Watch how you treat your waiter

[brnidokiegurl 0]

SECRET SERVICE

THE WAITER GETS MAD - AND GETS EVEN

By CARLA SPARTOS

posted by podunk

July 29, 2008

Posted: 2:39 am

July 29, 2008

Steve Dublanica comes clean as The Waiter, whose blog, Waiter Rant, confirms every diner's worst fears.I don't even know where to begin with this but I work in a job where I deal with jerks all day. I never exact revenge on them because it's PART OF THE JOB! I've also had enough unwarranted bad service from restaurants - fast and sit down - that...

"I would give a hard time only to the ones who deserved it." Among the folks who have "deserved" to see Dublanica's "thousand-yard waiter stare" are those who call him names, those who feign food poisoning to get out of paying the bill and those who make "unreasonable demands" ("'Hi waiter, I want sushi.' 'Um, we're an Italian restaurant, ma'am, we don't have sushi.' 'But you have tuna, don't you?'").

Foodies are particularly irksome, according to Dublanica, "because they ask questions they already know the answers to." ("You don't have super-fancy balsamic vinegar, do you?")

Lesson No. 3: "It's gotten to the point where I can tell how much money I'm going to make off a customer within 10 seconds of meeting them."

Of course, as any diner who has been treated unfairly in a restaurant knows, not everyone always gets the same level of service.

And profiling diners based on age, sex and race is still rampant in the industry. "I try not to fall into that trap," says Dublanica. "I've had waiters say to me, 'this group doesn't tip well' - whatever. I don't believe that. The people who have given me the worst tips of my life have been white Anglo-Saxon males."

Lesson No. 4: "Restaurants are places where people struggle to make a living."

At Eleven Madison Park, a small army of servers caters to our every whim. Why would anyone want to ruin this bit of dinner theater with the sordid backstage details contained in Dublanica's book?

For Dublanica, the answer boils down to responsibility. If you care whether the pig you are eating was humanely raised, shouldn't you also care about the people preparing it?

"You need to know where your food comes from," he says. "The same thing holds true for restaurants. You should know that the waiter doesn't make a salary and a tip [or] that a good percentage of restaurants don't treat their employees well.

"You're always gonna have people who say [that] you should be lucky you get 10 percent - and those people are lousy customers and you don't want them anyway. Then you're gonna have people who genuinely don't know [what goes on in the restaurant industry] and are interested and maybe they'll be annoyed, like with Anthony Bourdain's book."

But even perfectly nice customers like "The Waiter" have to deal with the occasional dining snafu: When it's time to leave Eleven Madison Park, we notice a charge for a $75 glass of dessert wine that was never ordered and is eventually removed from the bill.

Lesson No. 5: "Always examine the check!"

We leave in excess of 20 percent anyway. Maybe the waiter was just having a bad night.

[Jenn! 918]

What are lessons 1 and 2?

I've worked as a waitress and know that it is most definitely in your best interest to treat your waiter well. And if you leave a crappy tip, don't go back!

[almaty 19]

good points

[Nagishkaw 510]

Hmmmmmm....

[brnidokiegurl 0]

SECRET SERVICE

THE WAITER GETS MAD - AND GETS EVEN

By CARLA SPARTOS

posted by podunk

July 29, 2008

Posted: 2:39 am

July 29, 2008

Steve Dublanica comes clean as The Waiter, whose blog, Waiter Rant, confirms every diner's worst fears.I don't even know where to begin with this but I work in a job where I deal with jerks all day. I never exact revenge on them because it's PART OF THE JOB! I've also had enough unwarranted bad service from restaurants - fast and sit down - that...

"I would give a hard time only to the ones who deserved it." Among the folks who have "deserved" to see Dublanica's "thousand-yard waiter stare" are those who call him names, those who feign food poisoning to get out of paying the bill and those who make "unreasonable demands" ("'Hi waiter, I want sushi.' 'Um, we're an Italian restaurant, ma'am, we don't have sushi.' 'But you have tuna, don't you?'").

Foodies are particularly irksome, according to Dublanica, "because they ask questions they already know the answers to." ("You don't have super-fancy balsamic vinegar, do you?")

STEVE Dublanica has swapped your decaf coffee for regular, "crop dusted" your table with his intestinal gas and called the cops on you after you got drunk and staggered out to your car.

Lesson No. 1: "Waiters can and do spit in people's food . . . I prefer more elegant methods of revenge."

Dublanica is a waiter. Actually, he's "The Waiter" behind the anonymous (until now) four-year-old blog Waiter Rant, and he's got a new book of the same name out in stores today chronicling his nine-year career waiting tables in the city's affluent suburbs (he won't divulge the true identity of "The Bistro"). Anthony Bourdain has called it "the front-of-the-house version of 'Kitchen Confidential,' " his stomach-churning restaurant exposé that changed the way New Yorkers ordered food.

What Kind of Tipper Are You?

When Waiters Deserve Bad Tips

Similarly, whether you fear Dublanica or sympathize with him, you may think twice before treating him - or any other waiter - shabbily again. Because if you still insist on stiffing him after reading his book, he'll just put a friendly little note ("customer's an a - - hole," perhaps) under your name in the Open Table reservation system. Good luck getting that 8 p.m. table next Saturday night.

Lesson No. 2: "If you never get the table you want at your favorite restaurant . . . someone at the restaurant doesn't like you."

Because if there's anything to be learned from "Waiter Rant," it's that there are consequences to behaving like a self-entitled jerk.

"I think a misconception people have of me is that I treat everyone askance - that I give a hard time to every customer - but that's not true," says Dublanica over dinner one evening at Danny Meyer's Eleven Madison Park. Dublanica, 40, is dressed in preppy khaki pants and a navy blazer.

Lesson No. 3: "It's gotten to the point where I can tell how much money I'm going to make off a customer within 10 seconds of meeting them."

Of course, as any diner who has been treated unfairly in a restaurant knows, not everyone always gets the same level of service.

And profiling diners based on age, sex and race is still rampant in the industry. "I try not to fall into that trap," says Dublanica. "I've had waiters say to me, 'this group doesn't tip well' - whatever. I don't believe that. The people who have given me the worst tips of my life have been white Anglo-Saxon males."

Lesson No. 4: "Restaurants are places where people struggle to make a living."

At Eleven Madison Park, a small army of servers caters to our every whim. Why would anyone want to ruin this bit of dinner theater with the sordid backstage details contained in Dublanica's book?

For Dublanica, the answer boils down to responsibility. If you care whether the pig you are eating was humanely raised, shouldn't you also care about the people preparing it?

"You need to know where your food comes from," he says. "The same thing holds true for restaurants. You should know that the waiter doesn't make a salary and a tip [or] that a good percentage of restaurants don't treat their employees well.

"You're always gonna have people who say [that] you should be lucky you get 10 percent - and those people are lousy customers and you don't want them anyway. Then you're gonna have people who genuinely don't know [what goes on in the restaurant industry] and are interested and maybe they'll be annoyed, like with Anthony Bourdain's book."

But even perfectly nice customers like "The Waiter" have to deal with the occasional dining snafu: When it's time to leave Eleven Madison Park, we notice a charge for a $75 glass of dessert wine that was never ordered and is eventually removed from the bill.

Lesson No. 5: "Always examine the check!"

We leave in excess of 20 percent anyway. Maybe the waiter was just having a bad night.

sorry for confused article (i tried) ha anyway this guy was on good morning america and talked about a book he wrote and told some of the secret things waiters have done to customers food yuk

[Nagishkaw 510]

Give us some examples, Brni.

[Jenn! 918]

"Waiters can and do spit in people's food..."

that is absolutely true

[MissStacey 1]

I tried waitressing once in Canada and it was neither a fun or easy job.

All my hairdressing equipment was here in New Orleans and at the time it wasn't worth it to have it all sent back, I was leaving in a few months and was just looking for something to do to kill time in the meantime.

I started working at this little pub close to my house. The owner- who also did most of the cooking was the laziest man I have ever met. I would be putting orders in while he was sitting at some table talking to people. He would get up and start cooking when he felt like it- meanwhile it was me who was taking the ####### from customers for his incompetence. And if a customer complained about anything- he would do nothing to remedy it. He would just tell me that is how he makes things and if the customer didn't like it then too bad.

Needless to say- I had many people who took everything out on me. It was so degrading to be treated like a piece of ####### like that. I spent many nights holding back the tears and trying not to break down.

I was so happy to leave that job behind.

[Savanphil 3]

Lesson No. 1: "Waiters can and do spit in people's food . . .

That is just gross!

[brnidokiegurl 0]

i didnt have time to read it all but if u go to this site (waiters rants) it is all waiters telling some of their stories, this guy just apparently wrote abook and is now comming forward to identify himself telling some of the stories

[Savanphil 3]

i didnt have time to read it all but if u go to this site (waiters rants) it is all waiters telling some of their stories, this guy just apparently wrote abook and is now comming forward to identify himself telling some of the stories

I wonder if they have this book on Audible.com, I would love to hear the stories, don't have the patience to read this one.

[*JG* 2]

I try to be nice to everyone as a general rule.

[brnidokiegurl 0]

i remember hearing him interviewing and he said something to the fact that someone i guess wasnt acting nicely so he took their card as if to scan and he never scan it just give it back to them and told them card didnt work...place tables near the bathrooms. I think the single blogs from other waiters on this site tell more indivual problems

[Sinergy 3]

I read it as "Watch how you treat your WATER" i thought my water was coming after me...i dont remember yelling at it tho.

[Nagishkaw 510]

I read it as "Watch how you treat your WATER" i thought my water was coming after me...i dont remember yelling at it tho.

Too Funny!