Why You Weren’t Seated Before Them

It was “Administrative Assistant Week.” This used to be known as “Secretary’s Day.” Now, however, the term “secretary” is moot and the day of acknowledgment has stretched to a week.

My take on this? Give your assistant the money you would have spent on lunch and/or flowers. He/she will appreciate this far more than having to sit through what would otherwise have been an hour break AWAY from you and work.

But office people don’t always listen to Restaurant Gal, and many a boss showed up this week without a reservation. In order to continue to look powerful and almighty in their assistants’ eyes, these bosses chose to verbally beat up Restaurant Gal about the wait. Gosh, is that all it takes to build staff loyalty?

And, so, my sad, self-important office people, memorize these reasons why none of you was seated first, and I won’t have to repeat them ad nauseum:

* You are a party of two. We seated a party of four before you because we had a large table for them–one that seats seven. You would have felt adrift seated in such a booth.

* Your are a party of four. We seated a party of two before you because we had a table for two, and you wouldn’t have fit there.

* You specifically said, “Nonsmoking. Who would ever want to sit in smoking?” We seated those folks before you in smoking because they said, “First available.” I know, no one is smoking in the smoking section right now, and you feel entitled to the table I just seated. But you insisted, “Nonsmoking.” And nonsmoking is what you’ll get, when it’s ready.

* They have reservations.

* You don’t.

* They were first.

* You weren’t.

Pager?


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9 responses to “Why You Weren’t Seated Before Them”

  1. El Guapo Avatar

    You forgot to mention that you seat Guatemalans before anyone else.

    El Guapo

  2. Restaurant Gal Avatar
    Restaurant Gal

    El Guapo– Dios Mio! Si!

  3. Jeannie Avatar

    You forgot to mention that the reason Mr. Bigwig didn’t make a reservation was because he wouldn’t know how to do it and you can’t ask your “assistant” to do the honours for her own appreciation lunch.

  4. Natalie Avatar

    Yep, Jeannie said it. =)

  5. Restaurant Gal Avatar
    Restaurant Gal

    Check out Natalie’s site and her photos. She has an interesting eye for the real and surreal.

    And yes, Jeannie summed it up quite well.

  6. Melissa Avatar

    What asses…they should totally know better. I know I really enjoyed the flowers I received.

  7. Paul Avatar

    As a first-year “executive assistant” following years in management (oh, how cruel is corporate downsizing!), I know for a fact that businesses can indeed give away dinners, flowers, movie passes (which is what I received, BTW – a shame since I have a connection in the biz and can get in for free) or other “hard” goods, but cash is a serious no-no per the bean-counters. Companies have to pay FICA and other taxes on cash gifts, the same as if were part of your salary – which it is, kind of.

  8. Restaurant Gal Avatar
    Restaurant Gal

    Hmm.

    Okay, how about this–lunch is prepaid and you don’t have to eat with the boss! Or, you get the day off. Or, you get a raise. Or, oh never mind! What movie did you see?

  9. Moi Avatar
    Moi

    As an ex-adminstrative assistant, I’ve got to disagree Jeannie. My old boss used to ask me to remind him, order myself and the other girl flowers and get a gift for each other with our corporate credit card. He would have no problems getting us to make reservations!
    The one good thing he did was got someone else to cover the phones so me and the other girl could go out for lunch together!