How Many Times Has a Waitress Had to Change YOUR Bill?

[Chattyaholic]

I waited on three ladies the other day, all on one check. They were almost finished with their meal so I asked if they would like dessert. Two of the ladies wanted pie, the third lady said no. I added up their bill, took their pie to them...the lady who originally said no to dessert decided she wanted some. Not that big of a deal to change it...once.

Brought her pie, put the bill on the table. One of the other ladies said "Oh, I probably should take some food to my husband." Okay, I picked up the bill, asked if there was anything else I could get for them, nope, added it up again, brought the food out to her in a to-go box. Then she said "oh, I probably should take him some dessert too."

I couldn't believe she was making me add the bill up AGAIN. Arg!!

Then when they came up to the register she paid the bill with a check, then said to one of the other ladies, "oh I don't have any one's for the tip." The other lady said "you have a $5 dollar bill, leave that." She mumbled some-thing under her breath and the other lady said "just leave it!" I think she was totally embarrassed that her friend had me change the bill so many times.

Myself, I could never do that to a waitress. I would feel bad asking her to change it ONCE, much less THREE times!!

 

[yeartolate]

Chatty, you have posted many threads about the terrible customers. Have you considered a new line of work?


Your customers went out to eat, changed their minds on a few things and you changed their bill.

No tell me they skipped out on their bill, verbally abused you, or grafitti-ed up the booth and I can understand your frustration.

But the stuff you complain about comes with the territory. I would hate to think my waitress was judging me so harshly.

 

[DukeStreetKing]

I would hate to think my waitress was judging me so harshly.

I used to work as a host at an Applebees restaurant and almost every waiter or waitress had some nasty comment towards most of the customers they were serving. It was pretty disgusting to hear.

 

[sharbear]

I go to lunch sometimes with a woman who does that. Drives me crazy, and I'm soo embarrassed.

 

[ibouncetoo]

I think I've hit the three time mark. But the 3rd change was because we were 'visiting' so long at the table we felt obligated to order more



I would think with modern technology, adding items to a bill would not be that difficult.....AND would increase your tip.

 

[Sparx]

I don't remember having a waitress change mine, but I do remember once that I was volunteering for a benafit dinner.
Basically people came in to a diner, I waited on them, they paid, but all the money went towards charity. So this one group of hateful old women come in. There are four of them, they go into the back of the diner. I go back and ask them what they would like on their salads, they are rude, grumble, and finally give me their order. I brought them their food and asked if they would like a refill on their drinks. all of them said no. So I started to walk to the front, right as I got to the door one lady hollered, "hey, I want a refill" I turned around, walked back to the table and took her glass. As I got to the door again ANOTHER lady did the same. When I got back to the table I asked the other two if they were sure they didn't want a refil. the were sure. I walked out and I heard the two that called me back grumble about rude service.

So I get them their drinks and ask if they would like dessert. All do except one. So I bring them their dessert. and start to walk back out to the front. The same lady that flaged me down the first time calls me back and asks me to take her plate. All night long I took the plates after everyone at the table was finished eating, but no. This lady wanted her plate gone too. So I got her plate and started to walk to the door, they then all take it upon themselves to want all of the plates gone. FINALLY they left grumbleing about poor service. I got a 50 cent tip.

 

[gepetto]

isn't that like your...job? simple addition isn't all that time consuming. if it's a problem, maybe you should invest in a little calculator.

 

[clh2]

Geez - if that is the most irritating thing that happens at your job, you're pretty lucky.

 

[Chattyaholic]

I would think with modern technology, adding items to a bill would not be that difficult

I work at an old fashioned diner that has been there for a hundred years (probably not THAT long, but the place is OLD) and we do not have "modern technology" - we write the bills, and add them, by hand. And when the restaurant is super busy taking time to re-add someone's bill (especially for the third or fourth time) is wasting precious time that you really don't have when other customers who have not finished are needing drink refills, etc.

Sparx: I should have known that only another waitress/waiter would understand where I'm coming from

 

[yeartolate]

Sparx: I should have known that only another waitress/waiter would understand where I'm coming from

The difference is, however, Sparx's customers were rude - yours were just changing their minds - which, by the way, benefited your diner with increased revenue.

 

[Poohnatic]

I dunno, I've been a server, too and grew up with parents and all my siblings in the business.

A thing that they did, in the days before computers was just list the items and prices on one side, and on the back would be the total with a thanks and their name. To get your new total, take the price of the item and multiply it by 1.05 if your sales tax is 5% (ours is 7%, so 1.07) to get your new total.

Adding stuff to a check was never a big deal to me-people change their minds all the time. Snarky coworkers was-and that's why I left Outback and went to Pizzeria Uno.

Ended up that I made a little more money at outback, but I got much higher tip percentages at Unos. I kept spreadsheets of what my covers were, what station I had, weather and anything else-servers are more likely to get audited than the rest of the population.

Suzanne