stupid servers in stupid restaurants

I've seen this before. I'm sure you all have seen it before, so this isn't ground-breaking, but it made me laugh and cry last night.

So I went to this restaurant for dinner last night. Of course, I'm interested in the beer list. So my 13 year old waitress (probably not, but she looked it) begins reciting the beer list.

"For our domestics we have PBR, Coors Light, Bud Light, Labatt Blue, and they're $2.75." Now here in Florida, the addition of Labatt was odd, but it was common place when I lived in Detroit so I really took no notice.

"For our imports, we have Sam Adams, Shocktop, Blue Moon, Leinekugle, and we usually have Corona, but we're out. Those are $3.50."

You see where I'm going with this. "You do realize, of all the beers you mentioned, the only one that is actually an import you have listed as a domestic, right?"

Without missing a beat and still smiling, she responds "Nope, I told you the imports."

"Yeah, but imported means made in another country. All of your imports are made in the US."

The following could quite possibly be in my server hall of fame. "For beer, that's not what 'import' means. For beer, import just means better." -WAIT FOR IT- "My brother is 20 and drinks alot of beer. He should know."

And to that, what could I say? I had an 'imported' Blue Moon. You know what, she was right. It tasted better! :cross:


So things I learned last night: 1) stop being frustrated when restaurants use false words they don't understand to categorize things. 2) Those who invent words, invented an entirely different definition of "import" just for beer. Now doesn't that make us all in the beer community all warm and fuzzy? 3) Don't ever take beer advice from a 20 year old.

thank you all. Rant done.

This drives me nuts. The servers where I work get coached on how to present the new wines or other alcoholic beverages we get in, but never on the new beers. I have heard Guiness explained as " kinda Strong alcohol and very bitter" and SA Boston Lager as "its kinda caramely ale like". I have heard it all from my servers.
I just recently started doing beer tastings at work whenever we roll out a new dish and get a new beer, its helped a bit.
Then again, we charge Import prices for a Labatts Blue, even though its as cheap as Bud Light here. And Peronni is cheaper then Blue Moon lol

When the server says "import" I hear "craft" and I have no problem. It would be nice to educate folks, but it's more amusing to me than annoying.

Pappers -

It doesn't really drive me nuts anymore, but the combo of her statements PLUS the stupid labels was too much for me not to remember.

Some restaurants I go to label them "standard" and "premium" or "select" or something. They may not be 100% accurate, but that label at least isn't 100% innacurate. It amuses me.

Arneba - First impressions are important. What people hear, they will taste. If that same server had described Guiness as smooth, creamy, rich but suprisingly light, the customer couldn't have ordered it fast enough! Good on you for bringing out the beer tasting for your team!

My wife hates it when we go to a restaurant that has beer...

I try not to be picky, but them waitresses are SO DUMB! Can't they simply print out a beer list to hand to the customer? It would save us so much frustration and a lot of time too. And it might help the waitresses keep a big tip.

In her defense, in a restaurant setting, she is correct. Import means "better". We all know this. Quit letting it surprise you already.

Arneba28 said:

"its kinda caramely ale like"

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In their defense, that may be the best, most concise description of Boston Lager I've ever heard.

I always just hear "import" to mean "more expensive." In St. Paul, Summit Pale Ale (brewed right here) is an "import" at some restaurants.

It's a throwback from the days when "imports" were just that: imported.

And, cut the poor 16-y-old girl a break - She could be your own daughter!

M_C

Homercidal said:

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I try not to be picky, but them waitresses are SO DUMB! Can't they simply print out a beer list to hand to the customer?

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some times no. i worked at a restaurant for a long time and tried to get an actual printed beer list, but the owner said it would be tacky. plus that restaurant sounds like they are more about food than beer. (not to dispute the OP's point, that is rediculous. **** made me laugh)

cimirie said:

"My brother is 20 and drinks alot of beer. He should know."

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Well, yeah, we all know the frustration/hilarity of these situations, but I'm with you on this one. The above quote certainly does elevate your experience to classic status.

I was at a bar just north of Pittsburgh and ordered a Yuengling. The rough looking bartender replied, "We don't have none of them foreign beers."

rycov said:

some times no. i worked at a restaurant for a long time and tried to get an actual printed beer list, but the owner said it would be tacky. plus that restaurant sounds like they are more about food than beer. (not to dispute the OP's point, that is rediculous. **** made me laugh)

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Less tacky than having a waitress that can't recite the list of current beers?? Or wants me to order as she stands there reciting them and tapping her pencil? How about letting me read the list come back when it's time to order food? I mean, most places have a "wine list", so what's the problem.

And the place I am referring to in particular is BW3, so they push the beer pretty hard.

My point is that if you can't list all your beer, then at least have a list. And I'd prefer to read a list since it can take me a few minutes to decide.

oh, i'm with you. how can i remember every wine on the menu if i don't care for wine that much? there's a lot, hence the wine list. just saying that its not the waitress's fault that there's not printed menu. though if she wants a good tip she should really pay attention to whats going on in the restaurant.

No, I know it's not her fault. The manager said they change beer so much that it woudl be "impossible" to keep a list updated all the time...

Ok, I see. It's just too hard then. Alright. I guess it's easier to ignore the people with expanded palettes and cater to the many other people who already KNOW they have Bud, Bud Light, Miller, Miller Light, Coors, Coors Light, Heineken, Labatt's, Guinness, etc.

How hard would it be to have a whiteboard near the entrance with the current craft beers on tap list? I'm just not thrilled with the server who doesn't know what beers they have, AND don't have a list to provide the customer. That's my big beef. So I'm just supposed to magically, or telepathically know what beer you have? Even if I COULD do that, IT'S NOT MY JOB!

Ok, now I'm all ranty. LOL! From now on I just walk to the bar and have a look at the taps. Can't wait until Oberon is out. That will make things much easier for a while.

Arneba28 said:

I just recently started doing beer tastings at work whenever we roll out a new dish and get a new beer, its helped a bit.

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If you worked at the Blue Monk that could be a full time job!

Misplaced_Canuck said:

And, cut the poor 16-y-old girl a break - She could be your own daughter!

M_C

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If my daughter was 16 and didn't know the difference between an import and domestic anything, she'd be out on her ass.

Granted, she'd be Bobby_M's daughter, which is a lot different than Joe 6-pack's daughter. But my point is, she's still just 16.

M_C

Bobby_M said:

If my daughter was 16 and didn't know the difference between an import and domestic anything, she'd be out on her ass.

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All this talk about restaurants, domestics and imports has made me hungry. I think I'm gonna go have some exported pizza!

Wait, that just doesn't sound right. Ignore me, I've been working.

rycov said:

some times no. i worked at a restaurant for a long time and tried to get an actual printed beer list, but the owner said it would be tacky. plus that restaurant sounds like they are more about food than beer. (not to dispute the OP's point, that is rediculous. **** made me laugh)

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Pretty sure they're more about money than beer or food.

When in doubt, get up and go look at the taps.

Homercidal said:

How hard would it be to have a whiteboard near the entrance with the current craft beers on tap list? I'm just not thrilled with the server who doesn't know what beers they have, AND don't have a list to provide the customer. That's my big beef. So I'm just supposed to magically, or telepathically know what beer you have? Even if I COULD do that, IT'S NOT MY JOB!

Ok, now I'm all ranty. LOL! From now on I just walk to the bar and have a look at the taps.

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very valid points! the best way may just be to walk to the bar and check.(even though you shouldn't have too)

Bobby_M said:

If my daughter was 16 and didn't know the difference between an import and domestic anything, she'd be out on her ass.

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sweet

I would have laughed and told her to just bring me a domestic water with no imported lemons.

JohnnyO said:

Pretty sure they're more about money than beer or food.

When in doubt, get up and go look at the taps.

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This is not a valid solution when you have several taps that all have the brewery name but no indication of which beer it is. I'm looking your way, Yard House.

Bobby_M said:

If my daughter was 16 and didn't know the difference between an import and domestic anything, she'd be out on her ass.

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Funny thing is, I was thinking the exact same thing!

Bobby_M said:

If my daughter was 16 and didn't know the difference between an import and domestic anything, she'd be out on her ass.

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Hell, my son's only 14-month-old and he already has his beer preference.

What?

Homercidal said:

My wife hates it when we go to a restaurant that has beer...

I try not to be picky, but them waitresses are SO DUMB! Can't they simply print out a beer list to hand to the customer? It would save us so much frustration and a lot of time too. And it might help the waitresses keep a big tip.

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Agreed. When is the last time you went to a restaurant and instead of handing you a wine list, they started reciting them from memory.

When I took over the restaurant I work for I switched the designations from domestic and import to domestic and premium. I know it's not perfect but at least I don't have that situation. I should have labeled the domestics standard or something like someone else mentioned but that just doesn't sound good and my job is to help this place make money. Now when I go out to eat, I always try to look at the taps on my way in. If I have to listen to a waitress drone on I usually end up ordering the first halfway decent thing I hear.

buffalobrewer said:

If you worked at the Blue Monk that could be a full time job!

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That would be an amazing job. Even Coles could do that. You see Community Beer Works is doing a tasting there in April?

Arneba28 said:

That would be an amazing job. Even Coles could do that. You see Community Beer Works is doing a tasting there in April?

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I saw that. Did they get the license? Had some of their homebrew at the AWOG dinner and it was good stuff!

This is as bad as when my daughter ordered an Amaretto Stone Sour in one of the chain restaurant/bars. The bartender (who bragged about having gone to bartender school) wasn't sure what it was so asked his manager. He said "What does the stone mean?" The manager said "Oh, that just means it is on the rocks". In 20 years I had never heard that one.

This was the same place that tried to tell me once that Budweiser's American Ale was THE BEST beer available.

I went to Red Robin the other day. I could barely see the tap handles at the bar from my seat. One handle definetely has the letters E S B written vertically. So the waitress comes around and I tell her
ME: I'd like th ESB
HER: "The What?"
ME: "Um The ESB, English Special Bitter, i think it might be a Fullers ESB?"
HER: "We don't have that."
ME: "OK Well whatever that tap handle with the letters ESB are."
HER: "Well I don't know what you want, we have guinness, miller lite, blue moon etc"
ME: "Nevermind, I will just have water"

Never once, did she offer to go check with the bartender or find out what the tap handle was for. When leaving the restaurant I saw it was Red Hook.

Future reference to myself: Fullers has a blue emblem:

Your not alone on this one. I got frustrated a long time ago and gave up trying to explain to servers what import means. The funny thing is most tried to argue with me and tell me I was wrong about SA being made in the USA.

Good news is my local BW3 now has a half dozen Michigan craft beers on tap AND has a beer list for them with descriptions. :rockin:

A local restaurant the wife and I goto has their beer listed on the menu, granted this is not an Applebees or Fridays but they have decent beer to choose from. I dug up the list off the website, here it is.

Draft Beer Pints 5.50
Stella Artois - Belgium Bass Ale - England Guinness Stout - Ireland Blue Moon Belgian White - USA Black & Tan - Guinness & Bass Black & Blue - Guinness & Blue Moon Brooklyn Lager - NY Magic Hat “9” - Vermont Yuengling Lager - PA 4.50
Coors Light - Colorado
Bottled Beers
4.50
Duvel Belgian Ale - Belgium 7.00 Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout - England 6.50 Sam Smith’s Pale Ale - England 6.50 Boddingtons Ale 16 oz. can - England 6.00 New Castle Brown Ale - England 4.75 Smithwick’s Irish Ale - Ireland 4.75 Harp Lager - Ireland 4.75 Pilsner Uquell - Czech Republic 4.75 Paulaner Hefe-Weizen 16.9 oz. - Germany 6.00 Beck’s Beer - Germany 4.75 Grolsch Lager 16 oz. - Holland 6.00 Heineken & Heineken Light - Holland 4.75 Buckler (non-alc) by Heineken - Holland 4.25 Amstel Light - Holland 4.75 Foster’s Lager - Australia 4.50 Red Stripe - Jamaica 4.50 Corona Extra & Corona Light - Mexico 4.75 Dos Equis XX Lager - Mexico 4.75 Labatt Blue - Canada 4.50 Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - California 4.75 Samuel Adams Lager - Boston 4.75
George Killian’s Irish Red - USA Michelob Lager - USA 4.25
4.50
Michelob Ultra Light - USA 4.25 Rolling Rock - PA 4.25 Coors Original - Colorado 4.25 Miller Lite - USA 4.25 Miller Genuine “64” Light Beer - USA 4.25 Budweiser & Bud Light - USA 4.25 “BL” Bud Light Lime - USA 4.25 Odoul’s (non-alcoholic) - USA 4.00

What I want to know is if the OP feels better after attempting to belittle the server.

northernlad said:

What I want to know is if the OP feels better after attempting to belittle the server.

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I was thinking the same thing. Just because you have more knowledge in a certain area than another individual does not mean that you have to correct the world one waitress at a time. You went home and vented on an internet forum hours after the incident and the girl forgot you and everything you said the minute you walked out of the door. I'm sure creating this thread was all in fun and you did not mean nothing by it. You just wanted to feel cool and get a "that a boy" from a bunch of strangers on the internet for ridiculing a waitress who was doing her job.

This thread is a testament to the amount of beer snobbery that some people have on this board. Its a reason that I find myself having a lot of trouble connecting with some people in the homebrewing community.

TwoFortySX said:

I was thinking the same thing. Just because you have more knowledge in a certain area than another individual does not mean that you have to correct the world one waitress at a time. You went home and vented on an internet forum hours after the incident and the girl forgot you and everything you said the minute you walked out of the door. I'm sure creating this thread was all in fun and you did not mean nothing by it. You just wanted to feel cool and get a "that a boy" from a bunch of strangers on the internet for ridiculing a waitress who was doing her job.

This thread is a testament to the amount of beer snobbery that some people have on this board. Its a reason that I find myself having a lot of trouble connecting with some people in the homebrewing community.

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Doing her job?
If I told my customers that my product was "imported" when it is clearly stamped on it "Made in the USA", they would never buy anything from me and I would be out of a job.

DunklesWeissbier said:

Doing her job?
If I told my customers that my product was "improted" when it is clearly stamped on it "Made in the USA", they would never buy anything from me and I would be out of a job.

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Thats the difference in her job as a waitress and your career in whatever field you work in. She is probably in high school or college and uses her money to see movies and buy sparkly shirts, whereas you probably have real world priorities which forces you to take your job seriously. Secondly, I am sure less than 10 percent of the people that order a beer from that girl know where each of those beers are made. The other 90 percent orders a BMC and enjoys every last drop of it in their ignorant bliss.

I guess being in high school excuses her from being a bad server.

Ignorance is bliss.

buffalobrewer said:

I saw that. Did they get the license? Had some of their homebrew at the AWOG dinner and it was good stuff!

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sTILL waiting from what I have heard. Just free sampling I guess.

DunklesWeissbier said:

Doing her job?
If I told my customers that my product was "improted" when it is clearly stamped on it "Made in the USA", they would never buy anything from me and I would be out of a job.

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True statement. I doubt i'd buy anything from you if you told me it was "improted".