple of bucks at you. Enjoy!
That’s fine, I’ll pay what ever the price is on the menu as long as I know my total cost. In Europe the price you pay is the price on the menu. Tax and tip are included. I don’t want to support the untaxed underground economy.
Being a server id say 5,4 10, and 17 are especially true. Lemons are never sanitary, most of the time people have touched a million different things and their hands are all over those nasty lemons, same could be said for having a straw in your drink. The tipping thing is true, when you stiff us it hurts everyone else as well. But as far as the skim milk thing goes, we dont necessarily use skim milk but we do use half and half.
i’ve also never heard of adding sugar to kid’s food. Thats a little ridiculous. Oh and the coffee, the decaf thing at least where i serve and have previously served is pretty false. You’re coffee may have been made as many as 4-5 even 6 hours ago but its always what the customer asks for.
Servers make 2.13 an hour, except in california where theres unions and a lot of time they make minimum wage. But just about everywhere we make 2.13 an hour. It’s hard to understand unless you’ve served so having heard that view a million times doesnt really phase me anymore. The difference between help at a book store and a fine dining restaurant is the bookstore isnt at your every beck and call, we’re there to MAKE the experience otherwise you might as well order filet mignon from a mcdonalds.
Our tips are taxed, my paychecks are usually .17 cents to maybe a dollar or two if im lucky. The taxes come out of our paychecks, so virtually everything you tip us is what we live off of the rest goes to the govt.