Splitting, tipping, etc..

I hate splitting entrees. In my restaurant there's a charge for 'split' entrees. It's for the extra starch or vegetable put on the plate. We also do the soup and salad with entree. It is up to the server whether or not this is split in half as well. I DO NOT split salads. I charge you for the second one which nine times out of ten people will take. So, five bucks for the split and six bucks for a small dinner salad. The second non meal has just cost eleven bucks. I think people should just splurge a little bit. And eat out! Or stay home.. i'm fine with either situation.

I had a cheap night. It started with a three top. A mom and two kids. for the record I don't like kids. Have never liked kids and really prefer not to wait on them. They walked in at 6:10 without a reservation and wanted dinner and to make a movie two miles away at 7:00. In and out. Sodas, salads (two of which I charged for because kids entrees aren't served with them). Entrees on the table by 6:25. check ran by 6:40. They were out the door with fifteen minutes to get to the theater buy their popcorn and watch the show. The check was sixty bucks and I made a solid twenty percent. Second table of the night didn't want near a window so I lost out and they went to another server, we operate with a tip pool so it didn't bother me. The third in my station was a family of four. One fondue special, four salads, two entrees and three glasses of wine. I liked them. Mostly because they asked me for my advice on wine and actually took it. The kids were polite and mostly silent. Another solid twenty percent. I would have been happier to get a couple more entrees on the table though.

My next table came in, the man apparently had a serious issue with cheese. He hated cheese. I can understand being lactose intolerant, I can even understand not liking swiss or gruyere or feta. But, all cheese? that is such a blanket statement. So, I get a shrimp fritter appetizer on the table. Side salad without our house dressing and with his feta on the side so she can eat it. and a Lamb shank...... split. And a shared chocolate crepe for desert.

My last table of the night was two couples. The first couple arrived first asked for the wine list and my 'special menu' this is not soo special. It has been developed in response to the economic slump. It's a three course meal for twenty two bucks a person. go ahead and ask me how much I hate it... Soup or salad choice of the chicken or beef special and the apple desert. thirty six bottle of wine on the table four 'specials' It was a cheap table. It's just soo much more fun when people order well on average It's usually about forty dollars a person. A suggestion of my 'middle of the road' Wine list can garnish about seventy bucks.. Easily two fifty for that same four top.

Translation for me? fifty dollar tip instead of the twenty six that I got. So, even though my night garnished a solid percentage It was consistently twenty percent on bills that were half of what they should have been. Anyone waiting tables understands nights like this. They happen to everyone I just wish that they wouldn't be quite so often.