Or, at least corporatism, that is.
Last night, after a nice long talk with or neighbor that negated any and all plans for us to go out to a good restaurant, my wife and I decided to go up to TGI Fridays so that we could enjoy a nice drink and celebrate my Birthday.
We're both vets of the restaurant realm. In fact, my wife still bartends on Sundays to keep a nice little pile of cash in the coffee can for the week. Because we've both worked in a variety of restaurant settings from fine dining to short order to diner, we are highly in-tune to all of those stupid things that consultants and management types, who have never served a table in their lives, come up with.
What we witnessed last night at Fridays, however, absolutely took the cake for the worst possible cruelty one can place on an employed server.
When we took our table, I noticed a large, clunky plastic box next to the condiments. A light flashed yellow, then red, and a little LCD screen scrolled "ESP (something-or other)." Just before I reached over to pick it up, our server approached and slid a chip in the machine.
My curiosity was peaked. I couldn't fathom what this thing was. At first, I thought it was just a beeper that franchises often hand out to waiting customers in the foyer; but looking around, I noticed that every table had one; and so, I asked our server what it was.
Her face beamed off an expression that she was absolutely miserable about its mere presence on the table; but some external force compelled her to subdue her unhappiness with the object. "Oh, that's an ESP system. We're supposed to approach your table within 30 seconds of your seating and slide this" (she presented what looked like a mini beer coaster)"chip in and get you started."
I was starting to get mad for her, but I was totally unprepared for what happened next.
She went on to explain that it is a communicator that keeps track of 'table data,' and then lifted her arm to reveal a large electronic watch-like hinderance on her arm. She continued, "You can press the chip if you need me and it'll buzz my arm. All of the data gets saved and they tell us our 'performance' at the end of the month."
My jaw dropped.
First of all, I can't believe that some idiot out there thought it would be a good idea to put a vibrating buzzer on the wrist of a person that will be carrying heavy plates! Secondly, how can a big brother system this oppressive possibly help the moral of anyone's server staff? But worst is the impression that corporate America has literally crossed the line and now has actually returned to the absolute devaluation of a human being under its employ.
I let our server know how unhappy I was with her situation and that she should be very unhappy about it, too. She shot me a look of complete agreement; but then glanced over at her approaching manager and quickly said, "I'll get your drinks right away."
All I could say to the inquiring manager was "this is why TGI Fridays needs a union." I did it in a way that made me seem like the jerk so that our lovely server wouldn't catch any flak.
Anyway, we ate a nice little meal. I had the fish tacos (if fish tacos is on the menu, that's what I'm having,) I tried to shake off the feeling that this is what America has become as best I could, but the lady at the next table could not stop her kids from pressing the button...
PS: I couldn't resist the title. Sorry.
:)
Edit: I fixed some punctuation.
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