Omnivore - The NY Times names 100 things a server should never do
Don’t tell me that I made a ‘good choice’
The New York Times blog “You’re the Boss,” is running a two-part list of “One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do.” It ought to be posted in every restaurant in the city. It anticipates complaints:
Herewith is a modest list of dos and don’ts for servers at the seafood restaurant I am building. Veteran waiters, moonlighting actresses, libertarians and baristas will no doubt protest some or most of what follows. They will claim it homogenizes them or stifles their true nature. And yet, if 100 different actors play Hamlet, hitting all the same marks, reciting all the same lines, cannot each one bring something unique to that role?
Among my favorites from the first 50:
3. Never refuse to seat three guests because a fourth has not yet arrived.
6. Do not lead the witness with, “Bottled water or just tap?” Both are fine. Remain neutral.
36. Never reek from perfume or cigarettes. People want to smell the food and beverage.
40. Never say, “Good choice,” implying that other choices are bad.