With bouncy blond curls pulled back with a clip, server Kristen Knapp-Webb arrives at Truluck’s in Addison at 5:45 p.m., 15 minutes before her scheduled shift. As she walks through the foyer, she stops at the hostess stand, where she quickly glances at the seating chart to see what section she’ll be in.
She walks straight into the kitchen, where she stuffs her crocheted purse underneath a cabinet and immediately grabs wine glasses, hanging just above, and carefully squeezes the stems between her fingers. She manages seven in her left hand and four in her right.
She takes them out to her section. Tonight she’ll be in No. 5, which has two tables and two booths, and then goes back to grab more glasses and a glass of hot water. When she gets back, she takes a few minutes to polish each one. Holding each glass up into the soft light of the round fixtures above, she sees no water marks or finger smudges. Tonight she polishes 16 glasses, four for each table.
Eating in a restaurant may take on a whole new meaning if you know more about the table you’re seated at. Where you end up sitting may explain exactly what the wait staff thinks about you.
Most people don’t think about where they sit when they enter a restaurant, but Knapp-Webb can assure you that everyone working there is aware of who you are and what you’re likely to spend from the moment you walk in.
Restaurants similar to the one where Knapp-Webb works are all over. According to the National Restaurant Association, Texas has 45,516 restaurants and Dallas is home to about 2,500 and of every kind of restaurant imaginable, with everything from fast food to fine dining, a luxury offered in most other major cities, but not everywhere you go. Knowing ahead of time what kind of dining you will be doing is beneficial for you and the restaurant staff.
Many times, the way you act, and what you order while dining, determine how you are treated, depending on the type of restaurant you’re in. If want fast service, cheap food and a livelier atmosphere, you’re better off going to Chili’s. If you want to sit and chat, while not eating much, you’re better off in a bar. Most restaurants have those, but for many of you who find the idea of sitting too close to the smokers unappealing let the hostess and your server know. If you must occupy a regular table, they’ll more than likely be more attentive to you and your fellow guests, not minding the fact that your bill will be small, because they’ll know ahead of time.
Thirty-nine-year-old Knapp-Webb has made waiting tables a career, and could tell you anything you’d ever want to know about the restaurant business. Her experience speaks volumes on everything from food knowledge to the clever tricks of the trade.
Knapp-Webb has been waiting tables in the Dallas area for more than a decade now, and the money she makes from tonight’s shift, like so many others, will all depend on the generosity of the people who occupy her tables.
She goes back to the kitchen where the expose’ counter is, commonly known as the “expo line,” the gathering spot for the daily pre-shift meeting, where the other nine servers working that night meet her.
She waits patiently for T.J., the night manager, to go over with the wait staff what the menu features are for the evening. Tonight it’s an 8-oz. Black Angus, bacon-wrapped filet, stuffed with sautéed lobster, crab and baby shrimp, served on a bed of Parmesan mashed potatoes, with a side of julienne mixed veggies, topped off with a peppercorn demi-glaze for $30.95.
T.J. tells everyone what size stone crab claws are available and what routine cleaning duties everyone will have at the end of the night.
As the meeting breaks, the servers disperse throughout the restaurant, finishing little things before the night rush begins. Knapp-Webb goes over to the bar and talks briefly with her friend Jen to tell her that Angel, her 8-year-old daughter, has started swimming lessons and loves every minute of it.
Just as she starts getting into the details of their day at the pool, she notices Beth, the hostess, seating a two-top at table 42, one of her booths. The boyfriend-girlfriend couple look like this is their first time there and that the menu might be a little too pricey, from the raised eyebrows and smirks they exchange with each other.
Knapp-Webb sighs, knowing there’s nothing she can do but serve them and try to be positive about the small tip she expects.
She greets the couple with a smile and asks them what they’d like to drink. After taking their order, she walks back to the bar to put in their order, waits for the drinks to be made – two vodka martinis, dirty and up – then heads back to the table.
As she sets down the drinks, she begins rattling off the feature dishes. The couple patiently waits, smiling back at her, until she finishes and then orders the appetizer platter for $12.95. No soup, no salads before the meal, no main course, just drinks and munchies.
“It’s a waste of my time and money,” Knapp-Webb says later of the guests at 42. “It’s hard not to judge them ahead of time, but it’s just so typical. They’ll order hardly anything, sit there for a couple hours, then leave practically nothing for a tip.”
She doesn’t have much time to dwell on it though, because she’s getting a four-top, two older couples, at table 41, her other booth. After greeting the table, she knows that this tab will be better.
“They ordered wine, that’s always a nice way to start dinner,” she says. “It lets you know that they’ll be here a while, but they’ll also be ordering at least a two-course meal.”
As the night continues, Knapp-Webb gets two other tables. Table 48, which is seated with a family whose children are well into their teen years, and at the other, table 47, sit three men dressed in business suits, who she can tell are from out of town by their heavy Boston accents.
In the time since her first table sat down, Knapp-Webb has had time to take orders from all three of her other tables, deliver salads to table 48, entrées out to table 47, and clear finished dinner plates from table 41. Table 42 has reordered two more martinis and has managed to eat food off of the appetizer platter at the rate of one piece of calamari every three minutes while taking a sip of vodka in between gazes into each other’s eyes and periods of flirtatious conversation.
Knapp-Webb just rolls her eyes. “We’re in the service industry, so it’s our job to wait on these people, I just wish they knew that there are certain places for what they’re doing – a bar. They’re welcome to eat here, but if they want to take up a regular table, it should be done in off-peak hours, so it’s not interfering with the people who want to have a regular meal.”
Table 42 stays 40 minutes longer than the average one hour it takes to complete the dining experience. Their tab is around $40 with a $7 tip, correct percentagewise, but low in comparison to the average $150 tab and $25-35 tip per table at Truluck’s.
When it comes to standard dining (i.e. places that have more than 10 wines on the list), if you dress and act the part of a serious, well-educated restaurant-goer, the service staff will take notice. They’ll treat you with respect, and often give you special privileges, such as seating you first or at the “power table” (the private, secluded, best of the best tables available in a restaurant, usually far from the kitchen and away from the noise). Every place has one. It’s up to you to know whether or not you’re sitting in it. But be prepared, if you dare come into a restaurant like Truluck’s in jeans and a T-shirt or with young, noisy children, the staff won’t hesitate to put you in a new category, the “looser” section. If you notice yourself sitting next to the kitchen entrance or awfully close to the front door, it may be a sign that you made it.
At the end of the night, after the last customers have gone, Knapp-Webb sits with her fellow co-workers, talking about the night as they turn their money in, counting what’s left over for them to take home. She made $91 tonight, and knows that her night would h
ave been better if it hadn’t of been for her first table.
“It should be common knowledge to know that if you want to eat just appetizers and drink cocktails you should never sit at a regular table, rather you should eat at the bar,” she says. “Not only are you wasting a server’s time, you are certain to receive poor service, up to the point of being completely ignored. If you are brave enough to sit away from the bar, you should tip extra for taking up time and space. Know your plans ahead of time, otherwise it’s rude, it’s selfish, it’s ignorance.”
