Friday, October 30, 2009

Do this, don't do that.....

This was a thread I came across from the NYT restaurant critic Sam Sifton, who referenced another NYT blogger, Bruce Buschel, who is chronicling his efforts in opening his own restaurant. Buschel wrote this column about the "One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do". In part one he lists the first 50 "don'ts". Now having both owned and been a waiter in my restaurants, I kind of get where Buschel is coming from, but if he is really that hard-assed about how his employees comport themselves, then that might be the worst restaurant job ever. But from my waiter's perspective I actually appreciate this point by point rebuttal even more from the Waiter Rant blog, because, well, it's really funny....and mostly true. I would read Buschel's column first then the Waiter Rant. Would love to hear your thoughts, too!

3 comments:

dds said...

The majority of the points Buschel made were good ones, but all together it came across as humorless and draconian. Why scrape the bottom of the barrel to hit 100 and sound like a hardass when, "82 Things a Waiter Should Never Do" sounds more original anyway?

bb said...

dds....agreed. That's why it would seem way too rigid if they actually work that way.

Anonymous said...

The Times article only reminded me of the worst service I've received in Portland. For example, arriving at Lauro at 4:55 only to be asked to come back in 5 minutes (couldn't I have just taken a seat somewhere?). I can count on 1/3 of my hand how many times I've received above-sucky service at a Portland restaurant.