Was this a bad waiter?

[Antisocial_Worker]

I'm not sure who, if anyone behaved badly here.

Long story short, I went out to lunch today at one of my favorite restaurants and ordered a sandwich that came with fries. I ate some of the fries, thought the rest might be better with ketchup and then -- I don't know why I bothered because it's that really thick ketchup that isn't going to come out of the bottle anyway so why bother -- I shook the ketchup bottle, and when I opened the cap, the bottle spewed frothy ketchup all over the table, my fries, and a healthy dollop squirted across the sleeve of my shirt. It happened to be one of my favorite shirts, and I also happened to be looking extremely good today, so that's probably why it pissed me off so badly.

I'd had my sleeve rolled up and there was quite a bit of ketchup on my arm, so I wiped off my arm with my cloth napkin, and was waiting for my waiter to come by so I could get another napkin. He made several passes with a casual glance over my way and though I met his eyes every time, he didn't seem interested in coming over. At one point he swept in to refill my drink, and when I say swept in, I mean it. It was a run-by drinking, although he did notice the ketchup spewed across the table. Before I could say anything, he was gone again.

Finally I gave up, ate my sandwich, wadded up the napkin to avoid smearing as much as I could and wiped the ketchup off my sleeve and the tabletop and the seat of the booth I was in, and let it be.

Basically, to catch his attention I would have had to either stand up and wave semaphore flags, yell, or physically tackle him -- none of which are good options. When he asked if I wanted dessert, I turned him down with chilled politeness and when the bill arrived, I tipped him $3 on a bill that was just over $15 because I feel guilty about not leaving tips even if the waitstaff somehow manages to set me on fire.

In the end, I just left.

How should this have been handled, by me and by him?

[Flying Grype]

I dunno, he's not psychic, and if he was in a hurry he wouldn't have stopped to clean your table. Most people mop up their own spills in restaurants. I would have flagged him down and asked for more napkins or a rag to clean up with, but I wouldn't have expected him to do it himself without being asked.

[Antisocial_Worker]

I dunno, he's not psychic, and if he was in a hurry he wouldn't have stopped to clean your table. Most people mop up their own spills in restaurants. I would have flagged him down and asked for more napkins or a rag to clean up with, but I wouldn't have expected him to do it himself without being asked.

That wasn't what I was expecting. I wanted to ask him for another napkin, actually because there was a lot of ketchup everywhere. By the end, when I did end up cleaning the table and the bench, the napkin I had was so saturated that all it was doing was smearing it.

Sorry if I wasn't clearer on that.

[Aut]

I think you left him too much, $3 was 20%. If he was good enough, he would have stopped for a moment and asked how everything was and if you needed anything. That's normal.

Recently we took some friends out and it was 20 minutes before the waiter came to take our order, and that was only after we alerted the manager. DH left a $3 tip on a $75 bill.

[blas]

Tide To Go is your best friend. It even comes in travel size

[r2cagle]

Did he not respond to any head nod from you or did you just not get the chance to wave at him before his attention was diverted? I've been known to get up from the table and walk to the nearest waitstaff and ask for more napkins and a wet cloth, or wave my hand when I catch their eye across the room. Or sometimes even head to the restroom and grab stuff... but often someone else is with me so it's not usually a problem.

It's hard to say if the waiter was purposely sucky, if the restaurant was mad busy he may not have been doing it on purpose. Next time, call after him (i.e. can I get a few more napkins) as he's walking away from the leaving the refilled drink. Better to speak up and get what you need than to be irritated because you are being polite and mannered.

Since you're irritated by it, the situation was sucky. But for next time, psyche yourself up to speak up and ask. Or shoot, at the time I order food, I always ask for extra napkins up front. I know myself too well.

[Antisocial_Worker]

Update: I'm still finding ketchup in weird places. I just walked over to an ice cream shop near my apartment, carrying the book I was reading at lunch. As I ate my ice cream, I stuck my finger in a big dried blot of ketchup on the back of my book. Bleh.

[r2cagle]

Update: I'm still finding ketchup in weird places. I just walked over to an ice cream shop near my apartment, carrying the book I was reading at lunch. As I ate my ice cream, I stuck my finger in a big dried blot of ketchup on the back of my book. Bleh.

Just wait til you find it on the back of your NECK!! hahaha...

[Magpie]

Just wait til you find it on the back of your NECK!! hahaha...

It's when you find it up your nose that you get to say you're finding it in weird places. (Yes, I know how it got there).

[Andara Bledin]

If the waiter doesn't take the time to ask you how your meal is and if you need anything (such as an extra napkin), then he's sucky.

If the table is doing fine, it costs a few seconds and makes the diners happy. (so long as the waiter doesn't do it every 5 minutes)

If the table has a problem, it can salvage an otherwise terrible experience. And not doing it can make people want to never go back.

A huge difference for such a small thing.

^-.-^