ServSafe / Odds n' Ends

Odds and Ends began the day, with surprisingly few stories about Valentine's Day. K had a disastrous experience at a place called Croton Reservoir, a Tavern/sports bar on the edge of the theater district. They got there early, it was empty, the multiple TVs were blaring a game in contrast to the roses placed on all the tables. The menu was fixed at $125 and limited, and three times during the evening they were asked if they had a reservation, which they did not, but still had to wait 20 minutes to get the check.

L has been working prep at a Mexican restaurant for a few weeks now, and on Valentine's Day, she was assigned to assemble deserts....but never was trained on how to do that, and ended up getting a lot of stick from the Chef when he came in. Richard said, with apologies, that someone with no training on the dishes should never be let into a kitchen. Poor management.

Long Island Jenny found a hilarious study from the Cornell School of Hospitality, a research paper on how to increase a server's tip. This must of been some serious corporate-funded study, because the results were things you'd only find at an annoying corporate chain -- introduce yourself by name, crouch at the table, draw on the check, entertain the customer, smile always, and then some wackier stuff, like give candy with the check, touch the customer (?), and forecast good weather (?!?).

The second part of the class was more ServSafe, in particular safe food handling. This can really be summarized in two sentences: 1) Wash hands often, wear gloves and don't get poop in the food. 2) If one is puking for either end or has jaundice, don't work around food. And then we took a quiz. I got 88% correct, and will need 75% to get the certification. Whoop de doo!

We only got partially into a discussion of the study of consumer behavior, so I'll just roll it into one complete entry tomorrow.