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| Waiter Training Newsletter |
Books & Manuals Restaurant Training Manuals Training Book for Waiters & Waitresses
Beware the Single Diner
After much traveling lately, I realize I’ve missed quite a few months of newsletters! The last one stated that the next topic would be “Be Careful What you Say!” and it was directed toward servers. I have to apologize for the delay on that; after traveling as a single business person, I’ve realized the single diner is often abused and forgotten and the issue must be addressed!
I can’t say it any plainer: Do NOT forget about your single diners. If you’re at all unsure why that’s so important, go out and eat by yourself and experience it firsthand.
The very first words out of a host’s mouth can alienate a single diner. “Just one for lunch today?” Yes! Please! Tuck me in a corner somewhere so I can really feel the big “L” you just branded on my forehead because of your own short-sightedness! A better phrase for the single diner to hear might be “Will anyone be joining you for lunch today?” Said with a genuine smile, the awkward question is acceptable to anyone dining alone. Let’s face it, I know I’m dining alone and the host has to verify it; certain words and phrases can make one feel like a loser and others just confirm the obvious – that I’m dining alone today – not that I’m a loser!
The abuse continues after being seated somewhere inappropriate. Someone might remember to bring you a glass of water. The waiter, however, never seems to realize that he/she has another table occupied. Even if a person brings something in to read or work on while eating, time passage takes on a new span. It slows down. And the person notices every move and every tick of the clock.
An appropriate place to seat a single diner is a booth or table against a wall. Inappropriate places are tucked into a corner where the table itself seems to be out of place and the other is out in the open at a middle-of-the-room table.
I recently had occasion to be in a city that I won’t name; there was one shining example of a fabulous server and I will point out the great things he did. Let’s start with the ugly stuff! I left two different restaurants in a row because they truly did not seem to realize my presence. I became invisible that day. I was tucked into a corner and promptly forgotten. In the next establishment, the server seating me tried to put me in the middle of the room at a four-top. I asked for the one a little closer to the wall, yet not out of sight. I watched other diners come in after I did and get served while I sat there and watched and wondered what to do. I had gotten a bottle of water only because I went to the counter to see how one could get served. After placing my order with a young lady who seemed slightly irritated and, probably more accurately, uncomfortable with a single diner, I waited and watched others get served. I had to be in meetings in a short period of time and knew I wasn’t going to have time to fit in this seemingly simple lunch.
They seemed to have no clue how bad they really were. I paid for my water and they acted as if they had never seen me! I knew that from here on out I was going to have to rely on the fast food court in the nearby mall.
Needless to say, I lost weight on that trip. I arrived home starving and surly.
Oh, yes! There was the one shining example of a fabulous server who clearly wasn’t intimidated by a single diner and didn’t treat me as if I had a communicable disease. He was barely 21 years old, amiable, knew how to start a conversation and made sure the ingredients in my food were not on my allergy list. He left me alone when he saw that I was reading and, at the appropriate time, knew how to engage in small talk. My table was near a window where I could see out. I noticed a couple of other single diners and quickly discovered why there were there. This place knew how to treat us!
Training for hosts and servers should have some serious time devoted to the single diner. There is an art to the greeting and seating of the single diner. Likewise, the server must be extra attentive; we have no one with whom to talk so we’re probably going to eat a little faster. Servers can’t take as much time between courses as they might with tables with multiple diners. The art of small talk must be learned.
We are only single on that one trip; otherwise, we have friends and family who will soon discover where they should and shouldn’t go when dining out.
Training and information is the key! Contact me, Susie, at Waiter Training, either by phone or email. My business number is (720) 203-4615, and web address http://www.waiter-training.com.
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Your Servers and Food Safety©Waiter Training 2004
Excellence is an act won by training and habituation.
We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence,
but rather we have those because we have acted rightly.
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.- Aristotle
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