The position of the waiter is not as simple and public as it might seem at first glance. One of them is not to leave the menu on the table after the visitor has decided on the order.
Basic rules of waiter etiquette
The main task of the waiter is to make the visitor leave the cafe or restaurant satisfied, and he has a desire to return there again. Therefore, the employee of the institution must provide the client with quality service, starting from the greeting, receiving the order and ending with the invoice.
First-class service is believed to play an even more important role than the palatability of food and drink. And vice versa: no matter how tasty the dish is, the client will leave unhappy if the service does not suit him.
First of all, the waiter must look neat, tidy and presentable, since he is the “face” of the institution in which he works. Of great importance is how the employee will meet guests.
It depends on the first impression how long visitors will want to stay in the restaurant, how much money they will spend, and whether they will have a desire to return here again, to recommend a place to friends. The task of the waiter is to take care of customers and ensure a comfortable pastime.
Interesting fact: Another habit of the waiter is to remove empty plates from the table as soon as the guest has eaten the last piece of the dish. This is a little trick - at an empty table the visitor does not feel very comfortable and orders something else.
The waiter’s etiquette in terms of how to take an order, make dishes, pour drinks and the like is a separate, rather large category of rules. This includes all sorts of little things, like which side you need to approach the guest with, how to properly hold dishes and appliances, etc.
Consider one of the most interesting and relevant rules - why the waiters take away the menu immediately after the customer made the order.
Why should the menu not lie on the table?
This feature of the service in most restaurants, regardless of status, surprises many visitors. And some are even quite annoying. It would seem that there is nothing simpler: when the menu is always at hand, you can make a new order at any time. But every time you have to call the waiter with a request to bring the menu.
Why it happens? There are many theories on this subject. The most common among them is the desire to deceive the client. Without a menu at their disposal, the guest of the establishment will not be able to compare the real prices with those indicated on the check. Accordingly, it can be easily "calculated". However, the owners and employees of public catering establishments refute this theory in every possible way.
Another version is the lack of a menu in the restaurant. That is, the waiters take the menu from those who have already decided on the order, and give it to other visitors. This reason is quite logical. But she does not explain other situations - when there are not so many guests in the hall or we are talking about an upscale establishment in which the menu should be enough for all customers by default.
The real reason that the waiters take away the menu turned out to be even simpler and more practical. They are guided by the main rule - the client should be as comfortable as possible. The better the institution, the wider it has a list of dishes, drinks and the larger the menu. Thus, it can take up a lot of space on the table, causing discomfort to visitors.
The waiter takes the menu so that the client does not have to worry about where to put it. Due to lack of free space, menus can also be accidentally dirty.
Interesting fact: The menu should be studied carefully, comparing the price per 100 g of the dish and its total weight. This will help to avoid unpleasant surprises.
In cafes and restaurants quite often there are quite funny cases when the waiters take the menu away even after they were asked not to. Especially impatient guests, such situations can even piss off. However, the leaders of the institutions assure that their employees do not do so because of bad intentions.
Firstly, many actions are brought by waiters to automaticity and the need to remove the menu from the table is one of them. Secondly, the staff often hedges each other and the menu could be taken away by another waiter who did not serve a particular table.
According to the rules of etiquette, the waiter is obliged to take away the menu after the customer made the order. Despite many assumptions, the main reason lies in the desire to provide the visitor with absolute convenience and comfort. The menu lying on the table can take up a lot of space, interfere with the location of dishes, drinks, appliances, etc.Therefore, the waiter takes the menu every time after ordering, but must bring it again at the request of the guest.
