jack of all

i work a lot. ~j and tito will tell you that. what i love about them is that they say that i can do any type of job and be good at it.

i have worked since i was 15 and i have worked in all areas of customer service. customer service, if you will, is my forte. i started waiting tables the summer i graduated from high school. i worked at this old victorian hotel with no air conditioning and had to wear the the most hideous, uncomfortable cookie cutter maid's uniform. that's where i learned the basics of serving.

since then, i have served (that's the pc term... no longer do we call it waiting) in many different restaurants, bars, things of the like. although i have graduated from school and have a degree, i am having difficulties getting licensed in my profession here in the lovely state of florida. so i am back to serving. the only difference is now i'm a corporate server. that's a first. i have been with this company for 3 months and they have already offered me a position as a five star certified trainer. lots of people don't get the opportunity for that until after a year or so with the company.

last tuesday, i went to a trainer meeting and decided to finish christmas shopping afterward. my mom was also christmas shopping all day, but she was 1300 miles away in erie. she called to tell me about her experience at the outback steakhouse... in case you didn't know, she loves that place. she had been out all day and decided to treat herself to a delicious meal. she went in with the mindset of "it's the holidays. i'm going to take care of my server and make her day." she had the most horrible service. the server did not introduce herself, did not take the time to talk to my mom, basically "plopped" her food in front of her and pretty much dropped her change in front of her without saying good bye.

mom's bill was 20 and some change. regardless of her experience, she still tipped the server 100% of the bill and said "merry christmas" as she left. however, my mom didn't inform management of the service she received.

after hanging up the phone, i called the outback in erie. this is how the conversation went:

mgr: "how can i help you?"

tia: "i felt it was necessary to inform you of an experience in your restaurant today... (i proceeded to tell him the aforementioned details)... now, i don't know the server's name, because as i said, she didn't introduce herself. but i just want her to know that she only got a 100% tip because it's the holidays and not because of her exemplar service. i don't know how many servers got a 100% tip within the last 45 minutes, but maybe you can use that to figure out who it was. also, i am a server and have been for 8 years. i now am a trainer for a corporation and would be mortified if i learned that one of my trainees or servers treated a guest like that."

mgr: "can i have contact information for your mom?"

and the rest is history. i wasn't trying to be a jerk or sound like a parent calling a teacher about a class bully, but i just wanted the server to know that she's not going to get 100% tips for that type of service. it's just because my mom was feeling generous and knows what it's like to work for tips.

if it were me that went through that experience, and if i ever go through that experience, i've decided that i'm going to tell the server "i came in here with the plan to tip you well. you treated me like crap. so now, i'm giving your tip to the busser."

i shared this story with some people at work and they looked at me like i was the biggest b*&!h in all of lee county. i shared this stary with my sister and my best friends and they said, "good for you". what do you think?