As in any industry things can go wrong. The service industry means humans providing a service to other humans so there already you have two variables. If you start out as a waitress in a very fine restaurant you're nervous, it's busy so you have the stress factor, you're not experienced yet on holding your tray and food plates, the Chef's in the kitchen are yelling at you as they feel you're not taking the food from the line fast enough (plus Chef's just yell at you for no reason, that's just part of the waiter/Chef dynamic) the guests get impatient and there you have a great set-up for things to go wrong.
I was working years and years ago as a waitress in a fine dining restaurant in Zurich, Switzerland. Zurich is one of the Banking Hubs of Europe (I would even dare and say of the world) and most of our guests were Bankers, discussing very important business with their clients.
One of my tables was one of our regular guests and his client. They had ordered a bottle of white wine, which I was able to open, serve and then place in it's ice bucket in front of their table without any problems. The starters also came and went without any problem. Now, the main course was ready. Zuricher Geschnetzeltes with Roesti for our regular guest (This is a traditional Zurich dish, it's small pieces of beef in a creamy mushroom sauce over a potato pancake) and Chicken Cordon Bleu (which is chicken filled with ham and cheese and then the chicken is breaded and pan fried) for his very important client.
Now I approach the table and I notice that my arms are getting tired from the heavy and also very hot plates. As I mentioned earlier this was a fine dining restaurant so we served everything separate, the potatoes, the sauce etc. so I was carrying quite a few plates. The only food on the dinner plates was the chicken and the Potato pancake (Roesti). Back to the story: I approach the table, my arms are very tired and almost shaky at that point and I notice already that the large dinner plates are dropping down a little. I see the table though just a couple of steps away and I speed up and all of a sudden-Pang-something hits my lower body, which jerks my upper body forward and the breaded hot fried chicken, which is easy slideable on its plate takes off and lands exactly on the important clients lap. Wow- I was so embarrassed and literally wished for that hole in the floor to open up so I can just disappear into it. It was the Wine chiller that I had placed in front of the table that hit me, however when I was approaching with my hands full of plates was covered from my view.
Of course I placed the plates down and started apologizing to no end. The clients however, just pulls up his arms and says "well, just take it-just take it" (referring to the chicken, which is still lying on his lap). By now completely red and sweating profusely, embarrassed to my core I try to remove the chicken from his lap (crotch area) with my serving utensil combo of spoon and fork. After a couple of awkward moments I'm able to wedge the chicken between the spoon, pressed against the fork and I remove it.
Looking back this must have been one of the most comical situations for the other diners and wait staff to look at and now I can laugh about it as well. Even though I'll never forget how I felt and my heart always go out to other staff I witness having an "accident".
I was working years and years ago as a waitress in a fine dining restaurant in Zurich, Switzerland. Zurich is one of the Banking Hubs of Europe (I would even dare and say of the world) and most of our guests were Bankers, discussing very important business with their clients.
One of my tables was one of our regular guests and his client. They had ordered a bottle of white wine, which I was able to open, serve and then place in it's ice bucket in front of their table without any problems. The starters also came and went without any problem. Now, the main course was ready. Zuricher Geschnetzeltes with Roesti for our regular guest (This is a traditional Zurich dish, it's small pieces of beef in a creamy mushroom sauce over a potato pancake) and Chicken Cordon Bleu (which is chicken filled with ham and cheese and then the chicken is breaded and pan fried) for his very important client.
Now I approach the table and I notice that my arms are getting tired from the heavy and also very hot plates. As I mentioned earlier this was a fine dining restaurant so we served everything separate, the potatoes, the sauce etc. so I was carrying quite a few plates. The only food on the dinner plates was the chicken and the Potato pancake (Roesti). Back to the story: I approach the table, my arms are very tired and almost shaky at that point and I notice already that the large dinner plates are dropping down a little. I see the table though just a couple of steps away and I speed up and all of a sudden-Pang-something hits my lower body, which jerks my upper body forward and the breaded hot fried chicken, which is easy slideable on its plate takes off and lands exactly on the important clients lap. Wow- I was so embarrassed and literally wished for that hole in the floor to open up so I can just disappear into it. It was the Wine chiller that I had placed in front of the table that hit me, however when I was approaching with my hands full of plates was covered from my view.
Of course I placed the plates down and started apologizing to no end. The clients however, just pulls up his arms and says "well, just take it-just take it" (referring to the chicken, which is still lying on his lap). By now completely red and sweating profusely, embarrassed to my core I try to remove the chicken from his lap (crotch area) with my serving utensil combo of spoon and fork. After a couple of awkward moments I'm able to wedge the chicken between the spoon, pressed against the fork and I remove it.
Looking back this must have been one of the most comical situations for the other diners and wait staff to look at and now I can laugh about it as well. Even though I'll never forget how I felt and my heart always go out to other staff I witness having an "accident".
1 comment:
OMG, I can just picture that scene the way you describe it. I literally laughed out loud as I was reading it! I'm glad you can look back on it now with humor. I'm sure many others have similar stories.
I waited tables as a second job to put myself through college (in addition to my daytime office job). I'm sure I could think of some embarrassing memories if I tried, but mostly I was so sleep-deprived during those busy college years (juggling school and two jobs) that I don't remember much about the restaurant... just how sore my feet were by the end of the night!
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