Things I didn't know before I worked at a restaurant

#5: The hostess doesn't just randomly pick a place for you to sit. When you come in for dinner extra early, or extra late, and I sit you at a particular table when there are lots of other open tables around, it's not because I picked one at will. Servers don't all come in at the same time. Servers don't all leave at the same time. Just because the table is open doesn't mean there is someone to wait on it. DON'T EVER ASK ME IF YOU CAN HAVE A BOOTH AFTER I'VE TAKEN YOU TO A TABLE. If a booth was the best place to seat you, I would have done so. If you must have a booth, do tell me before I seat you. We don't do these things to screw with the customer, we do it to keep the servers rotated properly. A well-seated server is a happy server. A happy server means you'll be getting great service, and I promise you, good service can make any location work. My very favorite customers are the ones who sit where I put them. My second favorites are the ones who show lots of appreciation when I take them to a different table upon their request. I haaaaate the ones who look at me like I did something wrong when I bring them to a table, if they wanted a booth (or vice versa). My favorite exchange was when I sat a group in a booth, and one of the guys was like, "uh, can we have a real table?" I actually laughed, because his tone was so supercilious. And then he and the rest of the group stood over me and the server while we flipped it. I managed to remain calm, while she snapped, "you don't have to STAND ON TOP OF US while we do this. Sir." She was not a happy server. And while nothing bad would happen to your food at the Grill, an unhappy server isn't a good thing. And I repeat, no, you may NOT have a booth. ____ Watching: Dawson's Creek, S3 on dvd. I miss Pacey...