A couple of questions

So, I have 2 questions.  These question is from the entire restaurant industry to anyone who has ever done this:

Let's say a restaurant has 20 pristinely clean, empty and ready to be sat tables.  In the smack dab middle of those 20, there is one table with half empty drinks, napkins in the seats of the chairs, check presenter on the table, dirty silverware, and a dessert plate with a half eaten piece of pie on it.

First question:  Part A.  Why is the dirty table the most attractive table to sit at?  Even assuming this restaurant is a "seat yourself" type of place.  Why is that the table that you inevitably seat yourself at? and let's say the restaurant is not a "seat yourself" type of place, (Part B:) why do you seat yourself?  

This behavior consistently baffles me.  Of course as a manager I am dedicated to the guest experience.  So even when guests do this, I either clean the table myself, or send someone directly over to get it cleaned off and bring the table menus.  Hopefully they have a good time, and yes, we should have greeted them at the front door, and the table shouldn't be left dirty, but in the real world, some things get missed.  I'm just curious as to what draws people to the one dirty table in the middle of a room filled with clean ones.

Second Question:  Ok so, let's say there are 2 tables that are exactly the same distance from the door , window, bathrooms, same lighting, same position, they are right next to each other.  Why is it, when the host wants to seat you at one of the two identical tables, you say something along the lines of "Uh... Can we sit there" and point to the other table.  I can fully understand booth vs. table, window seat vs. non-window seat, inside vs. outside, not sitting by the bathroom, kitchen, or any high traffic door, not wanting to sit next to crying baby, or if you want to sit in a particular servers section.  Those requests are what I'm curious about.

You want to sit at the other table, that's fine, by all means, do that. There are very few instances that we won't make that happen for you (We need it for a reservation coming later) The question is WHY??? Here are some things you don't realize:  Maybe that server just got double sat, and you would make it a triple?  (Just have another server take the table). Well, if it was that easy it wouldn't be any trouble at all, however servers are a very territorial crew.  Even if you give 1 table from server A's section to server B, I'm going to hear about it.  OR the poor hosts are going to get barked at, and one of the main things you need a host to do is to smile, and it's hard to do that when you have a bunch of angry servers yelling at you.

Again like I said, I am going to try and do everything in my power to make sure that you have a great time at any restaurant that I am working, however these 2 behaviors genuinely confuse me, and I was hoping that someone out there had a reasonable explanation for them.

So, as you go out to eat this weekend, please realize that these behaviors are at the very least, slightly irrating and most of the time, quite frustrating.  Please avoid them at all cost.  Also know that if you do these things, it's not like we hate your guts or anything, it just that, you are making it a bit more difficult for us to take great care of you.

If you have an answer to any of the question I posed feel free to comment below, Thanks for reading.  

Why I do what I do.

In the middle of the work week (for me it's typically Friday night around 7:30) it's easy to forget why I do what I do.  In the midst of server issues, guest complaints, and the kitchen giving me grief over seemingly menial issues, it's pretty easy to forget that I do this job because I love it.

I do, though.  Even on the worst days, it's still better than any other job I've had outside of the restaurant industry.  I could speak at length on this (I wrote a novel about it), so this probably won't be the last entry about the restaurant business.  So why do I love what I do?  

There is the basic stuff like it's good money, fast paced, and I get to meet a TON of people.  I've thought about it a lot over the 15 years doing this.  It all boils down to this:

 Life happens around food.

I used food to propose

Think about any party you've ever been to.  I'd be willing to bet that there was food there, whether it was a bowl of chips or a 7 course meal.  So many memories are formed around dinner tables, kitchen counters, bar tops.  

One of the most memorable days that I worked at Tutta Bella  was a Saturday filled with celebrations.  It was in the middle of soccer party season where it seemed like 1 in 4 phone calls was to book the loft for an end of the season team party.  This was a day that we had circled on the calendar and a separate floor map drawn out for, because it was like tetris trying to fit all of the parties for the day in our loft space.  

'Tis the season, day starts with a soccer party.  They get the space, 2 hour window, a bunch of cheese pizzas and lemonades, handful of salads and grown up pizzas for the parents, pass out the participation trophies... hour and a half later, party is over. check is paid. Dirt, grass and mud from cleats swept up, table rearranged... time to reload! 

Party number 2 is a funeral luncheon.  Mostly family.  Funeral parties are always a little delicate to serve because you don't want to be insensitive to those who are mourning, and you want to give great service without being to intrusive to the family atmosphere.  This party I remember was in joyful remembrance of the deceased, a few tears and alot of laughter, remembering the old times.  

Party number 3 was a Baby Shower.   We'll call her Susan (for anonymity) was going to be a grandmother,very polite at first, and had a ton of questons.  This was almost 4 years ago, and I still remember the host's name.  We met with Susan at least twice in person, exchanged a string of emails and had at least half a dozen phone calls with her.  Every possible detail was covered.  She knew that she had the loft for 2 hours, we finalized the menu, she wanted appetizers and food out on the tables as her guests were arriving.  Not a strange request.  She asked if she could show up 2 hours early to start decorating.  We informed her that we had another reservation occupying the space and that would couldn't accomodate that.  She showed up 1.5 hours early and was chomping at the bit to start decorating.  As soon as the last of the funeral party left she was upstairs hanging streamers and baby onesies.  As she was decorating we were rearranging tables and cleaning up and the servers who were taking the party started to ring in the food and set up the buffet-style table.  This sounds like madness, but at Tutta Bella we embraced "organized chaos" (which to this day is one of my favorite ways to describe the restaurant business) so this was just another day in the park for us.  About 30 minutes into the party I get a call from another Tutta Bella location asking if we had a reservation for Susan.  We did.  Turns out Susan had set up almost the exact same party with another location.  Strange, but not unheard of.  Sucks for them, because they had all of the food on the table for a party that is dining at my restaurant.  

So they  played baby shower games, asked to borrow toilet paper for one of the games, we obliged.  They made a HUGE mess, also not unheard of for a baby shower.  I get another call from a different location.  It turns out that Susan had made 3 different reservations.  So... yeah. that's special.   By the time her 2 hours were up they hadn't even began opening presents and we were already on a 30 minute wait downstairs.  I let it slide, decided to be gracious (It's the first grand baby!).  After about 3 hours, we began to start breaking down the buffet.  At 3.5 hours we started to clean as much as we could, and I talked to Susan about how we needed to start using the space to seat guests upstairs.  She seemed understand, but started to demand us help her load presents into her car.  It was odd, because we would have helped anyways, and now she's taking a really weird tone.  So I get one server to continue to clean the upstairs and the other server and myself are loading cars with car seats, diaper genies, cribs, and etc.

We didn't do auto-gratuity, and most of the time it didn't matter, however this time it bit us.  She tipped something like $5 on $500.  It hurt.  In the moment I was just glad to be done with that party and be off a line-out-the-door wait downstairs.  

Once I let it sink in, I was really angry that she didn't take care of the servers, because they worked really hard.  I got angry that she screwed over 2 other locations on a Saturday night.  I got angry because we showed her kindness and she didn't appreciate it.  I stayed angry until I got off.  When I was driving home, I took some time to reflect.  We celebrated at least 4 life phases around our tables (I can almost guarantee someone downstairs had a birthday dinner).  We are a part of those people's stories now, and that is a pretty amazing thing to be a part of.

Middle of lunch rush:  Kevin leaps through the front door, to propose to Thais.

 We provide servers to guide you through a (hopefully) enjoyable experience.  We provide a table and chairs, bring the food, and dim the lights.  You get to make the memories.  You get to blow out a candle of a free dessert.  You get to collaborate with your server or a manager on how you're going to propose, or surprise your partner by returning home from a tour overseas.  You get to have your first family meal together as the adoption was just made official.

These beautiful moments.  These stories.  These memories.  To have the honor/privilege to get the front row seat for these... that's one of the reasons why I do what I do.