"waiter" news and stories

We'd like to second Saturday Night Live 'Weekend Update' correspondent Seth Meyers from last Saturday -- "Because that's what the Chinese should be working on, ways to make their ten-trillion people unnecessary." -- and add that every rising actor, writer, artist and second-job-er in America would appreciate if those little electronic workers stayed right where they are.

According to the AP, "More than a dozen robots operate in the restaurant" -- Dalu Robot, billed as the first robot-staffed eatery in the country -- "as entertainers, servers, greeters and receptionists. Each robot has a motion sensor that tells it to stop when someone is in its path so customers can reach for dishes they want."

First-time patron Li Xiaomei told the AP: "They have a better service attitude than humans," who can be "temperamental or impatient, but they don't feel tired, they just keep working and moving round and round the restaurant all night." That may be true, but there's no chip for witty comebacks to the customers. Or flirting back. Not that we do that sort of thing.

When I was a senior in high school, I participated in the first-ever Take Your Daughter to Work Day. Since confidentiality laws prevented me from accompanying my psychotherapist parents' to their sessions, I ended up trailing a server at an upscale restaurant – an assignment that probably would have made Gloria Steinem shudder.

I'd never been in a restaurant kitchen until I cleared tables at The Lord Fox, a fabulously patrician eatery that still serves beef Wellington and crab-stuffed avocados. I recall having two concurrent revelations that day: Servers don't get a lunch break, and most diners leave food on their plates. To the disgust of my schoolmates who'd also landed the restaurant work gig, I nibbled on leftover steak sandwiches, ate the bacon out of BLTs and finished off any remaining French fries before rinsing the dishes.

Photo: Robert Banh.

The fast-casual Italian chain Fazoli's recently staged its fourth annual companywide "Pasta Bowl," a trivia contest in which the savviest employees flaunt their knowledge of how many teaspoons of capers belong on the restaurant's chicken piccata.

Fazoli's concept is, admittedly, unique. But restaurant managers have long tried to inspire servers and bump up check averages with a variety of games, most of which are won by whomever sells the most food and drink. The prize – nearly always a bottle of wine left behind by a distributor's rep or a scratch-off instant lotto ticket – goes to the first server to unload a certain number of specials, sell a particular wine or collect a "perfect check" (meaning that guests ordered every course on the menu).

I really like games, since they provide a pleasant distraction from the repetitive nature of restaurant work. Other servers must feel likewise, because when managers don't write the rules, we tend to create our own competitions.

A struggling actor is all a-Twitter claiming his celebrity-sighting Tweets cost him his job.

Jon-Barrett Ingels, 31, says he worked at Barney Greengrass, the cafe on the fifth floor of Barneys New York in Beverly Hills, Calif., and documented his celebrity encounters under the Twitter username, PapaBarrett. Ingels had dished about his on-the-job celeb encounters to his followers, with comments like "Thurs: Tori Spelling eats salami eggs and onions. BTW when did Tori become hot? Also Emilio Estevez looks like his dad," or, "Watched Neil Strauss (The Game) pick up girls and Mindy Kaling talking at a hungover BJ Novak (The Office). My work is not reality!"

But he tells Slashfood that his Twitter of an encounter with actress Jane Adams put an end to that job.

When we were talking about how much we tip in restaurants last week, some people expressed a bit of consternation over having to do math right after eating to come up with the tip. A Tip Table, which denotes what 15% and 20% are of various dollar amounts, makes tipping easier because it eliminates the need to think about how much to leave.

I will note, however, that the Tip Table is not without problems. For example, though the range it gives will certainly cover many meals and it's not too difficult to combine various amounts to reach higher totals, is it really necessary to say that 20% of $1 is 20¢? And is it even appropriate to leave such a small tip - regardless of the percentage - in all instances?

I agree with the commenters in the previous post who said that tipping rules are not hard and fast - especially when you want to be generous. And the Tip Table, practical as it may seem, cannot take exceptions into account. Leave more than 20% when you sit sipping your $1 coffee for an hour and reward outstanding service in general.