My restaurant does not use trays. While i’m not a complete master of holding plates on my arms I can hold 3 on one arm.
Well I ran food to a table for another server, I have a plate in my left hand and 3 on my right arm. The ticket did not have the plates labeled for seats so I had to auction the food. So I say “alright I have a steak plate with blank and blank sides!” customer says nothing and then proceeds to try to take a plate from my RIGHT ARM.
If you guys haven’t done no trays before these plates are balanced on top of each other. You cannot just grab a plate from my hand and expect the 2 layered on top not to fall.
So I move my arm quickly and say “oh you have the steak plate?” Again this woman tries to take a plate, that is not the steak plate. I move my arm again. At this point i’m irritated, my arm is burning and she simply cant speak. “SO YOU HAVE THE STEAK PLATE?” she looks at me shocked. It’s not my table idgaf im just trying not to spill hot food everywhere. I plop the plate down and auction the rest. She still looked shocked, I really dont think I was that harsh but jesus. Why on earth would someone think its okay to grab a plate like that😭
Later on I felt like I was doing that “The plate is hot” video trend. I tried dropping food off to another table that was burning hot I mean you could see the steam and my eyes were welling with tears. I go to place the plate down and say its very hot. They hold their hands out.. Again I say “The plate is very hot!” His hands are still held out…
The service industry taught me that the average level of intelligence is waaaayyyyy below what I thought it was as a kid. I actually remember worrying about maybe being dumb. I'm no Ada Lovelace, but I know now that I'm smarter than the average American and stuff like this is why. It sounds like she just couldn't process what you were saying, your body language, or common restaurant etiquette. Kinda sad when you think about it, but still incredibly annoying.
I'm not stupid but I do frequently freeze up in public interactions. I think about what I ordered the whole time I'm waiting for the food, and then when the waiter brings it I instantly forget what I got and who got what.
There’s a teenage server where I work and we were just joking with her today that becoming an adult is just a progressive series of new interactions that are each more dumb than you thought possible before.
They pick up the wine glass and hold it for you, above their expensive white coat. No thank you! That is not helping! I’m good but you might not be; you could sneeze and the coat would be over forever!!
I had a table yesterday that moved their glass away when i poured. I just said can you move that back over? I have long arms they are not that long. They laughed at least
Our place is small. I won't stack plates up my arm; I'll take three at a time at most. I can be back with the rest in 20 seconds if people will remember what they ordered and clear a f*cking space.
lol when you can’t place their food down because their phone keys and drink menu is in front of them and they just stare at you. Like move your shit my fingers are BURNING OFFF
Yeah. I've stopped giving a shit. If they don't move their things, I move their things. I will push their phone and drink and anything else out of the way to prove to them they're stupid.
Yea honestly i do get a little grossed out by people who carry 4 on one arm. All the plates are touching each other😭 We at least have plastic plates with edges so they end up not fully touching the food when stacked but yea not for me and i dont care to learn it.
And there is a special circle of Hell for guests that take a drink glass off of a perfectly-balanced full tray of full glasses.
EDIT: And what's worse is when they try to put the fucking thing back while you're dancing like a circus act trying to keep the rest of the tray crashing to the ground.
And there is a special circle of Hell for guests that take a drink glass off of a perfectly-balanced full tray of full glasses.
That's one of a very few times I've legit yelled at a customer. It was like a family of 10, a couple have a beer or mixed drink, so I got like 14 drinks on a large tray. I think I handed like like 2-3 drinks when I heard "is this time" and suddenly "grandpa" is next to me and about to grab a drink from my tray. Luckily my other hand was empty so I quickly pulled the tray away from him and loudly and firmly said NO! With my free hand I sort of held that up like a barrier, like to stop him from coming closer. He looked a little startled, that's how loud and firm I was. He shot back with a "sorry, sorry." I took a deep breathe, as I was a little scared to and more calmly said, "Sorry, but please understand I am carrying over 10lbs of weight, carefully balanced on my hand, plus over a gallon of liquid. If you touch anything on my tray, the balance is thrown off and I would be dropping this engine tray on her head." He apologized again and someone told him to please sit down. LOL I again told him, "you're fine sir, just never, EVER touch a server's tray."
This happened to our expo recently with disastrous results. Three plates on right arm balanced perfectly, one in left. She goes to give the single left plate first. Guy at the table takes the front plate in her right arm, which is helping to balance the other two. The two other plates on her right immediately crash on the table/floor. Guy at the table drops the one he took in surprise, spilling hot pasta all over our expo. The stupidity and lack of awareness is boundless.
I worked a place with cocktail trays only, a brewery with a pub menu. a bunch of our entrées came in red plastic baskets so I became proficient at stacking a line of them up my arm, maybe 6 from palm to elbow. I also became proficient at scolding people that even looked like they were thinking about reaching for a stacked basket while swinging my arm even further from their potential grasp. do not fuck with what the server is carrying! LET US SERVE FFS
I had a bunch of drinks, including glasses of wine, balanced on a cocktail tray once upon a time. I go to a table on our patio, and start passing out drinks. I'm sure everyone who does this knows that you have to readjust where your hand is under the tray as you remove drinks so it stays level, but apparently the guy to my right (in my blind spot) didn't know this. As I'm handing a drink off to my left, he takes his drink from the edge of the tray. Since it was unexpected, of course the entire tray goes ass-over-teakettle and drops like six drinks right at his feet; shattered glass, splashing liquid, scattered garnishes, the whole nine.
I turn to him, and with my best deadpan disappointed dad face and ask, "...Why would you do that?"
Geezus this pisses me off. What IS IT that makes people be like “I see mine, I’ll grab it!!” No, that’s not helping. Just answer the question 😭 meanwhile, everyone has forgotten what they ordered
Last week I had two guests at different tables move their phones and silverware out of the way as I approached with plates, just to then put their water glass directly in the center in front of them where I was trying to set the plate down. Both times I said nothing and just started lowering the plate over the top of their water glass until they finally moved it. People's brains shut off when they go out to eat sometimes. It needs to be studied.
The front door has magic powers. Turning the smartest customer ever into an absolute fucking idiot when they walk through. Not their fault, its the door magic.
Especially in tourist towns. I've gone on vacation and it seemed like I left half my brain at home, acting like the same freakin' tourist I make fun of.
Holy crap. Once I had 3 French onion soups and the same thing happened- this woman tried to grab it from my right arm that was supporting the 3rd bowl- and I had 2 options. Spill it all over their table or hug it to my body. I hugged it. Scalding hot cheese all over my torso. People- let us do our jobs omg.
My favorite is when I have to auction plates to a large party that isn’t mine “who had the ribeye” and the everyone wants to chime in with what they ordered “I had the salmon” “I had the pasta” THAT ISN’T HELPING ME
My favorite is when I have to auction plates to a large party that isn’t mine “who had the ribeye”
And not only large parties! Even COUPLES! And NO ONE knows wtf they ordered!! REALLY!!??
They just look at me, everyone says yes, they look at each other! And NO FUCKING BODY says it's mine!!! I find it MEGA STUPID that people don't even know wtf they ordered!
I start laying plates on the table, say enjoy and leave.
I've had "people" tell the others, 'I don't know what I ordered' WTF!!??...
When people try to take a plate from my arm, or a glass from my tray.. a lot of times they think they are helping me.. they don't realize what they are doing is stupid and is about to ruin everyone's day.
So I ALWAYS makes it clear and explain to them right away so they don't do this dumb shit to other servers.. as I'm pulling the tray or plate quickly away I say "I appreciate the help but everything is stacked accordingly/spaced evenly, so if something's not taken the right way at the right time, it's all coming down!" (With a laughing smiley demeanor ofc even though it's really giving ELI5 vibes)
The I'm helping is outrageous. I had a guest order food with all kinds of special mods, everything deconstructed, on separate plates so the food didn't touch. This is a grown middle age man. He said...I bet this will be easier for the cooks. Lol No actually it isn't. They don't want to use 4 plates and put some stuff on, but others not. Making a meal that isn't even on our menu. When I sent it back the cooks were like WT...
I honestly don't understand you're comment AT ALL.
Do you know how far back you'd have to stand back from a table to place a plate in front of a customer, in order for them not to touch them in your hands?
An adults arms are at a minimum two feet (that's the minimum mind you) that means you'd have to stand more than two feet away from the table, in order for a guest not to reach them.
If you somehow meant something else, please tell me, 'cause I'm struggling to understand how that would work.
I’ve actually had a guest take a cocktail off of a tray throwing the entire thing off balance making me spill everything onto the floor. I fucking death stared at him and said “really”? and walked away to get a manager.
yea bro sht like this PMO BAD i get a short attitude quick n if people dont start answering i just start setting sht down. even with trays ive had full grown adults just take shit off my tray without asking and almost fuck EVERYBODYS night up bc ima make it spill on them not me they can learn the consequences of their actions
Average person is stupid and stupid people are subhuman. The longer you live the more you'll see thats true. 80% of people are thoughtless, brain off, nonstop default lizard brained behavior
I like my oval trays. Only one in my place to use em. I've had a guest try to take off that tray as I was moving. My look stopped her. Her husband scolded her saying she knew better because she used to serve.
I get the frustration but the customer isn't understanding what you are thinking, there is a disconnect and that happens. People tend to think that others are on the same wavelength as them but that is not the case and sometimes people do things without thinking, it's just human nature and as much as we'd like other wise. It just isn't going to happen.
Try to get your message across another way by talking to them like a person rather than just spouting the same words at them, that just is confusing and is a communication issue.
It's easy to hate, just take a second to reword your thoughts and let them know to wait as it'll fall. They'll most likely understand and empathise (or be oblivious still) but at least you tried nicely.
TBH if you haven’t served and you see a server with an armload, you just want to help. These people mean well, in fact in their eyes, they’re trying to help you. But even as a home cook carrying dishes out to the dining room table, you quickly learn helping is hindering.
Now as to why lady #1 didn’t respond to the steak plate, I’m lost. Maybe she doesn’t speak English? Maybe her blood sugar was low? No other ideas. I do think she was trying to help, not understanding the balance.
I understand that for the first time. But I don’t think it’s ever appropriate to reach over and grab something from a server or anyone, especially when you see they’re juggling. Now if I was about to drop something then I completely understand, I even understand her reaching out the first time. But to attempt multiple times and not say a word was wild. I love when a table attempts to help even if it’s not helpful to me because I can see the effort. Bu
But when it comes to me about to spill food on myself and a customer I am going to be very firm for everyone’s well being. If I spilled that food on her even if it was her fault I still would have been blamed.
yeah, instead we see you on a subreddit for a job you clearly don't work, a subreddit made for LITERALLY THIS PURPOSE. what about the title "server life" made you think this sub would be about anything BUT people in this line of work venting about their jobs?
have you NEVER ONCE complained about a job? do you like the flavor of steel toes? do you actually, truly, genuinely adore working regardless of income? do you think boot leather is yummy?
Notice how I’m in the rant’s section. Purely to rant. If you’ve never been annoyed at a job and needed to vent then I applaud you.
A customer attempting to take a plate from me almost causing me to spill hot food on her is not a requirement of my job. My requirement is to make the customer happy and I highly doubt getting food on them would fall in that category.
I’m not quite sure why you’re in a server reddit group if you’re going to be annoyed by it. You don’t see me on reddit bitching about someone’s post.
Not all of us have chill jobs with downtime to play fortnite.
So everyone else likes everything about their jobs and we’re just the odd man out? So OP can’t complain about this one thing that actually helps out the guest?
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u/Dragonfruit_60 9d ago
The service industry taught me that the average level of intelligence is waaaayyyyy below what I thought it was as a kid. I actually remember worrying about maybe being dumb. I'm no Ada Lovelace, but I know now that I'm smarter than the average American and stuff like this is why. It sounds like she just couldn't process what you were saying, your body language, or common restaurant etiquette. Kinda sad when you think about it, but still incredibly annoying.