A restaurant worker’s advice has sparked a widespread debate among restaurant industry workers online.
The art of “resetting the clock” was preached by Ryan Stannard on TikTok, who said bad tips can be solved with what he called a “soft creep” to reset customers’ mental clock.
He described a scenario of having three tables, explaining that if you go in order by table to get each one’s drinks one by one, the third table is bound to get annoyed by their wait time.
“Do you know how long that third table is sitting there?” he asked, adding that if they wait five to 10 minutes, they are going to think they’re being ignored and “get pissed.”
Stannard’s “tip” was this: Servers should stop on the way to Table 1 to check in on Table 2 and touch base, saying, “I’ll be right there,” which will buy the server a few extra minutes just by acknowledging them.
He then said after grabbing drinks for Table 1, stop by Table 3 and do the same thing. Once you bring Table 1 their drinks and get their appetizers started, you can then take the orders for Tables 2 and 3.
“Resetting their mental clock makes a longer wait feel shorter because they know you’re present and they know you’re reliable,” Stannard preached, adding that it’s not about how long the wait is, but how long the wait feels.
Servers in Stannard’s comments section disagreed and shared their own strategies, with many suggesting treating getting triple-sat as one big table.
“Greet them all at once one by one, bring all the drinks at once, but drop them off backwards so Table 3 is first, then 2 and then 1. Then start taking the orders at once. Food all comes out around the same time and you’re chilling,” one user commented.
Another user agreed, saying she drops off each table’s drinks, tells them she’ll be right back, and then circles back to Table 1 to take their order before continuing down the line.
“You treat it like a party. Nobody’s waiting forever, everybody’s getting everything at the same time, and you’re doing it efficiently for your time.”
Others echoed Stannard’s approach, agreeing that a simple greeting buys enough time to attend to one table at a time. “As long as they know someone is coming to take care of them, it will calm people down.”
“An unexplained wait always feels twice as long. That little check-in can really help,” another added.
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