Eatiquette

How Hard Is It to Be Nice to Nasty Restaurant Customers?

Photo: istockphoto

Coupon-grubbers, behaving in unseemly ways. Pretentious patrons, stooping to sorry lows to convince waiters that they’re cooler than they really are. Such indignities can fray any waiter’s nerves and cause one to become, shall we say, tense. So it’s really little wonder that Zagat’s new survey ranks service complaints as diners’ number-one irritant.

However: In a fun Globe piece today about how some savvy restaurant managers stress the importance of good service, Tim Zagat is quoted as saying that “a very large percentage of [front of the house professionals] are putting themselves through college or are out-of-work actors.” Funny, you’d think that out-of-work actors would be really amazing at feigning kindness toward obnoxious guests!

If you do want to see some excellent professionals in action, there’s also a nice behind-the-scenes service video at Mistral, which you can view here.

Knocking Themselves Out [Globe]

How Hard Is It to Be Nice to Nasty Restaurant Customers?