Lauren's List: Restaurant Faux Pas To Avoid
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - If you eat out frequently, you want to make sure you're not guilty of the restaurant faux pas in today's "Lauren's List."
Working in food service can sometimes be a thankless job. Waiters, cooks and hosts work long hours, on their feet, and usually on nights and weekends.
So let's make their lives a little easier by avoiding these rude restaurant behaviors.
Arriving Right Before The Kitchen Closes
If a restaurant closes at 11 p.m. and you show up at 10:55 p.m. don't be surprised to get some serious glares from the staff. As mentioned before, they've worked all day and there's still a lot of clean-up that needs to be done before they can actually go home for the day. Unless you can order, eat, pay and tip GENEROUSLY in those 5 minutes, you may need to hit up a 24-hour drive thru instead.
Staying For More Than A Few Minutes After Paying
Time is money in the restaurant business. The fewer tables servers can turnover, the fewer tips they get and tips are their bread and butter. If you hang around for half an hour after paying your bill, you're wasting your server's tim, and costing them money. And you're most likely throwing off the entire reservation system in the process.
Lying About Allergies
I get it, sometimes you just really don't like something and you don't want it on your plate. I feel that way about peanuts. But lying about an allergy isn't really necessary. Just state your preferences and see if the chef can accommodate it. Besides, waiters know most people with real food allergies will tell them as soon as they sit down.
Changing Your Baby On The Table
Apparently people actually do this! I had no idea, but waiters say it's true! Remember, people eat food off those tables. And that's probably the last thing they want to see, or smell, with dinner.
I want hear from restaurant workers, what's the rudest behavior you've seen?
Tell me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/laurenpastrananews) or Twitter (@LaurenPastrana).
If you have an idea for a future "Lauren's List", send it to lpastrana@cbs.com.
