Patiently Waiting

As I’ve mentioned time and time again, I consider myself to be one of the leading experts in the field of social etiquette. I’m not talking about what fork to eat your salad with at a fancy restaurant (outside in, grow up people). I’m talking about what the unwritten rules are for holding doors for strangers, whether or not you can get a refill on your fountain soda if you ate your meal outside of the restaurant, and how much and when to tip a valet (the guy that actually parks the car gets screwed, but it all evens out in the end).

I’m fortunate enough to have a friend named Browny who, like me, is an expert in this field. Whenever I find myself in a situation where I’m unsure of the proper protocol I consult with him almost immediately and vice versa. Now obviously because I’m bringing up this topic you must have assumed that one of us found ourselves in one of these situations recently. It was me. Here is how my email exchange with Browny went.

“Sir,

So I walk down to the ESPN Cafeteria last night and stop at the Starbuck's stand (I've been working nonstop on the MLB Playoffs and I need a pick me up). There's one woman/barista (I guess that’s the preferred term these days) working and her back is turned as she's cleaning up some pots, etc. She keeps moving around, back and forth with stuff, and I keep assuming that she's going to see me waiting to order. 30 seconds go by and I can't get any eye contact, so finally I say, "How's it going tonight?" She turns and gives me a look that I initially decipher as her saying, "I saw you the whole time and wanted to finish my cleaning before I served you," and then she actually says, "Good, what can I get you tonight?" She's normally very nice, so I want to give her the benefit of the doubt. My question to you, because this has happened to me at other places (namely the sandwich station of the same cafeteria), is how long am I supposed to wait in the front of the line unnoticed before I say something? Am I required to wait until they see me? Can I say something right away? Had this woman said, "I'll be with you in one moment," I would have said, "Ok, no rush,", but she didn't even see me, or so I was led to believe. Hopefully you followed that and can give me some sage advice.”

“Sir,

This is a very intriguing situation that you bring up and certainly one that I have experienced many times myself. In my opinion I would say that you handled this perfectly. 30 seconds feels like an eternity when you are waiting and are unsure if you have been noticed. You politely made an effort to get her attention because she legitimately seemed pre-occupied and distracted with other work. She is in the business of customer service and if she in fact did not see you then I would say you did her a favor. If she did see you and chose not to acknowledge your presence then I would say that is a mistake on her part. She easily could have given you the "I will be with you in just a moment" and as you mentioned you would have been fine with that. In no situation should someone, whose job it is to serve a customer, simply ignore a customer’s presence for more than 30 seconds. You are not required to wait for them to turn around because there is too much uncertainty with that and you could be left waiting for a long time. In most situations I would think the employee would be happy that you spoke up because they may have been distracted. This is why we need more bells like they have at hotels. Although I am sure they are annoying to the employees they can serve a purpose to customers especially in slower times of the day where there may be less staff working.”

I’m not sure if I completely agree with him on the bell idea (it seems a bit obnoxious, but then again that’s what it’s there for), but I was happy to see that he agreed with how I handled the Starbuck’s situation. Feel free to let me know if you disagree, or if you have any protocol questions that you need clarified.

My Week 7 NFL picks 4 days later than usual (I swear I didn’t change any of them)

at 49ers -7.5 vs. Seahawks
Titans +3 at Bills
Cardinals +6.5 at Vikings
at Colts -2 vs. Browns
Ravens +6.5 at Texans
Packers -6 at Rams
Cowboys -2.5 at Panthers
Redskins +6 at Giants
at Bucs -2 vs. Saints
Jets +10.5 at Patriots
Jaguars +4 at Raiders
Steelers -1.5 at Bengals
Lions +6.5 at Bears

Last Week- 9-5
Season- 42-46-3