Kids Eat Free, But It’s Gonna Cost You.

The economy is in a downward spiral so I understand that everyone is desperate to save a buck, and in my case, make one. A lot of restaurants, including the one that I work at, offer a day of the week dedicated to kids. Bring your kids in on the specified day of the week and one child eats free per every paying adult! It really is a good deal, and especially during tough times a lot of people take advantage of the promotion. Restaurant waiters and waitresses don’t mind it so much either. Like I said, times are tough and we’ll take whatever business we can in order to make a few extra bucks.

On this particular evening things were moving pretty slow. Most of the servers were getting bored and anxious. The manager on duty was contemplating on sending me home but I begged him to allow me to take one last table (that is, if one came in within the next couple of minutes). He agreed, and before I knew it, the hostess informed me that at long last, that I received a table. I eagerly grabbed a couple of beverage napkins and took a deep breath; this was the only chance I would have today to make some money.

I arrived at the table only to find two little boys. At first sight I was a little confused, but quickly thought it over and assumed the mother was in the restroom. I decided to just go ahead and get their drink order and as I left the table I noticed the hostess giving me a funny look. “Are they here by themselves?”, she asked. “No way, they’re just kids, how would they have got here.” As I answered her question I came to a realization. “Wait a minute, didn’t you seat them?”, I asked her. She told me she sat them but it was just the two of them. Now I was confused, so I asked the hostess, “When you asked them how many are in their party what did they say?” When the hostess told me that the oldest of the boys said it was just going to be the two of them I wanted to ask her what was going through her mind when she decided to seat to unsupervised children, but as a parent, my motherly instincts kicked in and I rushed over to their table. Sub-consciously, I was hoping to find an adult seated with them, but wasn’t surprised when their wasn’t.

I didn’t want them to get scared so I nicely asked them if they were here alone as I sat down their drinks. The younger boy happily answered, “My mommy’s in the car!” The older boy looked humiliated and it broke my heart, but I had to press on. “She sent you in here by yourselves?”, I asked them. The boys sensed that something was wrong with the situation and hesitated to talk to me there after. I informed the manager and he headed out to the parking lot to retrieve the mother. This irresponsible, clueless, not to mention cheap, woman was sitting in her car with her infant daughter.

Her excuse was, “I told them to get it to- go, kids eat free today right?” I was livid and so was my manager, so when I put the woman in her place, he didn’t stop me. I told her, “First of all, never send any child in a restaurant by themselves, we cant be held responsible for your kids, second of all, kids eat free per paying adult, and here’s the check for the drinks they ordered, third of all, how are two young kids gonna tip?” She didn’t like my tone so she asked my manager, “Well, can I get it to- go?” My manager took her order, and upon delivering her to-go order, he also delivered her bill… “Don’t kids eat free?” The dumb broad still didn’t get it! “Yes, they do, but per paying adult, and only while dining in”, my manager managed to say politely. The woman paid (No tip. Surprise, surprise) and took it out on her poor, already embarrassed kids.

Welcome to "The Weeds." An Introduction to the Never- Ending Nightmares of a Waitress.

If you've ever seen the movie "Waiting", I have to tell you that it is quite the understatement. The portrayal of the restaurant business in the film was familiar, but absolutely did not do the ridiculous situations you find yourself in as a server justice. I’ve been in the restaurant business now for about 12 years and have enough stories to fill a book, but I thought a blog would be more fun. I know that my co-workers and I are constantly venting to one another about some of the most maddening things that we are put through as servers, but now through this blog, I want to bring the serving community together to share experiences that are relatable, and some that, luckily, are not so relatable. One of the most important things that I’ve discovered about surviving in this business is taking things lightly and not letting the many, many, many bad experiences eat away at you. Lets put it down in black and white, and laugh at it together.

For those of you that are not in the industry, and think that you may be the antagonist in one or more of our stories, it’s not to late to redeem yourself, and I’m here to help. If you don’t understand why you may have gotten bad service, or have a pre- conceived idea as of why you had a bad experience, I want to hear it. Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding that can easily be cleared up, then again, maybe not. I’m not saying all servers are extraordinary at what they do, I’m just saying that it’s an unpleasant job but somebody has to do it, and most of the time it’s full time students, single moms, and people just like you, just trying to make a living. The point is we don’t do this for fun.

The best advice that I can give restaurant goers is be observant. If your server is goofing off, not paying attention, or simply not doing their job, then maybe you have a reason to complain. But if you look around, and see that the restaurant is overwhelmingly busy, there was a spill, or another table is being extremely needy, consuming most of you server's time, take that into consideration. The possibilities are endless, so the benefit of the doubt can often relieve a lot of pressure for the server as well as the guest's feeling of being ignored.

Fast money? Yes. Easy money? No. A lifetime of memories, good, and bad? No question. I hope this served as a suitable brief introduction to THE WEEDS, it can only get better from here, and by better, I mean worse, because the worse the experience, the better the story. Like I said, lets put it down in black and white and laugh at it together. Hope you enjoy my blog and remember to tip your waitress!