Sunday, September 03, 2006
by Ospite. 
We've recently hired a couple hostesses and it's my job to train them. Which I don't mind all that much, except that it means I spend less time on the floor, and more time at the podium.
It was a particularly hectic Thursday evening. The kind that made me wish desperately that I was waiting instead...until a 13top of girls walked in the door. Not women. Not young ladies. Girls. Ages 14-17. Out for a night on the town sans the parents.
The danger of looking at the reservation book is that you have no clue what the party's actually like, simply how many are in it. And I was suddenly very glad I was not serving. Now a reservation of that magnitude is bit abnormal on a Thursday evening so servers hear the number and jump at the chance to wait on a party. That's why we never tell them the age and/or make-up of the party's attendees.
These wannabe 'ladies' start arguing with me about the fact they couldn't sit immediately down at their table.
"Why are we just standing here? Why aren't we sitting down yet?"
"Because, miss, there's currently a party at the table you'll be sitting at. They're taking a little longer than expected."
"There're people sitting at OUR table?!"
"Of course. Reserations allow us to plan ahead for a party, but we can't simply hold tables for hours."
And I walked away. I could tell these were the girls that get their way whenever they want based on acting as pretty and seductive as they can. At that age, any guys in school would bend over backwards for them. Not me. Not here. They had to wait extra. Why? Because they were going to be pricks to my waitress no matter what.
I had the bussers take their time with the partytop so the waitress could milk the other two tables for all they were worth, realizing the 13 girls weren't going to leave anything substantial. We prep the table and seat the princesses of evil.
From the get-go, their waitress walks over to me.
"What is our policy on kid's menus?"
"I'm sorry. What?"
"All of them want to order from the kids menu."
"Not a chance in hell. They want to run around town acting all grown up without mommy and daddy, no going cheap at this place. Tell them 10 and younger only."
As time went on, things only got worse. One of the girls decided to make their table a barnyard. She looked the waitress dead in the eye, exclaimed "Oh s**t." and dumped her glass of Coke on the table.
Later, another one did the same, except she swiped her glass with her hand, as if waving away a fly. If they weren't chastizing the waitress, were intentionally ignoring her when she talked. The nearby patrons were clearly annoyed at their behavior, several of whom mentioned it to me on the way out the door.
"That party of girls had the most horrific behavior I've ever seen in a restaurant. Where are their parents?"
"Believe me. I wish we could have denied that party entrance. But the reservation was taken, and we don't usually have to ask if parents will be present. I will from now on."
It was a particularly hectic Thursday evening. The kind that made me wish desperately that I was waiting instead...until a 13top of girls walked in the door. Not women. Not young ladies. Girls. Ages 14-17. Out for a night on the town sans the parents.
The danger of looking at the reservation book is that you have no clue what the party's actually like, simply how many are in it. And I was suddenly very glad I was not serving. Now a reservation of that magnitude is bit abnormal on a Thursday evening so servers hear the number and jump at the chance to wait on a party. That's why we never tell them the age and/or make-up of the party's attendees.
These wannabe 'ladies' start arguing with me about the fact they couldn't sit immediately down at their table.
"Why are we just standing here? Why aren't we sitting down yet?"
"Because, miss, there's currently a party at the table you'll be sitting at. They're taking a little longer than expected."
"There're people sitting at OUR table?!"
"Of course. Reserations allow us to plan ahead for a party, but we can't simply hold tables for hours."
And I walked away. I could tell these were the girls that get their way whenever they want based on acting as pretty and seductive as they can. At that age, any guys in school would bend over backwards for them. Not me. Not here. They had to wait extra. Why? Because they were going to be pricks to my waitress no matter what.
I had the bussers take their time with the partytop so the waitress could milk the other two tables for all they were worth, realizing the 13 girls weren't going to leave anything substantial. We prep the table and seat the princesses of evil.
From the get-go, their waitress walks over to me.
"What is our policy on kid's menus?"
"I'm sorry. What?"
"All of them want to order from the kids menu."
"Not a chance in hell. They want to run around town acting all grown up without mommy and daddy, no going cheap at this place. Tell them 10 and younger only."
As time went on, things only got worse. One of the girls decided to make their table a barnyard. She looked the waitress dead in the eye, exclaimed "Oh s**t." and dumped her glass of Coke on the table.
Later, another one did the same, except she swiped her glass with her hand, as if waving away a fly. If they weren't chastizing the waitress, were intentionally ignoring her when she talked. The nearby patrons were clearly annoyed at their behavior, several of whom mentioned it to me on the way out the door.
"That party of girls had the most horrific behavior I've ever seen in a restaurant. Where are their parents?"
"Believe me. I wish we could have denied that party entrance. But the reservation was taken, and we don't usually have to ask if parents will be present. I will from now on."
8 Comments:
Shit, if a party of thirteen kids came into my restaurant and purposely spilled soda, I would let them sit in it. We also autograt, so I would have been all over that! Good for you, not letting them order off the kid's menu.
i know EXACTLY what kind of girls these are! they behave in the same manner no matter if they are at a restaurant, a jamba juice or at the gap.
A good part of the "manners" I taught my children was treating wait staff nicely. If I heard of my kids acting like this they wouldn't leave the house for a month. When they made the reservation, did they leave a number? I'd call it and let them know you are putting the name on a watch list and any reservations need to have confirmation that and adult is going to be present.
What little brats!
I'd like to say that not all teenage girls that age are like that...
when my friends and I go out, we make an effort to be polite. I always make it a point to be friendly to the waiter/waitress("thank you" for nearly everything) and we tip 15-20%.
what did they end up leaving as a tip?
Couldn't you have ejected them, after the purposeful soda spilling incident?
Would have taught them a good lesson. Then one of their 'rents would have called, offering an excellent opportunity to educate them, too.
that's ridiculous!
i'm a teen so i know exactly what kind of girls those are. there are a million at my school.
they need to learn some respect. imagine what kind of peopel they'll grow up to be? that's right--even worse customers. you should have kicked them out.
Had I known about the intentional spillings prior to their exodus, I'd have intervened. Sadly, I was told after they walked out...when the waitress came over to me so red I thought she might explode in tears.
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