Stupid Restaurant Tricks!

[WLStephanie]

There have to be more F & B hosts/hostesses than myself, right?

Here are my top 5 favorite annoyances

#5) Guests who make 75 special requests and then complain that it took too long to get their food. "I need that made with no sodium, no gluten, no PKU, and no dairy"..... 15 minutes later, the head chef who just hand prepared their food himself arrives at the table to present it hears, "IT'S ABOUT TIME!"

#4) Guests who think they are funny when they continue to say, "I want X" after you have told them that it's not available. No kidding, I've had a guest go on for 5 minutes about Root Beer.

#3)Guest who show up 33 minutes late for their reservation and then get ticked when we can't seat them IMMEDIATELY! Then they take it out on their server who had no control over either their arrival time or their seating time.

#2) Guests who obviously lie about their child's age to save a few dollars.

AND THE NUMBER ONE ANNOYANCE (which slightly pertains to number 2)

#1) Guests who chastise, yell at, & argue with the child who they are lying about or a sibling when they are called on the lie about the child. Hello, people! Is that example worth the $10? Seriously? Not only are you going to watch me lie, sweety, but I'm gonna threaten you for correcting me and argue with you about your age for 5 minutes in front of the server. Yeah, she won't know I'm lying.

You'll notice that bad tippers don't even make the top 5. A lousy tip, I can get over, this stuff throws my mood for hours.

[Coastercameron]

I have a question for you. As a server, what is your opinion of the Dining Plan? I've used it on my last 2 trips to WDW, and thought it was great. We really liked the included tip, and when we got REALLY good service (like at Le Cellier) we left a few dollars extra for tip.

Does it work out as good for the servers as it does for the guests?

[Radar]

I hate to go anywhere to eat with my SIL, because she is exactly like #5. She and her child are such picky eaters that something is bound to not satisfy them no matter what. Then of course she is rude to the server when it doesn't come out perfect. If you are that damn picky then you should prepare meals for yourself.

[Syndrome]

Stephanie, are you are Whispering Canyon?

Years ago, before I lived next door to WDW, that was my traditional "first meal of the trip" restaurant because we usually stayed at WL. On one visit, we were treated to the entertainment of a group of four, two of whom ordered the all-you-can-eat platter and two of whom ordered nothing. They insisted they were just going to sit there and "watch." Yeah, I thought you did that with your eyes, not with your mouth. The cheapness is astounding.

[WLStephanie]

I'm going to preface this with this:
I'm the server who always sings, "Happy Birthday" to you on your birthday. I'm the server who will ask my boss to charge you for a child's portion and offer to get you chicken soup and soda crackers from the restaurant next door if you are sick and didn't eat more than my 4 year old would. I'm the server that will go to bat for you with the chef to get you a discount if your food wasn't up to par. I'm the server who will go to the restaurant next door to get you that stupid root beer after you drove me nuts for 5 minutes whining about our lack of root beer while I'm trying to speil the menu to the other 3 people at your table who keep telling you to drop the stupid root beer issue (this was an adult, too). I'm happy to track down the entertainer to get you a Leigh (not sure I spelled that right.... and I just gave away my location, didn't I?) I am happy to have a 5 minute chat with your child to try and find something that they will eat because our standard fare doesn't appeal to them. I almost always put those cute little umbrellas in your childs' drinks.
All that said, Dining plan is usually OK. My only problem with it is that a large portion of patrons on the dining plan (50% or more) seem to come in with some sort of sense of VIP entitlement. I have no problem with high maintainence guests, I can be a high maintainence guest myself. However, I almost always tip 20-25% when I know I'm high maintainence... and especially when my kids make a huge mess. I don't know what it is, but you can almost always tell the DDP guests without asking if they are on the plan. They are the guests who want extra ice water with lemon plus three different kinds of soft drink plus coffee with dessert, but who preface it with "only if it's included in the meal". They are the guests who want items not common to the restaurant, but only if there won't be an extra charge. Oddly, another board has a poll that states that something like 60% of those using the dining plan tip on top of the gratuity. I recieve a tip on top of gratuity roughly 10% of the time and it's usually from the guests who are the most polite and least demanding. I run my butt off and I treat my guests like I would like to be treated and I treat their kids the way I want my kids to be treated.... all of my guests... that means DDP guests, DDE guests, Cast members, etc etc etc. I just wish a larger portion of them would return the favor.

[Zazu]

I'm happy to track down the entertainer to get you a Leigh (not sure I spelled that right....

Just in case you actually care, it's spelled "lei".

And for the rest of you, remember that it's not correct to use it in the past tense as, "I got leid at WDW!"

[WLStephanie]

LOVE THE HULA CHICK! Is she new?

[Zazu]

LOVE THE HULA CHICK! Is she new?

Of course. Am I not the Smiliemeister?

This one's new too: :lei:

You may now bow before me in awe. :zazu:

[BRWombat]

There have to be more F & B hosts/hostesses than myself, right?

Here are my top 5 favorite annoyances ...

You'd definitely enjoy this website, one of my non-Disney favorites:
WaiterRant.net

[Syndrome]

Speaking of leis and stupid restaurant tricks, may I purge my soul and make a confession here? We went to Ohana with our next door neighbors last year. They were buying us dinner for watching their house, since they are snowbirds. My husband wanted to leave the tip because they are older and the husband tends to think 10% is practically too much, whereas hubby and I leave 20% standard. Some confusion ensued, but we thought it was taken care of. This year, they are back for the winter and they just told us something that made me want to crawl under a table belatedly...they left NO tip!! None!! Nada!!!!! They didn't mean to do it...I don't know exactly what happened or how the wires got crossed. They didn't realize what had happened until the wife went through the receipts several weeks later. I wish they would have told me then, as I would have called or gone back to make it right. With four adult meals, that tip would have been a decent amount. Our server was very good, and I hate the idea that she might think we were unhappy, or worse yet, cheapskates!!! I beg the Tiki Gods for forgiveness!!!