Erika Wiborg felt it necessary to dictate to us all how to behave in a restaurant, giving multiple rules for how we should behave like civilized people when eating out. What these rules actually represent are her complaints about her job and what people can do to make it easier for her.
Going to a few of her points:
"You are seated in a spot for a reason; there is no reason you need to ask to move." We are given tables for the restaurant's reasons, not our own. What if I don't want a table by the kitchen door, but would rather have the empty booth across the way? I don't give a rat's a-- whose section I am seated in, but I may have a very good reason to want a different seat.
Here's where Erika loses all credibility and reveals herself as a money-grubbing little twerp who isn't concerned with people, just collecting tips: "At a restaurant of greater scale than Denny's after 4 p.m., DO NOT order a sandwich." She then goes on to actually state that she doesn't care about those orders because there are other tables who are spending more money. It's clear that being in a service industry has little meaning for her, it's all about the 15 percent.
"Do not ask anyone besides YOUR server for anything." After waiting far too long for someone to arrive, I don't really care who I ask about getting help. In fact, I'll usually ask the manager for help, that will get an inattentive server in gear better than just about anything.
"Servers hate cheap people more than anything. Sharing is not necessary." My wife and I share food when we go out because portion sizes at restaurants have gotten completely out of hand. I really don't need, nor do I want, the giant-size meals that are routinely portioned out. Why should I spend more than I need to get more than I want? That doesn't make me cheap, just thinner.
I could go on to rebut nearly all of Ms. Wiborg's points, but they are all of a piece. Namely, she is upset that things aren't always simple and that some people are a pain. Tough. You want that extra cash that you aren't declaring on your taxes? Deal with the hassle.
All too often, people who work in restaurants forget that their job is to give the service the customer requires, not to only help those who conform to the petty little dictates of the wait-staff.
