funny RT @drvino: What would it take for a sommelier to pull a JetBlue jumper exit?

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Right now I’m a server, working in a small cafe/restaurant, where we also have 300+ bottle selection, sold at retail, not restaurant mark-up, b/c we are also a retail store. This is very good for diners, obviously, as they can order a fabulous bottle of wine to go with their fabulous dinner (our chef is very talented and presents really, really awesome plates) and pay retail for it. All good.

So we have this one couple who come in — regulars, mind you — and they refuse to tip on wine. They tip 20% on dinner, but n-o-t-h-i-n-g, and I mean nothing at all, on their wine. Because they feel it isn’t necessary. They feel it’s excessive to tip someone to simply open a bottle of wine.

So not only are they already getting a waaaaaay better deal on the wine than they would at a typical restaurant, along with a fabulous meal, but they scrimp on the tip as well.
It’s been a while since I waited on these folks, but every time they come in, steam comes out of my ears!! I am dying to say something to them, but in my elaborate fantasies of doing so, it’s always mean and demeaning to them, and that would not be constructive, as satisfying as it might be at the time.
Lately I’ve been fantasizing muchly about walking out in the middle of service, but I’ve yet to decide which two bottles of wine I’d take — must get on that, pronto!!

Aaah, the joys of restaurant work!

He knew someone who worked under notorious hothead Gordon Ramsay for years. Guy came to CA and lasted something like 10 days at French Laundry.

The business is brutal at times. I’d stack high-end restaurant service right up with flight attendant in the stress-bordering-on-madness category.

There was one guest who raised a stink about the 1997 Álvaro Palacios Finca Dofi. He is one of those guys who knew that ’97 in Priorat was not supposed to be good and had that in his mind from the get go.

Thus, when I asked, as I did after every wine, “what are your impressions”, his reply was a visible thumbs down and “it sucks”. What a goon. That wine was not just good but exceptional, but he was old and I am young so what do I know. It did piss me off to no end that someone who loves wine could be so disrespectful towards it

If I would have walked out, the two bottles I would have taken would be a 1996 Abadia Retuerta Valdebellon (tied for the best wine I have had) and a bottle of 1979 Cheval Blanc (my birth year).

This is hilarious! (via @drvino) What would it take for a sommelier to pull a JetBlue jumper exit?

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