See, if I pay someone to cook a steak for me I expect it to be done correctly. I wouldn’t accept an almost job from any other professional service provider. Usually they aren’t even close. I dont go to chain places for steak anymore so I don’t have the problem.  

If part of an order doesn’t come until after the rest of the table is packing up and settling the check, the customer shouldn’t have to ask for it to be comped.

Kind of unrelated, but funny story this just reminded me of. I grew up thinking I didn’t like steak, because my mom would always cook it well done or order it well done at restaurants for my sister and I (I think for food safety reasons). Boy was it eye-opening the first time I had a steak cooked to medium

Maybe you should try a place where they aren’t just nuking your frozen entrees?

Aww, pumpkin, let’s find y’all a hobby that’s not silently judging fat people, you li’l creeper!

Yes, making mistakes is typically worse than not making them. Thanks for your insight into this issue.

Yes, I worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years. I was a dishwasher for half of that time, and let me tell you: nobody with a modicum of sense gives two shits about a roll of silverware. Tell me, how hard is it to pickup three utensils, wash them, run them through the sanitizer (with another hundred utensils…

Yes, I spent ten years working in retail foodservice (and will never, ever go back.)

Just out of curiosity, what percentage should I tip my ER nurses?

Yeah, I kinda lost it at “Professionals are running the show.” I mean, we’re talking about a relatively innocuous instance of them not doing their job — but maybe they needed another year of seasoning at the D1 level of Silverware Distribution prior to going pro?

Only the Salty Waitress would have the gumption to compare her job serving food and beverages to that of trained medical professionals trying to heal sick and injured people.

Yeah, I don’t get it. You sat me at a table without enough settings. There are extras five feet away. I’m an adult: I will solve this problem.

Right on. It’s very hard work. But also work I’ve seen high school kids perform at a high level. It’s not brain surgery. 

Any restaurant who didn’t get you a set-up when you sat down or by the time you got your food is no longer a professional in which to leave this up to. If this were a hospital, they’d be unable to perform surgery as they’d have NO SCALPELS. If you don’t like us taking our own silverware (or table condiments), maybe…

Ideally, you won’t reach for another table’s stuff, because it just creates a domino effect of no one having what they need.

If my server ain’t giving me that shit up front I’m taking that shit tout de suite. 

When you think about it, a restaurant is a little bit like a hospital room. (Sorry, doll, I don’t have a cheerier comparison.) Professionals are running the show, and none of them would be thrilled to see you handling things yourself, whether it’s measuring out your dosages or changing your own bandages. Same goes…

I don’t think it matters, especially when the server just grabs everything off the adjacent table and gives it to yours instead.

It’s an implicit accusation and insult that the waiter doesn’t have his shit together, but only because he doesn’t have his shit together.

If a server is so bad at math that they seat a party of four at a table set for three and doesn’t immediately notice the discrepancy, I have no hopes for better service throughout the meal.