Another friend is one of those permissive parents who lets their kid run wild. I’m sure her daughter thinks I’m a witch when I won’t let her stand on the chair, play with her food, grab food out of other people’s plates, or run around. Eating with them is tiring and stressful.

I’ve never worked in a restuarant – though I’ve only worked in two – where the server was encouraged or allowed to sit at the table with the guests to take the order…or to sit wit the guests, period, while on the clock and in uniform. And I believe the bending down to table height is supposed to be some kind of form of respect from the server to the guest; I’ve worked with some servers who have worked in fancier restaurants and were trained to bend down that way. I won’t do it, I view it as subservient and don’t think of myself in my job that way. Am I uppity? No. I just don’t think that the service nature of my job makes me less of a person than anyone else.

Pet peeves on guests? Cell phones. I’ve gotten to the point where I’ll drop coasters for the guest to let the manager and other team members know that I’ve been to see that guest, but I’ve been burned by way too many obnoxiously rude people to engage anyone while they’re on the phone with someone. Most guests appreciate my not interrupting them.

Pet peeve #2 – No, I will NOT babysit your kid. If you don’t want your kid wandering around the restaurant and going outside, then keep the child seated next to you. No, I can NOT move those bottles of vodka that are sitting on a shelf, behind bars, above your head in order to stop your kid from playing with them. YOU tell YOUR child that they are not allowed to play with them. Also? That ceiling fan cost $1,000, I advise you to tell your kid to stop purposely tangling his balloon up in it. Furthermore, if you leave it to the restuarant staff to ensure that your child does not do something to endanger themselves, the other patrons, or the restaurant property, DON’T get rude when it happens.

Pet peeve #3 – better yet, DON’T get rude for no reason, period. We have a huge group that comes in a few times a month. They call in and say 12 are coming but the actual number is closer to 30. They are rude and condescending for no reason other than they can be, and they pretend not to speak any English unless they want to say something degrading. On top of it all, they do not tip AT ALL and our restuarant does not, and WILL not, add a gratuity into the bill. I always feel sorry for any new server because everyone else refuses to wait on them and the new server doesn’t know any better.

Guests I love? Large parties who ask for only one bill. You have NO idea how much easier this makes my job, seriously. Even a table of 4 who ask for 4 separate checks can set me SO far behind while I’m cashing them out. If you’ve got nothing but parties of 4 and larger all day, you’ll spend your entire shift running around in a panic trying to play catch up. Even if my other teammates help out – and I have a lot of great teammates – I don’t trust anyone to take as good of care of my tables as I do.

I love guests who tip appropriately for the service. When you’re paying cash for your bill and you tell me to keep the change, don’t act like you just handed me a million dollars when you really left me 43 cents on a bill that was over $30. I know when I haven’t been able to treat my guests as well as I’d like, and I know when I’ve given great service.

I love guests who have a sense of humor. Being able to joke with people makes my job fun, but I do “read” the guest first to see if humor is something they can appreciate. If they’re in a good mood and start joking with me, then I give it right back to them. It definitely helps to personalize the experience and it helps me remember that guest when they come back. Regular guests tend to like being remembered/recognized, I’ve found.