What restaurants need to know
During a lunch date with my mother, who is by the way a great cook and champion hostess, she shared with me her restaurant experience with my brother. On another occasion when they went out to eat, my mom was quite disappointed with the service they were getting and complained to the waiter. She wanted to say more, but my brother stopped her and reminded her not to offend the waiter lest he spits on their order. “Horrors!” was all my mom could say. There are restaurants everywhere and our family loves eating out to bond or just to discover new delectable dishes.
Because we are exposed to all kinds of restaurants, I noticed that we, as a family, have the same views about restaurants. We highly value good customer service, we enjoy wonderfully styled, great-tasting food that does not contain harmful ingredients, especially those we are allergic to, and we have issues with unsanitary restaurants.
During my high school years when I worked as a janitor and was later promoted to a waitress in my aunt’s fine dining Filipino restaurant in Venice Beach, California called The Oriental Dish, I remember one of the first things my aunt Helen taught me was how to make the bathroom sparkling clean. Her criteria for a clean bathroom meant not hesitating to lie down on its floor and being drowned to dreamland with the wonderful scent that welcomes her as she enters. She had me put fresh rose petals on the toilet bowl every single day. Some people would spend so much time in the bathroom that we had had to knock on the door and remind them that there are still other people waiting outside because they are in a restaurant and not in their own home.
So, every time I go to a new restaurant, I immediately go to the bathroom to check how clean and sanitary it is. It gives me a good perspective of how the rest of the restaurant would be. We are all taught to wash our hands before we eat; thus restaurants should anticipate that people would go to their bathroom first before starting their meal. Resto owners can make a good first impression by making sure their bathroom is clean, nice looking, and of course functional.
Because we ran a fine dining restaurant, my aunt was very strict when it comes to quality, food handling, and serving standards, and we were always reminded never to miss out on the important details in our restaurant practice. We were not to loiter in the service floor or engage in conversations not related to our service. We were discouraged from sitting around — in fact, there were hardly any stools in the kitchen for us to sit on. Our focus was the floor, the people — to be always on our toes at the slightest glance of the customer.
So, if there is one thing that disturbs me when eating in a restaurant is when the servers engage in unnecessary chatter, joking around in the midst of serving their clients. As food servers are preparing the meal, they should be conscious that their saliva may also fall on the food. It is also quite disturbing to try to eat while the staff’s voice is even louder than that of the guests. Also, having enough time to chatter means there is not enough work that they need to do to keep themselves busy, which gives the impression that their restaurant is not so popular and sends out the wrong signal that people should not go there.
One thing that totally turns me off is when I walk into a restaurant and see the cashier or any staff doing their makeup or fixing their hair as they are about to open for business. Such things should not be done when already on the serving floor. Like a cashier in a fast-food joint plucking her eyebrows and then blowing the plucked hair away! Can you guess where that blown-away hair goes? These are things restaurant owners or managers should discuss with their staff.
It is also totally unacceptable for the cashier to handle food. I had to convey that reminder several times to the cashier of a fast-food joint that serves freshly squeezed juices. The server received my order, freshly squeezed out the juices from the fruits I had chosen, and then received my payment. When I remembered I wanted to add one more ingredient, she got the blender, washed it with her hands and water (no soap!), and then mixed the new ingredient with the rest of my juice! I reminded her that she had just handled money and should at least wash the blender with soap, but she didn’t give any apology. She simply smiled and said, “It’s okay,”and then handed me my juice.”
As servers, we were often reminded to wash, wash, wash our hands especially after wiping counter tops or tables with a wet towel or rag.
Another subtle, friendly reminder is for servers to keep themselves well-fed and to drink water every once in a while so that they remain hydrated while attending to their customers.
Good customer service is a gem for any establishment and it will immediately reflect in the tip the customer leaves on top of the service charge. I am very forgiving for accidents and mistakes done to customers, but intentional neglect is hard to forget. I remember once when I was training as a bus girl and was carefully giving out water to our guests when a whole tray full of water glasses fell on my customer’s lap because they had tried to help me unload the tray. I almost wanted to cry after ruining the customer’s suit, but he immediately turned to me and said, “Child, if that is the biggest mistake you have ever done in your life, you are okay!” I apologized and tried to gather myself together and allowed those words to encourage me, allowing me to go back to work. He was right and I was just glad he was nice, too. Some customers may not be so understanding, and in the food business or any other business, the customer is always right!
Am I out to look for the perfect restaurant? Certainly not! I truly appreciate a restaurant management’s positive stance towards constant improvement. I have become a walking advertisement for that establishment. Lesson learned: It’s good to make the customer happy all the time!
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E-mail me your thoughts at mommymaricel@gmail.com.
