Jay is a nervous server! He is hard working, conscientious and always willing to go the extra mile… but he is NERVOUS!
For the past three months since his bad day he has only worked as a food runner and busboy. Only in the last couple of weeks has he found the courage to go back out on the floor.
The evening started off well. There were a few other tables dining in the Grill room that night, some of them leaving early to go to the theater.
Mr. Frontier came in with his newest girlfriend. He is on the house committee and we are all keenly aware he will report back if there are any issues with his experience; so we all immediately surround him with more help than he will ever need. So far so good!
Soon after Mr. Knuckle arrived. He is a new member, who has so far been hard to read. By this I mean he appears to be happy but he never thanks us at the end of his meal; he never complements anything he eats and gives no clues on how we could exceed his expectations.
Jay has both of these tables in his section.
Mr. Frontier is ready to have his order taken. He allows his girlfirend to order her food then orders a burger, Medium rare. Let me explain that in this state you may only have them medium well or well done. Even in a private club. Many establishments flout the rules, but not us; so Jay kindly informed him of this and watched in horror as the explosion occurred!
He came to me almost in tears saying Mr. frontier needed to speak to me.
I then calmed mr. frontier down but reassurred him that it is not only club policy but also the law. He told me to just order his girlfriends food and he will take another beer. He continued to throw insults to Jay for the rest of the night, even after I had a mini beef slider (medium rare of course) made up to appease him. He just got up; walked into the service station and bitched Jay out for not bringing more bread quickly enough.
Now it was Mr. Knuckles turn. He sent his CHILLED Gaspacho soup back. Reason? Too cold! He then had a filet mignon for his entree, rare! He sent that back too complaining it was too bloody!
By this stage I thought Jay's head was going to spin off his sholders.
After all this Mr. Frontier offered to buy the tables surrounding him drinks to apologize for his obvious over reaction and Mr. Knuckles the following week sent in a survey praising Jay on copeing well under pressure.
Even so, Jay still chose not to serve tables for a few months as he was so rattled. Remember next time you go to a restaurant that if there is something wrong, it may not be your servers fault! Don't give Jay another bad day!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
OOOPS!!! Who knew that was illegal!
Just a few weeks ago I was surprised to see a former member dine for lunch in the club with a current member, who happens to be a lawyer. Both of them were originally from eastern Europe and are permenantly living in the USA.
About six years ago; we will call him Albert, became a member of the club. He was always an interesting gentleman and always hung out with an eclectic group of people who were less than respectful toward the club.
There was an occasion when he hosted a Christmas holiday party for his mysterious company that he headed with his older brother. Near the end of the party one of his associates was almost unconscious with his vomit-covered face hanging out of the toilet bowl. Another decided he couldn't reach the bathroom in time, so he stood in the emergency exit and urinated; mainly on his shoes! Needless to say that drew the Christmas party to a rapid close.
Albert was always the smooth gentleman and would always be very apologetic for any of his guests "mishaps!"
With someone as smooth as he was with his funny accent, charm and confidence; and did I mention the hot blonde wife; how could life ever trip him up?
Well about six months after his ostentacious wedding to his hot blonde a news article appeared in the local paper. Apparently it turns out his business was in "replica" firearms. I say "replica" with the same doubt as the judge who saw through that charm, accent and confidence and sentenced him to several years of confinement at one of Uncle Sam's finest resorts.
About six years ago; we will call him Albert, became a member of the club. He was always an interesting gentleman and always hung out with an eclectic group of people who were less than respectful toward the club.
There was an occasion when he hosted a Christmas holiday party for his mysterious company that he headed with his older brother. Near the end of the party one of his associates was almost unconscious with his vomit-covered face hanging out of the toilet bowl. Another decided he couldn't reach the bathroom in time, so he stood in the emergency exit and urinated; mainly on his shoes! Needless to say that drew the Christmas party to a rapid close.
Albert was always the smooth gentleman and would always be very apologetic for any of his guests "mishaps!"
With someone as smooth as he was with his funny accent, charm and confidence; and did I mention the hot blonde wife; how could life ever trip him up?
Well about six months after his ostentacious wedding to his hot blonde a news article appeared in the local paper. Apparently it turns out his business was in "replica" firearms. I say "replica" with the same doubt as the judge who saw through that charm, accent and confidence and sentenced him to several years of confinement at one of Uncle Sam's finest resorts.
Bleeding the system for all it's worth!
We had a member who recently resigned from the club who had a staggering ability to glean more than anyone else from the club, but pay the least for it!
Most people have heard of the saying, "How do rich people stay rich? by holding on to every penny!"
We will call him Mr. Berry. He was a tall and robust gentleman who would require a lot of calories to maintain his size. In order to garner this number of calories while spending next to nothing; he had to get creative. He would come in to the club several days a week for lunch and sit at the joiners table; where business men & women would come if they didn't have a lunch date.
We have a popular fruit plate on the menu which comes with several options of accompaniments like sorbet, chicken or tuna salad and cottage cheese etc. You may be thinking, not many calories possible here... but just wait and see what determination and cunning can get you.
Upon sitting down he would first ask for a plate of lemon wedges and make a bee line for the sugar caddy. It had also better be full, otherwise by his second refill of water he would have you running for more. That was his lemonade set for lunch... no money spent yet!
Next was time to ask for an over sized basket of popcorn, and keep it comin'... still nothing spent!
But none of these warm up freebies could prepare you for his big plans for lunch.
He would then order one of the famous club fruit plates, but with his exceptional twist. "I'll take half the fruit in a container to go", knowing we would give him an overall larger portion of fruit. It would look weak and non club-like on the plate otherwise.
Next he would have tuna salad with it, BUT, "I'll take half of it to go... and can you put it between a piece of bread; what ever bread you have hanging around!"
Again he would get a larger scoop of tuna salad and he now had a tuna sandwich to eat later! Last was his sorbet. "Raspberry please, but I don't want it on the fruit plate; I will take it for dessert."
Normally when it was scooped for the fruit plate it would be a small single scoop in a ramekin, but he learned that if it was called into the kitchen as dessert it was delivered as two large scoops of sorbet.
Before we presented him with his "to go" platter he would ask us to stuff as much popcorn into the to go box as we could crush.
Overall for lunch he enjoyed a free drink and about $15 worth of popcorn (if he was at the movie theatre.) He would have a full fruit plate with tuna salad and raspberry sorbet for dessert. Then in the middle of the afternoon when his blood sugar would dip a little, he could have it all over again, at no extra charge!
Why would he be allowed to do this, you may ask? Well the member is always right and... That is the country club life!
Most people have heard of the saying, "How do rich people stay rich? by holding on to every penny!"
We will call him Mr. Berry. He was a tall and robust gentleman who would require a lot of calories to maintain his size. In order to garner this number of calories while spending next to nothing; he had to get creative. He would come in to the club several days a week for lunch and sit at the joiners table; where business men & women would come if they didn't have a lunch date.
We have a popular fruit plate on the menu which comes with several options of accompaniments like sorbet, chicken or tuna salad and cottage cheese etc. You may be thinking, not many calories possible here... but just wait and see what determination and cunning can get you.
Upon sitting down he would first ask for a plate of lemon wedges and make a bee line for the sugar caddy. It had also better be full, otherwise by his second refill of water he would have you running for more. That was his lemonade set for lunch... no money spent yet!
Next was time to ask for an over sized basket of popcorn, and keep it comin'... still nothing spent!
But none of these warm up freebies could prepare you for his big plans for lunch.
He would then order one of the famous club fruit plates, but with his exceptional twist. "I'll take half the fruit in a container to go", knowing we would give him an overall larger portion of fruit. It would look weak and non club-like on the plate otherwise.
Next he would have tuna salad with it, BUT, "I'll take half of it to go... and can you put it between a piece of bread; what ever bread you have hanging around!"
Again he would get a larger scoop of tuna salad and he now had a tuna sandwich to eat later! Last was his sorbet. "Raspberry please, but I don't want it on the fruit plate; I will take it for dessert."
Normally when it was scooped for the fruit plate it would be a small single scoop in a ramekin, but he learned that if it was called into the kitchen as dessert it was delivered as two large scoops of sorbet.
Before we presented him with his "to go" platter he would ask us to stuff as much popcorn into the to go box as we could crush.
Overall for lunch he enjoyed a free drink and about $15 worth of popcorn (if he was at the movie theatre.) He would have a full fruit plate with tuna salad and raspberry sorbet for dessert. Then in the middle of the afternoon when his blood sugar would dip a little, he could have it all over again, at no extra charge!
Why would he be allowed to do this, you may ask? Well the member is always right and... That is the country club life!
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