service in spain

I just returned from 5 months in spain. I stayed in hotels and ate in restaurants except for the month of april where we rented an apartment. Overall I must say the service in the restaurants was very poor. I know the spanish hardly tip at all and I think that is the problem because there is no incentive to give good service. Occasionaly I could not get waited on at all and I left. 4 or 5 times I could not get them to come back to my table for another drink or to give me the bill so I left with out paying. I have never done that before. Sometimes the servers just vanishes or is outside screaming into his or her movil. It was very frustrating. I know it is a different culture and they have different values but... Really the servers get paid the same whether the place is busy or not so why would they encourage more people and therefor more work. Really I love the spanish culture and people but this issue really frustrated me. Also in the north of spain in the basque country the service was good and the food also. I wonder if anybody else has had the same experience?

During my time in Spain, I was also very aggravated with service in resteraunts. I remember one time, I was in an American resteraunt, and the pasta I ordered (with a basil sauce) tasted like it was made of tobasco. I kindly asked the waiter if the pasta was normally spicy, and he said no, and I explained that I was having quite a time with it, as I was sweating profusely (really!), and the waiter said, "Well, I guess somebody in the kitchen doesn't like you." I think my chin about landed on the floor. From then on, I lowered my expectations and tipped the waiters/waitresses very well if the service was great. I know you are right about the waiters not having an incentive to do well, but they earn exactly the same as American waiters if you include tips (looking from an economical point of view.) I suppose I just got used to having the service being the way it is, and, ironically, when I came back to the states, I was annoyed by the Americans being too friendly! So I suppose it is all in the way you look at it... But anyhow, my only theory on why the service is so bad is that, unlike most American waiters, the Spainards are often working as a server for their entire career, and not meerly "passing through" as a college student, etc. I believe that this contributes to some anomosity between patrons and servers. Anyone else have any ideas on why the service varies so much?

I found american waiters too much brownnosers, and their supposed friendliness was due to the hoped tip. It absolutely dissapered if they found it scarce (in their opinion).

Professional waiters behave much better than those who work as waiters because they don't have any thing else. There are too many these days of the latter, and this happens not because they don't have tips but because salaries are extremely low ... just as in many other activities, and you can find the same unprofessional activities in many other positions like clerks for example, or shop dependants.

Would you care a damm if you were exploited for 700 bucks a month working frenzily long hours for a rich patron who gets richer and richer and you were hoping to hold the job only for as many months as necessary till you found something else?

However, it's sadly true that there are too few waiters for the amount of clients in most cases (another way of exploitation), so you need to atract the attention of the waiter firmly when they are very busy, and some tend to pay attention first to their regular customers.

It has happened to me a couple of times, during about 20 years of eating out, that I stood up and left without paying because they didn't come for a long time, but usually I impose my needs with energy. In those scarce cases I was rather furious.

Perhaps you were not energic enough (according to our customs, you tend to be kind of shy for this) or/and the place was overcrowded. Besides, eating out in Spain has some delay for each dish and for paying, so we assume we're not in a hurry and relax. Many times we could eat in half an hour but end up having lunch or dinner in an hour or more, because of the delays caused by so few waiters and cooks for so much people. That is not due to tips but to having so few staff.

Summarizing:

- There are less professional waiters now, because this, like many other jobs have mysery salaries.

- This should be solutioned through having adequate salaries, not through tips, since it's the owner's responsability to pay the empoyees (if nobody comes in, it's not the waiters responsability, and shouldn't be reflected in his salary).

- Having enough staff is also the employers responsability, which would decrease the waiting time. It could be doen easily since salaries are so low, wouldn't have an important repercusion in the whole of the expenses of the business.

-When you go somewhere, it's good to use the local costumes. Here we're more energetic with waiters.

My experience of restaurants and eating out in Spain has been good, apart from on a couple of occasions when change has not been returned to me and I've had to ask the waiter for it or we've simply been forgotten about. However any problems I've had have really only been down to the fact that the restaurant was extremely busy and they did not have enough staff, which can happen especially in the summer. Generally the waiting staff have been friendly but not nicey-nicey or mawkish and I prefer it that way. Sometimes, its also worth bearing in mind that the staff might have been on their feet running around all day and may feel tired or unwell or stressed out.

We coincided in time (posting). I see it that way too.

We did indeed Ignacio:)

Thanks for the replies it helps me to understand the culture better. I agree that the american way where the waiter constantly comes back to ask how is your meal and do you need anything is irritating. I prefer the spanish or european way where they leave you alone until you motion them over. Ignacio makes a good point about getting the staffs attention. That is a new skill for me to learn. I guess I was a little shy as my spanish is not too good. The staffing really was inadequate in most of the stores and restaurants, maybe that is the root of the problem. Although the slow service did not bother me if the server was running around,1 person can only do so much.

Anyway zman, there are places in Spain where service is awful. If you are disgusted by how waiters treated you, ask for the complaint sheet.

There are things which can't be tolerated here, in the States or in the North Pole. And waiting for the waiter to bring the bill or the return for more than 15 minutes is one of them.

In the States, as far as I know, tip is almost mandatory. In Spain it is directly proportional to the quality of service you have received. Thus, if you are not completely satisfied, leave no tip. If the service was ok, a 5% of the bill is more than enough. For example, if your bill was 20 €, leaving 1 or 2 € is enough. If the bill is 200 € you should not leave more than 6 €.

Fernando

Zman, I do agree that slow service can be annoying and it doesn't hurt, I think, to remind the staff if you've been waiting 20-30mins for your meal as I've had to do in the past. I've been to New York several times and I didn't think the 'service' style or standard was different to anywhere else I've been. And don't be shy in Spain! My experience is that Spaniards are always helpful to people learning Spanish.

If you have to, get up and talk directly to a waiter, even if it isn't the one who is working your table. The waiters are used to being called over and usually won't come unless you flag them down. Things are slower here (except the traffic!), so sit back and enjoy the meal, too. I have found the food to be better in the North, especially as you get closer to France, but there are some excellent restaurants almost everywhere. Finding them is another problem. Maybe MM should have a list of recommended restaurants sorted by city?

I just think it also depends on the mood of the waiter. Though, they do tend to be 'al borde' I got great service in Barcelona, from a restaurant off Las Ramblas...waiters will usually try to lore you in being as there are a ton of restaurants in that area.

The owner escorted me in...took me by the hand and took me to the counter (by the bar) and explained each dish to me. He served me a bottle of their best wine and kept bringing samples to my table. I told him I appreciated his kindness and he told me that i couldn't leave without desert (btw, spaniards don't pass up desert). I was a bit nervous about the bill, as I was on a budget, but just as I headed toward him to pay he threw my receipt away and said that it was free!!

I don't think anyone could do that in the US!!!

Did he fall in instant love or what?

That's funny Ignacio...perhaps. But I was also treated nicely by female waitresses in Barcelona as well. (jajaj they could be Lesbians!) It was an Italian restaurant called "Las tres amigas." They were just extremely polite.

Also, in Madrid I got treated nicely by two waiters at a restaurant off the Plaza Mayor. I spent the whole morning talking to one of them about travel and my background. I think when its not busy waiters tend to be more attentive and nicer.