Customer Reviews

Tips, the Server's Guide to Bringing Home the Bacon - The Customer Speaks To Every Waiter, Waitress, and Restaurant Manager In America -- Make More Money!

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thought at least every one of the characters in this book has been at every different restaurant that my husband and I have ever been too.
I think this book should be a guideline for all servers and a guide for us, as customers, to know how to tip based upon service.

A friend in the food service industry insisted I read this book - and I found it to be much more than the cover claims. It will indeed tell you how to better serve the restaurant frequenting public; and how to better tip the foodservice industry. But what it doesn't claim but still provide is actually a primer on life. It's a well written and humorous look at how to make the most of everyday situations. Buy it. Read it. You won't be disappointed.

Let's face it, all of us have been on one side or the other when it comes to food service. Many of us have carried the trays and dealt with the obnoxious customers. And pretty much all of us have had poor service and absentee waiters. This book comes to the rescue, and does it with a satisfying side order of humor.

Not only will you learn the proper way to deal with delivering "the vittles", but you also get a wonderful guideline for taking care of that special waiter or waitress; when it's your turn to pay the bill.

Highly recommended for everybody who serves and is served.

Tim in Maryland.

I seriously don't know how this is getting good reviews. I ended up not only disappointed by the lack of specifics, I was deeply deeply insulted. Tricia Spencer claims she was a server before and then writes about how she respects the profession and dismisses the idea that servers lack intelligence and don't have a real job. But then she literally spends the entire rest of the book showing us that she feels this exact way. The section of what kind of server not to be was almost unbearable. I went through it looking at these demeaning cartoons depicting us as cockroaches, snails, skunks, stuck-up cats, confused dodo-birds, etc and then had to read these rants about how slow, belligerent and unintelligent we are. Then she has claims like "when I was a server I got things done twice as fast as all the other servers even though they were half my age... It's because I am organized and stay focused and they don't." Are you honestly expecting readers to believe this? Another line is something like "instead of complaining about low tips and thinking some customers just don't tip, its probably your service that's at fault. All customers walk in expecting to tip well." Yeah Tricia I'm sure you walk into a restaurant perfectly expecting to give a server 20-25% and then... surprise... a server took an entire minute-and-a-half noticing you put your credit card out. The horrors. But I'm sure you were totally expecting to give out that 25%, weren't you? In another section Tricia brags about the servers she's had fired because they didn't offer her good service and she complained to management. Considering this non-stop insulting rant, I'd want to go shake their hand. I find it admirable those servers that are willing to stand up to crappy customers like this. This is a physically-demanding and often high-stress job that requires a lot more intelligence than customers give us credit for. I find it ethically wrong that some customers believe this is an obligation for us. Like tips are just this nice gift you give us. Well, Tricia Spencer, YOU and other customers are who pays our salary, not the company, and as long as we gave half-way decent service that allowed your visit to be more comfortable and relaxing than a home-cooked meal, we deserve to get paid. How would you feel if your employers received your services (and you did at least halfway decent work) and then afterward they didn't feel you were worthy of payment? Ever thought about what that might feel like??? We go through this all the time.

Anyway, I feel a moral obligation to warn other potential buyers about how bad this book is. Tricia specifically preys upon the people who take this profession seriously and the specifics that really would help us newbies (i.e. ideas on what phrases to use, strategies to adopt, ways to prioritize, etc) are completely absent. For something more helpful along these lines, the Culinary Institute of America's book "Remarkable Service" was the best I've read. I've picked up half a dozen other books on this topic and unfortunately, there is so much misinformation and lack of thorough analysis out there that its really hard to get a complete picture from any one book. Its probably best to look at a number of different sources if your establishment doesn't train you well. But you'd do best to avoid this one because it is useless.

I don't know how she did it without sounding like she was preaching, but Tricia Spencer was able to capture everything about what goes into a tip. I -want- to be generous with my tips and usually am. But I'm not shy about leaving a paltry tip that sends a message. Perhaps I should leave a copy of this book for those occasions!

Though I wish they would, I doubt bad waiters will read this book. But good waiters can read it and pick up something that will ultimately lead to more tips. Spencer includes things like a tip to not walk around empty handed. Don't bring a ketchup bottle to the table, then return to the kitchen empty handed. Instead, bring back some empty dishes from a table in your area. Customers like to reward someone they think is a hard worker. Spencer shows you how to do that without making it seem like a tough task.

By the way, I have to say a few department store clerks I know could even benefit from reading this book. No, they don't get rewarded with tips, but a little polishing of performance might lead to some promotions!

Tips is a delightfully written, self help book for food servers. It is funny, colorful, and full of wonderful advice to help food servers provide the best quality of service to their customers. Having read this book, I now rate all my own servers by these standards of excellence, and tip accordingly. I believe that the every manager of every restaurant should require this book for every new employee. It's a MUST read!!
Wonderful work Tricia Spencer!!

"It's serious self-examination that will produce positive results. Remember, every action causes a reaction. If you desire the reaction to be fatter tips, then your actions must make that happen. People tip better for better service." ~pg. 78

Tricia Spencer's "Tips: The Server's Guide to Bringing Home the Bacon" is an especially honest and sometimes slightly uncomfortable (think Simon's honesty on American Idol) account of a variety of issues faced by servers and customers.

The idea of the book is to read through a variety of negative situations in order to address any issues that could cause a lack of monetary gain. The author's writing style is very straightforward.

I think dissatisfied customers will find this therapeutic while servers with tough skins may benefit the most from reading this book.

This book may be easier for restaurant managers to read so they can address issues with their employees. For brave servers who want to face this topic head on, the information should definitely increase their income and give an idea of what customers are truly thinking.

I think there are as many types of servers as there are personalities and that is what makes life entertaining. I think a sense of compassion and being a person of understanding will get you further than being overly demanding in a server/customer situation. If you want to read the other side of the story, read books by John Galloway.

Recommended to those who appreciate ""extreme honesty"" and have made food service their life's work.

As someone who has worked 8-12 hours a day on her feet, I must say that at times a customer who is kind and appreciative despite life's difficulties was a refreshing change. Being understanding usually gets you further in life than being overly demanding. After all, we are all human beings struggling with life's challenges. Servers can read the heart of the matter and will often respond accordingly.

~The Rebecca Review