Sunday night 2015, you might think easy to book. But some hotel restaurants find Sunday lunch time is busy with family meals. Sunday evening is less busy because people are going to work next day so they want early nights or time to prepare postponed jobs or be ready for an early start travelling to a far off destination.
As a result, some hotels keep their chef busy Friday night and Saturday night and Sunday lunch and give the chef Sunday night off. This means a shorter menu, bar meals only - main restaurant closed (for example, Hawtreys Restaurant at the Barn Hotel in Ruislip), or half the restaurant area closed (Carvery near Watford) because of smaller number of customers and not enough staff.
I puzzled over this. Why can't customers sit where they want? The seating area is 'full' - but it's a self-service carver, and I see empty tables. Why can't I take a drink there while waiting for a table? Why can't I eat a meal there?
Glass or restaurant half full or half empty? Does it annoy you when you are having dessert or lingering over coffee, and staff start sweeping in the distance, or worst of all, putting chairs on the table next to you. Are they trying to tell you to go?
I watched staff clearing up around 9.30 when many places close in the UK on Sunday night. (Just when restaurants are opening in other parts of the world, such as hot Spanish countries where they have had a siesta in the hot afternoon.) It struck me that in the UK, if I were the minimum wage waiter, or even the well paid manager, shutting the restaurant on Sunday night, I'd want to clear up quickly and go home.
The cleaners/staff/managers are clearing tables after you've finished. They are re-laying tables and wiping tables and cleaning up tables and floors under tables, will want everybody in one area to halve their work load and get home quicker.
If you've ever worked in a fast food place or restaurant, the customers int he USA have often worked their way through college, and a high proportion have taken a job at a fast food outlet when they were students. This is not considered demeaning, but is very useful experience. If nothing else, you understand why the staff are doing what they are doing. Like most people, they are not inconsiderate or annoying you to spite you. They have good reasons for doing what suits them. You think they should be thinking of you. You are the customer. But if you think of them, you might find you increase your own goodwill and satisfaction with their service.
I sometimes start a conversation out of curiosity, or to break a silence. It's amazing how often an apparently introverted, maybe tired, server, brightens up when asked a basic question. Even responding to hearing you address them with a remark such as: 'You seem busy tonight. Are you busier on Saturday?'
You might get an answer such as, 'It's quiet/busy because it's the school holidays. / We ran out of food/drink/were busy because we had a wedding. It's always busy/empty on Saturday/Sunday.'
To my amazement an apparently grumpy server became animated, all smiles, keen to talk. Just one sentence from us to them had 'opened the floodgates'. What a difference a short conversation makes.
We left very happy, feeling that we had a friend at the restaurant. Ended on a high. We left a good tip, and didn't begrudge it. We felt they deserved it, for making our evening.
We also feel that if we go back to the same restaurant, we have a friend. We are a regular customer. A good customer. Even if they have run out of tables, they might shift the barrier and say, 'It's OK - you can sit here.'
Angela Lansbury B A Honours, travel writer.
As a result, some hotels keep their chef busy Friday night and Saturday night and Sunday lunch and give the chef Sunday night off. This means a shorter menu, bar meals only - main restaurant closed (for example, Hawtreys Restaurant at the Barn Hotel in Ruislip), or half the restaurant area closed (Carvery near Watford) because of smaller number of customers and not enough staff.
I puzzled over this. Why can't customers sit where they want? The seating area is 'full' - but it's a self-service carver, and I see empty tables. Why can't I take a drink there while waiting for a table? Why can't I eat a meal there?
Glass or restaurant half full or half empty? Does it annoy you when you are having dessert or lingering over coffee, and staff start sweeping in the distance, or worst of all, putting chairs on the table next to you. Are they trying to tell you to go?
I watched staff clearing up around 9.30 when many places close in the UK on Sunday night. (Just when restaurants are opening in other parts of the world, such as hot Spanish countries where they have had a siesta in the hot afternoon.) It struck me that in the UK, if I were the minimum wage waiter, or even the well paid manager, shutting the restaurant on Sunday night, I'd want to clear up quickly and go home.
The cleaners/staff/managers are clearing tables after you've finished. They are re-laying tables and wiping tables and cleaning up tables and floors under tables, will want everybody in one area to halve their work load and get home quicker.
If you've ever worked in a fast food place or restaurant, the customers int he USA have often worked their way through college, and a high proportion have taken a job at a fast food outlet when they were students. This is not considered demeaning, but is very useful experience. If nothing else, you understand why the staff are doing what they are doing. Like most people, they are not inconsiderate or annoying you to spite you. They have good reasons for doing what suits them. You think they should be thinking of you. You are the customer. But if you think of them, you might find you increase your own goodwill and satisfaction with their service.
I sometimes start a conversation out of curiosity, or to break a silence. It's amazing how often an apparently introverted, maybe tired, server, brightens up when asked a basic question. Even responding to hearing you address them with a remark such as: 'You seem busy tonight. Are you busier on Saturday?'
You might get an answer such as, 'It's quiet/busy because it's the school holidays. / We ran out of food/drink/were busy because we had a wedding. It's always busy/empty on Saturday/Sunday.'
To my amazement an apparently grumpy server became animated, all smiles, keen to talk. Just one sentence from us to them had 'opened the floodgates'. What a difference a short conversation makes.
We left very happy, feeling that we had a friend at the restaurant. Ended on a high. We left a good tip, and didn't begrudge it. We felt they deserved it, for making our evening.
We also feel that if we go back to the same restaurant, we have a friend. We are a regular customer. A good customer. Even if they have run out of tables, they might shift the barrier and say, 'It's OK - you can sit here.'
Angela Lansbury B A Honours, travel writer.
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