I've been working as a server for a little over 2 years now. The restaurant is a modest scale italian place, pretty basic, maybe a step down from Olive Garden. We are also one of the largest restaurants the area.
From my experience, when something goes wrong, or not exactly pleasant service wise, its usually the luck of the draw. Our servers can get crazy busy and we all know it when something is not going to be optimal but we do the best we can. Sometimes the kitchen can get slammed and the server has no control of how fast the food comes out. With the checks-we use check presenters too but sometimes there are none to be found so you have to just drop that pathetic piece of thermal paper bare on the table.
I know some places couldn't care less about the service they give. The people I work with are great, some of the nicest people you could have waiting on you. So as a server I think its important to let people know that we have a harder job than some may think, most of us do our best. When something isn't going as planned I try to explain whats up so the customer isnt left clueless.