To the ignorant...a little blog about miscellaneous "charges"

Most people who write negative comments about any particular subject are the ones who are seemingly ignorant about the subject that they contest. The restaurant business has been in my family for over two decades, and while I do not plan to continue following that tradition, I feel as though it my responsibility to give a little insight into the hardships of the restaurant business life. Breaking even is the most crucial aspect of sustaining a business and how to go about it without losing credibility or clientele results in making compromising decisions. Prices must be set for each item to cover labor costs, utilities, rent, equipment and other variable costs in order to maximize a decent profit. To go about this, at the restaurant that I manage part-time sets a $7.00 minimum per person OR two dishes in order for the restaurant to succeed. Most restaurants enact this type of minimum charge, whether the customers are satisfied with this policy or not, simply due to the fact that restaurants compete to survive. Most restaurants also enact a sharing charge because if two people enter a restaurant simply to share a bowl or soup or an appetizer, that results in a deadweight loss. In terms of credit card minimums, every time a credit card is swiped, an automatic flat-rate credit card service fee is acquired, giving restaurants no choice but to place a mininum credit card charge. The opposing party to these matters may say, "If you can't take the heat, why bother to open a restaurant?" And to that, I must say, every person must make a living to survive and if you have never worked in the restaurant business, you will never know about the stress and the troubles that restaurant owners and staff members incur on a daily basis.

On a different note, I noticed a very interesting and borderline daring sign that Sam's Grill in Wynnewood, PA placed at the host stand that I will roughly paraphrase, "If you are grouchy, irritable or just plain mean, a surcharge of $10.00 will be automatically added to your bill." How's that for the complainers out there? ;)

Sang Kee: Chinese Take-Out is More Preferable.

Chinatown in Philadelphia has one huge issue: There are too many similar restaurants, and little to no sense of insight into Asian culture or unity.

Consumers often pose this question: Where is the best place in Chinatown to dine in?

The supposed answer: Sang Kee Peking Duck House.

The real answer: WRONG.

A good friend of mine hosted a dinner party at Sang Kee Peking Duck House on a Saturday night, and despite my personal opinions of Sang Kee, I obliged out of politeness to my friend. My boyfriend and I ventured to 9th and Winter Sts. to join our friends at this famed restaurant in Chinatown for my good friend's birthday. The evening began with two pots of piping hot tea for every person in the party to sip on while waiting for their respective meals. My boyfriend and I ordered a Shrimp Dumpling Rice Noodle Soup, 1/2 Peking Duck and Seafood Pan-Fried Noodles and Seafood rolls to start as an appetizer. The other guests ordered roast duck dishes and a majority of the group ordered pan-fried noodles in some form. There were two noticeably offensive items on the menu: The Chou-Jou Shrimp Rolls, which were CLEARLY a cheap knock-off from Ong's restaurant, and the Shrimp Dumpling RNS, another cheap knock-off from Ong's. When my boyfriend received his Shrimp Dumpling noodle soup, right away, he had noticed that he had received Ho Fun noodles instead of the thin rice noodles that he had requested. Secondly, ho fun noodles should be separated and heated before they are combined with the soup. These ho fun noodles were clearly cut from the package and dumped right into the middle of the bowl. The broth had a disgusting after-taste and there was nothing but a couple of pieces of limp scallions to dress the bowl. The worst part about the bowl was that my boyfriend had to manually separate the lumpy ho-fun noodles at the bottom of his bowl. Secondly, the peking duck arrived with thin pieces of pita bread, rather than the traditional doughy pancakes, which were stated in the menu. The duck was nearly tasteless but edible enough to just to digest it. Lastly came the most DISAPPOINTING Seafood Pan-Fried Noodles. First of all, the once crispy noodles were completely drenched in an oily sauce and secondly, the scallops tasted EXTREMELY spoiled. To top this terrible dinner, the server literally took our order and dropped the food down without even coming to check on us or even greet us, and for some reason, my friend was polite enough to leave him a VERY good tip, a tip NOT deserved. The server even claimed that the beautiful neopolitan strawberry short-cake that I bought for the occasion melted when he handed me the box. First of all, it was not an ice cream cake, and second of all, if the cake had melted, why was one area of the cake completely smudged and the rest of the cake looked normal? Clearly the cake was damaged in their care and they were not willing to take responsibility for what they had done. The only perk about this dinner disaster was that the food was on the cheaper end, but I don't care for the price, I only care for the quality and I feel as though I had been robbed.

I give this restaurant a 3 out of 10 for poor service, poor quality food and poor presentation.

The Food Critic??

All employees of the restaurant business often battle the disgruntled and difficult customers that visit restaurants daily with an iron fist. However, there are certain restaurant etiquette requirements reserved especially for professional food critics. This leads me to my tale of the faux "food critic." On a Sunday morning, a heavyset woman with long hair loosely tied back and piercing blue eyes and her potentially bratty son entered the restaurant and sat down to view the menu. I politely greeted this woman out of habit and courtesy and I took their drink requests. For the next 5-10 minutes, I made a piping hot slow-drip espresso and a strawberry smoothie for the young child, which I delivered promptly to their table. I then proceeded to take the order and the woman only requested one order of summer rolls. Here comes the first dilemma: Had this woman been a little more observant and cautious, she would have noticed the $7.00 minimum charge per person for dining in only. The second dilemma: There are two summer rolls in an order for just the price of $3.50 for the two of them to share. The third dilemma: Children and summer rolls do not mesh well and children tend to throw their noodles all over the place. I delivered the summer rolls with the assumption that this woman was going to continue with the ordering process. However, I was extremely dismayed when she simply replied that the summer rolls were all she was going to order and I politely informed her of the restaurant policy and that it would be advisable for her to order another item from the menu.
The general manager decided to take this matter into her own hands and politely spoke to the woman about the restaurant policy and the disgruntled customer gave her complete attitude and her tone was harsh and brash. She acted as though we had clearly done something completely wrong and unlawful and she proceeded to order another order of summer rolls and a pork vermicelli. I delivered the second order of summer rolls and this awful woman snapped "JUST WRAP IT UP." She then proceeded to say, "So let me get this straight. I can't eat here with my son because we aren't spending $7.00 a person? Are you saying that EVERY person that comes into this restaurant has to pay $7.00?" I politely answered yes and she proceeded to tell ME how wrong this policy was and I said to her, "M'am what you ordered was only $3.50 cents and our restaurant simply does not allow two people to share a dish or an entree, especially only one appetizer. Would you like the pork vermicelli wrapped as well?" She gave me the dirtiest look and said, "Maybe I'll eat it, maybe I won't." My patience was growing thin and as I sent the pork vermicelli out to her she snapped "Just wrap it up" which I sloppily proceeded to do so." She walked up to me to pay the bill with attitude and she said, "I just want you to know I am a food critic." I did not respond and I handed her the change and she asked for a business card. I simply told her that we were out of business cards then she rudely requested a receipt with the name of the restaurant so she could "write about it in her article" and she left, leaving a $1.00 tip on the table.

To the spoiled woman:

1. If you are a food critic, aren't you supposed to remain anonymous?
2. Isn't the purpose of a food critic to EAT FOOD?
3. And who the heck are you to treat people like complete trash, just because things did not go the way you intended?

If you had done your research more carefully, you would have realized that every other major newspaper has given the restaurant extremely positive reviews, including the most recent article written in the Philadelphia Inquirer. I would like to know what supposed "newspaper" you are employed by and who gave you the authority to become a food critic. If so, I would like to say that your and the employer's credibility is pretty much shot to hell and that one lousy "article" will not cause this restaurant to lose its credibility nor its loyal customers.

Leave your undisciplined child at home!

Working as a server in the restaurant tends to provide you a keen sense of observation of the endless types of people that you may encounter every single day. You meet people from all over the world, you hear their stories, you notice what they like to eat, what they don't like, their mannerisms, and at the end of it all, you ask yourself the most important question that has been looming over your head since that particular table has sat down. Will they leave me a good tip or will they stiff me? Whether all servers like to admit it or not, each of us senses who will tip and who will not tip, and usually, in my case, it is the people who are the most demanding who will leave the cheapest tip. However, that is a rant for another time. At this point, staring at my disheveled appearance, my sore feet and the make up that has run down my face, this particular Sunday has got me thinking about the LACK of parenting skills that people have. It's disheartening to see parents bring their bratty, undisciplined children out in public and let them run a muck in a restaurant. And while these particular brats make me want to never have children, I observe the parents and I realize that perhaps it's not entirely the childrens' fault, it's the lack of proper parenting that makes me sick to my stomach.




I state the obvious when I say that there are people in this world who shouldn't reproduce; however, it doesn't take that much time in the nine months that you are with child to pick up a parenting book and skim through the do's and don'ts. It doesn't even take that much time to sit your child down and explain how to behave at a restaurant. And it takes less time to smack your child's hand and tell them to stop misbehaving. Parents who let their children run around like monsters are REALLY embarrassing themselves and causing hardworking, underpaid servers like MYSELF tons of rage and agony. How on EARTH would you feel if you had to deal with obnoxious children who play with their utensils, use chopsticks as drumsticks and throw noodles all over the place? Just today, there was a disgusting display of terrible parenting when a mother, a father, grandparents and two children came to sit down and eat. They ordered one appetizer, two soups, two bowls of vermicelli and demanded 6 bowls, 6 plates 6 drinks to share everything. They had a 4 year old girl and a 1 and a half year old, both of which, ran around the restaurant for about an hour, dumped food all over the table and the floor and the 1 and a half year old dragged her booster seat all over the place. I also had to step over her a million times because I was carrying LARGE HOT bowls of soup. The parents NEVER once told their children to stay put and their bratty daughter screamed half the time. Adding a 20% gratuity charge was not even enough to suffice for what I had gone through to wipe down and clean off every bit of food off of the table and the floor. So here is my advice to you undereducated parents out there who think their child is an angel sent from heaven: take your ornery child, smack their bottoms and TEACH THEM TO BEHAVE IN PUBLIC. Otherwise, don't bother to go to ANY restaurant or ANY public place for that matter, because guess what, you're causing everyone misery!!





And remember one more thing: SERVERS MAKE $2.83 AN HOUR BEFORE TAXES AND THEY ARE TAXED ON THE TIPS THAT THEY REPORT. SERVERS ALSO HAVE TO TIP OUT TO THE MAITRE'D (HOST/HOSTESS), THE BARTENDER AND THE BUSSER. LASTLY, SERVERS WORK EXTREMELY LONG SHIFTS; I WORK 12 HOURS A DAY. SO BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO LEAVE THAT 10% TIP, YOU EITHER CONTINUE BEING THAT HEARTLESS PENNY PINCHER, AND I'LL TELL YOU TO GO TO MCDONALD'S NEXT TIME, OR YOU CAN ANTE UP THAT 18%-20% SUGGESTED GRATUITY AND LEARN TO APPRECIATE YOUR SERVER.