Secret signals on the job: Waitresses at some 19th-century restaurants ensured speedy drink service by communicating with a non-verbal code. One server took orders, then placed each customer’s cup to indicate exactly what the customer wanted...
In the late 1800s, waitresses at the Harvey House chain of restaurants at railroad stops across the American West employed a cup code. One server would ask customers about their preferred beverages, then briskly arrange their cups on the table...
Following our discussion with a Norfolk, Virginia, listener about ordering a burger all the way deluxe meaning “with all the condiments and toppings,” a listener from Pittston, Pennsylvania, weighs in with the phrase he and his friends...
A San Diego caller wonders about the expression a-gogo, as in the name of a local restaurant, Hash House A Go Go. Where’d it come from? This is part of a complete episode.
autograt n.— «The only way to fairly and legally deal with autograt is to make it truly automatic and not up to a server’s discretion. If a server chooses to grat green people and not purple people, or short people and not tall people...
grat v.— «The only way to fairly and legally deal with autograt is to make it truly automatic and not up to a server’s discretion. If a server chooses to grat green people and not purple people, or short people and not tall people, the...