Hand Soap

Today, I decided to investigate the difference between using/utilitzing the word "use" versus the word "utilize".
My research indicates that you sound like a prick if you say "utilize".
The more you know...

In other news, have you ever been to a career fair that wasn't awkward?
Me neither.

But because we cannot always count on dreams coming true, I must attend.
According to my flow chart, life is going even better than expected. This career fair is merely the next step toward living happily ever after.
Besides, the bills aren't going to pay themselves.
(But wouldn't it be awesome if they did?)

A new fad in the restaurant industry has come to annoy me:
Servers that don't write anything down.
Now maybe I'm just a fan of documentation because I personally use it so extensively or because of generally accepted auditing standards, but I just don't see the benefit of servers abandoning their reliable ways and just relying on their memory.

Maybe they're trying to impress me.
But I am not impressed.

First of all, it makes me nervous:

Server: And what will you have?
Me: I'll have the single hamburger with onions, tomatoes, cheese, lettuce, with ketchup, and could I also have a salad with ranch dressing on the side?

HOW are they going to remember all of that? Especially if they're having an off-day? It's not like I pointed to a list and said, "everything but".

And here's a true story: Steak & Shake lists ketchup as a condiment on their menu that you can put on your burger, but then they don't put it on your burger because they just assume that you can use the bottle on the table- which will almost always appear empty, so you'll have to go switch it out at someone else's table like I did.

Secondly, they disguise their failure by overcompensating in customer service.

So she comes back to the table:
Server: You wanted ranch dressing, right?
Me: Yes, on the side.
Server: And you said you didn't want pickles, right?
Me, in thought: I didn't say I didn't want pickles, but I didn't list them, so obviously that would mean I would not like them on my burger, and you would've known that if you had actually written it down and done a decent waitress's job instead of just verbally verifying everything thinking that I'm going to be SO impressed with your stupendous memory and give you a huge tip.
Me, in reality: No pickles.

And this wasn't the first time she "double-checked" either.

OH. And another thing that bugs me about restaurants: when the bring the check out with your food.
It's like saying, "Here. Leave whenever you're ready. Since I'm giving you the power to pay right now, I have no more reason to ever attend to your table in the future."
And then, of course, I need A-1 sauce.
And it's like 18 minutes before they even waddle over to my side of the restaurant again.

My tip-flipper idea is becoming ever so needed in the restaurant industry today.

Small potatoes,
TWS