My host job does not just consist of standing at the door and looking pretty. I know some restaurants are like that - but a whole bunch of them actually have a lot of side work to do.
My job, for instance, had this list:
1. Greet customers at the door, and seat
2. Clean the windows every time they get dirty (glass doors, happened a lot)
3. Answer Phones
4. Put together To Go Orders
5. Perform a Restroom Check - if things are dirty, out of stock, fix it!
6. Pre-Bus Tables - take whatever customers are done with and bring it to the dish room
7. Bus Tables - (Especially if there is no busser)
8. Wipe tables and Reset - (Always supposed to be host job, unless the busser helps)
9. Turn on/off heat lamps for customers sitting outside
10. Refill water and help any servers that are behind
11. Run food if you need to
This is in order of priority (mostly). There is a constant list going on in a host's head with what they need to do. When a customer asks a host/hostess or a busser for help - that list gets torn to shreds. We might as well just allow the customer to hack it into little bits with an ax, because now - instead of answering the door, I have to run and grab a refill for you. We have servers for a reason - they are your servers. They are supposed to help with everything you need. Now, if your server is busy, and the restaurant has filled, then you can grab someone. But if there aren't many people, try - try to get ahold of your server.
One day, it was so slow, our busser was sent home. It started to pick up shortly after he left, but nothing I couldn't handle by myself. A mass exodus happened, and suddenly, there was about 7 tables to bus and clean. Slowly, I start to catch up. I bus the three tables outside, the two in the corner, then finally the ones near the front of the restaurant. Now, servers are supposed to help with bussing, but they were caught up doing their own, equally long, to-do list.
I have a tray of dirty dishes in my hands, clearly in a hurry. I get pulled aside by a customer. She asks me a question I don't know the answer to. I tell her politely that she should ask her server, that he should be by shortly to check on them. I bring the dishes to the back, grab a rag to clean down all the tables that I just bussed and mid-wipe, she makes the "ahem" coughing sound that so many people in the service business hate. Just say excuse me, there's no reason to be rude. I know you are trying to get my attention either way.
I look up from the table right next to theirs and say, "Yes?"
She looks at me like I'm the stupidest person that she knows, "Well, did you ask?" I wanted to roll my eyes. It had been less than a minute and obviously, their server hadn't come back. Even though I told her to ask her server, she assumed I was going to find the answer for her. Sorry, I was too busy carrying 15 pounds of dirty dishes above my shoulder.
So, I sigh, probably a little too loudly, and place down my rag, probably a little too forcefully. I walk past her, march up to a server and ask them the simple question. I get back to her table, put a smile on my face, pretend to be in love with the woman and tell her the answer. I ask if there was anything else I could do for her, not in the spitting, angry way, just in a non-committal way.
I start to walk away after she says she's okay, and she stops me again. I have my rag back in my hand and was going back to scrubbing the table. "Are you okay?" She says it in a snotty way, she clearly doesn't care if I'm having the worst day of my life, she just wants to make me feel worse about my day.
"What?"
"Are you okay? Like, is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"
I cock an eyebrow. "Ma'am," she has her two kids and husband with her, "I'm just trying to do my job." And I went back to wiping down tables. Her server came and checked on her within the next minute.
Now, I understand, giving her the benefit of the doubt that she probably heard, "I'll go ask your server" instead of what I really said, "You should." So, she probably was expecting an answer, which, after being asked again in a rude way, I gave it to her as nicely as I could at the time.
So why not give me the benefit of the doubt? Instead of rubbing my nose in the fact that I'm clearly not having a great day. Instead of flicking me with your finger one more time, why not just assume that I'll be okay. That maybe you were a little too forceful. Don't be even ruder to make up for a past rudeness.
Now, once as a barista, a co-worker of mine had to walk away from a customer because she was being "awful" to him. When he walked away, she said to me, "I didn't realize that I was being that harsh or forceful... I didn't think I was..." I had to apologize for him, since he was having a bad day. She understood, and I understood how upset she was that someone had walked away from her. She gave him the benefit of the doubt (even though he was always like that - it wasn't just that day, it was always), but she assumed he was a nice guy, she just struck a bad chord.
So, can't we all assume that? Maybe the other person is having an off day. Maybe they are in the same situation you'll find yourself in a few days later.
Just don't treat people like they are idiots for not knowing the answer to a question. Don't treat them worse when they are upset with you.
This series is to be continued with my experience with Sears Customer Service... I'll be on the other side - as a customer, unhappy with the results.
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