Unethical?
Spending a lot of time in restaurants and having down time in between rushes has left me with a lot of contemplating.
A few weeks ago when I first started my new job I had a group of middle aged people come into the restaurant. It was a Sunday afternoon and usually if it's a weekend (or weeknight) people will be looking to drink, this is not out of the ordinary especially at my job. Being more of a bar than a restaurant I of course offered our drink specials. This group in particular ordered their food first and started off slow with just a beer each. But a few hours went by and more and more drinks were ordered. Since we all live in the city area I just always assume that no one drives, however this was not the case.
One beer turned into mixed drinks, mixed drinks turned to mixed shots, mixed shots turned to straight shots of liquor. Over the course of a few hours my table managed to rack up over a $400 bar bill (they were at most 6 people.) Although at the time I didn't know they were driving I started to feel uncomfortable at the amount of alcohol they were consuming. And that is when I over heard one of them say something about driving home. I froze in my tracks, mid way to the table with another round (on the house.)
This is where I was tested, morally. Continue to walk over to the table with free drinks which will in turn make my tip higher. Or walk away and refuse to give them anything else to drink with the notion that I may be yelled at and not tipped.
The choice was obvious but instead I tried to play it cool. I went over to the table tray in hand with water. The group got my hint, stayed for a few more hours, ate, relaxed and continued to drink... their water.
However, this situation could have gotten bad fast. Now I ask my tables more questions before I server them alcohol. "So, do you live around here, come here often." etc. just so I can get a better idea of what they are planning to do after they leave.
Although some people may think everyone makes their own choices to do stupid things, it is always the responsibility of others around watching as well.
Until next time. Check Please!
Wow this situation must've been some what crazy for you. I guess having a fun night means forgetting about everything by having as much fun as possible. I definitely think that you did the right5 decision by sort of stalling them and offering water to help them recover in case they were going to drive. God knows what disaster could had happened if this continued on. I'm sure there are lot of other people who if they were in the same situation as you wouldn't had cared because they don't know them or "it isn't my problem"
ReplyDeleteReally good thing you did not give them those drinks on the house. I've seen instances like these when a table next to me is getting a bit crazy and I wonder why the waitress is still pouring in the drinks. Good call. I don't know why but towards the end I was left wondering if they left you a large tip.. hahaha.
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