Things I probably shouldn't notice

[ailbhe]

People who pee on the seat, don't clean it up, and leave toilet roll all over the floor, are not old enough to use a public toilet unsupervised. Especially the poor little boy I saw a few weeks ago who was rushed into a cubicle, peed EVERYWHERE, and was rushed out again without washing his hands. OK, his mother was in a hurry. But ew.

Waitstaff often complain online about parents whose children make a typical mess while eating and don't clean it up (um, the parents don't clean it up, I mean). But every time I start cleaning up after Linnea - which is whenever she spills anything - I get stopped by apologetic staff pretty much instantly. I often feel like I've implied they can't do their jobs afterwards, too. What am I supposed to do?

I don't care what you think the little boy did with your shoe (which he did, suspiciously, find in the first place he looked in the changing room, so I personally think he was a practical-joke-playing toerag), it is not appropriate to physically restrain him and shout obscenities at him, nor to threaten him with what you'd do if he didn't "probably" have a gang of mates waiting outside. The appropriate course of action, since you have recovered your property, is to take him to the people in charge of the leisure centre and have him and his gang of antisocial mates banned forever. Off you go. Try not to say "fuck" too much while you're at it.

Comments

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Hm - when I was waitressing, I would stop anyone trying to tidy up after their child. Mostly because they are only going to have a few napkins and a bit o' spit to do it with, whereas I have rubber gloves and a full array of dishcloths and brushs. I have to wipe the table down after every customer anyway, and it's easier to wipe up a few chips and a bit of baked bean sauce if it's still wet and runny than to pick up a load of sticky or soaked napkins and the last remnants of dried-on baked beans!

I probably would moan about the customer after they'd gone. However, this is nothing personal against children: I'd also moan about the teenagers who didn't tip, the women who took ten minutes to decide what they wanted and then changed their mind, the blokes who asked whether we could do all day breakfasts and then looked pissed off when I said no, despite the fact that it clearly wasn't on the menu, and even the lovely lady on table seven who did absolutely nothing wrong except order a milkshake because the milkshake machine is an arse to wash up.

Basically, be polite and friendly and work on the assumption that the waiting staff will probably be complaining anyway. We've got better tools to clear up with than you have, but that doesn't mean that we love doing it!

[ailbhe]

I used to pretend I didn't see them, or, if really busy, give them a real cloth. Is it really easier to clean eg baked beans up off the floor, highchair etc, than just throw out a stack of icky paper napkins?

I am one of the few waitresses I know who really enjoyed her job though. I loved it. If my hands ever recover enough to deal with the lifting, I will definitely be doing it rather than any other part-time work, when I eventually end up working for pay again.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

I think it would be, actually! Because you can't wipe up sticky, sugary stuff like baked beans with dry paper napkins: there will always be stuff left on the floor or the table that needs wiping up with a damp cloth. And even if parents had wet the napkins or got a cloth and done it properly, we'd still wipe the high chair down with some sort of detergent before we could give it to another family. You couldn't hand something on to the next customer when it had just been cleaned by another customer, could you? That just seems really wrong to me!

Though I would probably appreciate someone asking for a damp cloth so they could wipe things up a bit, if it was really really busy. When it's relatively quiet, though, I'd honestly rather just do it myself.

I'm not sure why I'm talking about this in the present tense, mind you: it's been two years since I was last a waitress. I really liked waitressing as well. I waitressed one evening a week at a small Italian family restaurant when I was in sixth form, which I really liked, and then for a huge city centre chain for six weeks over Christmas before I started university, and HATED it. Then I got a job in a little independent when I came back to York as a graduate student, and it was just perfect. I really liked the people I worked with, and it was such a contrast to academic work: when I had tons of academic work to do and essays to write over several weeks and really hard reading to do, and it was all very solitary, working as a waitress was just the perfect contrast: you concentrate really hard, and keep six or seven things in your head but only for a few minutes at a time, and then as soon as it's over, you just forget absolutely everything. And I loved working with people as well: when my girlfriend had just dumped me and I was really miserable, it actually really cheered me up to go somewhere where I just had to be cheerful and friendly to people for several hours at a time.

[ailbhe]

Ah, see, I'm used to having to get out the trusty wet wipes *before* letting Linnea sit at the table, because there's very often something icky on it. Especially highchairs - the straps really need to be cleaned with a nailbrush and, um, never are.

I suppose I assume that if it wasn't clean when I got there it won't be cleaned properly after I leave.

[zinecure.livejournal.com]

I use to be a waitress. I got mad with parents that didn't clean up a little when their child made a huge mess....unless I was well compensated with $$. Now one day, I was hosting for my boss while the real hostess was late. During that time a customer came out f the bathroom and said someone had made a mess. I went in with a broom, turned around, and hunted mt boss down. Every toilet was smeared with feces, and one toilet had a nice pile of poop on the seat. I told my boss that this was not in my job description as a waitress and went in break.

Because of my experiences, I will always clean up after my child, sometimes restraurant employees just aren't paid enough.

cleaning up

[tiggsybabes.livejournal.com]

I always clean up afterwards & wipe down the highchair with baby wipes. I _hate_ it when I get a highchair for Holls & it's gicky.

We were in a nice, local, baby friendly cafe a couple of weeks ago & Holy spilt my pot of tea. Luckily, it was cold as I'd had 2 cups from it. Also, how do they manage to do these things when you are right near by & watching them all the time? Anyway, I digress. I asked one of the waitresses for a cloth & had expected to clean it myself, but she did it & I aplogised & she just admired my children & said hope to see you again soon. A very good experience, so I tipped more than usual.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

This is a tough one for me, too. I've never been a waitress, but my instinct (reinforced by stories in customers_suck is to do my best to clean it up. I can reduce the need to the normal quick swipe, rather than then 10 minute cleanup job caused by a 1 year old eating. My husband, on the other hand, has been a waiter and feels no obligation to clean up. He's big on tipping, though.

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

When I did that sort of thing I think I'd have appreciated parents limiting the damage (picking up chips before they get ground into the carpet; throwing a couple of napkins at spilt coke rather than letting it run all over the place) but I wouldn't have expected them to go in for full-scale cleaning. It would have been wonderful if messy parties had only left their tables in quiet moments, so I could concentrate on cleaning their tables properly instead of frantically rushing to clean four at once, but you can't expect customers to schedule their day round your cleaning. Cleaning baked beans out of the furniture for the fifth time that day on a minimum wage is not fun, but there's not a lot anyone else can do about it.

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I usually go for damage limitation plus large tip. Any kind of sincere gesture towards child-friendliness in a restaurant more or less guarantees a large tip from me anyway.

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

Yes, and it works the other way round, too - customers who smiled at me and appreciated that I was rushed off my feet could really make my day.

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

Re the first para... How about the cubicle in the ladies toilet that you've just seen a woman exit and you go in immediately after her to find the back of the seat and the cistern covered in urine... WTF did she do! HOW did she manage it? Are questions you find yourself asking. Did she straddle the seat facing the cistern? Then there's the cubicle that you;ve just seen a tall, well-dressed, briefcase-toting business woman type exit. And you go in to find the seat covered in faeces. How did she not notice that? The toilet is still full of her shit and no paper. HOW can she do that?

Re the second para... Waiters vary from place to place. I've been served by total morons who are incapable of stepping outside of their script. I've been served by fantastic people who have jumped in without question to help in ermergencies - K got locked in a cubicle in a restaurant bathroom and then the fire alarm went off, I was on my own with D in a baby sling, one of the waitresses held D, while another climbed over the cubicle partition and I talked to K constantly to kep her calm. There was the time that D (aged about 2) vomited copiously all over the table and me in a coffee shop. Not only did they not let me clean up, they cleaned the kids and watched them while one of the waitresses took me to their staff toilets and loaned me a spare uniform to go home in.

Re the third... I generally deal with annoying little scrotes in my own way. But, yes, getting the leisure centre involved and getting him barred would've been my first option.

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

After a bzillion hour plane ride being wedged in a window seat, I was really looking forward to the rest room in, I think, Houston. But no, it wasn't to be. First this woman with WAY more bags than allowed for carryon trundled slowly down the gangway, blocking my way, and then after meeting up with my "party," she managed to beat me to the one-stall rest room, where she made a very thorough wreath of toilet paper around the seat, and LEFT IT THERE WHEN SHE LEFT. She also must have not washed her hands, or I would have been able to ASK her to remove it before she left the room. But no.

We caught up with her in no time and I ranted about how I REALLY HAD TO USE THE REST ROOM but i COULDN'T because SOME PEOPLE ARE SO DAMN SELFISH and SHOULDN'T USE A BATHROOM WITHOUT A SUPERVISOR. She heard. She was flustered. I found another rest room like four football fields away.



Other than that, I was the worst waitress in the western hemisphere briefly in the '80s. DH was, even more briefly, a bus boy. So we balance taking responsibility for clean up with leaving a substantial tip in return for the pleasure of eating out with our 2 year old. Heck, one night it was really slow at the restaurant we'd frequently stop at, and I grabbed an old newspaper and put that on the ground -- it'd save a LOT of time with the floorsweeper later.