0
Chiquita

Putting a check down while customer is still eating

Recommended Posts

Ok, here is my poll. I work at a restaurant and we have a policy that I have been debating with somebody at work. Basically the policy is that at lunch when checking back on a table you are supposed to put the check down. So I want to get some opinions from people to see what customers really like.

Thank you for your input.

Rachel
"Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Please bring the check while I am still eating! I hate having to wait....or even BEG for the damn thing. You can bring a new one if I want to order something else.



Yeah, what he said. I prefer being able to leave when I'm done, and sometimes that's within a minute or two of the time I finish eating. Having the check there already is nice then.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I think it depends on the restaurant. If I'm at Ruth's Chris, I think it's inappropriate to deliver a check until after the last course or during coffee (unless otherwise requested). Red Robin, no big thing. ;)
So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Feel your customers out. I waitressed, bartended, and worked as a hostess for 5 years and could tell most of the time when my customers were in a hurry or if they were there to enjoy a leisurely meal.

The management wants to turn tables quick so the quicker you get the check to the customer the quicker they can leave. THey don't give a shit about etiquette.

If I am dining (someplace other than Waffle House) I feel hurried when the check comes too quick. I tip a server according to his/her ability to read a situation and I tip very well.

Katie

Katie
Get your PMS glass necklace here

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I feel rushed when someone puts the check down before I'm done at dinner. It's like they are saying hurry up and get out of here. If I'm in a hurry , I'll ask them to bring me the check when they are filling my glass and that way I can pay for it and get it over with even before I'm done eating. If it's breakfast or lunch it doesn't bother me too much but I like to linger over dinner.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guess you don't want me to order dessert or coffee or anything else.

A simple "Do want something else or should I bring the check?" might be OK but even that is pushing it, especaily at diner.


"Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
It is pretty much along the lines of Ruby Tuesday and TGI Fridays (causal dining), but a steak house. I agree with Katiebear, but management does not seem to see it that way. I generally have the check on me and drop it off when I clear the plates or when they are just about finished. If someone says or even seems like they are in a hurry I bring the check as soon as I can, but if they are in a business meeting or friends on a casual lunch I tend to just keep it on me. But it is a corporate restaurant and they always seem to have policies for everything. Me personally, I don't particularly like it and generally will not order anything else, but I understand that some restaurants require their servers to do it. Also, I have had many customers look at me like I was being rude even when I explain that it is for their convience and there is no rush. But maybe I just need to figure out a better way to say it or just ask the customer if they want it now or later.
"Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Well, if it's a policy, how can you ask if they want it now or later? If you're required to leave it with them, you just need to find a way to do it politely. There will always people who think you are being rude. At lunch time, at a Ruby Tuesday, I would not mind someone leaving the check with me. As long as they make it clear they are not done waiting on me. Maybe something along the lines of "If there is anything else I can get for you, just let me know (said with a smile)". Or, at least ask if you can get them anything else.

Angela



Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I guess I am just trying to figure out a way to keep everyone happy, which I know is impossible. It just amazes me how many policies that they can come up with. We actually have one about where the lemon is supposed to be for a drink. I realize they are trying to make every restaurant uniform so the experience will be the same at each one, but sometimes it just seems like they go a little crazy.
"Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I'm a server and have been for way to long, at my old job we didn't put the check down until asked. My job now (at the airport) I put the check down as soon as I feel they are finished because almost EVERYONE is in a hurry... If they want something else, no biggy, they just order it and I take the old check off and replace it with the new one. Being a server sucks though, did I mention that?:|

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
It works from diners up to about TGIFridays level. Any place nicer than that and they know better than to bring it out to you before you ask.
witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
At lunch time or if I am alone I like to get the check as quickly as possible. That usually means a diner. But if I am paying 60+ for two people, you better not bring the check till I ask for it. The type of meal (lunch vs. dinner), establishment (diner versus upscale) and mood of company (friends vs intimate) should all be taken into account.

But if you are required as in your casse, just set it down and say nothing about it. Like others have said, I will take care of it in my time.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Please bring the check while I am still eating! I hate having to wait....or even BEG for the damn thing. You can bring a new one if I want to order something else

yep my feelings exactly. I can't understand why, at the end of the meal, some waiters/waitresses go into this blind & deaf act. Don't they want to turn the table over?

I was in this Irish pub/restaurant. I'd finished eating long ago and I kept waiting & waving at the waiter to come over & give me the check so I could leave. The waiter kept passing me by & ignoring me. I mean, the place was fairly busy, but not so much that he needed to ignore a customer for 20 minutes who is trying to pay.

After a while it got funny to the other customers. One customer at the next table leaned over to me and laughed and said, "He's doing his best to ignore you!"

So after a while I just dropped some money and left.

>:(

I don't know, maybe they're hoping if you stay long enough, you'll get hungry again.:S
Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I have been in several situations lately where I've had to wait at 15 minutes after I've been done eating to get the check. I usually don't notice because I'm not in that big of a hurry when I'm eating, but after about 10 minutes you start to wonder.

Like this evening, we went to a diner and it had been about 10 or 15 minutes after we finished eating and we hadn't received our check yet. So we ended up asking the waiter for it and it took him forever and a day to bring it out to us. Good thing I'm a patient person or else that would have made me mad.
I'm so funny I crack my head open!

P.M.S. #102

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
LUNCH TIME: check is great=POW! and a
20% to my server! ($2 min,even if "just coffee");) ...Family policy from before I was born.
lunch is speed time!
Dinner is an event,date,peace time, UNLESS stated: "We're in a rush,movie,etc"
Dinner is: fininshing meal and"would anyone care fore desert?" if "No thanks" then=Check down and "No rush, ...when your ready"
_______________________________
If I could be a Super Hero,
I chose to be: "GRANT-A-CLAUS". and work 365 days a Year.
http://www.hangout.no/speednews/

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Put it down and say, "No rush, I'll take that when you're ready," then everyone is happy.



I answered "couldn't care less." I guess I don't mind either way, as long as I don't end up being made to feel rushed.

Lately, I've been given the check just like Kev says above. That's fine. I have definitely been known to leave it for a good ten or fifteen minutes while I took my leisurely time finishing. It's not like they put it down five minutes after the meal's been served! It's usually when they've seen that eating has tapered off. As long as I've received good attention, had my drink refilled adequately, been checked on adequately, I have no problem with getting the check while I'm eating. I'd rather that than have to wait forever once I am ready to pay and leave!

On a related note, what about waitresses who do NOT give all the change that you are due. I had this happen for the first time recently (many times I pay with my card so I don't run into change issues.)

My check was, say, $14.73. Rather than be given five singles and a quarter and two pennies for a twenty dollar bill, I was given just the five singles! I thought this was presumptuous and rude.

But then on the flip-side, recently I was given MORE change, in the form of whole singles, as in the example of being given six dollars back when the bill of $14.22 was paid with a twenty. Go figure!
-
-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

If I am dining (someplace other than Waffle House)




you mean there are other places besides waffel house....... actually wrked in one for 2 years.. cooked and waited tables.... we always brought the check with tthe food almost always.......


okay my take on it is i really don't care...... if i get a check in the middle of dinner it's fine..... i'l leave when i want to like somebody else already said.....

______________________________________
"i have no reader's digest version"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

My check was, say, $14.73. Rather than be given five singles and a quarter and two pennies for a twenty dollar bill, I was given just the five singles! I thought this was presumptuous and rude.



Pisses me off as well. If that's what the waitress wanted than that's the tip she would have gotten.

Another thing I dislike is gratituity included. I can understand with a party of 8+ but when it's only two, it's bullshit.
______________________________________________
- Does this small canopy make my balls look big? - J. Hayes -

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0