A reader wrote telling me Waiter Rant was mentioned on CNN. It turns out that Jeanne Moos did a story entitled “Wrath of the Waiters” for her program “Making the Moost of It.” She mentioned my website by name and showed a screen shot of the title banner.
The funniest part of the story, for me, was when she asked a waiter, “What things that people ask for really get on your nerves?” The waiter replied, “I think every waiter in the world hates people who order tea.” Moos then goes on to describe all the work involved in preparing this “cheapo beverage” complete with video of saucers slamming, sugar packets crinkling, and scalding water hissing.
She ends the segment by saying, “Got tea? Get your waitress teed off,” while showing a screen shot from my post “Tea Nazi.” Priceless.
I’m sure the tea drinkers will be up in arms over that one.
Sadly the video can only be viewed if you subscribe to Real Player SuperPass. If you have that service goto http://www.cnn.com/video/ and look for Ms. Moos program. If the segment’s not there it might be in her program’s archives.
I want to thank Ms. Moos for including me in her story. If she reads this post I hope she emails me so I can thank her personally.
CNN. How about that?
Hated those tea tottlers myself!
Partial towards espresso drinkers if you catch my drift!
Lou Dawg
Hot tea is the worst! Let’s cap off a night of splitting a salad with a cup of herbal tea (after you stand there with the big box for 5 minutes while she decides).
“Oh, can you bring me some honey please? And more free hot water?”
Tea rules…at home. Bring me rich alcoholics.
I don’t understand people that complain about what people order. If you hate the job so much, then quit. Honestly, servers remind me of beaten wives that complain about their lovers beating them up but don’t leave.
I’m sure that the person who doesn’t understand why we complain never complains about their fabulous job. We complain about the little things that bother us as waiters, but we love our jobs. I like waiting tables, bringing tea makes me less able to attend to my other seven tables for a cheapskate drink.
Tea drinkers are also not known for their amazing generosity come tip time.
Much love waiter,
Deezus
I work as a part-time cashier in a grocery store and I complain about customers and my job all the time…but I still love my job! I wouldn’t want to do it full time but I enjoy learning new produce codes and bagging somebody’s grocery just perfect like I’m playing a game of tetris.
You know what I hate? People who complain about waiters complaining on a blog called “Waiter’s Rant.” They remind me of prudish Christo-Fascist types who watch racy French movies and then complain about how racy French movies are.
If you don’t like waiter’s complaining about customers, tips, etc., go read something else.
Douche.
I hate coffee and love tea. I didn’t realize it was such a hardship to prepare. I’m new to your blog, and this is the first thing I read that I don’t agree with.
I’m still ordering tea. And you’ll still get a great tip. So deal with it.
Making tea in the UK is easy peasy… teabag in a cup or a tea pot of hot water, milk and sugar on the side… DONE!!!! Any extras need to be asked for…..thats including herbal teas
Instead of “the box” try to convince your boss to let you keep a large key ring with every tea you serve lamenated and strung on it in your apron. Or a lamenated “tea list” When they order tea you can at least save yourself one trip to the back by having them choose at the table.
I have just started going through the blogs (from the start, not the other way round) and look forward to the many more to come. On the subject of Tea here is my 2 cents –
I worked as a waitress for many years in many kinds of places and without fail tea was always one of the most annoying things, simply because of the Hassle involved. It takes ALOT of time to prepare and can in one fell swoop of an order put you far behind (or in the weeds as it seems the term is in the US). Yes, it IS part of your job, but terribly inconvenient. Like answering the phone when you are in the middle of something important. Of course you are entitled to order Tea if that is what you want (I myself prefer tea to coffee), but if you must, try and make it easier on us now that you know just how much of a hassle it is. And if it can wait until you get home, or go to that 24hour end of the night place where you kick on, then you are better off waiting to be honest.
Short and sweet? It IS an inconvenience, but we are allowed to bitch about it. In the end we still get you your damned tea and smile whilst doing so. Stop complaining about us venting. This coming from a tea drinker.
My first job was as a restaurant worker, and, oh, how I loathed it. However, there were only three situations involving beverages that really put me on edge.
1.) People who insisted on having a pot of coffee brewed, but chose to drink only one cup. I’m from a very thrifty household, so it pains me to waste food or drinks.
2.) People who complained about the soft drinks tasting ‘weird.’ They came in a box. For god’s sake, take it up with Coca Cola. (And, for the record, I did taste them.)
3.) Customers who asked for beverages that were not offered on the menu and then complained.
I doubt anyone will see this, as I’m about five years late replying, but as an avid tea drinker, how can I place this order without being obnoxious?
Is the hassle primarily from the arranging of the sugars and the milks and the cookies, etc? What about those of us who drink our tea “black”. I don’t want to come across as crazy or terribly inconvenience anyone. Would it be equally obnoxious to specifically state that I won’t be needing any sugar, cookies, cream or accessories, just the hot water and a random tea bag?
It’s possible I’m over thinking this just a touch.
i love love love love love hot tea too, Amy. But i was also a waitress for 4 years. As such, i’ve just made the choice to only drink hot tea at home and in coffee shops. a restaurant is just not the place.