Did I miss something here?

The other night, my roommate had some friends over. I recognized one as a female who had waited on me a few nights before. So I said, "I think you were my waitress the other night." She gets offended and says, "I think you mean 'server.'" Then my roommate said something along the lines of "You will have to forgive him, he is from a small town." I thought I might have missed out on some inside joke, but I said "waitress" again later and was corrected by this girl, followed by eye-rolling. I waited on tables throughout college and addressed many of my female co-workers as waitresses.

Have I been using an archaic, offensive term all these years, or was this chick just plain nuts?

2/10/2010 6:50:27 PM

i don’t see anything wrong with waitress.

2/10/2010 6:51:24 PM

she's probably just mad she's a waitress

2/10/2010 6:52:06 PM

This chick sucks. Be glad you aren't fucking her.

2/10/2010 6:52:07 PM

I realize this thread is about those who have pissed off a waitress.... which I have not. Hear me out, maybe I can offer some insight.

I am in outside sales, which is currently salary+commission, but will move into straight commission starting at the beginning of July 2010. I have been in this position since July 2009. I have competition from several direct manufacturing sales reps, large distributors, and local distributors. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Direct Advantages: Immediate knowledge of new technology, no middle man mark up, one shipping bill (paid by manufacturer or buyer of goods), access to larger range of non-commodity items, control inventory, have access to many distributors that can effectively sell their goods which increases market share, and set prices of commodity they manufacture.

Direct disadvantages: Typically have 1-3 sales reps per region (i.e. southeast, mid-atlantic, northeast, etc.) limiting the number of accounts they can successfully manage/cold-call, lack physical customer service or physical technical service available to or affordable for smaller users or altogether, are sometimes not trustworthy because they will go in behind their distributors that sell their commodity to one account in large quantities (i.e. they missed a big account, and have found out about it through a distributor selling their particular product) which leads to the distributor not selling their product anymore, have too many distributors selling the product ultimately driving the set price down through deviations, possibly rely on distributors to actually sell the product, and competition from other direct sources.

Large distributor advantages: have access to other commodities that go hand in hand with other manufacturers (poor example- grocery stores sell milk as well as cereal), get direct pricing, many locations regionally or nationally easing the shipping burden of buyers with multiple locations, personal service either customer or technical, many sales reps that are able to cover a broader territory, access to multiple manufacturers of the same commodity allowing to keep prices in check, service programs that smaller companies can't offer and direct providers can't match in price or value, and experts of many many commodities as opposed to one or a few.

Large distributor disadvantages: smaller local distributors creating price wars (think Michael Scott Paper Co vs Dunder-Mifflin), direct mfg's going in behind and stealing business, limited access to all of the mfg's (you won't find Harris Teeter name brands in Food Lion and visa versa), can't truly set prices because it's based on both supply and demand, territory management, and tough growth prospects in slower economies (this is true for direct as well really)

Local distributor advantages: Typically a good ol' boy setting where the seller and the buyer know each other for years (this does happen at all levels, but mostly at the local level), local folks are right down the street and can be used in emergencies, if the local guy buys at high enough volumes then there is no shipping charge to the end user, and access to both direct mfg's and large distributors.

Local distributor disadvantages: easily beaten in price, array of commodities, array of technology, lack of trained staff, low cash flow, etc etc etc.

This is what I have noticed in my six months, I am sure there are plenty more that need mentioning. The way I am setting myself apart as a sales person is this: I go after the big accounts right now while I am new. The big accounts, if I land them, will take care of me while I am new and building a customer base. The money made off of those allows me to focus free time on smaller accounts that get me higher margins. I build up big accounts, I would like to have 5-10 of these, then get 20-30 medium accounts. If I lose 1 or 2 big accounts, the 20-30 medium accounts keep me afloat while I go after new big accounts. I don't really waste time on small accounts simply because they basically pay for breakfast or something really small.

I will say this, if you can't get a big account in the first 6-8 months (assuming you have cash flow that you can ride this long) you could be in a world of trouble. If you can get one, it will really make going after the others a lot more enjoyable and less stressful. It's simply just very exhausting wasting any time on anything other than big accounts in the very beginning. You work just as hard on the medium sized accounts and see 1/3 to 1/36 of the money in my situation.

If you have any other questions, you can PM me. I hope this helps in the slightest!

2/10/2010 6:52:36 PM

server seems more offensively honestly

2/10/2010 6:53:27 PM

Don't try and church it up, Dirt.

2/10/2010 6:53:43 PM

I should have mentioned that both this waitr- i mean server and my roommate fit into the category of "hipster" (god forbid i call them that to their faces). so that may have something to do with it.

2/10/2010 6:54:00 PM

where did the original thing from that come from

[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 6:59 PM. Reason : at ^4]

2/10/2010 6:54:24 PM

^^ahhhh, so then it's her career. no wonder she got pissed

2/10/2010 6:54:28 PM

you're such an asshole

2/10/2010 6:55:22 PM

Quote :

"where did the original thing from that come from"

lolwut

2/10/2010 6:55:24 PM

yeah, "server" sounds worse than waiter or waitress to me too!

2/10/2010 6:55:30 PM

You shouldve told her to "serve" you.

2/10/2010 6:55:34 PM

should have ignored any correcting and tapped on your empty beer bottle while motioning to the fridge

2/10/2010 6:56:44 PM

I see server as more offensive.

2/10/2010 6:56:48 PM

Quote :

"server seems more offensively honestly"

2/10/2010 6:56:59 PM

Look, call her a waitress again, and when she corrects you, say:

Wtf, is that some hipster shit or something?

And report back.

2/10/2010 6:57:02 PM

server sounds more like servant to me

i think i like waitress

and i've waited tables. and i'm female.

i pretty much didn't care as long as i got tipped.

2/10/2010 6:57:44 PM

Quote :

""You will have to forgive him, he is from a small town.""

Hahahaha what a fucking douchebag

2/10/2010 6:58:08 PM

Yeah, we heard.

2/10/2010 6:58:15 PM

Yeah, sounds like he's saying

Quote :

"You'll have to forgive him, he's retarded"

2/10/2010 7:00:12 PM

She is really going to pissed off when she becomes a secretary later in life

2/10/2010 7:00:52 PM

Quote :

"Don't try and church it up, Dirt."

2/10/2010 7:02:17 PM

Quote :

"She is really going to pissed off when she becomes a secretary later in life "

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

2/10/2010 7:02:42 PM

Quote :

"i don’t see anything wrong with waitress."

Quote :

"she's probably just mad she's a waitress"

2/10/2010 7:04:08 PM

2/10/2010 7:25:32 PM

server::slave
waitress::young lady who brings drinks

2/10/2010 9:03:02 PM

Quote :

"call her a waitress again, and when she corrects you, say: Wtf, is that some hipster shit or something?"

2/10/2010 9:12:23 PM

Quote :

"""You will have to forgive him, he is from a small town."""

Your roommate is trying to bang her, dont be too hard on him.

This girl has some issues. If you really want to be a dick just go to where she works and keep calling out, "waitress, oh waitress.... i dropped my napkin.. could you be a doll and pick it up for me."

2/10/2010 9:13:38 PM

what a cunt.

2/10/2010 9:13:55 PM

^^ no, that'll just make you look bad, at least from her vantage point of looking down her nose at you.

you definitely need to play the "What's this stupid hipster bullshit?" card.

2/10/2010 9:18:27 PM

sounds like your roommate was chasing some tale

furthermore, he deserves to get slapped the fuck up for selling you out like that.

2/10/2010 9:20:57 PM

Quote :

" ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT "

OFFICE MANAGER(?)

+1 to the hipster angle

2/10/2010 9:23:45 PM

i agree that server sounds worse. people are dumb.

2/10/2010 9:27:15 PM

Quote :

"furthermore, he deserves to get slapped the fuck up for selling you out like that."

Yeah, the bitch gets a bug up her ass, meh roll your eyes and move on

That small town bullshit though deserves fast and sudden retribution on his part.

2/10/2010 9:35:05 PM

Quote :

"she's probably just mad she's a waitress"

2/10/2010 9:35:51 PM

Quote :

"server::slave"

hey now

2/10/2010 9:37:49 PM

Slave will serve yah all right.....

2/10/2010 9:45:36 PM

"I'm not a janitor, I'm a custodial technician."

2/10/2010 9:46:28 PM

ask if a server is a lower class of waitress

2/10/2010 10:00:07 PM

was she black?

2/10/2010 10:07:29 PM

Quote :

"I'm not a janitor, I'm a custodial technician engineer."

I've heard of a host calling himself a special arrangement coordinator.

[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 10:10 PM. Reason : `]

2/10/2010 10:09:14 PM

^a master of the custodial arts?

2/10/2010 10:10:32 PM

Quote :

"furthermore, he deserves to get slapped the fuck up for selling you out like that."

Damn right, bro's before ho's, unless there's no clothes.

2/10/2010 10:23:46 PM

fuck that shit. she's a WAITRESS. end of story.

2/10/2010 10:27:27 PM

where does this so called "server" work. I fell tww could be set into action.

2/10/2010 10:30:24 PM

slap that bitch and correct her next time. She's a waitress, end of story.

I've heard people get uppity about this terminology before, and its one of the few things that makes me want to carlface IRL.

2/10/2010 10:32:53 PM

...acting like waiting tables is some goddamn glorious profession that deserves the proper titles. fuck that noise.

2/10/2010 10:35:16 PM

Quote :

"server seems more offensively honestly "

Quote :

"Look, call her a waitress again, and when she corrects you, say: Wtf, is that some hipster shit or something?"

2/10/2010 10:36:07 PM