Waiter annoyances

[ger78]

Great to be back in Bodrum again in hopefully a brave, new, post-Covid world.

One minor annoying habit I see in Gumbet & Bitez hotels, bars and restaurants, is the constant badgering by waiters to clear your table. If you leave your table for a moment, they are immediately pouncing on cutlery, glasses and plates from your table without any thought to ask. Then you are met with wounded stares if you appear irritated. Not to mention the possibility that customers prefer to empty a bottle into a glass without a waiters' assistance. I guess it makes you appreciate life back home more....that's my rant over

 

[IbrahimAbi]

If only we could have Britain in the sun.

 

[429nufc]

Many years ago I was told clearing the tables in this way was Turkish etiquette

 

[enoch]

Great to be back in Bodrum again in hopefully a brave, new, post-Covid world.

One minor annoying habit I see in Gumbet & Bitez hotels, bars and restaurants, is the constant badgering by waiters to clear your table. If you leave your table for a moment, they are immediately pouncing on cutlery, glasses and plates from your table without any thought to ask. Then you are met with wounded stares if you appear irritated. Not to mention the possibility that customers prefer to empty a bottle into a glass without a waiters' assistance. I guess it makes you appreciate life back home more....that's my rant over

Tell them I do but it's only tourist areas that do it, the empty plates and glass being cleaned up is normal but I will not let them touch my bear or pour it same as water its opened at the table. I have said before today if its come poured I won't have it. They can take it or leave it.

 

[yalimart]

Many of the waiter's have zero experience and even less training, they are chastised for not doing there jobs so tend to jump the gun in my vast 30 years experience, but what do I know.

 

[SLEEPY]

Talking about waiters.. I have come across this years must have accessory at my hotel in Calis ..
Its an under table rotating drinks holder(manual) which keeps your beer cool all day as the earth rotates around the sun...Fantastic!

 

[Bramidan]

I was once told that it is considered rude not to clear plates etc from the table once people have finished eating.
Appreciate service back home? I think not, sitting waiting for a 16 year old to acknowledge you are ready to order, the interminable wait when you have ordered drinks to be brought to your table whilst you peruse the menu?
Give me Turkish service anytime.

 

[yalimart]

We ate out in a Chinese in Lanark last night, whilst I've never seen a China man or woman in there serving, the servers tend to be between 15 and 18 I would guess, always excellent service even from those who are clearly new, I'm not sure last nights girl was supposed to taste our wine though. We left a £7 tip

 

[Kanga]

Went for a meal out with friends recently in Evi Bizim in Kargikoy. (Datca) Good menu but only available on a QR code stuck on a pebble, which didn't work. Called the maitre d' who kindly provided a second pebble.
Only one reader but 4 diners. . . no rush, be cooked by midnight. . .
Eventually got our orders sorted and were then given a printed wine menu.(wot no QR code???)
Prices beyond ludicrous, with the average bottle of (very) average wine available locally for around 100TL mark listed somewhere north of 700TL, up to 1100. No wine by the glass available below 110TL and most around 175TL up to 285.
It was like back to the 80's. Husb's starter arrived after his main course, and I was still forking a mouthful off my starter plate (prawns Florentine, yummy) when it was snatched from the table. A request to replace it was ignored until I got shirty and raised my voice. The next move would have been to return my fork to the waiter as an unexpected item in the bagging department, but luckily he saw sense.
The chef is very good, all the food was lovely but I won't go there again, ridiculous service. As for these stupid QR codes I personally do not want to be using my phone to read a menu and possibly get some other dross loaded on it without my knowledge.

 

[IbrahimAbi]

Went for a meal out with friends recently in Evi Bizim in Kargikoy. (Datca) Good menu but only available on a QR code stuck on a pebble, which didn't work. Called the maitre d' who kindly provided a second pebble.
Only one reader but 4 diners. . . no rush, be cooked by midnight. . .
Eventually got our orders sorted and were then given a printed wine menu.(wot no QR code???)
Prices beyond ludicrous, with the average bottle of (very) average wine available locally for around 100TL mark listed somewhere north of 700TL, up to 1100. No wine by the glass available below 110TL and most around 175TL up to 285.
It was like back to the 80's. Husb's starter arrived after his main course, and I was still forking a mouthful off my starter plate (prawns Florentine, yummy) when it was snatched from the table. A request to replace it was ignored until I got shirty and raised my voice. The next move would have been to return my fork to the waiter as an unexpected item in the bagging department, but luckily he saw sense.
The chef is very good, all the food was lovely but I won't go there again, ridiculous service. As for these stupid QR codes I personally do not want to be using my phone to read a menu and possibly get some other dross loaded on it without my knowledge.

A few days ago we went to a restaurant in a newly restored old train station. It has just opened. Fabulous restoration. Menu was also a QR code, so I showed the waiter my museum-piece phone, so he opened it on his own. What a palaver, they reckoned they could not rustle up an Adana kebab, but I could have entrecote (it was lunch time), I asked for a chicken shish, they could not do that either. We said we would like to drink soda, they recommended their new Sherbert range. I said goodbye, we'll come back when you are organised. The pide in town was excellent!

 

[ger78]

Turkish waiters need to chillax. If they are obsessively watching customers for the first / slightest indication that the food / drink may be finished, it just spoils the atmosphere. If they are being micro-managed to this degree by their bosses, then it is counter-productive. It seems more profit-focused than etiquette from my perspective.

 

[bulldogxbmc]

Talking about waiters.. I have come across this years must have accessory at my hotel in Calis ..
Its an under table rotating drinks holder(manual) which keeps your beer cool all day as the earth rotates around the sun...Fantastic!
View attachment 28043

Looks like the Sundia Hotel to me, just got back from there and that's where I was lounging!

 

[IbrahimAbi]

Turkish waiters need to chillax. If they are obsessively watching customers for the first / slightest indication that the food / drink may be finished, it just spoils the atmosphere. If they are being micro-managed to this degree by their bosses, then it is counter-productive. It seems more profit-focused than etiquette from my perspective.

Maybe 60 million Turks will not agree with you. Turks like to be paid attention to, that is what they think they deserve, as customers.

 

[429nufc]

Spot on, you can’t fawn enough to a Turkish customer

 

[yalimart]

Spot on, you can’t fawn enough to a Turkish customer

Even when they are spending a pittance compared with others, we always found that more with the inexperienced waiters, the more experienced waiters were not so bad unless it was a celebrity or thought they were. They seem to thrive on the hierarchical society, possibly a cultural thing.
I learned to live with it years ago.

 

[Rua]

It's cultural.I like to be left alone and browse in shops.In Asia they will follow you around a shop knocking into you.

 

[IbrahimAbi]

We have a friend who runs a pansyon locally. During 2020 we said that she must be feeling grateful that at least local tourists could keep them in business. She said yes, of course, but Turkish customers expect so much more attention than foreign guests.

 

[429nufc]

Wasn't there a brilliant Monty Python sketch about fawning waiters?

 

[Mushroom]

We ate out in a Chinese in Lanark last night, whilst I've never seen a China man or woman in there serving, the servers tend to be between 15 and 18 I would guess, always excellent service even from those who are clearly new, I'm not sure last nights girl was supposed to taste our wine though. We left a £7 tip

Tight Wad.

 

[Kanga]

Maybe 60 million Turks will not agree with you. Turks like to be paid attention to, that is what they think they deserve, as customers.

I'd like to see the reaction of a Turkish diner to having the plate removed before s/he'd finished the food on it. Downright rude and surely the waiter wouldn't do that at home?