Should I complain to the manager at this bar?

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: poncherelli2
she might not have known he was a DD. I know from waiting tables it sucks when a couple people order things and some friends sit with them sucking down waters, taking up seats, and purchasing anything. It blows when you lose a 4top table to 3 people, and then one of them doesnt buy anything, so in a sense your only getting money from 2 people at your 4 top (Im not saying its wrong, it happens all the time, it just kinda sucks as i like my section and tables to be filled as much as possible if im going to be waiting on them- I usually have a 4 4tops and 2 2tops in my section). That being said, that was rude of her and i would never say something like that to one of my tables unless they were being complete assholes. You can try talking to the manager about it, but seriously, i doubt anything will come of it so your probably better off letting it go. She could have been having a bad night, simply been mistaken and not known your buddy was a DD, or she could be a crappy waitress in which case she'll get fired soon enough. But from what ive seen, complaints written or called in usually dont do too much.

I can understand that it sucks to have a table not paying off on everybody at the table, but one must realize also that the people who are ordering drinks might not be there without the people sitting there drinking water. It all comes in a package.
The above situation could have been 3 people drinking only 2 drinks a piece so that any of them could reasonably be expected to drive home, or 2 people ordering 6-7 drinks each and one drinking water which is what likely happened. Which situation creates more revenue and more tips?
I wouldn't bother writing or talking to management, usually those places don't give a damn unless there are under real threat of being closed. Write to every organization against drunk driving, and for road safety that you can find. Usually I don't care about stuff like this, but this situation was absolutely terrible. Refusing anyone something as basic as water is inexcusable in a country where water is plentiful. It is also none of her business who's drinking what on the table, if someone requests something it doesn't matter who it is for, it could have been for anybody on the table. Add to all this the implication that everyone who steps into a bar needs to drink to get service or even be in the bar, it's like adding insult to injury, this situation deserves very little mercy.

 

[poncherelli2]

no, because if i have 4 people at my 4top and they all eat and drink, there will be a decent bill im getting a percentage tip on. If theres 3 people, leaving one vacant seat and then another not ordering anything, theres a bill for half as much, so i get a smaller tip and my 4top table isnt really used to its full potential. Most of the sections are set up to give about 20-24 seats for server, so its alot nicer when they all fill up, your sales run higher and you get the money you should for your section.

We dont allow parties to sit at tables unless they have the the number of guests=number of seats or one less during busy hours because each server is supposed to wait on a certain number of people. So when a couple comes in and wonders why they cant sit at the vacant 6top over there, its because the server over there probably has 2 sixtops and 2 4tops, and they're not going to waste an hour or so worth of time on 2 people taking up what could be a table with a 3x higher check. However, say you bring in 5 people, get that 6top table and 2 people decide they arent ordering anything, it sucks for that server because his big table (which usually runs up a big check) is going to waste.

As i said before, it sucks, but so do alot of things in the resturaunt/bar business, and you suck them up. As long as the guys werent behaving well and only one of them wasnt drinking, she had no excuse to be rude. I hope all that rambling made sense.

 

[conjur]

I'd have not left a tip and just chalked it up to a b!tch of a waitress. With an attitude like that, she won't make long in that line of work.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed
I believe the waitress said the person had to order a "drink." A soda like Coke, Pepsi, root bear, etc is still considered a drink. Nobody is making the DD buy shots.

What part of She got snotty and said "His water priviledges are just about over. He needs to order a drink" and she walked away. did you miss?
Cliff notes:
She says water = done.
She says MUST order DRINK
Drink does not equal water in this case.
She was angling to get a higher bar tab in order to up her "tip".
As if that wasn't painfully obvious.

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: poncherelli2
no, because if i have 4 people at my 4top and they all eat and drink, there will be a decent bill im getting a percentage tip on. If theres 3 people, leaving one vacant seat and then another not ordering anything, theres a bill for half as much, so i get a smaller tip and my 4top table isnt really used to its full potential. Most of the sections are set up to give about 20-24 seats for server, so its alot nicer when they all fill up, your sales run higher and you get the money you should for your section. We dont allow parties to sit at tables unless they have the the number of guests=number of seats or one less during busy hours because each server is supposed to wait on a certain number of people. So when a couple comes in and wonders why they cant sit at the vacant 6top over there, its because the server over there probably has 2 sixtops and 2 4tops, and they're not going to waste an hour or so worth of time on 2 people taking up what could be a table with a 3x higher check. However, say you bring in 5 people, get that 6top table and 2 people decide they arent ordering anything, it sucks for that server because his big table (which usually runs up a big check) is going to waste. As i said before, it sucks, but so do alot of things in the resturaunt/bar business, and you suck them up. As long as the guys werent behaving well and only one of them wasnt drinking, she had no excuse to be rude. I hope all that rambling made sense.

Interesting, I guess it is good to look at things from another perspective sometimes. I usually try to nice to servers at restaurants and I try to tip well, but I didn't realize that tables with empty seats or people not ordering was that bad.

I agree with you on this case, she had no reason to be so rude. The guy ordered food earlier on, and his friends were ordering up drinks.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: KnightBreed
I believe the waitress said the person had to order a "drink." A soda like Coke, Pepsi, root bear, etc is still considered a drink. Nobody is making the DD buy shots.

What part of She got snotty and said "His water priviledges are just about over. He needs to order a drink" and she walked away. did you miss?
Cliff notes:
She says water = done.
She says MUST order DRINK
Drink does not equal water in this case.
She was angling to get a higher bar tab in order to up her "tip".
As if that wasn't painfully obvious.

Yes, that was painfully obvious. Unfortunately, that isn't at all what you said in your original post.

Requiring someone to order/ consume alcoholic beverages as a condition for service is not allowed by most jurisdictions.

The waitress said nothing about making the customer buy an alcoholic beverage. She said the person had order a "drink" and last I checked a soda is a drink.

 

[RGN]

Well, any further tip she would have gotten would have been gone. I might have even told her that.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

The waitress said nothing about making the customer buy an alcoholic beverage. She said the person had order a "drink" and last I checked a soda is a drink.

Yeah, I'm sure she meant a soda... because the one-time 25 cent tip she'd get from the soda is really substantial compared to the buck or two tip she gets off each alcoholic drink.

 

[Blueopticalmouse]

Originally posted by: SHoddyCOmp
what the hell? You all 3 were together so even so if she was stupid enough to say that he needed to order a drink so he could get more WATER (which is nearly FREE! geez) it should have been just considered that one of the drinker's drinks was "his" but theyre drinking it instead...makes sense to me--except that whole basically paying for water with a drink thing. Pure BS

thats exactly what I was thinking