Sometimes Your Waitress is Just Dumb...

I think my karma has come back to bite me. After all these posts of how terrible some people are in the restaurant, I think I have become the waitress an angry customer would blog about.

I only have one week left at the restaurant I'm at now, so my mind certainly hasn't been very focused at work. Unfortunately, the clumsy waitress in me has been coming out more than ever.

Sometimes I'll have those moments when a table is about to leave, and I remember that I forgot to bring them barbecue sauce or something silly that they asked for at the beginning. I'll feel bad because they were nice enough not to nag me about it, but I feel stupid for having forgotten about it until they're getting ready to leave. Sometimes I'll screw myself over and give my table too much change, because I can't count. Sometimes I'll forget their salad. These are just little things that don't happen all the time, but can really make a server feel silly.

My dumbest serving moment happened last week. I was taking a table's order, and was engaged in some conversation with the mother at the table because everyone was taking a while to order. The man told me he'd like the baked haddock, so I asked which two sides he would like with that. He took another minute to look over the menu, so I began talking with the woman again about some cookbook she was selling or something. A minute later, the man blurted out that he wanted fries and a salad. Somehow, the baked haddock order had been erased from my mind and I hadn't written it out. So I said, "You just want fries and a salad?" He nodded, thinking he was getting two sides with his baked haddock.

I put his order in as a side of fries and a side salad. You can see where this is going...

I brought it all out, and asked if they needed anything else. The man said, "I assume my haddock is on its way?"

It didn't register with me at all. "I'm sorry, you didn't order haddock. You just asked for the fries and salad." It took another minute or so for this to finally click in my head. Wow! I have never felt so stupid.

When I told my manager and a few other servers what I did, they applauded me, saying they had never seen anything so stupid. Congratulations to me!