Over-staying your welcome.......

I worked a wine tasting dinner last night. Overall, they’re pretty easy to work…everyone is having the same meal….everyone is having the same wine…no orders to take….pretty smooth sailing.

Now, if at the end of the evening……if four of you want to stay and drink more wine…mind you, EVERYONE else has left….you need to take a hint (but obviously you can’t)…it’s time to go! The last thing we want to do is have our time wasted by having to sit and wait for you to finish drinking wine. If you work a nine to five and job, and at 5:00 someone told you that you had to sit watch someone else do paperwork for an hour, and not really get paid for it, I don’t think you’d be too thrilled about it.

There is such a thing as over-staying your welcome. Oh sure, we’ve heard it before…”What the hell! They’re getting paid to be here!” No we’re not. The $2.65 we make per hour is all eaten up by taxes. (Not to mention the fact that $2.65, were we to see it, doesn’t even buy a gallon a gas) People have no problem spending money on themselves, but are mortified at the thought that they should leave any extra in the tip.

It gets to the point that we don’t care how much fun you’re having….you’ve become the obnoxious guest that wouldn’t leave. Except for you, the room is empty, the entire restaurant is empty…and still you sit. I have often wondered what the thought process is that makes people so self-centered and inconsiderate as to think the rest of the world can just wait on them. After all, (and many seem to forget this) we servers are people too. We have lives outside of work….and you’re keeping us from them.

Some may read this and get all indignant (sometimes the truth hurts) and come up with many excuses for their selfish behavior. And they always will. Consideration for others doesn’t seem to be part of their genetic make up. They’ll defend themselves by saying “You didn’t tell us it was time to leave.” Don’t throw your lack of common sense back on us.