re: Is Walk-Ons Starting To Struggle?

quote:

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It's not the waitstaff that's to blame, it's the management.

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That's a massive part of it. When I waited tables in college the manager and asst manager would ride the arse of any wait staff found in the back who was not in the process of picking up food (meaning you didn't use "I'm waiting on food" as an excuse to stand around back there for 5-10 minutes). Your job was to be on the floor, waiting to be needed by the customers in your section.

These days the routine seems to be:
1. Get seated
2. Wait staff takes your drink order
3. Brings drinks
4. 10-15 minutes later they come back to take your order. At this point they MAY notice if you need a refill
5. Unless they bring a refill, you don't see them for another 10-15 minutes
6. They bring the order out then disappear until it's time for the check

During those stretches when they aren't just not checking on your table, they aren't checking on any other tables in their section because they're staying in the back to avoid having to do any more than the bare minimum.

It's part of management's job to make sure their wait staff is doing their job. If you aren't seeing them almost constantly on the floor, that's a problem.