Another Monday at the Cracker Barrel

It is good to have made it through another day as the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. It has been a most excellent day, low stress level, nice guests, food came out fast, and was able to close down at a decent hour. I was reminded of a very important lesson tonight, a lesson that is very easy to forget in our fast paced society. I don't want to bore anybody with a moral discourse, but I feel the need to share the lesson I was reminded of, so here it is: I was doing my job, waiting on tables tonight when one of my tables was seated with a young lady carrying a big thick book. I took the ladies order and got her food to her in a timely manner, everything seemed to be well. But, she was reading and eating at the same time, she ate so slow...  As a waiter or waitress, optimally you want to take care of your guests, get your tip, and help the guest to get on their merry little way and get a new guest on your table, that is how you make money, by waiting on multiple tables. It was the middle of supper, and this lady kept sitting, and sitting, and sitting, I was very nice to her and in no way rushed her, but in my mind I was thinking that she ought to hurry up so I could get a new guest on my table. After a couple of cups of coffee, she then had some tea and kept reading and sitting. In my mind I was getting a little antsy for her to go ahead and leave, but I tried not to show it and tried to give the best possible service I could. Well to make a long story short, later on she revealed that she had been a waitress herself, and asked to speak to my manger before she left. I was afraid that something may have been wrong with the food, but come to find out she just wanted to tell my manager what a good job I had done waiting on her. She left me a large tip, around seven dollars, more or less and a nice compliment to my manager, what more could you ask for in a guest.

The lesson I learned is this, always treat people right, regardless of who they are or what they might be doing. I could have gave this girl bad service, been rude, or ignored her because I thought she was sitting at my table too long, but instead I took the high road and tried my best to provide good, friendly service, which was just doing my job. By doing my job, I was rewarded, nicely rewarded I might add. So be careful how you treat people and make sure you treat them right, you might be pleasantly surprised at how rewarding it can be.

This is something that I have noticed about Cracker Barrel in my almost 15 years of service. For the most part, it seems that Cracker Barrel has tried to treat the guests right, in fact in some cases they have bent over backwards in their efforts to treat people right, and for that I say, hats off to Cracker Barrel Old Country store.