To think that service in bars and restaurants is abysmal?

I was in London last Friday and had a lovely bacon sandwich and coffee in the St Pancras Wetherspoons - service was prompt and they were constantly cleaning up the tables so new people could sit down and food was coming up looking so tasty that I will definitely ho there again.

Equally went to a pub for drinks yesterday and a catch up with friend and service was grudging and slapdash and drinks very expensive - wont be going back

Trust me, since Covid it's gotten so much worse

YANBU

Service is markedly bad is most places now, as is the quality of the food. I don't think they train the staff, and they seem incapable of working out what doing a good job might look like. They take forever to serve you then want to rush you out because you only get 90-120 minutes at a table. It's shit. We used to eat out weekly now we rarely go because it's so disappointing and I'm fed up of having to complain or ask to be served.

'Just general bad attitude, staff unable to raise a smile, glued to their phones and inattentive'

Blimey where on earth are you going @ExercicenformedeZ

I've never eaten anywhere in my life where staff are glued to their phones

I agree with this but I find cheaper restaurants and especially chain restaurants don't give a hoot about decent service where as more pricey and independent places do.

I've only had excellent and friendly service in the city where we live

I wonder if the connection is with Brexit, when lots of European hotel and bar staff left the UK, rather than Covid?

@steff13 They sound like a glass half empty person.. must be exhausting

Same, it feels ramped up the last 5 years as they are more competitive to keep customers and know that feedback can be posted online anywhere.

I find service is good in higher priced restaurants that pay the staff better. If it is in a chain restaurant that pays minimum wage to overworked staff on zero hour contracts then the experience will generally not be good

It entirely depends where you go. There is a French bistro-style chain restaurant we go to quite a lot not only because we like the food, but because the staff are superb. Exemplary service. We love it.

Some of the staff in my local restaurants have been there for decades. Not everyone sees it as a college job.

When I worked in hospitality I can’t remember more than the odd occasion customers have been rude. I honestly didn’t care and would walk off into the kitchen and have a laugh with the staff. It’s not a serious environment.

Trouble is in the UK it's not often a career being bar or wait staff. It's usually a PT job students do for some piss poor money. They often don't receive much training and because hospitality here is usually woefully understaffed, the kitchen staff are working under huge pressures can get really unpleasant and front of house staff often young and untrained not used to working on their feet for hours or talking to others. They get stressed really quickly they have to take shit from everyone. Not many can do all that and remain professional.

As a student I worked in a posh hotel as banquet staff. That was bad enough 30 years ago I understand it's way worse now. I enjoyed it because I like people and customer service but it's really not for most who end up there.

No excuse for wait staff to be rude of course but if the industry won't train and value it's staff properly and won't see front of house are every bit as important as kitchen, I don't see it getting any better.

Hospitality can be a good career, it's a shame our industry still focuses on a high turn over of very young staff rather than encourage career progression.

Customers have definitely gotten worse.

Standing where we can't see them/not in the obvious queues then huffing at not being served
Advised where to stand to GET served and complain
Shouting at young men and women with vile anger until those young people end up in tears (especially when the adults yelling throw in a few slurs to really drive in their anger)
Physical assaults
Taking drugs on the property
Leaving human waste hidden

One bad customer can make it hard to smile through the rest of a shift

Then there's issues like poor management, low wages and short staffing so those staff feel demoralised and aren't incentivised to perform better

And that most "I'm a perfect customer" types are the worst offenders

I've been out a lot recently, in London - borough market, Nottingham, Belfast, and other places and the service wax awful, the food poor. Really deteriorated, rapidly.

OP give me some examples and then I'll be able to tell you if YABU or not

FFS you can’t blame EVERYTHING on Brexit.

Personally I blame it on Gen Z being raised to believe they’re all special.

Yes I’m sick of hearing “But customers have got worse”. Well I’m not one of them so that no excuse.

Totally agree.

i think it’s because there’s a narrative that paid waiters and witnesses are some sort of marginalised hard done by group rather than just people doing their job. The miserable faces, huffiness, lack of willingness to help is really prevelant. I also think food has got worse - we used to go out all the time but barely bother now

I have not said that any poor customer behaviour that I encounter is your fault, nor have I “taken it out on anyone”.
If we have rude and unpleasant customers, we swap round so that another waitress will go to said customer. I have seen plenty of young girls (16, 17, 18 college students) in their first job, be reduced to tears by people who really should know better.
All I have done in my post is list just some of the things I have dealt with in my almost 20 years in the job.
We do have lots of lovely customers who come back often, we are given Christmas and birthday presents and many write us little cards of appreciation. Some days are good days and you know that you’ve had happy customers, and that is a great feeling. Other days are… well, see the examples in my post earlier.
I agreed with a previous poster that people have become more entitled and difficult to please since Covid.

Forgot to add, we had Kris Akabusi as a hotel and restaurant guest about 12 years ago - he was smashing! Chatty friendly and really good fun.

We went out for lunch in Manchester today and the service was fantastic. Can’t say great service is universal, however.

This!
This! A thousand times this!

when I go to work, I don’t expect to;

be grabbed by the wrist and pulled around
to be called a liar
to have to clean up human poo in the restaurant
to be shouted at for returning a young toddler I found in the car park
to be hit hard with a menu in its stand
to deal with urine soaked restaurant chairs
to deal with horrible customers who lie to get free food
to remove a child who was standing on the breakfast buffet table

… and people wonder why service is “not what is was”

Since Covid the sense of entitlement is through the roof… customers do exactly what they want and sod the other patrons and particularly sod the staff!!

Just my humble opinion.
It can be the most dreadful job… and yet lovely customers make it the best job ( and all for the minimum wage…)