Item — HN Reader

I definitely didn't write this essay because I was grumpy haha

My wife used to work in food service, and I was surprised when she told me that she preferred it when people asked for the check upfront, because that table suddenly wasn't taking up a concurrent process in her head.

This essay was supposed to be more about politeness than efficiency, but maybe I didn't express that very well :)

2 comments

As a part time waiter, I agree with your wife about up-front checks being better.

In addition to the points you made:

- It's a waste of time deciphering social cues just to judge whether a table is ready for the check.

- If the restaurant is reaching closing time, I cannot close out the cash register until I have every check. The sooner I close out the system, the sooner I can let core waitstaff go home. Keeping staff around for one or two late tables is a waste of resources. Better to have the checks up-front and close on-time.

Maybe if that's why you wrote the essay, you could have mentioned it in the essay.

You’re right! Writing is hard. Sometimes it takes publishing something to discover the important bits. It’s easy to botch your message and to get lost in your own internal monologue

I work in academic publishing. That is my every day.