Forget Obama vs. McCain or the fact that the Olympics are two days out.

The hot topic in Harrisburg this week revolves around a waiter, a bartender and the owner of a restaurant on a prime piece of property on Second Street.

If you’ve [...]]]>

Wednesday, August 06, 2008
BY NANCY ESHELMAN
Of The Patriot-News

Forget Obama vs. McCain or the fact that the Olympics are two days out.

The hot topic in Harrisburg this week revolves around a waiter, a bartender and the owner of a restaurant on a prime piece of property on Second Street.

If you’ve been sleeping, here’s the capsulated version: Patriot-News reporter Daniel Victor went to Spice, on the corner of Locust Street, at lunchtime last week to ask if the economy was hurting servers’ tips. Bartender Molly Turner, 38, and waiter John Burkholder, 26, said yes indeed.

The story ran Sunday, and both were fired Monday.

Victor wasn’t around the newsroom Monday so the fallout landed in my lap. Turner, a daytime manager as well as a bartender, was not only fired — she was fired up. Burkholder was more puzzled than anything since the executive chef had asked him to speak to Victor.

On Tuesday, the story about the two of them being fired ran on the front page. The comment section of Pennlive.com lit up like the opening ceremonies in Beijing. The message light on my telephone blinked all day, despite my efforts to keep the line clear. The inbox on my e-mail was as jammed as the post office at Christmas.

Everybody, it seems, had something to say about (dare I call it this?) Spicegate.

Even Gene Stilp got into the act. He of the pink pig, Bonusgate, and “beauty” contests on the Capitol steps put on his straw hat, picked up a black-and-white sign and marched back and forth in front of Spice during the lunch hour.

His intention, he said, was not to discourage people from eating at the restaurant, but to encourage them to let management know that Turner and Burkholder should get their jobs back.

Of course, not everyone agrees with him.

In Victor’s original article, Burkholder said, “You have to pretty much be the best server ever and make them feel like crap for leaving you anything less than you deserve.”

What he meant was that waiters have to work really hard so customers will feel badly if they don’t leave a generous tip.

Some people, including Spice owner Eric Desrosiers, didn’t like that attitude.

“We do not teach or permit our servers to use guilt or other tactics to earn more gratuity,” he said in a prepared statement.

One of my many, many, many callers — a woman — said that statement alone should have gotten Burkholder fired. But she didn’t think Turner should have gotten the boot.

Others disagreed, strongly, saying Turner needed to go but Burkholder didn’t.

In Sunday’s paper, Turner was quoted as saying, “If you can’t afford to come out, then don’t come out.”

That didn’t sit well with a woman who wrote: “The only thing I remember about Sunday’s paper — the only thing — were the sentiments of Molly Turner. If you can’t afford to tip the way she expects, rather than deserves, me thinks, then stay at home. Ouch!”

That touched a nerve with Desrosiers as well, whose statement said, “We welcome all customers regardless of what they can afford to tip.”

Stilp and some readers thought the owner overreacted and should have rebuked his employees, not fired them. A few people threatened never to eat at Spice. Still others thought Desrosiers did the right thing.

“The CEO was showing his customers that people with bad attitudes won’t be serving them on their visit to his establishment. That’s good business,” one person wrote.

“Spice is going to reap benefits from this. I have heard several people say they will go there purposely now and support the restaurant that supports its customers,” the writer said.

Desrosiers, who’s been out of town, said he’s kept up with the debate and stands by his decision. The employees weren’t fired for talking to the press, he said in a faxed statement Tuesday, “but rather the message that was conveyed to its patrons by their comments.”

Of course, at least one or two readers, as they examined the thing from every side, decided to put the blame for this whole episode on The Patriot-News.

“Knowing how the press operates,” one of them wrote, “the reporter probably asked them questions to provoke them to say something about getting lousy tips, so their statements would support his story.”

Yeah, blame it on the press. It’s been a slow summer. We needed this to spice it up.

NANCY ESHELMAN: 255-8163 or neshelman@patriot-news.com

TIPS ON TIPPING

• You do not need to tip on tax.
• Tipping is always based upon the normal price of the good or service. Don’t include discounts from coupons when figuring the tip.
• If you’re dissatisfied, talk to the manager. Skipping the tip will not correct poor service.
• Don’t ask for change. It can create an awkward situation to ask for change from the person you’re tipping.
• If on vacation in another country, check with a travel agent. Tipping etiquette varies by country. A tip of 10 percent to 15 percent is acceptable in some European and Asian countries.
• HOW MUCH SHOULD I TIP? Waiters/waitresses: 15 percent to 20 percent for average-to-good service. More for exceptional service.
• Bartenders: $1 to $2 per round or 15 percent to 20 percent of the tab with a minimum of 50 cents per nonalcoholic drink and $1 per alcoholic drink.
• Cocktail waitresses: $1 to $2 per drink.
• Food delivery person: 10 percent of the bill or $2, whichever is greater.
• Self-service buffet: Nothing, unless there is some service.
• Headwaiter/captain: Might get a cut of a table server’s tips, so tip your server extra or tip the captain separately.
SOURCE: tip20!.com

©2008 The Patriot-News
© 2008 PennLive.com All Rights Reserved.

Servers are there to serve. But don’t make it any harder on them than it should [...]]]>

From Rocktown Weekly
By Brooke Bates
It’s not an easy job. But they do it – balancing trays of burgers and drinks in one hand, keeping a dozen orders straight and maintaining a grin until their shift ends.

Servers are there to serve. But don’t make it any harder on them than it should be. Here’s your guide to being a good customer.

Use your manners
“Be nice.” It’s really pretty simple, according to Chris Howdyshell, who has worked at The Little Grill Collective for nine years. He says Little Grill workers, like all servers, try to make each meal a friendly, personal experience.

“A good customer is polite” in return, says Miles Miller, who waited tables at O’Charley’s for a year and a half. That means making sure your kids mind their manners, too.

“Some parents let their kids go wild … and just leave [the mess] for me,” he says.

Have fun, but not at the sake of other customers or your server.

Be sociable
Sometimes, when Rachael Morris, 22, introduces herself to a table and asks how they’re doing, they reply with drink orders.

“I hate when people don’t give me time to even speak,” says the waitress, who worked at Ruby Tuesdays for three and a half years before moving to Rocktown Grill a month ago. “I can’t stand when they won’t even look up at me. I think that’s just rude.”

She says she appreciates feedback, because she can’t tell if quiet tables are enjoying themselves.

Take your time, not theirs
Servers will give you plenty of time to decide. “I don’t want you to get something you don’t want,” says Miller, 23.

But don’t take up your server’s time while you ponder the options.

“People tell you they’re ready because they don’t want you to leave,” Morris says. “Then they sit there for another 10 minutes saying, ‘Umm, umm, umm,’ just because they don’t want you to walk away.”

Don’t expect special treatment.
Sure, the customer is always right, but be reasonable. Some customers send food back without even trying it, says Karin Bales, who worked at The Pub for almost a year before moving to Rocktown Grill.

Of course you can send it back if it’s not what you wanted. But if you customize an order, altering it from what’s on the menu, make sure it’s what you want. “[You get] a special order, then don’t like it?” she says. “You changed the menu!”

Some customers just want free food, Morris observes.

“They’ll eat everything but the last bite of a steak or burger, then complain that it’s not cooked right and they don’t want to pay for it,” she says. “You ate the whole thing!”

Don’t get personal
Try to call your server by name, says Jaime Woolf, a waitress at Cally’s.

“They don’t remember my name so they say, ‘Hey you,’ or ‘Hey, girl,’ ” says the 22-year-old.

Miller agrees that getting called “waiter” is grating. “I know you’re not trying to be mean,” he says, “but I have a name tag. I already introduced myself.”

But don’t get too intimate – with servers or with your date, Miller says.

Remember you are in public.

“I hate PDA,” he says. “I can’t stand it when people sit in the same side of a booth.”

Your server doesn’t want to know about your personal life, and they don’t really want you prying into theirs either, Miller says.

“I don’t like when people ask about my personal life,” he says. “I don’t know you. [People ask], “Do you have a girlfriend? How long have you been dating?’ ”

Bales draws the line at touching. “Any type of … grabbing, pulling you over into their lap” is going too far, she says.

Patience is a virtue
Howdyshell says his biggest pet peeve is customers’ coming up to the front counter for a refill.

“It’s like people are calling you out for not giving them fast enough service,” he says. But, he admits, he does it when he’s out, too.

Realize that a sit-down restaurant can’t offer immediate gratification.

Morris says she can’t stand customers who say they’re in a hurry and want a rush on their food.

“If you’re in a hurry, go to McDonald’s,” she says.

Miller’s patience ends when customers try to flag him down.

“They say no when I ask if they need anything, then wave me down to ask for it,” he says. “I’m like, ‘I asked you two seconds ago and you said no!’ ”

Don’t blame your waiter
There are some things that your server really can’t help – like how long it takes to grill a steak.

Morris says she apologizes to customers for the wait anyway, and they help ease her mind by understanding her position.

“They understand the kitchen is a separate thing,” she says. “They say, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re not in any hurry. It’s not your fault.’ ”

Customers expect servers to be “moderators” between the table and the kitchen, Miller says. They request extra portions for free, he says, and he can’t give handouts.

Clean up after yourself
“Leaving a complete and utter mess is not necessary,” Miller says, recalling tables showered with spilled salt and strewn with wads of paper.

A little effort, like stacking your plates before you leave, will make your server’s day, he says. It cuts their clean-up time in half.

But it starts with not being excessively messy in the first place.

“Pitchers are made to have things poured out of them, not to put trash in or dump ashtrays in,” says Joe Myers, a bartender at Rocktown Grill who’s been pouring drinks for 30 years.

Just because it’s not your house doesn’t mean you can trash it.

Say thank you with a tip
One of Miller’s tables once ran up a $100 tab, and the group was the last in the bar to leave. They ran him to death, he says, and left nothing in return.

“I don’t think people realize we only make $2 an hour,” says Miller, who’s working to fund his college education.

Morris says most customers just don’t know tipping etiquette. “They think $5 is a great tip, no matter what, even if you have a $40 check,” she says.

She says the bill isn’t the only thing that should determine the tip. “If you ran your server to death, take that into consideration,” she says.

They all recommend 20 percent.

Make a habit of it
“A good customer [is] the one that comes a lot,” says Howdyshell as he scans the morning regulars at The Little Grill.

“Regulars make the best customers,” he says. “If it’s possible for someone you don’t know to give you unconditional love, it’s when you’re feeding them.”

Any customer that comes at all is a good one, the restaurateurs agree.
Miller’s view, which he claims is more optimistic than most, is that “overall, people are nice.”

Morris says the bad seems to outweigh the good some days, but it’s mostly because customers just don’t know better, she says.

“Being a server definitely changed the way I see things from a customer’s standpoint,” she says. “I think everybody should have that experience. If everybody worked at a restaurant for a year, the world would be a happier place.”