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Advice from the inside - Bars + Restaurants |
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Written by Riviera Reporter
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Talk to almost any tourist
who's spent time here and you're likely to hear complaints about the service in
bars and restaurants. As one irritated Aussie said to us just the other day,
"What is it with some of these guys? You'd think they didn't want
customers."
One man who agrees a hundred per cent with this is Hubert Boivin,
chairman of the Alpes-Maritimes association of restaurant and bar owners. "Some
of them want to make money but just don't understand what's meant by good
customer service." So what's M. Boivin's advice to staff. He says they
should:
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Be neatly dressed
- Welcome customers with a friendly smile and
a word of greeting
- Be patient if they're slow to order or are lost with
French - better still speak English where necessary
- Be ready to answer any
questions or to tell them where the tourist office is
- Offer a bowl of water
if there's a thirsty dog at hand
- Make sure the toilets are clean
- Keep
an eye on customers' property if it looks vulnerable (on a terrace, for
example)
- Say a friendly "goodbye"
In how many establishments do staff
match the Boivin model? We'd like to hear your good and bad stories at
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From Riviera Reporter Issue 121,
June/July 2007
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Consumerism 
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I would add that not many waiting staff seem to keep an eye on diners who might be trying to catch their eye to order something else. What's one to do? Stand up and start cling glasses to gain their attention?
Having said that, it did seem to become a popular and fashionable fad at one time to enjoy going to restaurants were the waiters were rude! Maybe the patrons found this "entertaining"? Not me! Nothing worse than having your fork and knife slung on the table in a disorderly manner, and with a growling grimace of "je m'enfou" on the waiter's face who's then in too much of a hurry to get away from the table. Takes all sorts I guess, and each unto their own!