Thursday, October 12, 2006
Customer Service..
..For those traveling to Oz.
I still have some questions when it comes to what I'm supposed to do at restaurants and the like. Do I seat myself? Do I ask? Do they care? Important to me: give me my menu, ask what I want to drink, bring the drink, and I'll peruse the menu. But usually I'll order my drink and it takes a good 5 or 10 minutes for it to get to my table. And I'm not talking about letting the Guinness settle, these are bottles. Yesterday the waitress gave me my menu, took my drink order and in the time it took to get the bottle of beer, she got my silverware and napkin, took my food order, washed some tables, took orders from other people. I can go up to the bar to get it if you want. Then comes the European influence where they're around when you're fine, except that they don't ask how you're doing, but as soon as you need something they're nowhere to be found. Again, last night, I need another beer - she's by my table, cleaning off other tables but never looks at me. Lady! Just glance in my direction please. A few times I've ordered drinks from across the room by holding up the empty bottle. Although I still haven't come to the point of putting an empty bottle on my head.. which I've been known to do in certain situtations in the States.
Paying. I have no idea. Do I go up to the counter to get my bill? Are you going to bring it to me? When I finally get a hold of the bill (again, like Europe, a "yes, I'm finished" doesn't mean that I'm going to get the bill) do I go to the counter to pay? Do I give the money to you? As far as I can tell, it's all of the above.
This I know: when at a small cafe where you order, pay, and pick up at the counter it is still acceptable to not bus your own table but you can, of course, return your used plates and such to the counter if you wish. It's best to just look around and see what everyone else does - but what if the person that I take note of is a jerk and leaves his crap when he's not supposed to?
Tips. Do I leave it on the table? But sometimes there's a jar by the register. How much do I leave? I've been told 10% but I'm still on the 18-20% program and will probably stick with that. Who do I tip? When I was staying in the city at a hotel with mandatory valet parking I would tip about 50-75% of the time. Some were appreciative, some seemed to run from me before I could even give them money, and one seemed to want to give me a hug and a kiss he was so happy for the $2 that I gave him.
What got me to write this post was my coffee experience this morning. There's a cafe in my office building - $3 for what I get - and I have a 7am meeting so coffee is a good idea. But ATMs here love to spit out 50 dollar bills and that's all I had in my wallet. What happens when you try to break a 50 in the States? At best you get a dirty look. So I had to add to it - coffee, juice, muffin - 9 dollars. He rings it up. "Is it ok if I pay with a 50?" "Oh, yeah, sure, no worries." Ok. It's that easy? So I guess the service can go either way.
Reminds me of a story standing in line for tokens at the Kenmore T station - where the tellers are notorious for being the biggest jerks you've ever met and you wouldn't dare pay with more than a 5. This is when the tokens were 85 cents and the guy in front of me only had a 20 and he wanted 1, just 1 token. If I were in his shoes I'd at least buy 5 of them. After a brief exchange between the two of them where the teller expressed her displeasure of receiving a 20 I heard the guy say sarcastically, "Thank you for the two 5's, 8 ones, 4 quarters, one dime, and one nickel."
I still have some questions when it comes to what I'm supposed to do at restaurants and the like. Do I seat myself? Do I ask? Do they care? Important to me: give me my menu, ask what I want to drink, bring the drink, and I'll peruse the menu. But usually I'll order my drink and it takes a good 5 or 10 minutes for it to get to my table. And I'm not talking about letting the Guinness settle, these are bottles. Yesterday the waitress gave me my menu, took my drink order and in the time it took to get the bottle of beer, she got my silverware and napkin, took my food order, washed some tables, took orders from other people. I can go up to the bar to get it if you want. Then comes the European influence where they're around when you're fine, except that they don't ask how you're doing, but as soon as you need something they're nowhere to be found. Again, last night, I need another beer - she's by my table, cleaning off other tables but never looks at me. Lady! Just glance in my direction please. A few times I've ordered drinks from across the room by holding up the empty bottle. Although I still haven't come to the point of putting an empty bottle on my head.. which I've been known to do in certain situtations in the States.
Paying. I have no idea. Do I go up to the counter to get my bill? Are you going to bring it to me? When I finally get a hold of the bill (again, like Europe, a "yes, I'm finished" doesn't mean that I'm going to get the bill) do I go to the counter to pay? Do I give the money to you? As far as I can tell, it's all of the above.
This I know: when at a small cafe where you order, pay, and pick up at the counter it is still acceptable to not bus your own table but you can, of course, return your used plates and such to the counter if you wish. It's best to just look around and see what everyone else does - but what if the person that I take note of is a jerk and leaves his crap when he's not supposed to?
Tips. Do I leave it on the table? But sometimes there's a jar by the register. How much do I leave? I've been told 10% but I'm still on the 18-20% program and will probably stick with that. Who do I tip? When I was staying in the city at a hotel with mandatory valet parking I would tip about 50-75% of the time. Some were appreciative, some seemed to run from me before I could even give them money, and one seemed to want to give me a hug and a kiss he was so happy for the $2 that I gave him.
What got me to write this post was my coffee experience this morning. There's a cafe in my office building - $3 for what I get - and I have a 7am meeting so coffee is a good idea. But ATMs here love to spit out 50 dollar bills and that's all I had in my wallet. What happens when you try to break a 50 in the States? At best you get a dirty look. So I had to add to it - coffee, juice, muffin - 9 dollars. He rings it up. "Is it ok if I pay with a 50?" "Oh, yeah, sure, no worries." Ok. It's that easy? So I guess the service can go either way.
Reminds me of a story standing in line for tokens at the Kenmore T station - where the tellers are notorious for being the biggest jerks you've ever met and you wouldn't dare pay with more than a 5. This is when the tokens were 85 cents and the guy in front of me only had a 20 and he wanted 1, just 1 token. If I were in his shoes I'd at least buy 5 of them. After a brief exchange between the two of them where the teller expressed her displeasure of receiving a 20 I heard the guy say sarcastically, "Thank you for the two 5's, 8 ones, 4 quarters, one dime, and one nickel."
# posted by Keith @ 7:08 AM 
