Workplace Confidential: The Per Se Waiter on Diners Who Vomit Up Their $500 Meals

New York, Jan. 8, 2012

Most of the time when people complain, they’re just looking for something for free. I worked on the Upper West Side for a long time, and my favorite is people who would complain, like, “What, $9 for a glass of wine?” And then you pour it, and they say, “This isn’t very good!” and you’re like, “Yeah. It’s a $9 glass of wine.” That means we’re buying the bottle for about $9, because that’s the way by-the-glass markup works. That’s the only way that we make money on it.

There’s nothing more fun than to wait on someone who is genuinely interested in the food. You’ll get a couple that comes in, and this is their one time a year, and they’re just so happy to be at the restaurant. There was this kid blogger, he was like 16 or 17, and he had blogged about how he was saving up his allowance to come to Per Se. And he did. He came by himself and had lunch.