On Post Meal Plate Stacking

By ERIC SEO

At the end of a meal at casual restaurants, there is an increasingly popular trend of customers stacking their newly cleaned glasses and plates into a pile. Many restaurant patrons practice this stack in an effort to make the lives of their servers easier. These customers are well-intentioned, but how do food service workers feel about the trend? 

Lexi Golab, server at Brandon’s Pub and Grille, says that “it is annoying when it happens” because “most people think they’re being helpful, which is great, but then they inadvertently end up causing more work for me.” Golab cites the fact that customers often do not know what goes into bussing tables. Whether it is leaving food scraps between plates, having silverware strewn about, or ice/liquid left in cup stacks, improperly stacked plates can disrupt the workflow of the already busy servers. “I need to do what’s most time efficient,” Golab adds, “and undoing a customer’s attempted good deed complicates that.”

Other servers have referenced the fact that stacked plates can dirty both sides of the dish cause more work for dishwashers, used napkins in bowls and cups force them to unpleasantly fish out soppy paper, and the top plate of the Jenga stack making a wobbly walk back to the kitchen when overflowing with garbage and silverware. 

Although many servers appreciate the gestures of their guests, they all have their own way of removing serviceware from the table. Each restaurant, moreover, has their own protocol on how to handle dirty dishes, and customer intervention can throw a wrench into things.

But what can customers do to help their servers? Some online articles suggest that diners push their plates towards the center of the table so that it is easier for the server or busser to reach across and grab them. Additionally, there is an emphasis on keeping your napkins away from dirty dishes; the dirtier the napkin, the more work for the restaurant workers.

When asked on how customers can best help out, Golab suggests “clearing the table in other ways.. Sweeping crumbs onto a plate, or putting dirty napkins together.” 

“It is [the servers] job to make [customers] comfortable,” Golab concludes, “the nicest thing you can do for a waitress is tip well–it’s how we make our living.”

Featured image: Free PNG