Some restaurants do not deserve your business. Vote with your feet, you have options. Let the restaurants delivering sub-par service know about it.
Forget EF Hurtton, when Meg Hourihan says something, I listen. And when she validates my experience with sexism in service at restaurants I not only listen, I share.
I once worked at a top restaurant, noted for fabulous food, great service and attracting an upscale crowd. Prior to working there, I called for a last minute table. I acknowledged it was a late call but asked if we could be accomodated. I was told we could.
I arrived and sussed out who the senior person was at the front of the house. Not hard to figure out, one man, handful of women. I introduced myself, apologized for the late call and explained it was my friend's birthday. I indicated, as I greased his palm, that I would appreciate his help.
We got seated at the worst possible table. I took note of empty tables around us and how long it took them to fill.
As luck would have it, I wound up working in that very same restaurant and later had the perfect opportunity to reveal my secret service experience. Needless to say, the manager on duty at that time and at the time of my customer experience, vehemently denied my version of the facts.
I was able to confirm my side of the story with the electronic seating software used at the host stand. When it revealed that I was, in fact, seated at the very table I remembered, and he was, in fact, the manager on duty with whom I had dealt, he was speechless.
As I have noted before, I have always been an advocate for voting with your dollars. Savvy servers and restaurants figure it out and will give women the service we deserve. The ones who don't will lose our business.
I wish it were only front of the house we could complain about, but our insights in to female chefs and molecular gastronomy shows that women still face disparate challenges in the kitchens as well.
Anyone else care to share a story?
