Going out to restaurants is so different for me now that I have actually worked at one myself. I never realized how big of a deal a side of ranch can be when you're the one who has to get it. I honestly could write a whole book on "side of ranch" stories from my three month work experience in the industry.
So the restaurant is divided into sections. The hostess is responsible for rotating different table tops amongst all of the servers. It is also the hostess' responsibility to let the server know when a new table has been seated. Once waters have been taken to the table by the busser, it's up to the server to make sure they have a great experience! I usually liked starting off by asking if I could get them anything to drink besides water. It was rare when being okay with "just water" would happen. This was so different than I imagined since most of the times I had gone out with friends we would all just stick with water. (Secretly that was because no one wanted to pay 2 dollars more and no one wanted to be the one who broke the "just water" streak. Typical.)
Anyway, after getting drinks for the table, I would come back and take the rest of the order. Calamari to start. Arugula salad before the pizza. "Can you get us a side of ranch, please?" "Order's up!" "Can we get more ranch? We love ranch!" "Order's up! Let's go!" I come back to give the table their check...ALL OF THE RANCH IS STILL ON THE TABLE. Great, I'm glad I just burnt my hand on the hot pizza pan just so I could make sure I got them all of the ranch they loved to NOT eat! The things I would do to make sure the customers were happy. I know, that's essentially what I got paid to do and I honestly enjoyed working as a server, but hey I'm human too and getting all of that ranch for them took time away from me getting drinks for another table. Two seconds is a lot of time in the restaurant business!
Not all of the ranch stories were bad though. (I won't get into the time ranch was spilled all over my apron and I had to take orders from 5 tables by memory because I had no where to put my notepad). There was a couple who would come in almost every week with their two little girls. The first two times I served them, they politely asked for a side of ranch. Eventually, I remembered they liked a side of ranch so I would ask if they would like some before they could ask for it. Remembering something as simple as a side of ranch in this case meant a lot to the customers and it made me happy to be able to go out of my way to make this happen for them. And it was even better when they actually ate it all!!
I myself am a big ranch lover. Ranch is so good with salad, chicken strips, carrots, and pizza! Mozzarella sticks. Bread sticks. It's so good!! But I definitely think twice about asking for a side of ranch now. If I do ask for it though, I am mindful of being patient if they don't get it to me right away. It's not as easy as it looks! Those servers are dealing with more than just orders of a side of ranch!!!
***Would like to dedicate this post to one of my best friends who loves to NOT eat ranch. I don't understand why you don't like it, but at least you will make servers' lives a little easier by not ordering it. You're missing out though :) Also to all of those servers out there dealing with orders of sides of ranch and more!! Y'll deserve a tip ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment