Hey Guys, How're ya Doin'?

We all say it sooner or later, whether we intend to or not.

"Guys.".......as in:

"Hi guys, what can I get for you today?"
"Hey guys, I'm Larry and I'll be your server today. Can I get you something to drink?"

I've been in all sorts of restaurants, dive bars, theme places, even in Hawaii, Florida, Missouri, yes, even New York City. I still hear it.

I went to Bobby Flay's Bar Americain in Manhattan. Finally I was going to be tasting food created by the man who opened me up to the flavors of the true Southwest. (I actually met him too, not in NYC, at my job. He came to eat at LSF!)

The place is gorgeous, zinc bar, beautiful chandeliers and wood tones. Nice colors. Host, concierge, bartenders, and servers all immaculately clad.

Very hospitable host staff, coat check, service was great!
We sat down and here it comes....."Hi guys, welcome to Bar Americain, I'll give you a few minutes to look over the wine list. My name is ______."

OH NO HE DIDN'T?????!!!!!!!!

A few weeks before that, my wife and I went to The Cheesecake Factory, not as special as Bar Americain, but you can't always splurge. Here, you would expect a bit more than "guys."

Oh, he didn't disappoint though. It was "guys" at the greeting.
I think he may have heard me say, "Did he just call us guys?" as he was walking away, because it was "lady" and "gentleman" for the rest of the meal.

Finally, the most unexpected good service of the last couple weeks was at OUTBACK! The company 3 years ago I swore I would never go back to because the server was so crappy that we had all of our food in 15 minutes, but it took 30 minutes to get another drink!
This time it was cool. He called us "guys," but you'd expect that from Outback, a company philosophy that we are just one big happy club out to chow down on some dead animals pulled in from the Australian desert. What made up for his "guys" remark, the service I should have gotten at Bar Americain!
I was so impressed that I wrote to Outback and recommended this kid be recognized and rewarded at the next shift meeting. (I wrote when I had the poor experience too, they tried to make up for it but I was so disappointed that I ripped up the GC they sent me.)

Legal Sea Foods banned the word "guys" from our vocabulary about two years ago. It's not appropriate for any server in any restaurant where the per person check average is $28 or higher to refer to their guests as "guys." I was the Sous Chef and I wasn't even allowed to call the servers "guys" in pre-shift meeting! The company has a monthly secret shopper who has to score a server on whether or not they said "guys" when referring to their guests (among other things, of course.)

Let's just say that diners notice it, and they aren't crazy about it.
Some of you may remember when "ain't" used to drive people up the wall! We need to have a clear delineation between where that term is acceptable, and where it is just plain condescending.