Can The Customer Choose A Table Or Booth?
USA
In America you are often held by a barrier with the sign Please Wait To Be Seated. After driving forty miles through the night, dying to sit down, you are forced to stand clutching the heavy bag you did not want to leave in the car.
The 'host' gives out tables so that each server gets a fair share of tips which range from 15-20%. When living in the USA I once went to a restaurant overlooking a spectacular view and although the place was nearly empty we were told to sit at the back.
I was a travel writer and was going to take a picture of the view and write about the restaurant. They did not let me sit where I wanted. I did not write about them.
Looking at the Yahoo answers page, it seems that in some states there is a minimum wage, in others not.
UK
In the UK staff are paid a minimum wage and a ten per cent tip is usual.
INVISIBLE STAFF
In the UK it is more common for you to go into a restaurant run by invisible staff. They don't notice if you walk out and they don't notice if you sit down. If you are desperate, you sit down at the nearest table. Then you move to whichever table you fancy. Then, getting impatient, you move to where you think you are most likely to be seen or heard by staff.
You imagine they standing behind the door to the kitchen, peering through a spyhole. Or maybe they are sitting on the floor behind the bar playing backgammon or making love.
Waiters should not ignore you. They should smile and nod and call the maitre D, manager or owner.
ALCOVES
I may want to sit in an alcove. If I'm with a lawyer or accountant or discussing finance or on a blind date, I don't want to be overheard.
Who else likes alcoves?
You might have to wait for an alcove.
Some people prefer tables. But I hate being in the centre of the room with people passing either side. People knock into you.
With children who are likely to race about, I want to sandwich them between me and the wall.
If you don't want to serve me at ninety-nine tables out of a hundred, I'll go next door where they say, 'Where would you like to sit, Madam?'
I want the privacy of the alcove. I might want to be private, alone.
If I have a smart coat and bag I want them tucked between me and the wall. If my handbag was once stolen in a restaurant, I don't want to sit in the middle with my bag on the back of my chair.
If granny has wobbly ankles and a stick, we don't want to be up the step which trips her.
I want the big booth table, not the tiddly table for two which makes all the cutlery fall on the dirty floor.
The booth has wider seats. Frankly, those teeny chairs pinch me. They also give me backache.
If I'm pregnant, or elderly, I may need to be near the loo.
However, my husband might feel that near the loo or clattering kitchen door is sordid.
Tables
The customer is always right. Every table should have good service.
What are the empty tables doing? I might not want to sit by the window looking at traffic, hearing sirens.
I might prefer a window seat. I might have chosen the restaurant because of the great view. I might want to watch my car outside the window.
I expect to be asked where I'd like to sit, or told why a particular table is good, away from a rowdy party about to arrive. The restaurant has to please the customer. Nothing should be too much trouble.
A restaurant with little tables for two can push two tables together to make a bigger table if they are not busy. Or until the restaurant gets full later.
The customer is always right. The customer is paying your wages.
USA
In America you are often held by a barrier with the sign Please Wait To Be Seated. After driving forty miles through the night, dying to sit down, you are forced to stand clutching the heavy bag you did not want to leave in the car.
The 'host' gives out tables so that each server gets a fair share of tips which range from 15-20%. When living in the USA I once went to a restaurant overlooking a spectacular view and although the place was nearly empty we were told to sit at the back.
I was a travel writer and was going to take a picture of the view and write about the restaurant. They did not let me sit where I wanted. I did not write about them.
Looking at the Yahoo answers page, it seems that in some states there is a minimum wage, in others not.
UK
In the UK staff are paid a minimum wage and a ten per cent tip is usual.
INVISIBLE STAFF
In the UK it is more common for you to go into a restaurant run by invisible staff. They don't notice if you walk out and they don't notice if you sit down. If you are desperate, you sit down at the nearest table. Then you move to whichever table you fancy. Then, getting impatient, you move to where you think you are most likely to be seen or heard by staff.
You imagine they standing behind the door to the kitchen, peering through a spyhole. Or maybe they are sitting on the floor behind the bar playing backgammon or making love.
Waiters should not ignore you. They should smile and nod and call the maitre D, manager or owner.
ALCOVES
I may want to sit in an alcove. If I'm with a lawyer or accountant or discussing finance or on a blind date, I don't want to be overheard.
Who else likes alcoves?
You might have to wait for an alcove.
Some people prefer tables. But I hate being in the centre of the room with people passing either side. People knock into you.
With children who are likely to race about, I want to sandwich them between me and the wall.
If you don't want to serve me at ninety-nine tables out of a hundred, I'll go next door where they say, 'Where would you like to sit, Madam?'
I want the privacy of the alcove. I might want to be private, alone.
If I have a smart coat and bag I want them tucked between me and the wall. If my handbag was once stolen in a restaurant, I don't want to sit in the middle with my bag on the back of my chair.
If granny has wobbly ankles and a stick, we don't want to be up the step which trips her.
I want the big booth table, not the tiddly table for two which makes all the cutlery fall on the dirty floor.
The booth has wider seats. Frankly, those teeny chairs pinch me. They also give me backache.
If I'm pregnant, or elderly, I may need to be near the loo.
However, my husband might feel that near the loo or clattering kitchen door is sordid.
Tables
The customer is always right. Every table should have good service.
What are the empty tables doing? I might not want to sit by the window looking at traffic, hearing sirens.
I might prefer a window seat. I might have chosen the restaurant because of the great view. I might want to watch my car outside the window.
I expect to be asked where I'd like to sit, or told why a particular table is good, away from a rowdy party about to arrive. The restaurant has to please the customer. Nothing should be too much trouble.
A restaurant with little tables for two can push two tables together to make a bigger table if they are not busy. Or until the restaurant gets full later.
The customer is always right. The customer is paying your wages.
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