FOHSOB's

The culinary world tends to have witty little abbreviations for things (afterall, who can be bothered to waste time with things like pronouncing full words in the middle of a dinner rush?).

FOH is one such acronym, refering to front of house. Generally this refers to people working out front (servers, host(esse)s, and whoever else might be found running around). The astute among us can probably deduce that BOH refers to the Back of House (cooks, dishwashers, and other friendly vermin).

SOB... well, you can refer to everyday vernacular for that one.

Now why is any of this important? Well... it's not... not the name, anyway. It's the distinction that matters.

In any given industry there's bound to be friction between the different areas of operation. Restaurants are no different. Servers often get the blame for an ill-prepared dish, and cooks (at least sometimes) view servers as people who carry their hard-made food to the tables (ie, not much of a job).

You can see how this can lead to... let's call it less-than-friendly confrontation.

Currently I myself am a front of house employee. I work as a server's assistant, which in a lot of ways is just a fancy way of saying "busboy". Essentially, to get paid, I rely on the generosity of the people that already are relying on yours.

No, it's not pretty.

Despite all of this, though, I do have respect for the servers (and other front of house staff) of the world. It's been said before, and I fully agree, that everyone should have to spend some time as a server. You may think that "carrying food" is easy... and if that's all there was to it, it would be. Trust, there's plenty to keep us occupied other than waiting on you hand and foot.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for getting the food out in a timely fashion (whether I'm working behind the line or taking it out), but please, have a touch of patience. Try not to glare too much if you get your neighbor's plate (it's an easy enough fix if you just tell them). And please, please don't get all high and mighty because you're "friends with the chef". You're meeting with him after dinner? That's nice. I see him every day that I go in to work.

And, I hate that I even think saying this is necessary, tip.

One might think that this would be common sense. Afterall, servers only make about $2.15 an hour. But it seems that, at least in my neck of the woods, people need reminding of this little post-dinner act.

What's a good tip? Standard is 20%, based on the actual cost of the meal and drinks (not tax). If the service really is bad, then sure, tip less. But make sure it's actual bad service. Everybody makes a mistake now and then - it's how you recover from it that counts. And hey, feel free to tip more if they go above and beyond - my own paycheck will thank you.

I have seen people leave $6 on a $50 tab. I've also seen them stiff a waiter completely on $30.

If you can't afford to leave a decent tip, then you really can't afford to eat out in the first place. It really should be considered as part of the cost.

As they say, sharing is caring. What say we put that into practice?