'Waiter Rant': How to avoid spit in your food

Waitstaff and Kitchenstaff are the backbone of any good restaurant...if manageent doesn't see this it's their fault if the place fails. To spit in food or any other similar action is so totally disrepectful and uncalled. Rude customers can be dealt with by management (not waitstaff) in a manner far better suited for the class of clientelle they are seeking.

Having worked in eating establishments several times in my life as a cook as well as a server and bartender, I have had my share of rude customers. I have never, ever even entertained a thought to tamper with someones food. The guy who wrote this book and anyone who agreed with his actions should have been fired on the spot. As a customer, I have also had my share of rude and incompetent servers. This author should have chosen a career more suited to his personality, like working as a pipe flusher in a sewer. Those who patronize restaurants should get this book just so it may help them to identify individuals who would resort to this kind of childish behaviour in the first place.

I just want to know where to purchase this book. I have checked several websites and cannot seem to find it anywhere.

he's so quick to point the finger? did it ever occur to this guy that maybe he was just a jerk and a horrible server?

After reading the two page excerpt, I feel compelled to call this guy out for straight up lying. He took nearly every bad situation I've faced as a server over the last ten years, and had it all happen to him in one night. Total crap. I'm just hoping The Smoking Gun gets a hold of this guy and makes him can it, quick. I feel that his only reason in becoming a server must have been so he could write an "insider" book. There are thousands of people out there who have worked or are working as servers, so the majority of people who take this book as truth will be those that never had to work in the restaurant industry. And yes, those people tend to suck as patrons and seem to be complete morons. I would NEVER spit in someones food, but anyone who thinks this guy is the "voice" of the hospitality industry can go on ahead and be scared that I will, because they're idiots.

This article does not surprise me. Watching a few episodes of Chef Ramsey made me sick but prepped me for this article. Ramsey was instrumental in my decision (follows), this article just confirms that I made the right choice.

I no longer eat out at restaurants because of what I consider to be a hostile work environment for the staff. Nobody should have to earn their bread and butter under the cruelty of another human. It is people like those described here that I won't support. It is this behavior that makes the world a darker place and I will not help promote it. I don't support animal cruelty - dog, cat, bird, human or otherwise.

Spitting on or tampering with the food of those who make it possible for you to earn a living is a grade below pond scum.

This a well written portrayal of a typical night working at a restaurant. I hope this writer used real names of his bosses and subsequently caused them person turmoil. I have had many similar scenarios in my 10 years of chasing the seasons in the restaurant business and can relate to the feeling of complete despair at the end of some nights. I hope this man makes a ton of money off the sale of this book. It will make all the headaches he has endured worth it.

While I think this story is a little over the top it still relays the total feeling of helplessness a server feels when totally slammed! I didn't see anything about food tampering in this excerpt but apparently it's mentioned somewhere and I have to say I don't know anyone who's ever done that (not that there aren't some people who would deserve it!). Being a server is one of the hardest jobs there is and I wish everyone had to do it at one time in their life. Waiting on women is awful and old women are pure hell! If it wasn't for the F word, which I use liberally (like every other word) in the kitchen I would never survive!

This author definitely wins "Pussy of the Year Award!"

I have been a server for 40 yrs, have dealt with rude customers, rude cooks, rude bus people & rude & incompatent managers & I have hever thought of spitting in someones food because I would never want anyone to spit in mine. Its all about respect, if you are a customer with a lousy attitude you are going to get lousy service. If you are a server who gives lousy service you will get bad tips. A lot of servers don't consider it important if its not what or the way the customer ordered it & a lot of customers think they should get something free just for coming in. The server doesn't consider this their real job and the customer doesn't realize how much that food would really cost if the house had to pay the server minimum wage. So they should be glad to leave 15-20% tip. A server has to learn to manage their time, customers, cooks, atmosphere, money and think fast with a smile. Customers who constantly look for something to complain about and servers who don't like people should both stay home so the rest of us can enjoy our time. I'm not real crazy about what I've heard about Waiter's book but I'm glad he retired, as he makes the rest of us look bad.

The irony to this tale is quite distressing. While it seems that Dublanica writes about the plight of the food service worker and the unfortunate dark side of restaurants, in reality all he's doing is throwing hard-working individuals into the lion's den to make his own quick buck. There's so much fabrication to this that it makes me sick; and thanks to such texts, the clueless readers who happen to pick it up will be even more suspicious (i.e. cheap) towards their servers and others who's income relies solely on anywhere from 0-20%. I'm a veteran of nearly all positions in such establishments--from cooking to serving, managing, and dishwashing--and I have never seen or heard a tale that basically rolls every workers' single worst-case scenario experience into one hell-on-earth night. Don't believe it; don't buy it. If you really want to know about what goes on behind those kitchen doors, either work in a restaurant yourself, or befriend someone who does.

Where CAN I get this book??!! This man's writing is a scream, in the first place, and the subject will appeal to anyone who's ever working in a restaurant...

As an employee in the service industry, I too have had more than my fair share of less than pleasant customers. It's inevitable and it's unfortunate, but it's something I deal with daily. Like my mother always says, "kill them with kindness". However, I have NEVER heard of someone having to buy their shifts. That is illegal in more ways than one and I would love to know how this restaurant actually stays in business! Also, with regards to the whole spitting thing -- I don't doubt it happens. But I can guarantee at my restaurant that it has never happened and never will. That is without a doubt the most vulgar and despicable thing you could do. I would hope that if anyone was ever caught doing such a thing they would be terminated immediately. In short: treat your server with a little respect. 99% of us are doing it to pay the bills until we can get a real job. It doesn't make us any less intelligent than you and we don't deserve to be on the receiving end of your bad day. And please don't think that a 5% tip is acceptable. It's not 1954 and Uncle Sam taxes all servers assuming they make a 12% tip each time.

My sentiments exactly Neal!

Ashley325, you mean an easy job don't you? Because lets face it waitressing IS a job!

People should stand up for themselves. Although I think quite a bit of this article is fiction, don't do things for people that act like this. We are all worth more than that. I would be in jail for knocking all these characters in the jaw. Oh, and what do I do for a living?? I take roofs off and put them back on, now thats a job...

Having been a waiter for nearly 13 years in establishments from a crappy Bar & Grill to a 'World Class' fine-dining restaurant, I noticed quite often that people are pretty much the same everywhere you go.

From the back of the house not getting its just respect or just a disrespectful back of the house to the good, bad and long 'overdue for a change in career' front of the house staff. Finally, to the miserably pretentious customers and every personality type in between. At every restaurant I worked at, people fit into specific categories of personality from the bottom to the supposed top and although I never dealt with such a blatantly mischievous and outlandish management staff, the majority were thieving, self-serving pricks.

I look forward to reading this book if I can find it.

the things that you see on Chefs Ramsey show are mostly for entertainment purposes. yes he does alot of yelling and screaming, but in reality he is a very personable man. don't forget all of those challenges that the contestants win. he goes with them on every trip and has a lot of fun with these people. so don't be so quick to judge the restaurant industry just on the premise of this show. remember, it is television.

by the way, I found the only copy of this book at the only bookstore in my small town in Arizona. but I already know that they are ordering more.

What is wrong with the Today Show, and with the talk show media in general, to put a person who wrote a book like this on TV? Does the word pander mean anything to you, Today Show? How about some intelligent literature instead of the (excuse my language, but it's fitting after reading the excerpt) CRAP you presented when you aired this story? Please try harder to entertain and educate instead of adding to the dumbing-down and ethical decline of America. I'm trying hard to continue to view your show but you're making it extremely difficult!

me and my family were down in austin for a couple of days for hurricane ike, and the day we where going to go home mainly because we had run out of money for the hotel we were staying in. but ayways, we went to burger king before we headed out on the road and when we were driving away my sister pulled out the receit and it had a hunk of gum in it! so we were like if they did this then they must have spit in our food. so we went in the burger king store #4228 ,9523 N Lamar blvd, austin tx 512-836-2466, and we demanded our money back in a reasonable way at first. After the manager told us "no" we started hell in that place! eventually the cops came and blah blah blah we left, but we thought it was messed up that they spit in our food and we had no way of getting our 20 dollars back. I called their consumer relation number but they were absolutely of no assistence what-so-ever. So we went back to our water soaked home hungry and angry.