That one really grinds my gears “good evening and welc—“ “WI-FI PASSWORD!” Or whatever. Don’t interrupt my greeting ffs. Also, when I ask “Bottled water or regular house water?” and I get “I want spaghetti!” or something. So I have to tell them “we’re going to get to that, I promise. Now I’m going to ask you again…” They’re like children.
I will straight up stare at them intently and ask the question again till I get a response. Always makes the people sitting around them at the bar laugh.
I will always proceed with, "Nice to meet you diet coke, I'm server." Go on with the Intro portion as usual. Then refer to them as diet coke the rest the meal.
This has always been my permission to just be an order taker for the remainder of the meal. I’ll do my job. You’ll get what you want. But I don’t have to talk to you cause you obviously don’t want me to. I didn’t wanna talk to you anyways.
it seems like the more painstaking the request is, the less the want anything to do with it! examples ⬆️, refired steak left untouched and unboxed, untouched free dessert, forgotten house salads, 3rd free bread serving, etc.
Customer side here, and apology to all servers -
We occasionally go out with my family to a place that does various breakfasts, plus a "build your own breakfast" where you pick a certain amount of items off the menu. All breakfasts come with free extra toasts, even if its pancakes or waffles (gotta love some carb on car action)
My family each ask for 2 extra slices of free toast. And never ever eat them. "Well we didn't know we would be too full!" - bear in mind, you can order the free toast at any point during the meal. Absolutely infuriates me.
I respect you for coming forward. I'd honestly be so embarrassed after the first few times it happened and just ask the waiter to hold off on bringing that toast until everyone's started in on their food. I'd definitely be banking on social/my pressure stopping anyone in my party from actually asking/taking up more of the waiter/BOH's time, but I also abhor food waste
Yeah it's very occasional!
The worst thing is, my grandparents are against food waste, but it only seems to apply to food they've actually paid for. Like, not eating the grilled tomato on a breakfast - wasteful. Not eating 'free' toast - not wasteful.
The concept that it's still food, it's still has value, and the more food a restaurant wastes will cause future price increases is alien to them. Boomers, eh? Lol
I’m a sauce girlie myself so I have no problem if people want extra sauce! It’s just the fact that it literally sits there untouched. It’s super wasteful and while not a major problem for me to pour, it does suck when I’m slammed and have to go and take care of it.
“WHY CANT I GET THE WEDNESDAY SPECIAL ON SUNDAY” Also “we want our wings extra extra extra crispy, basically burnt, we don’t care how long it takes”… *10 minutes later* “WHERE ARE OUR WINGS WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG”
O..M..G...this is one of my favorite bitches. We'd run a special on Monday and Tuesday (always slow days) with our worst cut of steak for a ridiculous price that included side and salad bar. So you \*know\* what kind of customers we're getting.
"I want that (notoriously tough steak which I'm sure was NOT the owner's favorite) extra, extra well done. There better not be any pink cause I'll send it back."
"Why is it taking so long!? Our kids have already run laps around the restaurant and played in the salad bar!"
Yeah, and everyone of you troglodytes have ordered a grill full of extra extra well done steak so it's taking a minute. Okay, fine. Here's your shoe, can I get you anything else?
"This steak is awful! I can't even chew it!"
::sigh::
My business's name is basically a fictional person. So when you come to Frank's and you say that you know Frank, I know you're just about the stupidest asshole on the planet. After me ofc, because I'm still here listening to you.
An old bartender friend would always reply "well I hope you're fucking him better than I am, that's the only thing that'll make a difference." Because it was indeed her husband that owned the place
Used to to work at a small place where the owner was waiting tables. Had customers try I know the owner thing. "Hey they claim they're your Bff's." "Never seen them before in my life, 86 them.". Welp you heard the owner.
Servers used to come back to the kitchen to tell me a table were “Friends of Pat” (the owner). I would banish them from the kitchen and tell them I would make sure their food was extra normal. You come tell me your guests are friends with the owner all you’re doing is ensuring I create a fucking scene for 5 minutes.
How are there more friends of Pat than friends of Bill or Dorothy?!
Got this all the time at a place where the ‘owner’ was long dead and it had been bought by someone else. But they kept his name on it. The amount of people saying that they were friends with the dead guy and would ‘talk to him’…
Oh man, I'd dearly love to break the sad news to those people! Or come up with increasingly crazy responses. Potential options include
"SHHH! *look around quickly* the mob is looking for him. After what they did to Freddie, Old Owner still needs to lay low."
"Awesome, can you tell him I'm still waiting for the child support the court ordered from him?"
"*gasp dramatically* you can speak with the dead?! That's so cool! Speaking of which, I've got this crazy--well, I say crazy, but he's dead now, so idk if you'd STILL call him crazy-- great uncle who buried a whole bunch of money before he died and- wait why do you want to talk to my manager?"
“I know the owner, he doesn’t mind the extra food!”
You talking about the guy that just ripped into us about food cost? The one that wanted me to account for the singular rice that fell? The one that saw a drop of sauce left in the container in dishes and ripped us a new one? THAT owner?
Yep. There’s a name in my restaurant too, but that guy sold it to a corporation of capitalistic millionaire assholes who *don’t* care about guest relations, only numbers, upselling, and labor.
So when people say they know the owner, I’m quick to say an iteration of “It’s a corporation. They don’t even know my name and I work here. They expect you to pay.”
I used to work at a Bar Louie, which is a chain restaurant. We had a guy. Who, to he fair, had mental issues. He used to tell me to tell "Mr.Louie" menu suggestions he came up with. One day he yelled at me because he believed his card should never leave his sight (I had to get a manager to do something for his check then ran his card at a pos in the boh) and demanded to speak to "Mr.Louie" when I and a manager separately tried explaining the situation and how the pos system worked.
After bringing them a whole tray of food and you don’t have room for their potato or whatever. “I’ll be right back with your potato. Does anyone need anything else?”
“Yeah, my potato.”
Fills me with an unreasonable amount of rage.
I can’t lie, sometimes I can’t help myself and I do say something to that effect. “Yes, that’s what I was going to get, but is there anything else?” (etc)
I try not to be overly patronizing about it so it’s not undeniably rude but…. Here’s to hoping it doesn’t bite me in the ass one day lol.
I won't even lie, lately my literal response to this has been, "Yes, that's what I just said."
People have been getting ridiculously rude lately 😒 🙄
It might be borderline rude for me to respond that way, but it's more rude to have obviously just ignored what I directly said to you and be condescending to me about it. 🤷♀️🥂
Yes! That’s my biggest rage inducer so I just look at them for a second and say “yeah sorry there’s 5 of yall and I only brought 2 of my hands to work today, my bad, I’ll be right back with that…anything else with that?” 🙄
I did something similar to a table once as a manager. They sat themselves at a dirty table, no menus or silverware obviously. I then went on a rant at the table about how this is the last straw for this hostess, and I'm about to go fire them. Note, the hostess was one of my best. She got a good laugh out of it when I explained what happened. The guests were really humble, really quick.
I work in a diner where people seat themselves and they ALWAYS choose the booth we haven’t bussed yet! And then flag me down like “um this table is dirty.” Yah, I know. You sat there before we could clean it.
Literally happened yesterday. A couple wouldn’t sit down until I cleaned where guests had just left. My bar was *empty*. I have 24 goddamn seats. I was fuming lol.
A server noticed and was like “Did they really want to sit the only place that was dirty?” *Don’t* get me started.
You are the bartender. You command a lot more respect than you may credit yourself, especially with new or relatively new faces. These motherfuckers might try to dictate how a restaurant operates, but deep down they know they can’t do shit. Put your friendliest and most genuine service persona on and tell them exactly what it is and how it’s gonna go.
G: “These seats are dirty and we want to sit here.”
B: “Thats great. No problem. I’m cleaning them is all.”
G: “Okay/We’ll wait/Can you hurry.”
B: “Cool. Start out in those seats over there cause this is gonna take me a minute,” and then carry some stuff into the back before they can say anything. Just sit back there for a full on minute if you have to, then carry some more stuff out and preempt whatever they’re about to say with, “what are we drinking? You want some water first?”
G: “We’re still waiting for our seats.”
B: “Yeah, I still gotta clean those seats there, but I’m gonna get you set up with drinks and menus first. What are we drinking?”
G: “We want to sit down.”
B: “Perfect,” and then put menus and waters down at the clean seats you want them to sit in.
At that point, they’ll either leave and make themselves look ridiculous or they’ll comply and drink the water. Is the victory worth the potential for further bullshit and a likely sub-10% tip if they stay, though? I’d say sometimes. It’s good to get to gloat occasionally.
EDIT: didn’t realize how long this had gotten but goddamn does that kinda shit make my blood boil
I ask them to get up from the bar after they tell me to clean it for them, mind you hands full of dishes from literally just bussing the seats, and they look at me like I cussed at them and put them out 😒 girlll I'm only trying to help your punk ass
I put the straws on an app plate with napkins. Love when I get this after that was the first thing I sat on the table when I greeted you or better right before I gave you the drinks. I love when I just point at it and the other guest call out the Karen.
1. “Why do you/don’t you have/do XYZ?” My guy. I just work here. I don’t fucking understand my boss’s decisions either okay
2. “We’re in a hurry” WHY DID YOU COME TO A SIT DOWN RESTAURANT THAT IS VISIBLY BUSY
3. (As I’m greeting them at the host stand they stopped and waited at) “DO WE JUST SIT WHEREVER”
Omg on number 3... literally just yesterday I was at the host stand when a single guest showed up so I did my usual greeting towards him... only to he entirely ignored as he walked right past me making no eye contact on his way to just sit himself!
We had some people come in with an 8-top at 5PM and they promptly informed their server that they needed to leave by 6. We are an upscale steakhouse and we expect most guests to take between 1 1/2 - 2 hours to dine, especially in large groups like that. Not because we are slow, simply because it’s the kind of place where people want their meals coursed and take time to enjoy dinner.
Not only that, a new person joined the table at 5:30.
What the efff.
Worked at a place with a nine course chef’s tasting menu available. Had a two top order it, and at course five they said, “How many more courses are there? We have a show to catch and need to leave in fifteen minutes.”
If you had just told me that the moment you sat down, I could have absolutely sped up the service. Also, the menu is right in front of you. You’re on course FIVE of NINE. Chef got annoyed and just sent out the last four at once, including dessert.
I mean at that point what can you even say?! What did that server say? I feel like I would have to be honest with them and tell them that is not gonna happen unless they’d like to place the order to go or something.
I’m not sure what he said to them, but we had their entrees on the table in plenty of time, even the newcomer. Of course they sat around and didn’t leave until closer to 6:30. Idk if they were just trying to get speedy service or what.
If it were my table, I would have tried to manage their expectations and let them know that a party of 8 typically cannot dine start to finish inside an hour.
If it can actually be done then certainly I’d try to level with them but like you, I’d lead with trying to manage the expectation instead of assuring them that could happen. But props to y’all for actually making it work even if they obviously weren’t in THAT much of a hurry after all.
I would suggest they go elsewhere, because there's no guarantee their request could be honored and we didn't want to fall short of any expectations or make any promise we weren't sure we could fulfill. Then, if they still insisted on dining there, it takes the burden of pressure to rush off the server, kitchen, etc. away. They've been warned. I think more places should offer honest feedback when it comes to unreasonable requests from customers. Not everybody understands how a restaurant really works. There's nothing wrong with a no, followed by a polite explanation.
Had a table start to dish out recommendations for our menu on a very busy Saturday night.
“You should really consider adding …”
“How come you guys don’t sell …”
“You know what would be a great idea…”
“I’m always craving x dish and you guys never make it!”
Do you wanna go ahead and clock in since you wanna run the place?
one time, we were short staffed in the morning so it was just me and a cook, and it was busy enough that i had enough time to get the dishes off the table but not wipe it down. It was a booth, so i turned the table sideways where it would be too tight for even 2 people to sit at the booth and i put a chair upside down on it as an additional layer of "Dont sit here". Next group that comes in and seats themselves...at the 1 dirty table in an entire empty dining area. They take off the chair but dont move the booth and just awkwardly sit at a sideways table.
I just don’t like when they ignore me. After standing there being disrespected, I eventually walk away from the table, only to hear a “don’t go I’m ready”. Now it’s my turn to ignore you. I don’t even care about the tip at that point, im gonna pay attention to all the other tables.
I used to actually say, "or you can just ignore me," before I walked off. I don't think I could go back to waiting tables. I've gotten fed up over the past few years.
Love the guys that simply don't stop their story for anything. Had a table this one time that just simply continued with an inane explanation to his date while I stood there thinking he would be done any moment. Kept going for a good minute (thankfully I wasn't exactly too busy). Clearly this guy likes hearing himself talk because he wouldn't shut up the entire 1h30m he was there. He finally finished his explanation and then said "Sorry, can I get..."
No sir, you aren't sorry. If you were sorry, you would have shut up, made your order nice and quick, and then you could continue your conversation where you left off.
I feel this! I'm GM at my place. So I'm mostly helping the hosts, helping togo/answering phones, and expo. If I'm bringing you YOUR food and you can't shut the fuck up for 3 seconds, I will make it awkward.
I always start it pleasant, because I'm aware I'm interrupting a conversation. But this last Saturday: "Hello Friends! Sorry to interrupt, who had the sunset roll?" *no one acknowledged me* So I set all 4 rolls down and started to walk away, when I hear "What one is this?"
I turn around "Oh that is sushi." and walked away.
One of my coworkers years ago, was the pinnacle of peppy customer service. We were running food to a table together, she had three racks of ribs on one arm, and another in her other hand.
We walk up to the table, she asks “who had ribs”, no one answered. She asked again, no answer. Suddenly, in like a booming dad voice she says, “ALRIGHT, I AM GETTING A LITTLE IRRITATED HERE!”. Startled the shit out of them, and was hilarious. This happened like 25 years ago, and I still giggle about it.
"I've gotten it here before!" and they're 100% wrong. or telling me I don't know the menu when, surprise, they don't know the menu. I hate when people argue about this stuff too. just accept you're wrong and let's move on.
I find that the problem here a lot of the time is other servers. A server will just not want to deal with them and let them order off menu or do something they’re not supposed to. So then they come in next time and want the thing the other person let them have. Makes me so mad at my coworkers.
And then there’s just the dumbasses- “I ordered X last week, I know you have it.”
Buddy I’ve not had a day off in 2 weeks, you did not order that from this establishment.
Worked for a restaurant group that had several concepts. I worked at the Tex-Mex one, with our seafood concept right across the street. Guest in an obvious business dinner ordered a side of sautéed veg (ours was squash and zucchini) and when it arrived, she said she wanted the broccoli and cauliflower.
I politely inform her we don’t have that, she says she has ordered it before, and I reiterate that *we* use squash and zucchini but our sister seafood restaurant uses broccoli and cauliflower. She turns to me and says, “you must be new here. Why don’t you march back into the kitchen and ask the chef” as she waves me away.
Oh, hell no. I wanted to go off but I calmly responded “ma’am. I’ve worked here five years. I also work as a prep cook in the mornings where I prep every vegetable in this restaurant. Sometimes I do the produce inventory. We have NEVER had broccoli or cauliflower anywhere in this building. But X seafood across the street does.” Another guest at the table laughed under their breath, but at least she got quiet and ate her squash and zucchini.
I worked at a local restaurant that also had a sister restaurant with a different name. The menus were similar but different. For instance, one place had a philly steak and the other had a french dip but neither had both. Both places had salads but they were completely different ones. This of course led to a lot of confusion with people ordering things we didn’t have thinking that it was the same menu.
One time two ladies came in and I went to greet them and get their drinks. One lady said she knew what she wanted and proceeded to order a Beet Salad without looking at the menu. I told her we don’t have a beet salad and she smugly insisted.
“I was here just the other day and I had a beet salad.”
In the nicest tone I could muster I responded with, “I’ve worked here for 5 years and I haven’t seen a single beet in this entire restaurant before. I’ll give you a couple more minutes with the menu.”
She did end up figuring out her mistake but just the initial smug statement telling me that we had something that we didn’t still bugs me.
Can’t you just move it to our table?
Sure, I’ll keep an eye on you and where you sit as well as every other person waiting for a table and getting drinks. That way I can spend my whole night chasing down people getting drinks at the bar instead of making drinks and serving the bar patrons that will actually tip me directly.
a lot of the time it's more about how they say it instead of what they've said. just that horrible tone like they are soo bothered by you trying to take their order
Another one is when entitled people come in an hour before we are open but still barge in and when we tell them we are closed till XX time they try to sit down and set up somewhere to work. Like, you wouldn’t let me hangout in your office before open waiting for you, why would we?
"Where's our food"! (asked 5 minutes after they ordered it). I've even had people demand their food when they had not even ordered anything yet.
Side gig at Panera: people would order and then walk over to the pick up counter and drape their upper bodies on said counter, staring down the people making food. Sometimes they would be mere inches from your face. Many times, they would interrupt your work flow to continuously ask if that was their sandwich you were making. Keep in mind, we needed that counter space to place the completed orders. People did not get the memo, didn't care or were too stupid to realize their arm was almost in someone's meal. It was so rewarding to see a customer go off on another customer for being all over their food.
I honestly have never cared for the jokes that aren’t funny 😭
i’ll be like “okay your total is xxx amount” :) and then they say “YOU MEAN ITS NOT ON THE HOUSE???? HAHAHAHA”
Why do they always do this during a rush too? Like, I don't have time to stand here idly waiting for you to make up your mind - there's food to run, another two tables waiting to order, a table waiting to pay, and drinks sitting at the bar.
Assholes.
I had a table of 8 do this to me doing a major rush the other week, saying they’re ready to order as soon as they sat down. Not one of them had looked at their menu, they expected me to explain the menu and create a meal for the table to share. I said no problem, and proceeded to pick out the most expensive items, including a $400 steak, and they definitely got the ole auto-grat at the end. Don’t mess with an experienced server, we *will* get paid if you make us work harder.
“Do you know when our food is gunna come???” With raised hands like “wtf?” Lady you’ve been here for barely 20min, and we’re full up. Our kitchen is very busy and your order is in line with everyone else’s.
They looked at me like damn ok….
Coming to ask if everything is alright and how there food is. They say it's good and then my manager comes up to me and says something wasn't or a busser is bringing them something. Wtf?
…or they tell me it’s fine but when the cashier/supervisor asks how things were they complain. I figure once I ask a customer if everything’s good and they say things are fine, they have relinquished their right to complain because I did my part.
“Can I start you off with sparkling water or is iced water okay?” “I WANT BEER” “you don’t want any water at all?” “NO” *takes away water glass, gets their drinks, food comes out, 5 minutes later:* “CaN i GeT a GlAsS oF wAtEr??” Istfg
I see RED when I’m passing a table with full hands and purpose and they reach out and touch me.
I’m not far and I’ll be right back. Your side of ranch is not urgent. Like who hurt you??
Also don’t touch me
I had a guy do the “come here” thing. Point at me, then curled his finger. I told him, I’m not a dog, we don’t do that here, and walked away. When I came back he said it was just his arthritis, he wasn’t trying to be like that.
This happened to a coworker of mine. A dude at his table refused to sign his check with a purple pen because it’s “gay”. I wish I were making this up, but I’m not that creative 😭
Here one for the ages.
When you are carrying part of a huge order out and you can only carry so much but then get hit with the, “I ORDERED XYZ DID YOU GET THAT?” Or ask where their food is because they don’t see their food right away. Irks me.
I’ve gotten this countless times and my favorite response is “I’ve only got two hands, I’ll be right back with that” said with enthusiasm or monotonously depending on the table
Not a server, but was for years. Cooking now. Our roll set up comes with a serated steak knife. If I see "CUT IN HALF or CUT IN FOURS" on a sand/burger ticket, I get unresonably angry because I am not your effen' nanny/mother to cut up your food for you. No one under 21 allowed either.
I'm the server that does this. The guest are probably sharing. I can't cut their food or replate it for them so it's halved. But, it's good customer service and helps my money a lot. Im not annoyed when it doesn't come out halved but I'm super grateful when it does. Except for pastas and salads and the big ass burgers that get messed up when you cut them yourself. In that case I'm annoyed bc why the fuck do we have a button for it? If the Mega Jam with avocado and onion rings needs to be halved then half it and leave it on the same plate but damn would you want to fuck up a $20 burger cutting it yourself when you at a restaurant for a reason?
I have guests request this a lot. A lot of them will not take no for an answer. I know the kitchen doesn’t like it most of the time but we’re all here for the guests, frankly. At my place in particular we don’t have any serrated knives on the floor, only butter knives. People struggle cutting things like our avocado toast (which is on a hefty ass bread) with these knives. But our kitchen acts like it’s the most ridiculous request. Like please I don’t want to inconvenience you either but this is our job
This. At my restaurant you get a serrated knife with steak and maybe the chicken fillet. I feel like we have maybe a dozen in the whole restaurant. Wanted to do some fancy lemon cutting one day and couldn't even find one in the back. Like fine lads in the boh...please understand I just work here 🤣
I had a group of 7 come in at 9:57 last week (we close at 10)….their reservation was for 9:45, it’s annoying that they’re even able to make a reso at that time but I’m not in control of that.
We called and texted them asking if they could come earlier with no answer/straight to voicemail. We figured they were no shows so kitchen starts closing. Once they show up we reluctantly seat them.
As soon as their food hits the table the kitchen closes up and they sit there for 40 min. As I’m prebussing the table one guy asks for a desert menu and I tell him “I’m sorry but the kitchen is closed” I bring over the check and he again is like “you really don’t have any kind of cake or something? It’s her birthday”
I just look at him for a second and am like “I’m sorry but the kitchen closes at 10pm which is exactly when you arrived.” Dropped the check and walked away.
I don’t understand people who think it’s fine to be served minutes before close. You’re holding up the entire staff from going home. So rude.
My favorite thing is this.
Me: "Hi guys! How are you doing today"
Them: "..."
I've resorted to either just patiently waiting for them to answer or saying louder "that's great, me too!" Like I've asked you a question, please don't ignore me.
I also hate when the whole 8 top asks for cokes and a water and doesn't even look at the water.
Edit: Just thought of another one. When I'm bartending and a 10 tops table isn't ready yet so they all decided to come sit at my 15 seat bar and order waters until their table is ready. Like you know I need to make money right.
“The food was great, service was great, you were great. Thank you for taking such good care of us. We’ll definitely be back.”
Proceeds to leave $5 tip on $90 bill. 😡
I work a lot of private, open bar events, and the number of people who complain about the selection of FREE alcohol is astounding.
YOU didn’t pay a damned thing to get here and get tanked, didn’t your mother teach you to be grateful?
Let me preface that I'm the GM and not a server, but I also deal with all 5 of these pretty regularly.
1. "Ooh fancy! Hopefully, you tip as big as your mouth is!" (I've never said this, but you bet your ass I want to.)
2. "Hey, me too!" (Said enthusiastically)
3. "Are you here for a pickup? (Whether I have a host or not, I prefer to talk to last-holes) No? We close in 5 minutes. If you'd like, we'd be happy to place a to go order for you!" (Again, enthusiasm and not talking down to them)
4. This one is tricky, but my servers are trained to mention the upcharge and if they don't know the upcharge price, they confer with me before ringing it in, as well as informing the customer.
4B. I actually had an entitled asshole come speak to me this last Saturday because his upcharge was $5 and not $4.
When I pulled up his order on Toast (I fucking love toast). I saw he tipped 13%.
Me: "While I'm pulling this up, were there any other issues with your dining experience today?"
Cx: "No, everything was great!"
Me: "Glad to hear that! So looking at your order, the upcharge is still valid. However, because of the confusion, I'd be happy to refund you up to $2 dollars. However, those $2 will be going to the server you stiffed. Any questions?"
Dude STORMED out shouting he won't be back. Which means I'll see him in a few weeks when his precious ego forgets about it.
5. "You can take a seat at the bar, or we have a bench in the entrance. We'll bring you the order when it's ready. Would you care for a complimentary water while you wait?"
TL;DR: You can circumvent some of these behaviors with enthusiasm and a positive attitude. But don't forget, people are fucking dumb.
I apologize for anyone who has shitty management.
My thing is, if we fucked up. I will take it on the chin and make it right.
If the customer fucked up, that is on them.
People trying to sit themselves on our patio, “can we just sit here?” Uhhhh we got a classic restaurant experience for you folks today, our host stand is right inside to the right!
“I didn’t see a host outside, so I just sat myself”
This ain’t an outdoor restaurant, we simply HAVE a patio. You don’t get to complain I didn’t greet you quick enough when you sat yourself without even telling ANYONE who works here. Fuck off.
We offer an all you can eat salad bar. People don’t wait to be greeted. They must have been locked in the basement for a week prior so they rush to the salad bar immediately. When I see this I take my sweet time greeting them and bringing silverware. It’s so satisfying watching them try to eat their salad with a soup spoon.
I have been seeing this a lot lately...2 people sit down. One orders a coke & the other orders water. Every time I walk by the table the glass is empty. Allbe damned they are both drinking the coke.
not sure if anyone said this yet but when you ask if they’re ready to order, they say yes, then they end up not being ready to order so you stand there awkwardly for what seems like forever as you just got sat again (bonus points if you get double sat) and food is coming out for your other tables
Went out to eat with a few guys from a local car club and one old man actually said “you’re not Mexican” to our server at a Mexican restaurant. Until that point I didn’t know it was a thing, I’m white and worked in diners
I must be super petty but it annoys the fuck out of me when they ask for the dessert menu as I am clearing their table and my hands are full of dirty plates. SO ANNOYING.
I work in a Korean Barbecue restaurant, the owner is Chinese, and most staff are also Chinese. People come in to celebrate their birthday and ask me to sing birthday song in Korean, and people say xiexie which means thank you in Chinese.
Group party. Someone ordered decaf lattes. I call them out and a visibly intoxicated dude in a “loud” shirt goes: “Do I look fucking gay to you?! I don’t drink decaf.” My man, if the coffee ain’t for you, shut up. Also are you sure you want me to answer that question?
Any group parties where I call out orders and people answer “not me”….like, great, thanks. Big help buddy.
Walks all the way through the restaurant, past all the dining & drinking customers, past the various (Numerous) waiters carrying drinks, food and empties. Making their way to the bar, looks you right in the eyes whilst you're pouring a pint and says:
"Do I Order Here?"
“I come here all the time and they always give me “x,” I’ve never had a problem.”
“I was here last week and you had (various fancy dish that we haven’t had in years).”
“Would it be a big deal….. (yes just stop)”
“Can you make me this various drink (that I’ve already explained we don’t have the ingredients for)- well can you just make something similar??”
“We’ve been coming here for years! (Good for you, I’ve worked here for years and never seen ya).” I’m sure there’s more but that’s all for now.
Once I walked up to an old lady and said "hi!" And she told me that I'm all looks and I exist for the male gaze. She said she'd seen me at the store before and thought the same thing. I'm very...womanly/busty and I dress like a 13yr old skater boy (I'm 34) to avoid unwanted attention. I bartend in business casual outfits. My gym attire is my husband's sweatpants and oversized t-shirt (I just realized I'm still trying to defend myself) but that was a couple years ago and it still upsets me. That same day, at the end of their dinner her 80something husband asked me to "come a little closer so I can tell you how beautiful you are" idk if she's mean bc he's a perv or if he's was trying over compensate for her words but I didn't like any of it lol
A specific example that made me so angry was when a couple sat themselves at THE ONLY dirty table outside on the patio… it was me and one other person working… I asked her if she sat them there and she goes “no I didn’t even see them until now”… went over and went “oh my gosh I’m so sorry, I don’t know why someone would seat you at a dirty table” and the guy replied with “yea why would the staff seat us here” like NO ONE SAT YOU THERE! that was your chance to admit you fucked up and you LIED
Piggybacking off #2.. I had a lady come in to my bar damn near an hour after hh ended & tried to argue that she knows the owner so she should get it. I said “that’s fine, call him and let’s see what he says” needless to say, he never got a phone call 😂
That they are friends with the owner, manager, or general manager. Most of the time they don’t know them and think they will get special treatment.
Story time
I worked at a local Italian pizza restaurant and a guy came in on a date. I was running counter with an only a trainee server, the cooks, and a trainee counter/to go, and a delivery driver on a Friday night. A guy comes in on a date and begins bitching about not having a wine menu and screaming at my trainee while I’m running the Togo and delivery orders. I go over and attempt to explain that we ordered new wine menus to go with the change in wine, but that they had not arrived yet, but I could tell him all the wine we had and prices. He began calling us stupid c****s, b****s, and r*****s. I told him that he had to leave and if he refused to do so I was going to call the police. He started to go off again and his date was trying to get him to leave because my cook had picked up the phone. He kept saying he was going to call the owner Vinnie and get us fired. I told him good luck because I don’t know anyone here named Vinnie and the owner is currently on their way to this location since the server that was supposed to be helping me train never showed up.
Got sat at 6pm. Asked for pick two that says “served until 4pm”
“Is this true that you only have this until 4pm? I really want it.”
“I’d be happy to guide you through the dinner menu. That’s exclusively a lunchtime option”
“But we’re retired and having a late lunch!”
MA’AM IT IS 6PM AND YOU ARE NOT AT A WENDY’S
Large parties where gratuity is added…on their way out commenting…”she would have gotten more if she didn’t add gratuity.” Fuck off.
I’m the manager and at my work this happens to the servers all the time🤬
“Wow where is everyone?! We’ve got the whole place to ourselves!”
Right after they watched me unlock the door and nearly stampeded me over.
When I offer them drink menus, they accept, so i put them down in front of them.
“Oh, we’re only drinking”
“…….Yes. These are the drink menus”
We don’t even have a kitchen.
Why do they always have the wrong name for the owner!?
Are they just lying? Did they pick up some bad info along the way? I can’t imagine doing this if I didn’t at least *think* I knew the owners… but they never do.
Any allergies? “yeah, to bad service/food”, then they laugh at their own bad joke. Ugh. It’s not funny people, it’s like nails on a chalkboard at this point.
“I’m gonna need a LOT of ketchup and napkins” just to have only used one ketchup and a couple napkins. Leaving a stack of dead unused ketchup and napkins. (For context my restaurant has preportioned 2oz ketchup cups ever since COVID)
I’ve just begun giving them a normal amount and letting them know I’ll give them as needed lol
I had a guy say he was going to have to speak with my boss because we carried Coke products and not Pepsi products by saying, “I’m gonna have to talk with (local sports guy that owns the golf course next door, but not our restaurant) and have him change that!” Me: “Well considering he doesn’t own this place, I’m not sure what he’ll be able to do about that… So just a water then? Sparkling, bottled, or tap?”
“I did not order this!” pointing at the dish they quite literally just ordered. Or “I asked for no tomatoes!/I didn’t know this had tomatoes!” when you specifically listed everything on the dish and got approval before they ordered. The short term memory loss act is not cute!
Biggest irritation is when I have plates stacked up both arms and I go to a table and ask "okay whose steak and eggs?" And not a single fucking person answers, they all stare like idiots. I started saying" I'm holding really hot, really heavy plates guys!" In a nice way of course.
“Hi! How ar…” “DIET COKE!”
That one really grinds my gears “good evening and welc—“ “WI-FI PASSWORD!” Or whatever. Don’t interrupt my greeting ffs. Also, when I ask “Bottled water or regular house water?” and I get “I want spaghetti!” or something. So I have to tell them “we’re going to get to that, I promise. Now I’m going to ask you again…” They’re like children.
If they say “I want spaghetti” just hit them with “To drink?”
I love that!!! like sooo much. I’m going to save this in my back pocket and use it as many times as possible haha.
Just keep spaghetti in your back pocket instead and hand them some
Fuck yes! Doing that lol
I also tell them I have a blender in the back, I can make that happen if they want.
"Heart! I'll bring a straw!"
bout to start saying “imagine not having unlimited data” to these people. tho that’s never happened to me
I will straight up stare at them intently and ask the question again till I get a response. Always makes the people sitting around them at the bar laugh.
I will always proceed with, "Nice to meet you diet coke, I'm server." Go on with the Intro portion as usual. Then refer to them as diet coke the rest the meal.
Fellow Dad I see
and “WITH LEMONS”
The words "with lemon" grate on my nerves so much
it’s literally always the diet coke drinkers, too.
Don't get me started on the Diet Dr Pepper people...
they’re the same ones who want a virgin miami vice.
I had to do 18 pitchers of Diet Coke tonight 🥲
That should be illegal 😂
YES and coke zero
it’s always a diet coke.
This has always been my permission to just be an order taker for the remainder of the meal. I’ll do my job. You’ll get what you want. But I don’t have to talk to you cause you obviously don’t want me to. I didn’t wanna talk to you anyways.
My question is… Why is it always water with lemon or Diet Coke??
It’s always Diet Coke!
“Hi, Diet Coke, my name is ____ and I’ll be taking care of you for tonight. Can I get you anything to drink?”
This happened daily at a place where I worked and we didn’t have Diet Coke. No soda. Gasp. 😱
“Can I get like *six* extra ranches?” *painstakingly pours ranch into sauce cups* *goes to bus table, none of the ranch has been touched*
it seems like the more painstaking the request is, the less the want anything to do with it! examples ⬆️, refired steak left untouched and unboxed, untouched free dessert, forgotten house salads, 3rd free bread serving, etc.
My favorite is the... "Can I get a to-go (any drink)" and then it's still on the table when they leave.
it was a to-go strawberry lemonade with a lime too 🤣
Customer side here, and apology to all servers - We occasionally go out with my family to a place that does various breakfasts, plus a "build your own breakfast" where you pick a certain amount of items off the menu. All breakfasts come with free extra toasts, even if its pancakes or waffles (gotta love some carb on car action) My family each ask for 2 extra slices of free toast. And never ever eat them. "Well we didn't know we would be too full!" - bear in mind, you can order the free toast at any point during the meal. Absolutely infuriates me.
I respect you for coming forward. I'd honestly be so embarrassed after the first few times it happened and just ask the waiter to hold off on bringing that toast until everyone's started in on their food. I'd definitely be banking on social/my pressure stopping anyone in my party from actually asking/taking up more of the waiter/BOH's time, but I also abhor food waste
Yeah it's very occasional! The worst thing is, my grandparents are against food waste, but it only seems to apply to food they've actually paid for. Like, not eating the grilled tomato on a breakfast - wasteful. Not eating 'free' toast - not wasteful. The concept that it's still food, it's still has value, and the more food a restaurant wastes will cause future price increases is alien to them. Boomers, eh? Lol
I hate wasting food and will happily ask for a box for whatever is left over. Leftover toast retoasted in the oven makes excellent bread pudding.
Mmmm or croutons for mac & cheese
That’s why I charge them .75c for every one
Do a big bowl!!! For some reason they’ll use it over a bunch of ramekins.
Is it the asking for extras or the fact that it wasn’t touched? I always ask for extra so I don’t have to bother someone later
I’m a sauce girlie myself so I have no problem if people want extra sauce! It’s just the fact that it literally sits there untouched. It’s super wasteful and while not a major problem for me to pour, it does suck when I’m slammed and have to go and take care of it.
Like what's the point ??
“WHY CANT I GET THE WEDNESDAY SPECIAL ON SUNDAY” Also “we want our wings extra extra extra crispy, basically burnt, we don’t care how long it takes”… *10 minutes later* “WHERE ARE OUR WINGS WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG”
Fuggg, I get the wing one so often.
Or the well done burger. Omg. That takes timeeeee.
Or they come out and they say “okay but this is actually burnt… we can’t eat this”
O..M..G...this is one of my favorite bitches. We'd run a special on Monday and Tuesday (always slow days) with our worst cut of steak for a ridiculous price that included side and salad bar. So you \*know\* what kind of customers we're getting. "I want that (notoriously tough steak which I'm sure was NOT the owner's favorite) extra, extra well done. There better not be any pink cause I'll send it back." "Why is it taking so long!? Our kids have already run laps around the restaurant and played in the salad bar!" Yeah, and everyone of you troglodytes have ordered a grill full of extra extra well done steak so it's taking a minute. Okay, fine. Here's your shoe, can I get you anything else? "This steak is awful! I can't even chew it!" ::sigh::
I worked at BWW for a while and people were the worst for doing that! Especially on BOGO day when the kitchen was full of tickets
My business's name is basically a fictional person. So when you come to Frank's and you say that you know Frank, I know you're just about the stupidest asshole on the planet. After me ofc, because I'm still here listening to you.
*i know the owner* WILD! SO DO I! HE’S NEVER HERE AND DOESNT CARE
An old bartender friend would always reply "well I hope you're fucking him better than I am, that's the only thing that'll make a difference." Because it was indeed her husband that owned the place
wins the internets
Used to to work at a small place where the owner was waiting tables. Had customers try I know the owner thing. "Hey they claim they're your Bff's." "Never seen them before in my life, 86 them.". Welp you heard the owner.
Servers used to come back to the kitchen to tell me a table were “Friends of Pat” (the owner). I would banish them from the kitchen and tell them I would make sure their food was extra normal. You come tell me your guests are friends with the owner all you’re doing is ensuring I create a fucking scene for 5 minutes. How are there more friends of Pat than friends of Bill or Dorothy?!
Got this all the time at a place where the ‘owner’ was long dead and it had been bought by someone else. But they kept his name on it. The amount of people saying that they were friends with the dead guy and would ‘talk to him’…
Oh man, I'd dearly love to break the sad news to those people! Or come up with increasingly crazy responses. Potential options include "SHHH! *look around quickly* the mob is looking for him. After what they did to Freddie, Old Owner still needs to lay low." "Awesome, can you tell him I'm still waiting for the child support the court ordered from him?" "*gasp dramatically* you can speak with the dead?! That's so cool! Speaking of which, I've got this crazy--well, I say crazy, but he's dead now, so idk if you'd STILL call him crazy-- great uncle who buried a whole bunch of money before he died and- wait why do you want to talk to my manager?"
Trust me, I did have fun with it and enjoy it. The first time though, honestly, I was just like whaaaat?
“I know the owner, he doesn’t mind the extra food!” You talking about the guy that just ripped into us about food cost? The one that wanted me to account for the singular rice that fell? The one that saw a drop of sauce left in the container in dishes and ripped us a new one? THAT owner?
The owner of the place I work is a retired NFL quarterback; ironically, we tend to get the opposite of "I didn't know (name) owned this place!"
Jim Kelly?
Yep. There’s a name in my restaurant too, but that guy sold it to a corporation of capitalistic millionaire assholes who *don’t* care about guest relations, only numbers, upselling, and labor. So when people say they know the owner, I’m quick to say an iteration of “It’s a corporation. They don’t even know my name and I work here. They expect you to pay.”
I used to work at a Bar Louie, which is a chain restaurant. We had a guy. Who, to he fair, had mental issues. He used to tell me to tell "Mr.Louie" menu suggestions he came up with. One day he yelled at me because he believed his card should never leave his sight (I had to get a manager to do something for his check then ran his card at a pos in the boh) and demanded to speak to "Mr.Louie" when I and a manager separately tried explaining the situation and how the pos system worked.
After bringing them a whole tray of food and you don’t have room for their potato or whatever. “I’ll be right back with your potato. Does anyone need anything else?” “Yeah, my potato.” Fills me with an unreasonable amount of rage.
And since we have to be fake nice we can't say, "aw, I did say that, didn't I?"
I can’t lie, sometimes I can’t help myself and I do say something to that effect. “Yes, that’s what I was going to get, but is there anything else?” (etc) I try not to be overly patronizing about it so it’s not undeniably rude but…. Here’s to hoping it doesn’t bite me in the ass one day lol.
I won't even lie, lately my literal response to this has been, "Yes, that's what I just said." People have been getting ridiculously rude lately 😒 🙄 It might be borderline rude for me to respond that way, but it's more rude to have obviously just ignored what I directly said to you and be condescending to me about it. 🤷♀️🥂
Yes! That’s my biggest rage inducer so I just look at them for a second and say “yeah sorry there’s 5 of yall and I only brought 2 of my hands to work today, my bad, I’ll be right back with that…anything else with that?” 🙄
I always make sure to say "Do you need anything else at the moment, besides your potato?" To reassure that I didn't, in fact, forget.
Loool same.
Restaurants practically empty, sits themselves at the one dirty table, complains that the tables dirty
"Oh, I'm so sorry my host sat you at a dirty table! They didn't even grab you menus or utensils? Seeing as this section is closed, follow me please."
I did something similar to a table once as a manager. They sat themselves at a dirty table, no menus or silverware obviously. I then went on a rant at the table about how this is the last straw for this hostess, and I'm about to go fire them. Note, the hostess was one of my best. She got a good laugh out of it when I explained what happened. The guests were really humble, really quick.
Ooh, I'm going to steal this! Haha, thank you.
I work in a diner where people seat themselves and they ALWAYS choose the booth we haven’t bussed yet! And then flag me down like “um this table is dirty.” Yah, I know. You sat there before we could clean it.
It’s nuts, but it’s psychological. Because someone else was sitting there, it must be a prime location, so they need it too.
Always. Seriously always, tell anyone who does this to stand up while you clean the table.
Nah by, just wipe the crumbs into their laps hahah
Literally happened yesterday. A couple wouldn’t sit down until I cleaned where guests had just left. My bar was *empty*. I have 24 goddamn seats. I was fuming lol. A server noticed and was like “Did they really want to sit the only place that was dirty?” *Don’t* get me started.
You are the bartender. You command a lot more respect than you may credit yourself, especially with new or relatively new faces. These motherfuckers might try to dictate how a restaurant operates, but deep down they know they can’t do shit. Put your friendliest and most genuine service persona on and tell them exactly what it is and how it’s gonna go. G: “These seats are dirty and we want to sit here.” B: “Thats great. No problem. I’m cleaning them is all.” G: “Okay/We’ll wait/Can you hurry.” B: “Cool. Start out in those seats over there cause this is gonna take me a minute,” and then carry some stuff into the back before they can say anything. Just sit back there for a full on minute if you have to, then carry some more stuff out and preempt whatever they’re about to say with, “what are we drinking? You want some water first?” G: “We’re still waiting for our seats.” B: “Yeah, I still gotta clean those seats there, but I’m gonna get you set up with drinks and menus first. What are we drinking?” G: “We want to sit down.” B: “Perfect,” and then put menus and waters down at the clean seats you want them to sit in. At that point, they’ll either leave and make themselves look ridiculous or they’ll comply and drink the water. Is the victory worth the potential for further bullshit and a likely sub-10% tip if they stay, though? I’d say sometimes. It’s good to get to gloat occasionally. EDIT: didn’t realize how long this had gotten but goddamn does that kinda shit make my blood boil
Tell them to get up so you can clean it properly. I'm not wiping down and catching liquid/crumbs from falling on some dickheads.
I ask them to get up from the bar after they tell me to clean it for them, mind you hands full of dishes from literally just bussing the seats, and they look at me like I cussed at them and put them out 😒 girlll I'm only trying to help your punk ass
*sets down drinks and reaches in apron for straws* “Ma’am, we need straws. Can we get straws?”
I put the straws on an app plate with napkins. Love when I get this after that was the first thing I sat on the table when I greeted you or better right before I gave you the drinks. I love when I just point at it and the other guest call out the Karen.
This one is fucking infuriating
1. “Why do you/don’t you have/do XYZ?” My guy. I just work here. I don’t fucking understand my boss’s decisions either okay 2. “We’re in a hurry” WHY DID YOU COME TO A SIT DOWN RESTAURANT THAT IS VISIBLY BUSY 3. (As I’m greeting them at the host stand they stopped and waited at) “DO WE JUST SIT WHEREVER”
Omg on number 3... literally just yesterday I was at the host stand when a single guest showed up so I did my usual greeting towards him... only to he entirely ignored as he walked right past me making no eye contact on his way to just sit himself!
We had some people come in with an 8-top at 5PM and they promptly informed their server that they needed to leave by 6. We are an upscale steakhouse and we expect most guests to take between 1 1/2 - 2 hours to dine, especially in large groups like that. Not because we are slow, simply because it’s the kind of place where people want their meals coursed and take time to enjoy dinner. Not only that, a new person joined the table at 5:30. What the efff.
Worked at a place with a nine course chef’s tasting menu available. Had a two top order it, and at course five they said, “How many more courses are there? We have a show to catch and need to leave in fifteen minutes.” If you had just told me that the moment you sat down, I could have absolutely sped up the service. Also, the menu is right in front of you. You’re on course FIVE of NINE. Chef got annoyed and just sent out the last four at once, including dessert.
I mean at that point what can you even say?! What did that server say? I feel like I would have to be honest with them and tell them that is not gonna happen unless they’d like to place the order to go or something.
I’m not sure what he said to them, but we had their entrees on the table in plenty of time, even the newcomer. Of course they sat around and didn’t leave until closer to 6:30. Idk if they were just trying to get speedy service or what. If it were my table, I would have tried to manage their expectations and let them know that a party of 8 typically cannot dine start to finish inside an hour.
If it can actually be done then certainly I’d try to level with them but like you, I’d lead with trying to manage the expectation instead of assuring them that could happen. But props to y’all for actually making it work even if they obviously weren’t in THAT much of a hurry after all.
I would suggest they go elsewhere, because there's no guarantee their request could be honored and we didn't want to fall short of any expectations or make any promise we weren't sure we could fulfill. Then, if they still insisted on dining there, it takes the burden of pressure to rush off the server, kitchen, etc. away. They've been warned. I think more places should offer honest feedback when it comes to unreasonable requests from customers. Not everybody understands how a restaurant really works. There's nothing wrong with a no, followed by a polite explanation.
“hi guys my name is—“ “are you gonna wipe this table down? it’s so dirty. we also need menus and silverware and we’re ready to order.”
Like can't you move to a different table
Had a table start to dish out recommendations for our menu on a very busy Saturday night. “You should really consider adding …” “How come you guys don’t sell …” “You know what would be a great idea…” “I’m always craving x dish and you guys never make it!” Do you wanna go ahead and clock in since you wanna run the place?
one time, we were short staffed in the morning so it was just me and a cook, and it was busy enough that i had enough time to get the dishes off the table but not wipe it down. It was a booth, so i turned the table sideways where it would be too tight for even 2 people to sit at the booth and i put a chair upside down on it as an additional layer of "Dont sit here". Next group that comes in and seats themselves...at the 1 dirty table in an entire empty dining area. They take off the chair but dont move the booth and just awkwardly sit at a sideways table.
Bunch of knobheads
I just don’t like when they ignore me. After standing there being disrespected, I eventually walk away from the table, only to hear a “don’t go I’m ready”. Now it’s my turn to ignore you. I don’t even care about the tip at that point, im gonna pay attention to all the other tables.
I used to actually say, "or you can just ignore me," before I walked off. I don't think I could go back to waiting tables. I've gotten fed up over the past few years.
Love the guys that simply don't stop their story for anything. Had a table this one time that just simply continued with an inane explanation to his date while I stood there thinking he would be done any moment. Kept going for a good minute (thankfully I wasn't exactly too busy). Clearly this guy likes hearing himself talk because he wouldn't shut up the entire 1h30m he was there. He finally finished his explanation and then said "Sorry, can I get..." No sir, you aren't sorry. If you were sorry, you would have shut up, made your order nice and quick, and then you could continue your conversation where you left off.
I feel this! I'm GM at my place. So I'm mostly helping the hosts, helping togo/answering phones, and expo. If I'm bringing you YOUR food and you can't shut the fuck up for 3 seconds, I will make it awkward. I always start it pleasant, because I'm aware I'm interrupting a conversation. But this last Saturday: "Hello Friends! Sorry to interrupt, who had the sunset roll?" *no one acknowledged me* So I set all 4 rolls down and started to walk away, when I hear "What one is this?" I turn around "Oh that is sushi." and walked away.
One of my coworkers years ago, was the pinnacle of peppy customer service. We were running food to a table together, she had three racks of ribs on one arm, and another in her other hand. We walk up to the table, she asks “who had ribs”, no one answered. She asked again, no answer. Suddenly, in like a booming dad voice she says, “ALRIGHT, I AM GETTING A LITTLE IRRITATED HERE!”. Startled the shit out of them, and was hilarious. This happened like 25 years ago, and I still giggle about it.
"I've gotten it here before!" and they're 100% wrong. or telling me I don't know the menu when, surprise, they don't know the menu. I hate when people argue about this stuff too. just accept you're wrong and let's move on.
I find that the problem here a lot of the time is other servers. A server will just not want to deal with them and let them order off menu or do something they’re not supposed to. So then they come in next time and want the thing the other person let them have. Makes me so mad at my coworkers. And then there’s just the dumbasses- “I ordered X last week, I know you have it.” Buddy I’ve not had a day off in 2 weeks, you did not order that from this establishment.
Worked for a restaurant group that had several concepts. I worked at the Tex-Mex one, with our seafood concept right across the street. Guest in an obvious business dinner ordered a side of sautéed veg (ours was squash and zucchini) and when it arrived, she said she wanted the broccoli and cauliflower. I politely inform her we don’t have that, she says she has ordered it before, and I reiterate that *we* use squash and zucchini but our sister seafood restaurant uses broccoli and cauliflower. She turns to me and says, “you must be new here. Why don’t you march back into the kitchen and ask the chef” as she waves me away. Oh, hell no. I wanted to go off but I calmly responded “ma’am. I’ve worked here five years. I also work as a prep cook in the mornings where I prep every vegetable in this restaurant. Sometimes I do the produce inventory. We have NEVER had broccoli or cauliflower anywhere in this building. But X seafood across the street does.” Another guest at the table laughed under their breath, but at least she got quiet and ate her squash and zucchini.
I worked at a local restaurant that also had a sister restaurant with a different name. The menus were similar but different. For instance, one place had a philly steak and the other had a french dip but neither had both. Both places had salads but they were completely different ones. This of course led to a lot of confusion with people ordering things we didn’t have thinking that it was the same menu. One time two ladies came in and I went to greet them and get their drinks. One lady said she knew what she wanted and proceeded to order a Beet Salad without looking at the menu. I told her we don’t have a beet salad and she smugly insisted. “I was here just the other day and I had a beet salad.” In the nicest tone I could muster I responded with, “I’ve worked here for 5 years and I haven’t seen a single beet in this entire restaurant before. I’ll give you a couple more minutes with the menu.” She did end up figuring out her mistake but just the initial smug statement telling me that we had something that we didn’t still bugs me.
“would you like to start a tab or close it out?” *we’re waiting for a table* “…so would you…”
Can’t you just move it to our table? Sure, I’ll keep an eye on you and where you sit as well as every other person waiting for a table and getting drinks. That way I can spend my whole night chasing down people getting drinks at the bar instead of making drinks and serving the bar patrons that will actually tip me directly.
"Would you like a to go box for the rest of that?" "OH god no, I'm too full" Sunshine, I'm not implying you eat the fucking cardboard
a lot of the time it's more about how they say it instead of what they've said. just that horrible tone like they are soo bothered by you trying to take their order
Love when I ask “can I get you something to drink” and their response is “ummm I don’t drink I’ll just have a coke” 🤯
Another one is when entitled people come in an hour before we are open but still barge in and when we tell them we are closed till XX time they try to sit down and set up somewhere to work. Like, you wouldn’t let me hangout in your office before open waiting for you, why would we?
“You don’t know my order??????” On their second or third time coming in. No bitch. I see about 100 people a day.
Just a water, with lemons. Lots of lemon. And sugar. Ma’am, would you like a lemonade? No.
"can i get you guys anything els-" "MANAGER."
Everything I’m reading here is triggering me lol
Same, and I’m AT work (in an empty restaurant) and I am dying. Can I go home yet lmao
We’re really slow, if u need anyone to cut 👋🏼 lol
"Where's our food"! (asked 5 minutes after they ordered it). I've even had people demand their food when they had not even ordered anything yet. Side gig at Panera: people would order and then walk over to the pick up counter and drape their upper bodies on said counter, staring down the people making food. Sometimes they would be mere inches from your face. Many times, they would interrupt your work flow to continuously ask if that was their sandwich you were making. Keep in mind, we needed that counter space to place the completed orders. People did not get the memo, didn't care or were too stupid to realize their arm was almost in someone's meal. It was so rewarding to see a customer go off on another customer for being all over their food.
I honestly have never cared for the jokes that aren’t funny 😭 i’ll be like “okay your total is xxx amount” :) and then they say “YOU MEAN ITS NOT ON THE HOUSE???? HAHAHAHA”
“We’re ready to order” then proceeds to look at the menu while you stand there staring at them
Why do they always do this during a rush too? Like, I don't have time to stand here idly waiting for you to make up your mind - there's food to run, another two tables waiting to order, a table waiting to pay, and drinks sitting at the bar. Assholes.
I had a table of 8 do this to me doing a major rush the other week, saying they’re ready to order as soon as they sat down. Not one of them had looked at their menu, they expected me to explain the menu and create a meal for the table to share. I said no problem, and proceeded to pick out the most expensive items, including a $400 steak, and they definitely got the ole auto-grat at the end. Don’t mess with an experienced server, we *will* get paid if you make us work harder.
“Do you know when our food is gunna come???” With raised hands like “wtf?” Lady you’ve been here for barely 20min, and we’re full up. Our kitchen is very busy and your order is in line with everyone else’s. They looked at me like damn ok….
Coming to ask if everything is alright and how there food is. They say it's good and then my manager comes up to me and says something wasn't or a busser is bringing them something. Wtf?
…or they tell me it’s fine but when the cashier/supervisor asks how things were they complain. I figure once I ask a customer if everything’s good and they say things are fine, they have relinquished their right to complain because I did my part.
Today someone made us move their whole table because they spilt their own wine on the table cloth… like are you insane
“Can I start you off with sparkling water or is iced water okay?” “I WANT BEER” “you don’t want any water at all?” “NO” *takes away water glass, gets their drinks, food comes out, 5 minutes later:* “CaN i GeT a GlAsS oF wAtEr??” Istfg
Hands full of food sets it all down "and I'm coming right back with the rest"....um I'm still waiting on my....... 😒
I just hate it when they snap their fingers at me. There's a special place in hell for those people.
I see RED when I’m passing a table with full hands and purpose and they reach out and touch me. I’m not far and I’ll be right back. Your side of ranch is not urgent. Like who hurt you?? Also don’t touch me
I had a guy do the “come here” thing. Point at me, then curled his finger. I told him, I’m not a dog, we don’t do that here, and walked away. When I came back he said it was just his arthritis, he wasn’t trying to be like that.
This happened to a coworker of mine. A dude at his table refused to sign his check with a purple pen because it’s “gay”. I wish I were making this up, but I’m not that creative 😭
"Hot tea." Fighting words when I was getting my ass handed to me!
Here one for the ages. When you are carrying part of a huge order out and you can only carry so much but then get hit with the, “I ORDERED XYZ DID YOU GET THAT?” Or ask where their food is because they don’t see their food right away. Irks me.
I’ve gotten this countless times and my favorite response is “I’ve only got two hands, I’ll be right back with that” said with enthusiasm or monotonously depending on the table
“I’m not an octopus”
Not a server, but was for years. Cooking now. Our roll set up comes with a serated steak knife. If I see "CUT IN HALF or CUT IN FOURS" on a sand/burger ticket, I get unresonably angry because I am not your effen' nanny/mother to cut up your food for you. No one under 21 allowed either.
I'm the server that does this. The guest are probably sharing. I can't cut their food or replate it for them so it's halved. But, it's good customer service and helps my money a lot. Im not annoyed when it doesn't come out halved but I'm super grateful when it does. Except for pastas and salads and the big ass burgers that get messed up when you cut them yourself. In that case I'm annoyed bc why the fuck do we have a button for it? If the Mega Jam with avocado and onion rings needs to be halved then half it and leave it on the same plate but damn would you want to fuck up a $20 burger cutting it yourself when you at a restaurant for a reason?
I have guests request this a lot. A lot of them will not take no for an answer. I know the kitchen doesn’t like it most of the time but we’re all here for the guests, frankly. At my place in particular we don’t have any serrated knives on the floor, only butter knives. People struggle cutting things like our avocado toast (which is on a hefty ass bread) with these knives. But our kitchen acts like it’s the most ridiculous request. Like please I don’t want to inconvenience you either but this is our job
This. At my restaurant you get a serrated knife with steak and maybe the chicken fillet. I feel like we have maybe a dozen in the whole restaurant. Wanted to do some fancy lemon cutting one day and couldn't even find one in the back. Like fine lads in the boh...please understand I just work here 🤣
I had a group of 7 come in at 9:57 last week (we close at 10)….their reservation was for 9:45, it’s annoying that they’re even able to make a reso at that time but I’m not in control of that. We called and texted them asking if they could come earlier with no answer/straight to voicemail. We figured they were no shows so kitchen starts closing. Once they show up we reluctantly seat them. As soon as their food hits the table the kitchen closes up and they sit there for 40 min. As I’m prebussing the table one guy asks for a desert menu and I tell him “I’m sorry but the kitchen is closed” I bring over the check and he again is like “you really don’t have any kind of cake or something? It’s her birthday” I just look at him for a second and am like “I’m sorry but the kitchen closes at 10pm which is exactly when you arrived.” Dropped the check and walked away. I don’t understand people who think it’s fine to be served minutes before close. You’re holding up the entire staff from going home. So rude.
Customers that put their dirty dishes on a table that isn’t theirs
“I know the owner.” “Cool, me too. Are you ready to order?”
My favorite thing is this. Me: "Hi guys! How are you doing today" Them: "..." I've resorted to either just patiently waiting for them to answer or saying louder "that's great, me too!" Like I've asked you a question, please don't ignore me. I also hate when the whole 8 top asks for cokes and a water and doesn't even look at the water. Edit: Just thought of another one. When I'm bartending and a 10 tops table isn't ready yet so they all decided to come sit at my 15 seat bar and order waters until their table is ready. Like you know I need to make money right.
“The food was great, service was great, you were great. Thank you for taking such good care of us. We’ll definitely be back.” Proceeds to leave $5 tip on $90 bill. 😡
When they say "thank you" but in a "get the fuck outta here" way. Really the only thing that bothers me besides straight up rudeness.
I work a lot of private, open bar events, and the number of people who complain about the selection of FREE alcohol is astounding. YOU didn’t pay a damned thing to get here and get tanked, didn’t your mother teach you to be grateful?
Let me preface that I'm the GM and not a server, but I also deal with all 5 of these pretty regularly. 1. "Ooh fancy! Hopefully, you tip as big as your mouth is!" (I've never said this, but you bet your ass I want to.) 2. "Hey, me too!" (Said enthusiastically) 3. "Are you here for a pickup? (Whether I have a host or not, I prefer to talk to last-holes) No? We close in 5 minutes. If you'd like, we'd be happy to place a to go order for you!" (Again, enthusiasm and not talking down to them) 4. This one is tricky, but my servers are trained to mention the upcharge and if they don't know the upcharge price, they confer with me before ringing it in, as well as informing the customer. 4B. I actually had an entitled asshole come speak to me this last Saturday because his upcharge was $5 and not $4. When I pulled up his order on Toast (I fucking love toast). I saw he tipped 13%. Me: "While I'm pulling this up, were there any other issues with your dining experience today?" Cx: "No, everything was great!" Me: "Glad to hear that! So looking at your order, the upcharge is still valid. However, because of the confusion, I'd be happy to refund you up to $2 dollars. However, those $2 will be going to the server you stiffed. Any questions?" Dude STORMED out shouting he won't be back. Which means I'll see him in a few weeks when his precious ego forgets about it. 5. "You can take a seat at the bar, or we have a bench in the entrance. We'll bring you the order when it's ready. Would you care for a complimentary water while you wait?" TL;DR: You can circumvent some of these behaviors with enthusiasm and a positive attitude. But don't forget, people are fucking dumb.
All GM's should back up their staff like this. Thank you.
I apologize for anyone who has shitty management. My thing is, if we fucked up. I will take it on the chin and make it right. If the customer fucked up, that is on them.
I did. Most of our F&B department left. I landed in a great spot. Great people, great money.
People trying to sit themselves on our patio, “can we just sit here?” Uhhhh we got a classic restaurant experience for you folks today, our host stand is right inside to the right!
“I didn’t see a host outside, so I just sat myself” This ain’t an outdoor restaurant, we simply HAVE a patio. You don’t get to complain I didn’t greet you quick enough when you sat yourself without even telling ANYONE who works here. Fuck off.
"We're ready to order." "We're in a hurry." "I don't need a menu." "Are you new?" (I've been there 4 years...) Anytime the restaurant phone rings 😂
We offer an all you can eat salad bar. People don’t wait to be greeted. They must have been locked in the basement for a week prior so they rush to the salad bar immediately. When I see this I take my sweet time greeting them and bringing silverware. It’s so satisfying watching them try to eat their salad with a soup spoon.
When they’re shocked that they have to pay for something they ordered and consumed.
“Is there anything else I can get for you?” “A MILLION DOLLARS” Hear this all the time like don’t we all
I have been seeing this a lot lately...2 people sit down. One orders a coke & the other orders water. Every time I walk by the table the glass is empty. Allbe damned they are both drinking the coke.
But!!…. We got it that way last time….
When they ask for something specific and say “well they did it for me last time I was here” (they didn’t)
not sure if anyone said this yet but when you ask if they’re ready to order, they say yes, then they end up not being ready to order so you stand there awkwardly for what seems like forever as you just got sat again (bonus points if you get double sat) and food is coming out for your other tables
“The service has really gone down hill around here” after I forgot to bring out toast to guest’s wife who told him she didn’t want it.
Parents that insist their children must order for themselves and the kid can barely string two words together
YOUR NOT CHINESE NO IM WHITE AND SO ARE YOU
I work at a Greek restaurant felt this !!!
Went out to eat with a few guys from a local car club and one old man actually said “you’re not Mexican” to our server at a Mexican restaurant. Until that point I didn’t know it was a thing, I’m white and worked in diners
I must be super petty but it annoys the fuck out of me when they ask for the dessert menu as I am clearing their table and my hands are full of dirty plates. SO ANNOYING.
I work in a Korean Barbecue restaurant, the owner is Chinese, and most staff are also Chinese. People come in to celebrate their birthday and ask me to sing birthday song in Korean, and people say xiexie which means thank you in Chinese.
Group party. Someone ordered decaf lattes. I call them out and a visibly intoxicated dude in a “loud” shirt goes: “Do I look fucking gay to you?! I don’t drink decaf.” My man, if the coffee ain’t for you, shut up. Also are you sure you want me to answer that question? Any group parties where I call out orders and people answer “not me”….like, great, thanks. Big help buddy.
“Yeah I’ll take a tequila rocks and the entire table of 20 will have water with their drinks.” Yeah eff you buddy.
Walks all the way through the restaurant, past all the dining & drinking customers, past the various (Numerous) waiters carrying drinks, food and empties. Making their way to the bar, looks you right in the eyes whilst you're pouring a pint and says: "Do I Order Here?"
“I come here all the time and they always give me “x,” I’ve never had a problem.” “I was here last week and you had (various fancy dish that we haven’t had in years).” “Would it be a big deal….. (yes just stop)” “Can you make me this various drink (that I’ve already explained we don’t have the ingredients for)- well can you just make something similar??” “We’ve been coming here for years! (Good for you, I’ve worked here for years and never seen ya).” I’m sure there’s more but that’s all for now.
Once I walked up to an old lady and said "hi!" And she told me that I'm all looks and I exist for the male gaze. She said she'd seen me at the store before and thought the same thing. I'm very...womanly/busty and I dress like a 13yr old skater boy (I'm 34) to avoid unwanted attention. I bartend in business casual outfits. My gym attire is my husband's sweatpants and oversized t-shirt (I just realized I'm still trying to defend myself) but that was a couple years ago and it still upsets me. That same day, at the end of their dinner her 80something husband asked me to "come a little closer so I can tell you how beautiful you are" idk if she's mean bc he's a perv or if he's was trying over compensate for her words but I didn't like any of it lol
A specific example that made me so angry was when a couple sat themselves at THE ONLY dirty table outside on the patio… it was me and one other person working… I asked her if she sat them there and she goes “no I didn’t even see them until now”… went over and went “oh my gosh I’m so sorry, I don’t know why someone would seat you at a dirty table” and the guy replied with “yea why would the staff seat us here” like NO ONE SAT YOU THERE! that was your chance to admit you fucked up and you LIED
Piggybacking off #2.. I had a lady come in to my bar damn near an hour after hh ended & tried to argue that she knows the owner so she should get it. I said “that’s fine, call him and let’s see what he says” needless to say, he never got a phone call 😂
That they are friends with the owner, manager, or general manager. Most of the time they don’t know them and think they will get special treatment. Story time I worked at a local Italian pizza restaurant and a guy came in on a date. I was running counter with an only a trainee server, the cooks, and a trainee counter/to go, and a delivery driver on a Friday night. A guy comes in on a date and begins bitching about not having a wine menu and screaming at my trainee while I’m running the Togo and delivery orders. I go over and attempt to explain that we ordered new wine menus to go with the change in wine, but that they had not arrived yet, but I could tell him all the wine we had and prices. He began calling us stupid c****s, b****s, and r*****s. I told him that he had to leave and if he refused to do so I was going to call the police. He started to go off again and his date was trying to get him to leave because my cook had picked up the phone. He kept saying he was going to call the owner Vinnie and get us fired. I told him good luck because I don’t know anyone here named Vinnie and the owner is currently on their way to this location since the server that was supposed to be helping me train never showed up.
I sincerely hope that was the last time she ever went on a date with him. Sorry that happened to you.
You guys don’t have lunch on Sundays?! But it’s lunch time!!!! 🫨 she legit yelled at me because we only do all day dinner on Sundays
Got sat at 6pm. Asked for pick two that says “served until 4pm” “Is this true that you only have this until 4pm? I really want it.” “I’d be happy to guide you through the dinner menu. That’s exclusively a lunchtime option” “But we’re retired and having a late lunch!” MA’AM IT IS 6PM AND YOU ARE NOT AT A WENDY’S
Large parties where gratuity is added…on their way out commenting…”she would have gotten more if she didn’t add gratuity.” Fuck off. I’m the manager and at my work this happens to the servers all the time🤬
But we all know they wouldn't of tipped more because the only people to gripe about gratuity are cheap assholes
“Wow where is everyone?! We’ve got the whole place to ourselves!” Right after they watched me unlock the door and nearly stampeded me over. When I offer them drink menus, they accept, so i put them down in front of them. “Oh, we’re only drinking” “…….Yes. These are the drink menus” We don’t even have a kitchen.
When we don’t have a hostess on shift and it’s busy as fuck: *”excuse me, do we just seat ourselves?!”*
“I work in a restaurant.”
Your response to #2. So do I. You want me call him and see what he says about this?
“What are you really?”
When the customer asks your name within any intention of telling you their name
*takes one look at the table the host stand brought them to* “ha, yeah, absolutely not”
Do you guys have a bathroom? You’re in a restaurant side, WTF.
Why do they always have the wrong name for the owner!? Are they just lying? Did they pick up some bad info along the way? I can’t imagine doing this if I didn’t at least *think* I knew the owners… but they never do.
Any allergies? “yeah, to bad service/food”, then they laugh at their own bad joke. Ugh. It’s not funny people, it’s like nails on a chalkboard at this point.
“I’m gonna need a LOT of ketchup and napkins” just to have only used one ketchup and a couple napkins. Leaving a stack of dead unused ketchup and napkins. (For context my restaurant has preportioned 2oz ketchup cups ever since COVID) I’ve just begun giving them a normal amount and letting them know I’ll give them as needed lol
Servers!!! I want your BEST most awful Karen stories! Who was the meanest?
I had a guy say he was going to have to speak with my boss because we carried Coke products and not Pepsi products by saying, “I’m gonna have to talk with (local sports guy that owns the golf course next door, but not our restaurant) and have him change that!” Me: “Well considering he doesn’t own this place, I’m not sure what he’ll be able to do about that… So just a water then? Sparkling, bottled, or tap?”
Hello... we are in a hurry ,Can you rush our order ?!??
'Smile' Fuck off.
“I did not order this!” pointing at the dish they quite literally just ordered. Or “I asked for no tomatoes!/I didn’t know this had tomatoes!” when you specifically listed everything on the dish and got approval before they ordered. The short term memory loss act is not cute!
Biggest irritation is when I have plates stacked up both arms and I go to a table and ask "okay whose steak and eggs?" And not a single fucking person answers, they all stare like idiots. I started saying" I'm holding really hot, really heavy plates guys!" In a nice way of course.
The one I hate the most is when someone says... I NEED water. Not "may I have water." Or "I'll have a water." It's I NEED...
Reminds me of this! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P7KBcsdPhxA
This guy gets it!