Confessions of an Angry Waiter

As per TIME:

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0 ... 42,00.html

Another reason why I love to cook... my own food...

I was interested to read this book...until I read this interview. What a piece of work. He seems incredibly immature and unprofessional.

It's worth reading his blog at waiterrant.net.

Hi,

The statement that surprised me:

The worst tip?

Some jerk left me two pennies. And a table of four ladies once didn't leave a tip. I said, "Ladies, is everything all right?" I called the cops on them, though they were never caught.

It never occured to me a waiter could legitimately call the police because he wasn't tipped. I can understand that action for failing to pay a bill, though not for the tip.

Due to an error of omission, I recently forgot the pay a waitress her tip. The money presented did pay the restaurant bill, though the tip wasn't present. When I recognized this error, I was too far away to rectify it. I was at the restaurant first thing the next day with the money and an apology. I'm glad this person didn't think to call the police over my failing to pay a tip.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

The statement that surprised me:

The worst tip?

Some jerk left me two pennies. And a table of four ladies once didn't leave a tip. I said, "Ladies, is everything all right?" I called the cops on them, though they were never caught.

It never occured to me a waiter could legitimately call the police because he wasn't tipped.

Hey... you can call 911 to report Subway for leaving the sauce off your sandwich, you can call them when somebody doesn't tip.

'Course you might be arrested for it.

Somebody should call the police on him for ripping off Kitchen Confidential from a "front of house" point of view. I guess I should start shopping around my version of Kitchen Confidential from a managers point of view.

pizano345 wrote:Somebody should call the police on him for ripping off Kitchen Confidential from a "front of house" point of view. I guess I should start shopping around my version of Kitchen Confidential from a managers point of view.

In fairness, this guy has been writing a blog for quite some time. If the book is anything like the blog it will never be confused as a rip off of Kitchen Confidential (other than the fact that they are both books about restaurants).

I picked a somewhat random entry on the blog to see what it's all about: http://waiterrant.net/?p=355

This entry is about him waiting on a solo male diner after the normal lunch rush. He basically picks on the guy for being old, fat, disheveled and ugly. There's a bit of adolescent humor along the lines of "if you like him, why don't you marry him?" The customer is immediately typecast:

The world’s full of people like him, hurting folk who, for whatever reason, are profoundly cut off from the human race. Unable to form or maintain relationships, but craving social contact nonetheless, they hang around the periphery of normal human activity. You see them all the time, walking around the mall, eating alone in diners, hanging out in Starbucks - surviving off the residual energy of other peoples lives. Relationships for these people are superficial encounters with waiters and cops, doormen and librarians, pretty girls who, trying to feel better about themselves, toss them two minutes of conversation while waiting in line for caramel lattes.

How he jumps to these conclusions is beyond me. The entry reminds of the movie "As Good as it Gets," except that Helen Hunt's character had the sense to get to know the weird Melvin Udall.

He's clearly a good writer and has an active imagination - good skills for a fiction writer.