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To the Person Who Needed to See Every Bottle of Sake During the Friday Night Dinner Rush

I SRVD U is a new column edited by local service industry worker Silvia Formankova. Think of it as a venting valve for Vancouver’s restaurant workers, be they from the front or back of house. All names included in submissions are changed to protect the innocent (and the guilty). Entries are also edited for length and clarity. If you have a story to tell or a gripe you’d like to get off your chest, please email the short version to [email protected].

You were the customer that decided to walk up to me un the dispense area of the bar on a Friday night and ask what kinds of sake the restaurant carried. When I showed you the sake list you demanded to see the bottles because you preferred to read Kanji over English. I explained to you that I couldn’t bring all the bottles out because we were in a high volume service area of the restaurant to which you replied, “Well, then how will I know which one to order?”

Wanting to meet you half-way (and speed things up) I asked you to give me some insight into what style of sake you most enjoyed. After a quick narrowing down you ordered one of the two bottles I brought out for you to look at. Seeing as I wasn’t your server I had to ask where you were sitting. You vaguely pointed out towards the dining room so I asked you to be more specific. Eventually, after a lot more pointing (which I hate by the way), we figured it out.

I brought the sake over to you and you demanded that I put water in the chiller in front of your guests. I’m not sure what your deal was but I just wanted you to know that you wasted a lot of my time and took me away from the many people I was already looking after during the height of the night’s service. Thanks a lot.

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