Workin' for the Weekend

I have never worked in a restaurant and I know many of you will have your opinions but I am just going to put it out there... If you are a waiter and serving is what you do full or part-time, why would you not try to give each customer the best experience possible in hopes of getting the best tip you can? I realize that some people are generally poor tippers no matter the service they receive and some people are always just a hassle to deal with but I like to think that we tip well and at a minimum at least the total tax of the bill.

Tonight was busy (yes I realize it's Saturday night) but when I go out for dinner I expect to receive service with a smile and to always have the glass half-full. To start everything was great and we even exchanged a few laughs...then the food came - nachos with extra, extra cheese hardly had any cheese, the medium-rare steak was anything but rare, the fajitas with BBQ sauce had no sauce and our glasses were empty for what seemed like forever. We finally waived down another waitress to grab us some drinks and sauce and while doing that we noticed our waitress watching. She then came over to ask if everything was alright and we said we were being taken care of. Later, she brought the dessert menu and then it was another good 10 minutes until we saw here again. It was actually the other waitress that took care of our bills... Needless to say, her slight attitude at the end of the night and the meal fiasco was a taste worth forgetting.

Our friend came up with a great idea one day and although I'm sure it would end with spit in our drinks and dandruff in our salad I think it would be a fun experiment. At each table there would be a "tip meter" - as you sat down you would set the tip at what would you are willing to pay at the end of the meal. Everytime something happens you can either raise or lower the meter depending on the experience - oh wait, my glass is empty, that's -$1.00 and my steak is cold, that's another $2 gone. Do you think it would make a difference? Would waiters put in that extra level of service to keep that tip up? I'd be interested to see what would happen (and a camera in the kitchen wouldn't hurt either!).