Re: Tonight's surprise!shift
I. Hate. Campers. So much.
I suppose I should qualify that statement lest the nature-inclined swarm me with less than benign intent.
In the restaurant business, a camper is someone who stays at their table long after the meal is over. They either don't pay their bill for a long time or they pay it and stay there anyways. It's the most frustrating thing in the world to a server, because people who are already finished staying at the table like that means that said table cannot be bussed and resat and the server therefore cannot earn any more money off that table. When one's section is comprised of a scant four tables, this is hell.
Camping is acceptable if the camper compensates the server for their time. Check any restaurant etiquette guide and it'll tell you the same thing.
I had a six hour shift today: I clocked on at four and clocked out at ten. In this time, I had two sets of campers.
Simultaneously.
Now, my sections had two tables and two booths. Booths are the most requested seats in the restaurant and therefore make a flipton of money because of higher traffic. Having two booths is a good thing.
My first set of campers camped at one of my tables for an hour and a half. Five dollar tip off a twenty dollar tab. Frustrating, but doable.
My second set of campers camped in one of my booths for over three hours. Eight dollar tip off a twenty dollar tab. It sounds like a lot, but I tend to earn 20% tips, which would be 4 on 20. In the time that they sat there, I could have turned and burned at least four other tables in addition to them and made a good four times what they left me on that one tab. The worst bit was the fact that two girls were taking up a six-top booth on one of the busiest nights I've seen since I came home for break. Those booths make serious money...when they're not occupied by campers.
I walked out tonight with $50 (mostly by the grace of a very generous six-top that wasn't technically in my section). My brother's shift tonight was two hours shorter than mine and he was in a section with less traffic. He walked out with $70. In addition, a week ago when I worked a lunch shift that was just as busy as tonight's shift but had me in a section with less traffic, I worked for three hours. That day, I walked out with $50.
I. Hate. Campers.
I suppose I should qualify that statement lest the nature-inclined swarm me with less than benign intent.
In the restaurant business, a camper is someone who stays at their table long after the meal is over. They either don't pay their bill for a long time or they pay it and stay there anyways. It's the most frustrating thing in the world to a server, because people who are already finished staying at the table like that means that said table cannot be bussed and resat and the server therefore cannot earn any more money off that table. When one's section is comprised of a scant four tables, this is hell.
Camping is acceptable if the camper compensates the server for their time. Check any restaurant etiquette guide and it'll tell you the same thing.
I had a six hour shift today: I clocked on at four and clocked out at ten. In this time, I had two sets of campers.
Simultaneously.
Now, my sections had two tables and two booths. Booths are the most requested seats in the restaurant and therefore make a flipton of money because of higher traffic. Having two booths is a good thing.
My first set of campers camped at one of my tables for an hour and a half. Five dollar tip off a twenty dollar tab. Frustrating, but doable.
My second set of campers camped in one of my booths for over three hours. Eight dollar tip off a twenty dollar tab. It sounds like a lot, but I tend to earn 20% tips, which would be 4 on 20. In the time that they sat there, I could have turned and burned at least four other tables in addition to them and made a good four times what they left me on that one tab. The worst bit was the fact that two girls were taking up a six-top booth on one of the busiest nights I've seen since I came home for break. Those booths make serious money...when they're not occupied by campers.
I walked out tonight with $50 (mostly by the grace of a very generous six-top that wasn't technically in my section). My brother's shift tonight was two hours shorter than mine and he was in a section with less traffic. He walked out with $70. In addition, a week ago when I worked a lunch shift that was just as busy as tonight's shift but had me in a section with less traffic, I worked for three hours. That day, I walked out with $50.
I. Hate. Campers.