Server refuses to sing one more birthday song
Elizabeth Martin of Mesquite Texas has been a waitress for Red Lobster restaurant near Town East Mall for over a year and she refuses to sign happy birthday to strangers any longer. just taking care of her section, but on top of that her manager (Tommy Nelson, 43 of Forney Texas, requires her to team work and do side work”. She added “I don’t even know these people, why should I have to sign them happy birthday, it’s not like they are going to be upset if I don’t. I do everything else they ask me to do. I run food and everything. I think the manager is mad because I won’t date him”. The manager, Mr. Richards refused to comment but Red Lobsters press agent Lesley Jones did release this statement “it is Red Lobsters Policy for all servers to participate in singing Happy Birthday and if she continues to refuse, we will take every lawful measure against her including but not limited to injunctions, lawsuits, termination, maullitof cocktail or even make her work for peanuts.” Sounds like this will be an interesting battle that could change the restaurant business for years to come. We here at 86BadTips do wander however if Ms. Jones realizes that waiters and waitresses only earn $2.13 per hour, therefore are already “working for peanuts. 86BadTips will keep you up to date on any changes to this unique case of right vs. wrong.
I don’t blame her! I work at Outback which is similar to Red Lobster and with all the sidework and “teamwork” i have more then enough to keep me busy without having to make my tables wait so I can sing happy birthday to a stranger… no thank you i’d like to keep my tip higher by not pissing off my customers because i made them wait for something to sing happy birthday to someone else’s table!
i freakin agree u want me to jump through hoops 4 ur butt for u to leave me 2 bucks on 103 dollar check like i got today
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I have to agree that it is almost ridiculous. I understand that people love to celebrate their birthdays with strangers, but what about the most important people that are there with them, and why can’t they sing to the birthday person, which would be more special. I also work at a restaurant that has to do a lot of birthdays. There have been several times where a large group of people come in to celebrate their birthday and they all point out it is that persons birthday, and when we go over there to announce the birthday, everyone is just sitting there quiet and not even excited, so that part is awkward. I just feel that everyone is different but i think they should just sing to themselves to make things more special, why would you want some strangers to sing that are pretending to be happy to sing to them.
I serve at Red Lobster and I probably get grabbed about 5 or six tiems a shift to sing happy birthday because my fellow servers ask me too, not because I am doing it for the customer. If I can help someone else get a better tip by singing with them, or interacting with them with their customers for a few seconds, I will. I have yet to find a situation when anyone got mad if I said I was too busy to sing because I was taking care of my customers. However, I personally have seen my friends turn a table of people that were not very happy into a great tip with a simple happy birthday from us. Its not so much just about taking care of your customers, its about being a decent human being. It also brings us up when we get to do things together, and get a break from the monotany of getting drinks, prebussing, running food. So you keep being the way you are, and your $2.13 an hour will always be $2.13 an hour, because I havent personally walked out the door with less that $15 an hour since I started waiting here, and thats on a bad night. Wonder why your tips suck? Ask yourself one question. “Would I tipe me?”