Consequences of zero IT skills

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You’re coming across quite oddly in this topic, especially in respect of restaurants. Maybe this idea you have regarding “service” is a US thing…

Here, your little list would be very different.

There is no “bring me” this, that or the other. Mid to upper range restaurants have professional waiting staff who would have anticipated many of them. They don’t do it to increase the chance/size of a tip, they do it because it’s simply how it’s done.

A good waiter here earns a decent salary in relation to many other public facing jobs, they have no need to rely on customers generosity to pay their bills or feed their families.

Discussions relating to specials and ingredients isn’t being servile, it’s a chance to market/upsell dishes, and to ultimately ensure the diner isn’t disappointed with their meal.

Good front of house staff are worth their weight in gold. You can have the best kitchen in the world, serving up the best food in the world, but if your front of house is shit, your diners experience will be also.

I think that statement is complete bollocks. Were you an underpaid and overworked waiter at some time in your life?

JF

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Fantastic response! I’ve been there…

My business partner is 69 and still knows more than the kiddos we hire as additional programmers on larger projects. His mental curiosity keeps is an inspiration.

Or how about “I don’t know if a website is worth the $$$ Because I can’t tell if I’m getting a lead from it or it’s because I belong to 20 organizations…”

IDK where he gets the idea of that list being “service” in the US. I’ve worked in the restaurant industry and frankly in any industry there is a simply how it’s done that is one’s JOB.

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Yes of course it is, and good service does this invisibly.

However, I was commenting on folks who were saying they wanted specifics like bringing a printed menu to them and the orders taken by someone standing by - so expanding the list of things that happen in a service situation as a list of things demanded vs possible changes (by tech for example) that a restaurant may make because of today’s needs and economy is simply part of a much bigger picture. More things will happen in the future decimating this list, but who is to say that in the future more amenities will not be added to the ‘luxury’ of dining out?

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He is indeed coming across oddly about it. It is not different here. @Rolf, I am guessing that you are not a restaurant professional but I don’t understand the dismissive attitude.

Here as well. Because it is a profession and they are professionals. And they love food and wine and talking about it, selling it and they have a passion for their work just like (maybe more than) people with other types of jobs.

I was a waitress from 15-25 and since then I’ve had a job with status and a title, where my signature is respected and worth money, but there’s hardly a day goes by that I don’t miss waiting tables. It was the best job ever. My husband has been in the restaurant business for 37 years and you couldn’t drag him nor the other professionals he works with, out of there. Most have degrees (some multiple) and could do something else (or have) but don’t want to.

Please go help the teachers and the nursing assistants instead. You don’t have a clear picture of the situation. Waiters and bartenders make much more (as much as twice) than the supposed living wage of $15/hour and don’t have to work 40 hours. Some already make $15/hr and then get tips also. It is absolutely the best job available without a degree and much better than most jobs that require a degree. It is how single parents raise families, how college students pay their own way, how houses are bought and how books get written. Working for tips is no different than working for commission or profit, like realtors, insurance agents, advertising, financial services, people who sell things, people who own their own businesses, Airbnb hosts, etc.

And any job doing something for people is a service job. It doesn’t change if you take away the tips. I laughed at your list when I realize I hear the same things over and over at my “proper” job where I don’t get tips, cause…people :joy:

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I am not dismissive about waiting, and I respect service folks. What I was trying to do in my post was show that there were many things in the restaurant service that could also be ‘no contact’ and that they do not always contribute to the ‘experience’… surely asking the waiter for another round of drinks could be done with a pushbutton on the table rather than imperiously waving your hand, for instance.

All I am saying is that of the 40 tasks involved in getting you your meal some could be done in a different way and not be considered less of the dining experience.

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Only if you like dealing with robots. I don’t. When I get in my 90s I might have to tolerate them, but I’m not being paid to take my order. I prefer the human contact when I’m spending the money to eat out, and invisible service that shows up when needed, as someone else mentioned.

Fortunately, when I was a waiter, I was trained by a Czech head waiter who had been trained at a major Swiss hotel. It was back when Alaska ferries all had dining rooms (most now only have cafeterias).

Passengers in those days could choose the cafeteria or the dining room. Our first goal, he said, was to make sure that once someone ate in the dining room they would return for the rest of their 2 or 3 day voyage. The second goal was to upsell when we could.

He told us that table service is a performance art, and the way to get people to return is to make them feel special. He taught us the art of pouring wine (and within a week, the limited wine list), and all of the little service touches to build that feeling. And he marched us all to a uniform store near the ferry terminal (in Seattle at that time) to get velvet bow ties and shirt ruffles to improve the look of the horrid waiter jackets the ferry provided.

By the end of the summer (it was a seasonal job) I got pretty good at it. We were all lucky that the Chief Cook on the ship had been hired away from the best hotel in town. From him, I learned all kinds of things about cooking that Mom and Grandma hadn’t taught me, helped me buy good cooking knives and taught me how to sharpen them. As an inexperienced waiter, he saved me from many mistakes.

And I made VERY good money that summer, and when I later tended bar, I found that many of the same skills were useful. You get better tips when you put on a show mixing drinks, too. :wink:

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That’s true, they can be, and they are, as evidenced by buffets, fast food, cafeterias, take out, food trucks and vending machines. We already have those less-contact choices, but they’re very different choices than a sit-down dining experience. If any of those things were going to replace traditional dining, I think they would have done so already. Eating is an intrinsically traditional and social activity. It is supposed to be comfortable and relaxing. I prefer to eat at home but when I eat out, I want to still feel comfortable and relaxed, I don’t want to deal with interfaces and electronics. Impersonal and perfunctory consumption of food is not eating and is definitely not dining.

All that service stuff is natural, it’s about helping people be comfortable, relaxed and enjoy themselves. It feels good to give it and it feels good to receive it. That was my favorite part of waiting tables, it is hospitality and rewarding just like being an Airbnb host. We do it for each other at home. I get up to get my husband stuff and my husband gets up to get me stuff.

We also do it in each other’s homes. If you came to my home, you would be offered a drink right away. (Everyone who enters my home is offered a beverage, not only including but especially plumbers and other workers). When your drink was less than half full, you’d be offered another one. You’d be given appetizers while you waited for dinner. The dinner menu would be explained, you could make choices and one of us would bring you a plate of food. If you asked for ketchup, one of us would hop up and get it for you. And, yes, my husband would even park your car down the street for you if we didn’t have a space for your car. And I assume that you would not have me push buttons to get a drink at your home.

Oh no, don’t do that. That is never necessary. There’s no point in sitting at a table if someone is going to act like a wild animal at it. :wink:

I can’t remember the name of the weird truckstop I ate at that had actual pushbuttons at the table or the strange cafe that had those little silver call bells that you give the infirmed, but I did find a picture of Pancho’s where you raise a Mexican flag at the table to order another round. Oddly, I think it’s a step up from pushbuttons (and definitely from the bells).

edit to add: that flag must be upside down and backwards, because it looks like an Italian flag there :laughing:

PanchosBuffet
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I have used apps to order drinks and snacks at theatres and stadiums. You put in your order from your seat and then go pick it up. It’s great because you can enjoy the show and not spend the whole intermission waiting to order something. In that situation, the show or the game takes priority.

And I do honestly miss having the jukebox controls at the table. Now, those are some pushbuttons I can get behind!!

jukebox

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lots of places have gone almost exclusively to QR codes after covid… the menus are potential germ carriers