What do you do when a waitress spills something on you? This has happened to me several times - do I have bad restaurant luck? It happened just the other night actually. A waitress was putting grated cheese on someone else’s meal at my table and the cheese grater broke. I ended up covered in little plastic pieces and a good amount of cheese. No harm done, it wasn’t a sauce or wine or something that would have ruined my clothes, and she was very apologetic.

But it got me thinking, what does one do when spilled on by a waitress? Me, I don’t really do anything. As long as it wasn’t something really over the top. But does a spill entitle you to a free round of cokes, a free piece of cake, something? I am of the mind set that good business is to comp people when something goes wrong. Recently, I was at a restaurant with friends and when the meals came one was missing. Turns out the waiter had forget to give her order to the chef so it was not even made yet. They made it rather quickly but our friend had to sit and stare at our meals while waiting for her forgotten dinner to be hastily put together. In that instance, the waiter did bring over a free coke (since they charged for refills at this place). I think that was a smart move and well deserved. They charge a ton for sodas these days so the restaurant definitely wasn’t losing much, if anything, by giving away one soda. And giving something free, anything free, does have a positive impact on your diners.

So next time you get some ketchup thrown in your lap pay attention to the bill. Did you get a free salad out of it, or maybe a free appetizer coupon for your next visit? I am not in favor of the snotty bargaining technique - Hey my soup spilled on my napkin what can you do for me! Accidents happen so don’t torture your waitress over a simple mistake. However, if they happen to take something off of the bill for your trouble make sure to be gracious about it and don’t forget to leave a decent tip. As embarassed as you might feel for having soup spilled on you, trust me the waitress feels at least as bad if not worse about doing it.

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