CEOs say how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character

[Jenn! 918]

As a used-to-be server, I must point out the obvious-the server doesn't make OR plate your food, nor can she be expected to remember exactly every specification required. It often is the kitchen's fault.

Of course it is... My biggest peeve is when the server 'forgets' to put the order in and blames the kitchen.

Can't say I never pulled that one!

That's when you start giving away anything that you can get without going through the kitchen!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

As a used-to-be server, I must point out the obvious-the server doesn't make OR plate your food, nor can she be expected to remember exactly every specification required. It often is the kitchen's fault.

Of course it is... My biggest peeve is when the server 'forgets' to put the order in and blames the kitchen.

Can't say I never pulled that one!

That's when you start giving away anything that you can get without going through the kitchen!

That's cool. Free stuff shuts me up.

[Reba 2]

there's also the "gate keeper rule", in offices where there is a receptionist who greets guests and people coming in for interviews. One office I worked in, any of the managers who were interviewing would come out to reception after the person had gone and they'd ask me how the person treated me. Were they polite, rude, did they say anything untoward or ask questions about who would be interviewing them etc etc etc. A few people were not hired because of the "after interview" with me.

Always be nice to receptionists! They may be the ones actually hiring you

[Saddle Bronc 124]

As a used-to-be server, I must point out the obvious-the server doesn't make OR plate your food, nor can she be expected to remember exactly every specification required. It often is the kitchen's fault.

But if they noted down the WRONG ITEM (or included items you specifically said "omit") on the order (as happened to me a few times), then it's the server's fault.

[chri'stina 190]

All I know is that I hate going out to eat with anyone who acts rude to the waiters for no reason. Even if there is a reason, I'd rather it be handled calmly than to make a big scene. I've definitely seen the more nasty side of people by going out to eat with them. I avoid going out to eat with them after those occasions. I've never been a waitress, but my grandmother was for most of her life and I sympathize with servers who have to deal with grumps all day. A waiter/tress should do their job as best they can of course, but many people give their servers attitudes for no good reason.

Edited April 17, 2006 by stina&suj

[MichelleandCraig 1]

I was a waitress for about 5 years, and boy can people be atrocious!!! I'm very outgoing and friendly tho so I usually made really good tips...oh..and a good server I might add. Not often do I say that stuff about myself, but funny enough..one of the jobs where you make the least money(well,it can be good sometimes, but you know what I mean) I'm really good at!! figures..haha. I was one of the ones who always gave away free stuff tho...esp. if the kitchen DID screw up..I wasn't about to let it affect MY tips!! Well, as much as I could control it anyway! ..and I didn't go overboard either...extra free refills of drinks, a bowl of soup instead of a cup, putting two scoops in a hot fudge cake instead of one.. Anyway...I kinda miss it. I enjoyed doing that even tho you get run ragged a lot. M.

[Fuzzness 2]

I've had experiences where the server brought the wrong food items before. If it's something I like anyway, I shut up and eat it and don't tip very well. If the server admits to the mistake before I notice it, and corrects it, problem is solved for me. I've gotten free pizza before because it was, in her words, burnt (although it wasn't for me) and they then made me a second one for free. In that case I tipped very very well

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

4 of us were at Pizzaria Uno before and we noticed something black and melted in our pizza. We pointed it out to waitress and the next thing you know the manager ...

1. gave us a new pizza

2. paid for the entire meal (including many Long Island ice teas)

3. Gave us a pizza to go

we never asked for any of it. that's service!!

[Jenn! 918]

4 of us were at Pizzaria Uno before and we noticed something black and melted in our pizza. We pointed it out to waitress and the next thing you know the manager ...

1. gave us a new pizza

2. paid for the entire meal (including many Long Island ice teas)

3. Gave us a pizza to go

we never asked for any of it. that's service!!

Free drinks are always the best way to go. It's a very cheap way for the restaurant to make people happy! I don't know why any manager would hesitate to comp drinks for an unhappy customer. I suppose there are those people who might take advantage - i.e. plant a dead fly in their soup!

[Fuzzness 2]

4 of us were at Pizzaria Uno before and we noticed something black and melted in our pizza. We pointed it out to waitress and the next thing you know the manager ...

1. gave us a new pizza

2. paid for the entire meal (including many Long Island ice teas)

3. Gave us a pizza to go

we never asked for any of it. that's service!!

Free drinks are always the best way to go. It's a very cheap way for the restaurant to make people happy! I don't know why any manager would hesitate to comp drinks for an unhappy customer. I suppose there are those people who might take advantage - i.e. plant a dead fly in their soup!

or severed finger in their chili

[Springs1 0]

As a used-to-be server, I must point out the obvious-the server doesn't make OR plate your food, nor can she be expected to remember exactly every specification required. It often is the kitchen's fault.

NOT from "MEMORY" the server can be expected to remember, but from REREADING the order written down and comparing the written down order with the plate of food. I've had a wrong entree before. Yes, the server printed the ticket wrong, BUT, the server did 2 mistakes. One was printing the ticket incorrectly. Two was bringing the food wrong to me. It's NOT the "KITCHEN'S" FAULT THAT YOU BROUGHT ME THE FOOD WRONG IS IT? Also, it IS expected that you know what a customer ordered by at least rereading that order you wrote down to make sure the cook didn't mess up. If you are going to just TRUST the cook for your tips you are STUPID! USE YOUR BRAIN AND DON'T BRING OBVIOUS THINGS WRONG TO THE TABLE! Yeah, you didn't make the food, but you have the ABILITY to MAKE SURE I have my right side dish, my right entree, my side of bbq sauce, etc. I know you don't know if my steak is cooked correctly, I understand that, but VISABLE things that are wrong or missing is UNACCEPTABLE SERVICE!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It's hard to get a dozen CEOs to agree about anything, but all interviewed agree with the Waiter Rule.

They acknowledge that CEOs live in a Lake Wobegon world where every dinner or lunch partner is above average in their deference. How others treat the CEO says nothing, they say. But how others treat the waiter is like a magical window into the soul.

And beware of anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, "I could buy this place and fire you," or "I know the owner and I could have you fired." Those who say such things have revealed more about their character than about their wealth and power.

Whoever came up with the waiter observation "is bang spot on," says BMW North America President Tom Purves, a native of Scotland, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, who lives in New York City with his Norwegian wife, Hilde, and works for a German company. That makes him qualified to speak on different cultures, and he says the waiter theory is true everywhere.

The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. He wrote a booklet of 33 short leadership observations called Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management. Raytheon has given away 250,000 of the books.

Among those 33 rules is only one that Swanson says never fails: "A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person."

Swanson says he first noticed this in the 1970s when he was eating with a man who became "absolutely obnoxious" to a waiter because the restaurant did not stock a particular wine.

"Watch out for people who have a situational value system, who can turn the charm on and off depending on the status of the person they are interacting with," Swanson writes. "Be especially wary of those who are rude to people perceived to be in subordinate roles."

The Waiter Rule also applies to the way people treat hotel maids, mailroom clerks, bellmen and security guards. Au Bon Pain co-founder Ron Shaich, now CEO of Panera Bread, says he was interviewing a candidate for general counsel in St. Louis. She was "sweet" to Shaich but turned "amazingly rude" to someone cleaning the tables, Shaich says. She didn't get the job.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060414/...r&printer=1

Very interesting. I heard something similar with regard to dating someone - see how they treat the waiter. I've never understood why some people can be absolutely charming to one person and then be a total a$$hole to another without any probable cause. Remembering the Golden Rule will carry one far in life.

[Thingee 0]

All I know is that I hate going out to eat with anyone who acts rude to the waiters for no reason. Even if there is a reason, I'd rather it be handled calmly than to make a big scene. I've definitely seen the more nasty side of people by going out to eat with them. I avoid going out to eat with them after those occasions. I've never been a waitress, but my grandmother was for most of her life and I sympathize with servers who have to deal with grumps all day. A waiter/tress should do their job as best they can of course, but many people give their servers attitudes for no good reason.

I spent 10 years in the restaurant business...did it all from washing dishes to management and everything in between. My normal reaction to an obnoxious dining partner is to comment on it to the server. My favorite is "You know, I'm really sorry he's/she's being such an azzhole. Please remember the ribs are his/hers when your spitting in the back" It usually shuts up the not so nice person, and gives the server a grin.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

We had a "brutally honest" waiter at a Mexican place just before Christmas - he was a nice enough guy, explaining in detail that the chips (that we had asked him to replace) were greasy because the kitchen likes to "stretch out the oil", and that he didn't recommend any of the desserts and that we should get it at the place over the street. It was pretty funny.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

there's also the "gate keeper rule", in offices where there is a receptionist who greets guests and people coming in for interviews. One office I worked in, any of the managers who were interviewing would come out to reception after the person had gone and they'd ask me how the person treated me. Were they polite, rude, did they say anything untoward or ask questions about who would be interviewing them etc etc etc. A few people were not hired because of the "after interview" with me.

Always be nice to receptionists! They may be the ones actually hiring you

I too have been in this situation. One of the best bosses I have ever had regularly asked the receptionist her opinion about the different individuals who applied for a job or who came in to be interviewed. I agree, you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat 'subordinates', children and animals. Those who are nice to the powers that be but discourteous, inconsiderate or abrupt - let alone abusive - to those they feel below them or in service, are generally disruptive employees who end up 'costing' far more at the workplace in morale and bad feelings than they are worth, in spite of their other job specific qualifications. Someone who is rude to a waiter or a sales counter person - even if they do make an error - has certainly lost my respect. There are ways of expressing disatisfaction without throwing around your weight or being abusive.

Edited January 7, 2007 by Kathryn41