Cafe waiter interaction: official thread on requesting service or a check

[SinPulgas]

These are some of my top porteño tricks ( I used to stop at 3-4 cafes on a daily basis a long time ago when worked in corporate sales )

1- To order small coffee, look at the distant waiter and mimic with your thumb and index finger a small cup, he will bring it and will be happy he saved the walk.
2- If in a hurry, sit order coffee and check at the same time and pay. Enjoy coffee at your own pace. Then only you decide when to leave.
3- Go in, sit, make coffee sign, drink it, leave enough cash to pay for it + tip, get up and when they look at you point at your cup and money. Proceed to go.
4- It seems to me like they hate to come and go, especially if watching soccer or chatting with some other waiters, so use as much sign language as you can. Especially to order your check, do the sign gesture just so they bring it.
5- If for some reason everything fails, and you are desperate order at the cashier, pay, do not tip and cara de orto. Never return.

Enjoy.

PS: These tips and hints are mostly valid in the city of Bs As and in or around downtown and normal neighborhoods, not super touristy. Waitresses would not understand most of these either.
PS2: Congratulations! You are very very close to acting like a true porteño

Great list!

I always pay immediately when getting coffee.

The best places to sit aren't always the best places for service. A nice corner or over by the window can be the nicest places to talk to someone and enjoy your meal, but they're often the worst for getting service. If I know I'm not going to want to sit around all day, I sit in the middle in full view, or where the waiters pick up the food to deliver to the tables.

I never sit outside on the sidewalk anymore, especially these days. Apart from the fact that sometimes the waiters never come outside, sometimes you get interrupted 20 times by people trying to sell things or ask for money, or the couple next to you start smoking just as your meal arrives, and you choke on the exhaust fumes of the passing cars.

 

[malandro]

These are some of my top porteño tricks ( I used to stop at 3-4 cafes on a daily basis a long time ago when worked in corporate sales )

1- To order small coffee, look at the distant waiter and mimic with your thumb and index finger a small cup, he will bring it and will be happy he saved the walk.
2- If in a hurry, sit order coffee and check at the same time and pay. Enjoy coffee at your own pace. Then only you decide when to leave.
3- Go in, sit, make coffee sign, drink it, leave enough cash to pay for it + tip, get up and when they look at you point at your cup and money. Proceed to go.
4- It seems to me like they hate to come and go, especially if watching soccer or chatting with some other waiters, so use as much sign language as you can. Especially to order your check, do the sign gesture just so they bring it.
5- If for some reason everything fails, and you are desperate order at the cashier, pay, do not tip and cara de orto. Never return.

Enjoy.

PS: These tips and hints are mostly valid in the city of Bs As and in or around downtown and normal neighborhoods, not super touristy. Waitresses would not understand most of these either.
PS2: Congratulations! You are very very close to acting like a true porteño

My favorite trick: Shout out: "La Dolor Rosa, por favor." The hurmor always makes them notice. You can do las malas noticias, but it isn't as funny.

 

[nikad]

It is important to keep in mind that porteños sit at a coffee shop or eat meals together to chat and socialize, not for nutrition purposes, and most consider it extremely rude and feel rushed if the waiter comes right away to take an order and worse if they bring the check as soon as your are done chewing your last bit of milanesa or had your last sip of coffee. Actually if they bring the check before they are done, chances are they will complain to the waiter himself or management. It is a cultural difference and not " poor customer service ".

 

[Sojourner]

Epitaph for a mozo: "God caught his eye" (heard many, many years ago)

 

[Rich One]

News, Bonafide delivers you the ticket together with the coffee order. Then you can walk to the cashier and pay.

 

[SinPulgas]

News, Bonafide delivers you the ticket together with the coffee order. Then you can walk to the cashier and pay.

It's too bad their coffee is so awful.

 

[Reply Guy]

Great list!

I always pay immediately when getting coffee.

The best places to sit aren't always the best places for service. A nice corner or over by the window can be the nicest places to talk to someone and enjoy your meal, but they're often the worst for getting service. If I know I'm not going to want to sit around all day, I sit in the middle in full view, or where the waiters pick up the food to deliver to the tables.

I never sit outside on the sidewalk anymore, especially these days. Apart from the fact that sometimes the waiters never come outside, sometimes you get interrupted 20 times by people trying to sell things or ask for money, or the couple next to you start smoking just as your meal arrives, and you choke on the exhaust fumes of the passing cars.

Sitting outside is unbearable with the amount of beggars and sock sellers.

 

[Rich One]

Sitting outside is unbearable with the amount of beggars and sock sellers.

Plus the mosquitoes biting your ankles, it's a life risk... Dengue cases at record highs, 79 dead or so ..!

 

[Silvie]

As lovely as it is to sit outside, I don't enjoy doing that any more here because service is slower and while you seat outside, a lot of people want to sell you something or beg for your money or even your food on the table. Once somebody tried to make me feel pity for him and to my horror, out of the blue, he pulled up his sweater to show me his surgery and tubes attached to his body. This would have never happened inside the place.