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Wedding Etiquette Forum

s/o poll--ridiculous experiences waiting tables

What kind of crap did you put up with while waiting tables?I worked at a 50's style diner all through high school and summers I was home from college.  Some of my worst customers were regulars.One guy would always order his meal to go, and always paid with a $10 bill.  After he had paid and left, he'd wait a minute, come back in, flag someone down who wasn't the person who he paid, and say that he had been given change for a $10 when he paid with a $20.  I caught on.  I "hid" and waited to catch him, and then popped out and said, "no, he paid with a $10.  Open the cash register, I marked the bill he paid with with a red X."  Then I warned everyone else about his stunt and to watch him.One family always came in after church and would show up before we opened and bang on the door.  The guy would always pay with a $100 bill after every single week we told him we didn't have change for a $100 when we opened the registers with only $50 in each of them, and the manager would make change from her own wallet.  The father would order one fewer drinks than the number of people in the family, and then tell someone other than his server that his server had forgotten a drink to get out of paying for it.  One time the mom ordered a hot dog for her young son, and then changed her mind and decided she wanted to feed him a grilled cheese instead (probably because she saw that it was cheaper).  She asked me to change the order if it wasn't too late, but their food was already ready.  I brought it out to her, and she said, "oh,I said no mustard.  Take it back and just bring out the grilled cheese."  Meanwhile, her son was saying, "no mama, you said mustard and ketchup."  Yes, she sure did.  Your mom is a liar, little boy.  And you all just got out of church.  Awesome.
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Re: s/o poll--ridiculous experiences waiting tables

  • I have never waited tables. Often times I feel like I'm the only person in the world who did not have that job.
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  • Salt -- I never have either.  Only thing close was a summer at a coffee shop, and the only thing that happened there was good -- my favorite hockey player came in so I got his autograph.
  • It wasnt waiting tables but when I worked at starbucks a woman came in wanting to buy a container of the tazo chai syrup, and we were all out. She threw a HUGE fit because she had driven into town specifically for that reason, so she demanded to see the manager when we wouldnt fix the issue (hard to fix when its out of stock). The manager tells her that there is a grocery store in town that sells it and she can get it there if she really wants it that bad...She refused and proceeded to stand at the bar bugging the barista to fill a cup with chai syrup so she could take it home with her.
  • You probably like people a lot better than I do, too.  I swear waiting tables is the reason I think people suck.
  • The diaper incident was one of many tales I have.  I was a server for a good long while, and then a bartender for an even longer while.  The bar stories get really good. I worked at a bar that was at the end of the St. Patrick's Day parade route.  People in Baton Rouge make a huge deal of this parade and there are tons of people that come out for it.  So the bar where I worked was packed and slammed.  Some dude ordered drinks, paid with a 20, and I gave him change.  Then he said he paid with a 100 dollar bill.  I freaked because we were so busy that I couldn't actually remember what he paid with and gave him the benefit of the doubt.  I got the correct amount of change together, gave it to him and he looks at me and goes, "Just fuuckin with ya."  I took his drinks that were still sitting on the bar, dumped them in the trash and told him to go elsewhere.
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  • I never did either Salt.  People get crazy when dealing with food, I know I'm not patient enough, and probably would do horrible with tips.
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  • I never ever waited on tables but I have been a cocktail waitress for a few extra bucks. That was mostly inappropriate comments and gestures though. I have a lot of respect for you ladies who take your job seriously as a waitress and do it with suck class. My bad experiences with wait staff range from eye rolls when I ask for something, never bringing something (including food), slamming things on the table, talking to other staff instead of serving me and talking loudly in the bathroom about their tables.
  • Haha nope. In general I can't stand/have absolutely no patience for people. Hence why I never waited tables. I never would have gotten a decent tip.
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  • I haven't waited tables, but I have worked in varying pieces of customer service for the last 10 years.  I more or less want to stab myself in the face most days.
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  • For every server who's rude, there are 10 people who have no idea how to eat out in a restaurant and treat wait staff civilly.  I think there are more rude people than rude servers. 
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    Whatever you hatters be hattin. -Tay Prince
  • Oh, I had a lot of these.  I loved when smokers would blow their smoke in my face while the ordered.  And I used to be a full time smoker when I served!I also love when you get to a table and you cannot even say "Hello, how is everyone tonight?"  BEcause they cut you off and say "ICED TEA!!"  I would always say it anyway, and then be like, "Can I get you something to drink tonight?" 

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  • I waitressed for about 6 years on and off, but the story that irks me the most: It was a busy Friday night and I ended up with a table of 10 teenage girls - probably about 13 or 14. I took their drink order and they all said they wanted water. Ok, so I bring out 8 full glasses and a pitcher. They drank it all and decided that it would be a good idea to make a "pyramid" with their water glasses. This included grabbing enpty glasses off of empty tables surrounding them. Just as I turned the corner, I saw all the f'ing glassing come crashing to the floor. All 22 of them. All of which I had to clean up. Then they paid their bill in all small bills and small change and left me a $2 tip. I was p!ssed.
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  • One of my worst experiences was not with guests but with management. I worked at the only restaurant in the DSM airport. The management refused to schedule more than 2 people a shift. So our entire staff consisted of 1 bartender, 1 cook, and 2 waitresses. This meant when flights were cancelled we had about 150 people in the restaurant with only 2 of us to host, wait, run food, and bus tables. It was CHAOS! Since we didn't have a host, people would just sit down, and then get pissed when I didn't realize they'd been sitting in the back corner for 20 minutes because I had 15 other tables to worry about, 15 other food orders to run, etc. But on the flipside- I got to meet Dan Marino, and got his autograph. He's DH's hero so he was super happy :)
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  • Mandy, I used to do the same thing.  Like, slow down, you're in a restaurant and obviously here to enjoy yourself.  I asked how you were, not what you wanted to drink.  That's next on the list.
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  • Families were always the worst.  I regularly had to clean up tables that looked like they got hit by a tornado.  Crayon bits would be ground into the carpet, crumbs everywhere, and the table was a sticky mess.  The tips from those tables were usually less than 10%.  Ugh.  I HATED serving families.  I highly doubt they'd be happy if someone left a mess like that in THEIR house.But it wasn't always the customers.  At my very first job as a hostess, another hostess was stealing tips off the servers tables.  I had no idea this was going on until I was called into the manager's office and accused of stealing the tips, and telling me that I needed to confess or I'd get fired.I quit on the spot. I've never stolen anything in my life, and didn't appreciate being accused without proof. Guess what? After I left, tips were STILL disappearing off tables. Yeah, I got a call later that night asking me to come back. I told her to shove it and then called to complain to the regional manager.
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  • I have never been a server either.  My best guy friend who, by the way, is one the rudest most self absorbed people ever (I can say this because I love him) told me that I "didn't care enough about people to be a server." 
  • Worked in a cafe (closest I have to waiting tables) and a guy came in around Christmas, ordered a cappuccino and then flipped out when it was mostly foam. An authentic cappuccino IS mostly foam. The barista offered to make him another drink more like what he wanted (which was a latte) and instead he threw the cup into the trash and walked toward the door. The poor barista STILL tried to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and called after him "I'm sorry! Merry Christmas!" in this sad little voice. D-bag turns around and runs right up to her face and SCREAMS at her "HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME?!?" She wasn't mocking- she was totally sincere. We had to let her take a break early because was in hysterics.
  • I can not believe all these stories. People really can't be this rude. Even the little things like people cutting you off when you are saying hello. That is just terrible. I don't get it. How come I always am pleasant and use my pleases and thank yous and I still get treated bad. I must be a magnet for bad restaurant karma. I am telling you, even just last night I ordered a beer. She brought the wrong one, I just let her know. She rolled her eyes. When she brought me the new one I thanked her and for the rest of the night she only asked my husband if he wanted stuff, not me.
  • I also had a lady freak out on my after I refused to serve her anymore martinis. I had already served her 10 after her being there only an hour and her not eating anything. My manager was a diick and told me to keep serving her, but I was uncomfortable doing so, so he made me leave and gave the table to a different server.
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  • About cutting someone off when they're speaking...at my last job the business had a really long name so people who were in a hurry would cut me off mid-greeting. It was so annoying! Have some respect and let me finish the damn sentence. At first I would stop but then I said screw it, these people can wait to talk to me until I'm done with my greeting.
  • Oh, another favorite memory. I was working a random Tuesday night (usually slow), so there was only one other server for the entire floor, plus one line cook.  A bus pulls in with about 80 people on it.  I had one woman yelling at me about how long it was taking to get service.  Hello? I just got slammed with 40 people at once... which you KNOW because you were on the same damn bus. I think I got $3 off that table... biitches.I do have a few random good stories though.  One table of two older guys saw once how busy I was, and told me how much they appreciated the service.  They gave me a $20 tip, when their bill wasn't more than $30. 
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  • I was never a waitress, only a hostess.  I was once in the hospital for 4 days with a kidney infection.  I got out on a Wednesday and was scheduled to work a double the very next day.  I went into the day shift thinking they'd let me off for the night shift because HELLO - I have zero energy and am in serious pain.  Nope, they didn't let me out of the second shift.  During the dinner rush I got taken outside and yelled at because I seemed tired and unhappy.  WTF do you expect?  I told him to F off and never came back. 
  • Oh man that bus thing sounds horrible. I hate when you get to a rest stop and see three tours buses there. I always make Mike leave but I truly truly pity those poor people behind the counter :(
  • My FIL is the worst restaurant customer ever.  He automatically treats all servers like they are complete idiots and always finds something to complain about.  I HATE going out to eat with him.  It's so embarrassing.  I always make an attempt to be super polite to people, and it just boggles my mind.
  • berryholly, you should have your FIL watch "waiting" and see if he still acts that way.
  • I have a few good stories, too.I walked to work.  It was no big deal, I literally lived just a couple blocks away.  The mayor of our town also lived on my way to work, and he'd always pick me up and give me a ride if I was walking by.  His son was one of the "popular" boys in school, and he never talked to me much, but he'd also stop and offer me rides to and from work.I had several customers who knew all the wait staff's names, they'd ask us about school, how our soccer game/track meet/ chorus rehearsals went, etc.  The furniture galleries would always send their customers to us, many of whom traveled across the country just to buy furniture in our town, and they always tipped well.  This one guy was a business owner in town.  He had moved there from Brazil.  He was the nicest guy ever, he'd talk and laugh with us for two hours if we were slow, and it wasn't uncommon for him to leave a $20 tip on an $8 lunch.
  • I used to work at Sonic. I can say that customer's expectation of privacy in their cars is entirely too high. I have seen various sex acts being committed while delivering food to cars. Also, there was a guy who used to stalk a friend of mine and was notorious for showing up with no pants, which you couldn't tell until you got to his car, of course. One morning an old man opened his door instead of his window so I could give him his food, and his crack pipe rolled out, under his truck. He asked me to pick it up for him. No thanks!! On the bright side, we used to fight over one of our friends when he was drunk, because he would order many times in a night and tip $10-$20 per order. We also used to fight over who got to serve the Pentacostal preacher and his family on Wednesday night after services. Basically the whole church would come to Sonic for ice cream, but he was famous for $50 or larger tips, even if we were slammed and running behind.
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  • We have a doctor that is affiliated with my work.  When he goes to various conferences and after work programs at restaurants he makes the servers do EVERYTHING for him.  Including put his sugar and cream in his coffee and stir it for him.  He's an a$$.  The programs are free for us to attend. 
  • I've never waited tables, either.  I'd be the one to mess up orders because I got flustered, or get upset with a customer because of a story like heels', or be hysterical because someone yelled at me. It wouldn't build my character; it would destroy it! :)I admire people who do it, and we make a concerted effort to be the exceptional customers. We've sent dishes back, but I always feel bad about it. I ordered something the other day, and after one bite, I knew there was no way I could eat it - it was too, too too rich and garlicky (and there was lettuce on it, but I could deal with that).  The waiter noticed when he was packaging up my soup and I didn't want that to go, and I explained it was just too rich and that I was sorry but I couldn't eat it.  The manager came over and apologized, and took it off the bill, but I felt just awful - I didn't want that, and didn't expect that. It wasn't their fault.  We tipped based on the bill with the item on there (at 20%), plus additional.I try to pick up our table, if I can  - stack the stuff when possible, put it within arm's reach, etc. Now, we DID have a biatch server once, when it was J, one of his friends, and me having dinner at a bar.  I was on the outside of the booth, beside J. All through dinner, the server asked about drink refills, etc for them - and never me (my glass was 3/4 empty)  even when theirs was just a little empty, she'd refill, reaching ACROSS me. We asked for a to-go box for my sandwich, she forgot it. She finally asked me if I wanted anything, and I asked for a strawberry TEA in a to-go glass.  She brought me a strawberry lemonade.  But the boys got mighty fine service.
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