15 June 2008

Hopping Mad Mama

I picked Kendra up from work today around 5. She had texted me saying that it was time to pick her up, and that it was the worst day ever in the history of waitressing. When I picked her up, she proceeded to tell me about the busy-ness of her day, and the pressure she was under, and with a sigh said, "I hate working on Sundays!" Oh my. I've heard this before.
Kendra said that people flooded into the restaurant after church, hungry and demanding. She was also feeling bad with some pretty severe cramps and said she was so busy she didn't have a chance to stop and take anything for it. At one point, she had half a dozen full tables going, and a woman at one of her tables had asked for coffee that she hadn't had a chance to get, and she grabbed my daughter by the arm and said, "Get my coffee. Go get it RIGHT NOW!" Excuse me? I have had all kinds of bad service at restaurants, and I have never felt that it would be appropriate to physically get the attention of my waiter or waitress.
Here's the thing - that "Sunday crowd" often cause the biggest rush of the week. They are hungry and often demanding. They expect magic from the people who are working hard to take care of all of the customers. They are often even the lowest tippers. I even heard a story once of a preacher who would leave a tract as a tip. What message did this leave the waitress who was working hard to earn a living? If you feel it necessary to leave a tract, leave it with a tip, not instead of a tip. People that work in service positions work hard and make a meager income.
Here is a repeat plea - those of you calling yourself by the name of Christ, please remember Who you represent. And if you touch my daughter again, you can deal with me!

10 comments:

  1. Julie/Jewls.....

    I too am Julie...JEWELZ..... I am happy to meet you.
    I followed Lori's link to you.

    I have daughters who have been waitresses too....I have been a Hopping Mad Mama too... I hear ya!!!

    I am also a home schooling mom...just finished my 16th year! Yay!

    Julie/Jewelz

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  2. Ooo... that most definitely crosses the line. You don't ever TOUCH me, let alone my children! It's right up there when a police officer at the airport once OPENED MY CAR DOOR instead of just tapping on my window. You just crossed into my personal space, buddy! BACK OFF! Grrr...

    And for those that leave a tract, they should leave an extra large tip with it!

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  3. My Mom and I both worked in food service for several years - I know where you are coming from! We worked in a truck stop/road side services place. People from church and other friends were always worried about me as a young girl working around all those 'horrid rough truckers'. The laugh was that they treated me better and with more respect than the 'Sunday crowd' as you called it!

    My very Godly Grandpa had always set me a good example with regards to tipping though. He used to tip 20% for good service even before the normal was to tip 15%!! In his favourite restuarants they had to make sure that different waitresses got a turn at serving him, because he was THE favourite customer!! LOL! And he left a track along with it, which I'm sure was read.........

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  4. How do you show love to mean church people? Aren't they the hardest of all?

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  5. That would have made me really mad too! She had no right to put her hands on your daughter! And isn't it funny that the "church people" are the worse ones?

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  6. Oh man! I've been thinking about writing a blog on this very topic - I've just been ridiculously busy! But, I would like to know when it became OK to treat another human being so disrespectfully? I've had people swear at me, yell at me, and threaten me... I work in a stinkin' book store! Seriously, people need to find something more productive to do with their energy than harass servers. Since I am in management, I can the customer to leave the store. Tell Kendra to let her manager what is going on so that hopefully he/she can get involved and prevent such instances from happening. I get called all over the store ALL the time to deal with idiot customers. Haha I can hardly wait to get out of retail.

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  7. Oh Julie, I know just the people she is dealing with. I waitressed at a small cafe one summer, which was the place for the Sunday crowd to go! I am always amazed by the people who think that attending Sunday services makes them good people. Some people seem to think that their beliefs and behavior don't matter as long as they attend church! Hmmmm, it's a BIG part of the reason why I don't attend church! Too many hypocrites! Besides, Jesus lives with me at my house in my heart so I don't need to visit him at church.

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  8. That would infuriate me. I would hunt her down and throw coffee in her face!

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  9. Mm-hmm, I worked at Cracker Barrel one summer and it was the running joke that Sundays were the worst, and that you might a get a huge after-evening-church crowd that would leave you a tract and no tips.

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Awaiting your words......
♥ Juls ♥