Thank you for your insight and your suggestion that I try working with the public. Obviously you know if there is a problem or questionable practice the fault lies with the customer. For your information I very successfully worked with the public for over 35 years. That would be well before you were born, in the old days when the customer wasn't considered a nuisance but was considered right. In a day when customer service actually meant something. You incorrectly make the assumption that I would be angry if the server brought me the change, isn't that part of the job? I am quite capable of deciding whether or not I want none, some or all of the change. Another thing we dinosaurs learned to do was read. If you check my previous post I said the money was on a tray, not in a book. The waiter could see and knew what he was doing. I know I'm just an old fogey who should just shut up but that isn't my nature; I deny being paranoid but celebrate being dramatic.
do you think the waiter actively knows the check amount of every table he is serving and is bothering to remember it when they drop the check? my philosopy is that customers were never a problem unless they purposely made themselves a problem. since we are all learning to read, i never made one reference to your age, in fact, i didnt even notice your age when i read your comment (because you dont even list it), and you are certainly not a dinosaur. (dont be paranoid!!!!)
but it is people that walk into a restaurant expecting the staff there is purposely in coherts to take advantage of them and all they care about is their tips is far fetched, yet more of a common belief among the public. im sure a while back "before my time" as you say it, the customers were not bitches or scammers, but in this new era i am sure most wait staff would agree that the public's sense of self respect, manners, and intelligence has declined. what do you think? i would very much have prefered to have waited on customers in "your time" rather than today's group.
The customer is not always right, but should be treated as such unless circumstances do not permit otherwise. this includes pathological scammers that must be asked to leave, people that put their own hair in their food and ask for a comp, including bugs (which in one case was from their Amazonian bug collection as the species was recognized) and people that lie about the time they waited in the lobby just to try to score free food. the sincere customer is right, the rest can blow me. since you have been in the service industry for a while, did you ever have this kind of rif-raff in your establishment?
i had served full time for a number of years before moving on, and i was pretty good, so when i go into other restaurants i immediatly pick up on bad service, or just wait staff not living up to my standards. i have to turn a blind eye otherwise i might start to nit-pick. i am sure you are not going to find somebody as good a server as you are, so you may have to turn your own blind eye so you are not reading too deeply into the actions of the waiter????? or even better, rather than not tip the guy that ask you if you needed change, maybe you can still tip him, but also be nice about it and educate him, tell him the best way to say it or do it. iv had some great advice from guests here and there, and i was always thankful.