Hannah Riley
Anyone who has waited tables will be quick to tell you that it’s an incredibly hard job. You have to pretty much run to get to all your tables in time and a lot of the job is about having a good memory. It feels like you need an assistant to be able to actually do the job right.
Well, servers over on the subreddit Tales From Your Server are always venting about their jobs and telling stories of the horrible customers they had to deal with. Occasionally, someone will share an exciting story of how they got revenge on a customer who tested their patience a little too much.
These customers had what was coming to them and it’s good to see a server put them in their place.
A reminder that if you’re eating at restaurants right now that servers are stretched even thinner than they usually are. Please be kind and remember to tip them well.
1. All in change.
My restaurant… started seeing a new, weekly customer. A normal interaction with him goes as such:
Me: Hi, how are you?
C: Ignores everything
Me: Are you picking up?
C: Nods his head once
Me: Whats the name for the order?
C: sighs the most long suffering sigh you ever did hear (Their Name)
Me: Alright, your total is [amount]And that’s usually it. But ever since I had the nerve to remind this customer that they have to wear a mask indoors due to the Governor’s orders, he’s become increasingly snippy and combative…
He came in [once] and put down two rolls of coins. $10 in the form of quarters and $5 in the form of dimes. [He] had this smirk on his face like he won a game he created.
Little does (did?) he know that I’m super petty. I will play someone’s game and I will win it.
So, I unwrap the coins and start counting them out in front of him. After I’m through with the quarters, I go to pick up the dimes and he interrupts me.
C: It’s wrapped for five, you can just put it in and give me the change.
Me: I’m sorry, I have to make sure it’s all there. We have had trouble with this before.
C: Oh…So, I count out the rest of the change that I needed from the dimes and, instead of giving the dollar bills he probably wanted, I scooped the rest of the dimes up and gave them back.
Granted, it was super petty and I shouldn’t have done it, but. I’m tired of customers coming in like they’re God’s gift to Earth just because of the current state of the world.
2. Joke is on you. I speak Spanish.
This happened years ago, but it still feels like it was yesterday. I (29f) was serving at a Steak ‘n Shake, and was about 70lbs bigger than I am now. I’m very white, with blonde hair, so you wouldn’t know by looking at me that I’m almost fluent in Spanish. As I was cleaning a table one night, the one right next to it was seated for me. While wiping the dirty table, I heard the new table talking loudly about me in Spanish. They were saying how big my butt was, how fat I was, how they didn’t want to be served by someone so disgusting, not knowing that I 100% understood them.
My initial reaction was anger and tears; I wanted to give them bad service and not even try to be nice. But, I wanted to be the bigger person. I walked to the table and did my “welcome to Steak n Shake! My name is Brandi and I’m here to help you out,” but I said it all in Spanish.
The look of shock and embarrassment on their faces gave me one of the greatest feelings ever. Then, I listed every burger, every milkshake flavor and every side item in Spanish. For the entire meal, I spoke no English at all, and I gave them the kindest/most attentive service I’ve ever given anyone. The nicer I was, the more humiliated and ashamed they were.
When one of them asked quietly if he could have some more water, I already had a tray in my hand with his water on it. They refused to speak Spanish to me, and would hardly even look at me. When they left, they closed their ~$25 check, then left me a $50 bill under a plate for my tip. Such a glorious day! Everyone always asks why I didn’t spit in their food, give them bad service, or ring in their order wrong. K*ll people with kindness baby! That’s the way I do it.
3. He deserved it.
I worked for years in an upscale restaurant owned by a Greek family. If u have ever worked for a Greek family, u know that if ur there for years, you ARE family. In the decade that I waited tables there, I had exactly 2 experiences that upset me due to customers. One involved the grabbing of my bodypart by a drunk customer and ended up with the owner, head waiter, 2 busboys, the chef and dishwasher yelling at him in 4 different languages. He ended up in the dumpster, i am not sure he knows completely what happened.
The other was this: The man was by himself and a pr**k to start out. He was wearing a very nice suit with a pocket square. He was whatever a male Karen is called. His food was too slow, not right, too cold… blablabla. The 4th time his reorder came, it was apparently fine. Or the 3 martini’s kicked in. The staff was keeping an eye on him too because I never complained about a customer. Except him. When I came by to ask if he wanted any dessert, his response was “you covered in whipped cream honey!” Then he slapped my a**. I. WAS. LIVID. I had a pitcher in my hand to refill water. Yep. Right over his head.
He started screaming and yelled for the owner. She came out and he stood there dripping wet yelling at her that he wanted me fired immediately. I just stood there with my arms crossed. She looked at me and said “you dump water on him?” “Yep.” He smirked. “He deserves or accident?” Then he turns red getting ready to yell again. “He absolutely deserved it.” I replied. She started out in english, but at some point went to greek.
Without turning around she made a ‘come here’ gesture tward the kitchen. Every male in the kitchen came out and stood behind us. After a bit of back and forth she ended with “This good girl. She not mad easy. and she handle party of 60 herself. She do this then you a bad man. You pay. Leave good tip. Then you never come back to any of my restaurants.” I think the table of firemen, some regulars of mine btw, standing up also helped make her point. She took his picture and made sure all 5 of her restaurants in our not very big town had a copy and his name.
4. Enjoy all these beers.
Last night I worked a 14 top. They were all terrible people, douchiest people I have ever come in contact with. The royal family of Doucheland. One guy sits down and orders a beer. He says, “Every time you come to the table I want you to have a beer for me.” I thought he was probably just joking, so I leave and come back and he says, “Where is my beer? Did you really forget what I told you like 2 minutes ago? Wow.” So I said, “OH! I am so sorry it won’t happen again.” So, for the next 2 hours, no matter what. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
I approached the table I left a beer. After about 45 minutes the beer began to pile up. A friend of King Doucherbottom tried to take one that I put down, but I grabbed it and said, “Sorry sir, this is your friends beer I would be happy to get one for you if you like.” Long story short he ended up buying 25 beers at 8 dollars a pop with a 20% mandatory auto-grat on the table. He maybe drank 4. I have never felt so good in my life. It doesn’t pay to be an arrogant a** folks! –purplebikeshorts
5. I’m glad they laughed.
If it matters, I was behind the bar when this happened. So, tonight I(25/f) had a man(40?m), as I was ringing in an order on the POS, say:
“Hey.” I looked up at him.
He said, “I’m picturing you [without clothes on] right now.”
I said, “Oh? Are you impressed by my massive horse c*ck?”
I have never seen a grown man rethink his existence so quickly. His friends laughed, many a swordfight joke was made, I (hypothetically) won them all. I just….. there will never be something so satisfying happen to me at work ever again. Where do we go from here? –InTheLoudHouse
6. This isn’t okay.
A Romanian friend of mine has a job in which she sells food on the train. She walks from one end to the other with a trolley, selling hot drinks, sandwiches, chocolate, etc.
One day she passes this man, who, upon seeing her, starts ranting about ‘Bloody foreigners, taking all our jobs…’
Without missing a beat, she turns to him, reaches into her pocket, pulls out a business card, and says, “As it happens, sir, we have some vacancies, so if you’d like to call the number on this card, you could book yourself an interview.”
“Oh, err, well,” he stammers, “I’m honestly not really fussed about that sort of job. Err, thank anyway…”
“So,” she says, “Why did you complain about foreigners like me?”
He couldn’t answer her at all, but he was humiliated. –Mike_OxonFaier
7. Thanks for the tip!
A family of 4 came in and when I sat them, the Mom (I’ll call her Karen) wanted to move to an area where no tables were open. I told her she could wait back up front and we’d seat her when one of the tables opened. She insisted on standing right by the bus station so she had a view of the people sitting in her desired area. The four of them were in the way of guests and servers but Karen did not notice, she was too busy staring daggers at people eating. I went to the manager, who tried to move her but to no avail. Finally we just let them stay because we noticed a couple in a booth packaging up their food.
I checked in a few minutes later to see if that table had left yet and was dismayed to see they had ordered dessert and coffee. Karen was still standing there, watching them. The kids were bored and running up and down the wheelchair ramp. I asked Karen again to move back down to the waiting area as she was blocking servers and her kids were a [slip-up] waiting to happen. She loudly asked when her table would be ready and pointed right at the couple sipping their coffee. Knowing we were talking about them, the couple looked at us and smiled. It hit me then that they were not leaving on purpose. F*ck.
Karen realized it as well because she got very angry. She yelled that they were holding her booth hostage and we should kick them out. I told her we would not ask anyone to leave until they were ready. Then I watched in horror as the woman approached the couple.
Karen: You’re done here, this is my table now. Pay the bill and go.
Couple (Smiling sweetly): We just got our coffee and dessert.
Karen: THEN TAKE IT TO GO!! WE ARE HUNGRY AND YOU’RE IN OUR BOOTH
Couple: This is our booth. It’s not yours until we leave.
Karen raged insults at them until the manager came rushing up to help. He tried to intervene but could not be heard over her screaming about her starving children. The couple kept their cool the whole time, nibbling their dessert and stirring their coffee at a sloth’s speed.
Finally the manager had enough and told the woman to GTFO. She was utterly FLOORED that we were asking her to go and not the couple. She picked up an empty dessert plate from their table and chucked it across the room where it hit a wall and smashed into pieces. The manager screamed for someone to call 911 (This is before everyone had cell phones). I remember trying to hide my smile from the people around me. What adult acts like this? This woman was in her 40s! There were a ton of open booths too, just not in that area.
Karen’s husband appeared, grabbed her by the sleeve and started pulling. She let him lead her towards the front door as she continued to yell insults at us. She called the manager a loser and mocked his career choice. Then she told me I was “a plain nothing going nowhere” and “f*cking worthless” and when they’d gone, I went into the back for a while to hide. I needed to get away from people. When I returned, the server of the couple ran up to me.
Server: That couple left but they wanted to talk to you. They felt so bad about how that woman acted.Then they saw her watching them and she was being so rude, they decided to take their time to mess with her. They didn’t think she’d do that! So they waited a few minutes to talk to you but they thought you went home and asked me to give you this as an apology.
He handed me a $100 bill.
It was a sh*tty night but it kinda made me feel better. It’s not every day a customer acknowledges when they’ve made your life miserable. Thankfully Karen was never seen again. –votedog
8. Here’s the manager!
While I turned to go back into the kitchen, he threw the mask on the floor and said to my coworker.. “Just grab my f*ckin order…”
So I grabbed his food, turned around, and slowly walked over to the trash can while making dead eye contact with him the whole time and threw his food away. Slowly walked back to the kitchen until I heard him demand a manager…
My employees went silent as my short 5’2 Asian girl a** turned back around, I smirked and said “What’s up?”
I only feel comfortable doing this because I’m the [manager] and been working at my company for 18 years now and know they won’t fire me[. It’s] just funny because I look real young[.] –Mee0wch
9. Good luck with that one.
One time, my manager and I were standing behind our wall just chatting after I had delivered food to my only table. As we’re talking, we see this guy has finished his roast beef and gravy meal. Just before I can go drop the check, I watch him rip hair from his own head, wrap it around the fork, and smear it around the plate. Then he looked over and saw me and called me over. Starts motherf*cking [yelling at] me about the hair in his food. Screaming at the top of his lungs about lawsuits and sh*t. I let him go for a minute before I told him I watched him do this himself. He got even more angry. My manager ended up telling him we had it on video and he wasn’t welcome in our store again. –Dejectednebula
10. I’m not closing the door.
I work at a small restaurant and Sundays are always busy because of our Sunday roast. This happened before the lunchtime rush. We had 2 tables in. One table was a old couple and the other a family of 4 (grown up kids. [aged] 20-25)… On the family table the daughter has a panic [episode] and ends up actually passing out, she came around quickly. We open the door to allow some air in for her as she was next to the door.
Old Lady: shut the door. It’s freezing (she was sat no where near the door and it wasn’t open that much)
Me: ma’am I will soon, this lady needs some fresh air.
Old Lady: No. You will shut it now. My food is going cold.
I keep the door open and get Manager and tell him what’s going on.
Old Lady: shut the door my food is going cold.
Manager: ma’am a lady has fainted.
Old Lady: I don’t care. I don’t want my food getting cold.
We ignore her for a bit and she keeps on.
Old Lady: if you don’t shut the door I’m leaving.
We didn’t shut the door. True to her word she got up and left. Her husband stayed behind. He ate his lunch, ordered a dessert and a drink to follow that. He apologied for his wife’s behaviour and tipped well. The wife waited outside the whole time. We think that Old Lady thought that her husband would’ve just followed her. – yuuki230
11. You thought I didn’t understand you.
I’ve worked in customer service for twenty-two years, with the past fifteen spent as a server. I’m currently employed at a chain restaurant that specializes in breakfast items that may or may not be adjoined to a retail establishment. I’m in my late thirties, but am often mistaken for mid-twenties, medium height, slender, brunette and very obviously gay. I mean, I’m so flaming I’m useful to have around during a blackout. I also have an acting background. You have to be an actor to last in the service industry.
About this story: all names contained herein are fictitious hence why there are quotation marks around them. Dialogue is pieced together to the best of my recollection and is paraphrased slightly.
Me: Sassy bilingual gay comedian masquerading as a server
José: Homophobic jerk who doesn’t know I speak español.
Maria: José’s equally insufferable wife.
Lupe: Maria’s apologetic mother.
One Friday, I came into work and it was just like any other day, except that I was midshift. This basically meant that front of house and back of house employees were down to the bare minimum. This also meant there was no takeout person. As a result, I was responsible for handling any to go orders that came in. I did five takeout orders before a coworker arrived to take over, all the while maintaining a three-quarters full dining room.
When I walk, I swish like a showgirl. If I’m in a rush, it’s full-on flailing limp wrists. It’s the way I’ve moved for well over thirty years and I, at nearly forty, have no intention of changing my mannerisms to suit anyone’s insecurities.
In rushing back-and-forth from the kitchen to the hostess podium, I kept having to pass by a table of three that was conversing in Spanish. I got the inkling they were talking about me and it was confirmed when I heard “José” speak up. I was in mid diva strut when I heard it:
José: “¿El es maricon?” (Is he vicious homophobic [word]?)
Maria: “El camina como una mujer.” (He walks like a woman.)
I froze and stared them down. I decided to not let on that I understood them just yet.
Me: “Hi. Can I help you with anything?”
Both José and Maria shook their heads no then started giggling when I walked away that’s when “Lupe” spoke up.
Lupe: “¡Basta!” (Enough!)
There were other words exchanged and I didn’t get everything, but it was clear Lupe was defending me. I was still taking care of to go orders and the guests in my section which, unfortunately, was right near their table.
José: “El es muy flaco. Su culo es tan pequeño.” (He’s too skinny. His a** is so small.)
Maria laughed and Lupe hid her face in shame. I don’t know what came over me. It was like I was hit by a wave of icy water. I was in fight or flight mode. Then I got hot. I was pissed.
Me: “Oye. Hablo español muy bien y entendí todo lo que acabas de decir.” (Hey. I speak Spanish very well and I understood everything you just said.)
José in Maria looked at me with shocked expressions on their faces.
Me [to José]: “Tu tienes una cara como una puerca y un culo como una vaca.” (You have a face like a pig and an a** like a cow.)
Lupe lifted her face out of her hands and started snickering.
Me [to Maria]: “El tamaño de tus pantalones se lee como un código postal, gordita.” (Your pants size reads like a zip code, fatty.)
At that, Lupe cracked up so loud that José and Maria didn’t have a chance to react to my bilingual zingers.
Me: “Adelante, repórtame. No me importa. Ambos tienen corazones feos.” (Go ahead and report me. I don’t care. Both of you have ugly hearts.)
I went back into the kitchen and told my manager what happened. He understood but told me I shouldn’t do that. I told him that I’m almost 40 and I won’t get treated like I’m some punk on the street.
He later went out and did what is called a “table touch” where the manager visits and asks however thing was. According to him they didn’t complain and Lupe complimented me in her broken English.
As for the aftermath, the manager had a hard time as he tried not to laugh. I didn’t get reprimanded but I was strongly urged not to talk back to a guest, no matter how much they deserve it. Well, I thought that was fair. I love my bosses.
EDIT: It turns out, Lupe is a local and the people with her weren’t her daughter and son-in-law, but her visiting butthole nephew and his new witch wife. They got no sympathy from Lupe, their mother (Lupe’s sister) or anyone else.
It also turns out that she speaks better English than she lets on. She’s one of the nicest ladies I’ve ever met. She requests me whenever she knows I’m working. –horrorflickguy
12.
This only works if he’s only making slightly vague remarks, trying to get a rise out of you or get his friends to laugh. As we know, the majority of these guys aren’t in it to actually get your number or go on a date with you— it’s all about power. When one of these older guys comes in with his golf buddies trying to show off, here’s how I handle it:
After he makes a gross comment and you feign laughter, politely reintroduce yourself and ask his name. Now NO MATTER WHAT he responds with, reply excitedly, “That’s my Dad’s name!” If you can somehow ask if he has children around your age, that doubles the shame factor. I have yet to have this backfire, and some of my coworkers have adopted the practice too, with great success. –cadhlacrude
13. You can’t push tables together.
Last week, glorious night. Party of 6 comes in headed by a Karen. Wants two 4-top high-tops pushed together. Host says can’t do it, social distancing, you’ll be too close to the other table next to you now.
“Let me speak to the manager.” She’s calm, just insistent and it’s obvious she’s played the card before.
I roll up, “How can I help?”
Can we push those two tables together?
“No, can’t, social distancing and now you’re too close to the next table. You can have that table that’s for 6 in the corner, you can have that booth for 6 after we clean it, or you can have that table for 6 outside after they get up — about 10 minutes.” All the while I’m pointing to each table like I’m showing them emergency exits on an airplane.
“You can’t push those tables togeth-“
“No, we will not be moving tables. You can have……” and point out the tables again.
“You know what I think?” Begins turning to her friend, “You know what I think?” both of them together “We go somewhere else?”
At this point I clap my hands together and say “Thank you and have a great night,” and immediately turn around and walk away. The best part is Karen stares at the back of my head for a solid 2 seconds before she shuffled out. I didn’t realize this until I watched the video of the exchange.
Easily made #3 in my career highlight reel but only one of the handful of Karen moments since we reopened. –porkchop2022
14. Grateful for my managers.
Because COVID is still prevalent in my county, there’s a mandatory mask requirement for all indoor businesses. If people aren’t at their table eating or drinking, masks are “required” to be on (rarely enforced). People have been very compliant and we have had no issues, but it’s important to preface the story with that.
So last Saturday was VERY busy for our restaurant, with way more to-go orders than usual. I work in a restaurant that has a bar, bakery, and kitchen. On this particular day we had many massive orders that only needed stuff from the bakery. This made the restaurant run very smooth until it was time to get dessert, which you were likely to be waiting 25 minutes for. Servers compensated by putting orders in advance and keeping them in freezers until the guests were ready. However, there was a huge crowd in the lobby near the bakery for walk-in dessert orders. People who come often understand how busy we get, but apparently the Karen of this story didn’t get thr memo.
So it starts with me waiting by the bakery for my cakes, when I hear a rude-@$$ lady (wearing her mask as a chin-strap of course) snapping her fingers at one of our bakers saying “EXCUUUUSE ME. YOU OVER THERE” points at 16-yo baker “I SAW YOU TOUCH ANOTHER CAKE AND THEN MINE. I WANT ANOTHER ONE RIGHT NOW. I’VE BEEN WAITING HERE FOR 30 MINUTES…” blah blah blah I’m sure you can see where this is going. I turn to her and calmly say “I’m sorry ma’am our bakery is extremely busy, she can’t stop to help you right now. Is there something I can help you with?”
She turns to me with fury in her eyes like I just insulted her MLM pyramid scheme pitch, and said “I saw that girl touch somebody else’s cake before mine, and I don’t want it anymore. I DEMAND that i get a new one”. So I calmly explain to her that our bakers wear gloves at all times, and that her particular station only does whipped cream for orders, so she doesn’t even interact with the cakes much. If she wanted a new cake, she would have to wait in line (about 10 people long), place the order with the cashier, then wait for the new one to get made (another ~25 minutes).
This gave her slight pause, before she responded with “WHERE IS YOUR MANAGER? I DEMAND TO SEE ONE”. I pointed into the bakery and said “See the guy plating cakes over there? That’s the manager on duty. We are so busy that he stepped in to help get our bakery moving faster. Do you really want me to drag him away from the station for your problem? Suprise suprise, with an utter lack of self-awareness and disdain for other people’s waits, she said yes.
I go and tap him on the shoulder to let him know somebody needs him for a problem with their order. Without skipping a beat, he looks up and says “Is it the whiny lady not wearing a mask? I’ll handle it.” At this point I’ve spent too long in the bakery and need to check on my tables, but before I walk away I see him go up to Karen and say “I’m sorry ma’am, I would love to help you but I can’t hear you when your mask is off”.
It’s a good thing I was wearing a mask because I was belly-laughing all the way to my table. This manager is known for his short temper, so it was no surprise to hear that he told her exactly what I did, and that either waiting or sucking it up were her options. Thank god for hard-@$$ managers, it warms my heart knowing that not every whiny baby gets their way in this industry. –noobisle1
15. The perfect karma.
I remembered a lovely moment of karma from a few years back.
I was serving on July 4th in a vacation town in California at an upscale German beer and brat place. Everyone was drunk mid-day, we were wildly understaffed, and absolutely slammed. I’m a really fast and sweet server even when I’m busy, but I had 10 tables and I was pretty frazzled. One of my tables was a middle-aged couple and their adult son. I can’t remember the specifics, but they were really condescending, high-maintenance, and impatient.
When it came time for them to pay, I was pretty relieved for them to leave. The man payed with card, signed the receipt, crumpled the customer copy, and put away his card. We were trying to turn tables as fast as possible because we were so busy, so I picked up his signed receipt and thanked them. Then, they sat there for what felt like forever. I didn’t think much of it because I was wildly busy.
When I went to clear their table after they left, I was really confused. The original itemized receipt was still on the table with a stack of cash, enough to cover the whole bill and an ok tip—BUT THEY ALREADY PAID AND TIPPED ME WITH CARD. I guess the guy was drunker than I thought, completely forgot he had already paid, and then paid again in cash and just left. It was definitely not on purpose, because the “tip” on the credit card receipt and cash “tip” on the cash payment were almost the same, and they were complete a**holes.
In the middle of a hellish shift, I almost started crying with joy. It came out to a $100 “tip” for a $75 bill. A little blessing from the server gods on a hard day.
Wishing drunk, accidentally generous customers on you all. –elderlyfemme
16. Petty and perfect.
I answer a call in the lull of my shift and the first thing out of her mouth is “You forgot my appetizer!”
Ignoring her rudeness, I’m pretty positive this wasn’t the case, seeing as how we’re only doing take out right now and I have a lot of extra time to double check each order.
But giving her the benefit of the doubt, I ask for her name and if she remembers what was on the order. Still being unnecessarily angry, she tells me her name and that’s when I’m positive that I never took this order. I calmly ask her if she’s sure she’s calling the correct restaurant because we have no record of her order in our system.
“Isn’t this the Chinese restaurant on X Street?”
We’re a Thai restaurant and I must’ve heard it called Chinese one too many times because I said “No it isn’t. Maybe next time make sure you’re calling the right restaurant before you start b*tching about an honest mistake in the middle of a pandemic.”
Probably a little petty of me. But feels good man. –grilledtrees
17. Enjoy that sobriety test!
So a lady yelled at me because I told her she wasn’t allowed to eat inside the restaurant (due to the [coronavirus] and due to the city of Dallas rule). She took it upon herself to go and get a chair from the stack of chairs the were purposely moved at the back for people not to eat in. I told her to leave… so the police [were] called and she still wouldn’t listen… because “she wasn’t done eating”. [S]o the police [took] her food and she smacked the food out of the officer’s hand [onto] the floor. [He] proceeded to [handcuff] her in the restaurant and [give] her a sobriety test outside the restaurant! I don’t know what exactly happened to her after we got bombarded with orders but the officer that took her is a regular and can’t wait to ask him what happened to her. –alozcast
18. Go Tom!
I worked at a restaurant ages ago with a man I’ll call Tom. He worked days and I worked nights but seemed like a nice guy. The thing about Tom is that he was morbidly obese. I say that not to mock him, but because it’s important to the story.
One weekend I picked up a day shift, Tom was working and he had the section next to me. We had over an hour wait for a table and we were in the weeds up to our eyeballs. Not far into our shift, the air conditioner went out. It was already a hot day so with all those people and with us rushing around, it warmed up quickly. I was on my way to the kitchen when a table flagged me down. It was not my table but I stopped anyway. The man demanded a manager and I asked what was wrong. He pointed to the end of the table, where I could see it was wet. I grabbed the clean towel from the back of my apron, ready to wipe it up but he stopped me.
Customer: Do you know what that is?
Me: Water? I…
Customer: NO! It’s sweat. That … that TUB O’ LARD of a server has been dripping sweat on our table. When he delivered our food, he also delivered THAT!
I had noticed that Tom was sweating profusely as he ran around, more so than the rest of us. I myself was sweaty but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t hide it from my tables. Tom wasn’t so lucky.
Customer: This is DIS – GUST – ING!!!!
I had to agree but at the same time I felt bad for Tom. It wasn’t his fault the air was out and it was super hot inside. I apologized and went to get the manager. As I was going up the stairs to find him, I saw Tom who looked frazzled. He was looking at his notepad and missed a step, causing him to stumble. As he did, I noticed a bunch of sweat drip off his head onto the tiled floor. Ugh.
The manager looked like he wanted to cry when I told him about Tom’s table. He went to the table, hunkered down to their level, and talked quietly but the customers were not so kind. I could hear snippets of them yelling about germs, someone mentioned the health board, and it got to the point the bar manager joined them to see if he could help. The adjoining booths customers were listening in and I knew that wasn’t good. Tom stood at the top of the stairs, watching as his table loudly called him childish names like fatty and pig.
Finally they got up and left, their bill comped (They had not touched their food). The manager gave gift cards to the tables who had witnessed the chaos but made it seem as if they were because of the air going out, not the server.
At the end of our shift, Tom went into a meeting with the managers. He handed in his stuff and quit, he was so mortified by what had happened. They begged him to stay, he’d been there years, but he was so embarrassed he simply refused and left without another word.
A year later, Tom returned to the restaurant. He had lost over 130lbs and looked like a totally different man. He told us that day had been his wake up call. He’d not only gone on a diet but he’d gone back to school and was on his way to doing something (I can’t recall what field of work he was studying) so he’d never have to wait tables again. He even showed off a tattoo he had gotten on his arm. It was a pig wearing an apron, holding a heavy tray of food. The pig was struggling with the weight of it and was sweating. He said the tattoo reminded him of where he had been and where he’d never go again. All these years later… I barely knew Tom but I’ll surely never forget him. –votedog
19. Staff is more important than customers.
I’m a restaurant owner, former manager, former server, former busser.
Own a fine dining restaurant that is currently operating as takeout only. Most people understand that for fine dining, tipping is still appropriate even for takeout. We have decided not to institute an auto-grat, since most people tip well enough.
We have a couple of guests who have always been challenging. They are always at least a little rude when interacting with staff, modify dishes to no end, and are generally frustrating and a pain. They always tipped (not well.
When placing their order, they were rude to my staff as usual. When asked if they would like to add a tip, they declined, commenting that our prices are higher (they aren’t).
I called them, initially planning to simply and kindly insist that they be more polite to my staff in future. They got very upset, insulted me, and denied that they were ever rude to our staff. They denied that they had made any comments about our prices. As they got more heated, I realized that I, nor my staff, needed this kind of grief. I told them that they could find somewhere else to order dinner from.
My staff is important to me, and put up with a lot. I don’t accept anyone treating them less than respectfully. –bananarama17691769
20. You’ll need to step back.
I’m a FOH manager at a restaurant that just reopened this weekend. We have a menu stand outside, and being that it was our 2nd day reopened and we all had a lot to focus on, the host forgot to switch the menu from the lunch to the dinner menu. The dinner menu portions and prices are more than the lunch menu. I’m at the host stand by the front door, it’s towards the end of the night, and a family leaves the restaurant. They stop and look at the menu outside that we hadn’t realized was still the lunch menu. The “dad” of the family (none of whom were wearing masks) comes in to me and asks for a manager. I surprise him by informing him that I, a young woman, am the manager (shocking! women in charge?!).
He proceeds to tell me that the prices on his bill were different from the prices on the outside menu stand. I apologize and politely explain that the host forgot to switch the menu, that I was very sorry, and that it would not happen again. I also explain that the dinner menu costs more because you get more food (in our case, pricey ounces of seafood).
He then says that the menu he was given at his table was a lunch menu. It was not, we had ran out of lunch menus at 3pm that day and he was seated at 7pm so there is literally no f*cking way. Typically I would give this guy whatever he wanted, but in this moment I decided, NOPE, it’s 2020 and I’m done with this bullsh*t. He proceeds to argue that he was given the wrong menu, and that he wants a gift card to make up for it.
I, always cool as a cucumber, calmly continue to tell him that there’s no possible way that he had been given a lunch menu. He gets angrier and starts yelling and swearing at me. So I say: “Sir, if you’re going to yell at me without a mask on, I need you to step back at least 6 feet.” Now this REALLY set him off. He steps back and starts to scream obscenities at me, until another guest who had been walking back from the bathroom yells from across the dining room : “Dude, chill the f*ck out, everybody makes mistakes! Don’t be an a**hole!”. Then the boomer lunged at the cool guest and I told him that I would call the police if he didn’t leave. FINALLY, the boomer’s son came in from outside (his family was outside watching this all unfold) to collect his father.
All in a day’s work. –former Redditor
21. You didn’t forget your wallet.
Currently working at a coffee shop. Guy “forgot” his wallet after waiting in line for 4-5 minutes, then got pissed at me when I told him I couldn’t start making his food and drinks until after he paid. He asked me why I was being such a b*tch, so I got to tell him to get out and please don’t come back. –CandiedShrimp
22. Just made me smile.
At my restaurant we have a policy of 18% gratuity on parties of 6 or more. If you make a reservation a host or manager will call explaining the policy. People are now getting around it by making 2 reservations like a 4 top and 2 top but request to be near each other. With covid restrictions we can only have 4 at a table.
Last night one of these tables came in so the servers devised a plan. If they want to be treated like a separate party then they’ll get separate service. When one table was getting appetizers the other was getting their drinks. When one was ready to order dinner the other was getting their appetizer order and so on. Eventually they started complaining why their friends are getting their entrees and they just order theirs. The servers explained that since it’s 2 different reservations why would it all need to be done like if it was one.
Of course they stiffed on a $400+ meal because that was their plan all along. It’s been a long 9 months with covid and this just made me smile. –freederp
23. Jim doesn’t own the restaurant.
I find it hilarious when some customers who are feeling lucky try to get top class service because they play “i know the owners card ” (which isn’t too unlikely as the owners are two brothers who are very well known in our community and local area.) However, people who actually know them dont say anything about it, but its amazing how I’ve caught people in flat out lies. One guy came to me and asked “Is Jim still the owner here? He always gave me free drinks”. I played along for a bit, asking how he knew “Jim” before finally saying “sorry sir, no Jim has ever owned the place, X and Y built the place and have owned it since then, but nice try.” The mortification on his face as he mumbled sorry and ran back to his table. –cooljoker1945
24. Don’t tell me how to run my restaurant.
My General Manager is pregnant, and she don’t put up with NOBODY’S shit.
A couple weeks ago, during brunch, a 20-top called in, asking for a table on our patio, our most coveted space. She replied, nicely and professionally, that she could not accommodate them on such short notice. While we accept walk-ins and call-ins, we recommend reservations for parties of eight or larger, and it’s rare that we can accommodate parties of such vast size, especially during the current state of affairs.
Well. That was certainly not good enough for the large group of morons who thought they could just walk into any restaurant during a fucking pandemic. This was no way to run a business! they told her.
But our GM, our fierce, heavily pregnant, but never-the-less professional GM, told them, “don’t you fucking dare tell me how to run my restaurant,” before forcefully hanging up the phone.
She is a source of pride for me, and I am so grateful she is my boss. –forreal_dude
25. Enjoy the raw egg.
My mom was an overnight manager at a truck stop. She regularly had to deal with drunks and the obnoxious Sunday morning crowd.
There was a man that can in every Sunday morning,, very early. No sooner than his order would hit the window he would start yelling loudly, “is it done yet, where’s my food” and other rude things. The staff cringed when he walked in.
My mom had enough. This particular Sunday, after a very rough Saturday night full of drunks, this man walks in with his usual crew and sits at his usual table. Just like clock work he started yelling as soon as his ticket hit the window. Mom threw a biscuit on the plate, added a piece of cheese, raw sausage patty, then cracked an egg and added the top part of the biscuit. She took him his order personally, slammed the plate down in front of him and calmly asked him if he wanted his food now or if he wanted it cooked.
He never yelled after that day. He became one of the nicest and best tipping customers. –215Tina
