 "Photo: Fernando Rios")
 "Photo: Fernando Rios")
Tending to customers since she was 17 has taught Olive Garden waitress Blanca Mendez tolerance.
She recalled a teenage couple giving her a hard time. They sent her scurrying to fill their order and then complained something was wrong with their food. At the end of the meal, they were upset about the cost. They did not leave a tip.
Even though she said teens dining without parents can be messy, hard to deal with and unlikely to tip, she said she has never mistreated teen guests, because she could lose her job.
Olive Garden trains servers to treat guests no matter what their age with the same hospitality, she said.
Some teens claim that restaurant employees give them poor service because of their age. But according to a recent Urban Journalism Workshop survey of students on social networking sites, 76 percent of 84 respondents said they receive service with respect at restaurants.
"I eat at Alamo Café at least twice a month," said Chloe Peterson, a Johnson High School graduate who has never lodged a complaint. "Every time I go, they ignore our table or keep checking on us or rush the tab."
However, Mendez, 19, said teens act differently when dining with family versus a group of friends.
"When they're with their friends, they're a little more demanding," Mendez said. "They have you running back and forth. Otherwise, when they're with their family, they'll say, 'Oh we're fine; we don't need anything.'"
According to some managers, teen diners, like Peterson, usually don't complain to management.
"Managers won't do anything," said Kirsten Forkheim, 18, a cashier and hostess at Sushi Zushi. "They'll take adults seriously, but not a teenager."
Servers, who survive on tips, say teens leave meager tips, if any.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor's May 2008 Occupational Employment Statistics, San Antonio's 17,100 waiters and waitresses earned an average of $7.94 per hour including tips.
"(Tips are) my salary, so it's very important because I get $2.13 an hour," said Mendez, who supports a 4-year-old daughter. "If I don't make a tip working for a table in an hour, I get $2.13 as my salary. Tips are actually what I live off of."
Ryan Weidenbach, general manager of Alamo Café at 14250 San Pedro Ave., said every customer who comes in pays the bills, regardless of how much they spend.
"Servers are only looking at it for that day, like they're only spending $5 and so it's not as important in their minds as the customer who's coming in and spending $20 to $25," he said.
Weidenbach thinks that by taking care of teen customers through high school and college, they will continue to dine at the restaurant when they start their own families.
The biggest misconception about teens, Weidenbach said, is that they don't spend money.
"Teenagers are a very important part of our business," Weidenbach said. "We're in this to be in business for another 30, 40, 50 years, hopefully as long as possible. The way we do that is by taking care of every group that comes in."
While shortchanging is not normal, Mendez said she notices teens are more likely to not have enough money.
"I even had a group of teens who left me short $10 off the ticket, so I had to pay out of my pocket," Mendez said.
Dealing with teenagers and rude customers is a daily thing, Mendez said.
"Every day, you get that one guest that doesn't leave you anything, or leaves you a dollar or leaves you 14 cents. You can't let one guest affect the rest of your guests, because
your next guest can leave you $10."
Weidenbach said he is 100 percent behind his customers and hopes teens understand that his staff is on their side.
"My advice to teenagers would be come in, have a good time, but don't hesitate to notify someone if there's a problem," he said. "They
need to feel welcome; they need to feel like they're allowed to come talk to us and not be intimidated by us."
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