The first was an enormous (for the small place) party of 16. The family came in at 11:40 (when we closed at quarter to twelve) and were immediately rude, demanding and unorganized. It was apparent the check would be large, the tip little, my side work would wait while i answered their demands and they would try to get at least one thing comp’ed.

After a few sexually suggestive comments from one of the men at the table, having to wrap several left-overs of one or two wings for the entire party, fetch refills continuously because they never requested them at the same time and declined my offer of getting them one while i ran to refill others and fighting to get one woman in particulars attention to clarify her order when it wasn’t remotely on the menu the check finally arrived at $111. I was hoping for five bucks, The service? How I treated everyone, warm, patient and friendly. The man paying the (thankfully) single tab told me the tip was on the table. I noticed they left some of their leftovers so i ran to grab to give it to them in the parking lot noticing they didn’t tip at all. I thanked them for their patronage.

The second stiff came from a group of 12 from I believe India. One at the table spoke English, a male (often Indian men treat women harshly– at least from my experiences) he was no exception. They mostly drank Corona, were loud, disturbing others in the restaurant and had me split the check 12 ways after I had asked them in the first place if they wanted separate checks. They left me two dollars on a combined check of over a hundred. My coworker noticed that the two dollars a table getting coffee next to them didn’t have the two dollars on it anymore. They stole another table’s tip. We split the tip and laughed about it over a drink at the end of our shift.

And a good story too! Serving can be a lot of fin if you get a decent group of people. I had a party come in late before we were about to close. No problem, as long as you order before the kitchen closes (everyone knows kitchen folk get MAD when people order 30 minutes before close, even). It was large, about 10 or so, some ate, some got water and some got cocktails. We joked the whole time, they were from out of town and visiting the area, and the entire table was polite, funny and engaging and treated me with incredible respect. They stayed later than my manager would have liked but they were so nice no one really minded. Their check was only about 70 bucks, they gave my a hundred and eighty for the tab, told me I was a wonderful server and everything was excellent. Even without, my highest percentage tip ever for sure, they would still have been one of my favorite tables.

Submitted by: Bo

I work in one of the most popular restaurants in town, it’s a mexican/american place that has been around for over 50 years.

Weekend nights are always extremely busy for us, and a wait for a table for 2-4 can be over 90 minutes. Parties can be even longer.

So, during the dinner rush, it is pivotal to cycle your tables as much as possible.

A table of four hispanic people gets sat in one of my booths that can easily fit six, but i’m okay with it. They order four waters, but insist that they want to wait to order food.

About 15 minutes later, I look back to see two more people have joined their table. I grab them drinks. It’s okay.

As this is happening, my other two tables (which can comfortably fix six) get up and are cleared. Of course, we’re on a wait so i’m expecting two more tables any moment. I walk away to go talk with some coworkers.

I walk back out, only to see about 10 adults and 5 kids quickly connecting BOTH of my tables into some sort of booth-table fiesta disaster. They managed to cram (somehow) about 12 bodies into my booth and the rest around the tables.

At this point, my manager tells me that I have no choice but to take them.

I busted my ass and gave them great service for this party of TWENTYONE. Margaritas, Chips & Salsa, Kiddie Cocktails, oh they wanted it all.

After dinner, they decided to make my section home for the next couple hours. About thirty minutes after the wait had cleared, they decided to pay their tabs (8 of them).

At this point, I was beyond frustration as everyone else was clamoring on about how much they had made and I was sitting here dealing with THIS.

After collecting all of my tips, I ended up with $17.12. Which I calculated to be about a 5% tip.

Never again.

Submitted by: John

Submitted by: J.J.

I have always hated getting big parties even though you get a better tip but for some reason I couldn’t connect with 8 people in the amount of time to serve them food. Anyways my section for the night was all tables which usually means big parties all night but I didn’t mind I felt good and knew I was going to have a good night.

Toward the end of the night I was sat a family of 6: 2 adults and 4 young children… so I go over and do my thing I introduce my self and start of with asking for drinks. The family looks like they are ran on strict rules because none of the children directly answer me with their choice of beverage. They look to their dad to answer for them. I end up having to get all waters which I have no problem with but I could already tell this will be a hard group to please. Once I return to the table I drop the drinks off and start asking for their food orders. Until out of the corner of my eye I see one of the kids slam their kids cup down on the table thus making the lid pop off and explode everywhere. The father yells and gives me a death glare to where he demands a new one and that I should have made sure the lid was on tightly. Not wanting to point fingers at the kid I apologize and run to get extra napkins and a fresh water. For the moment they seemed appeased. I grab their food orders and bring out their salads… now this is where things become fun.

The father looks toward me and rudely says ”Are their any other choices for salad like maybe Caesar?” I reply with ”yes sir, but it would be a slight up charge?” The man than gets angry and demands to see a manager because he was told any salad we have was unlimited. So I run to fetch a manager who goes over to the table and explains to the man that we are sorry but we do not offer any other salad than the garden for unlimited. The man than decides to pull his order and that he doesn’t want anything else. So I go about my business. By the time the food came out the the father was pissed and wanted to leave. So i brought out there check and swiped their credit card.

I admit: I was frazzled by the dinner rush and than this needy table that I swiped the wrong card and ended up charging a huge amount to their credit card. I returned their receipt to them and was about to walk away when I heard ”this better not be my tab” I turn to see that I had indeed charged wrongly and apologized profusely. It was an easy fix so I told them I would be right back.

Upon my return I saw my manager approach the table and told them she took care of their tab. The man than proceeds to stand up and get in my managers face and yell that he will not take her charity and that he can afford to pay for what they ordered. So that is what he did. No lie this man looked liked he was about to beat the crap about of my manager.
It just goes to say it was a horrible night and was glad that he left promising he would never return. It was a huge mistake on my part but he had no right to take it to that level to where I was afraid for my managers well being. I’v had some pretty bad guests after that but he was the icing to the cake.

Submitted by: Laura

We were all having a great day until a middle aged, grubby looking couple came in. He was about 50, she was about 40, neither had bathed in weeks or so it seemed. Not our regular clientele. My server could handle anyone, so I turned her loose on them and she did a fine job of keeping them in check while being her wonderful self.

The trouble started when one of the 15 year old girls ran food for the table and I witnessed the man reach around the girl and firmly grab her butt. She jumped backwards and ran to the kitchen. I was ringing customers at the register and still had several others waiting to pay. I watch this creep call over the other 15 y.o. girl and ask a question,then he slides his hand across the table to try to rub her thigh. I couldn’t take it anymore. I excused myself from the register and headed for his table.

I ask if everything is alright, they smile and respond ”Oh yes, fine, you have pretty women working here.” I state that some of the girls are students helping out for a school project and I came over to their table because I saw him inappropriately touch both of the girls. He said ” Oh don’t worry about that, I’m harmless.” I said ” Yeah I’m not, the age of consent in the state is 16 years old, both of the girls you groped are 15, and if you touch anyone in this restaurant again I will call the cops and press charges, try me pal. Now eat, pay your bill, leave and don’t come back.”

I did not here a peep out of them for the 20 minutes it took them to eat. They tipped pretty well,(18%) and I haven’t seen them since.

Ladies, never tolerate a person placing their hands on you,ever! If your boss won’t step up, take matters into your own hands and privately speak to the offender. It is still sexual harassment, with laws on the books, even if it is a customer. If you can’t handle this part of the job, work in another field. By letting some jerk get away with this behavior encourages them to subject every service person to their creepiness. Stand up, be professional and explain to them, just because I serve you food, clean your teeth or cut your hair it dose not permit you to disrespect me as a person. I have used this line for 25 years, most people apologize, some have gotten pissed but stopped trying to grab my butt. Try it, it works.

Submitted by: Jaye 

I had a table of 5 who ran me back and forth proudly hand me a dollar, and a 10 top come in just before close and leave me $10 on a $150 ticket. But nothing was worse than my table in the corner. The first lady arrive just before seven, on the phone when I went to greet her, she said she wanted a dry grey Goose martini on the rocks, 4 olives. The bar tender was backed up so I took out a water and told her it would be a few minutes on the martini, she looked at me with a piercing look in her eyes and said ”FAST.” So I took the martini out and she was fine for about an hour, then a 2nd member of her party arrived.

I then offered them salad and got a drink for the second lady. The 1st woman was sobbing all night and making these awful crying noises. The third person finally arrived 30 minutes before close. They complain they do not have menus (because they asked me to get them out of their way when I brought salad.) Finally they are ready to order and the 1st lady tells me she will have fettucine alfredo with her chicken Marsala. I tell her it comes with fettucine Alfredo and she is sure it comes with potatoes.

At this point I don’t even bother showing her where it says fettucine alfredo on the menu and just put the order in. Finally at 10:00 we close and I run the woman’s credit card and everyone seems happy, and I go to close. I notice at 10:30 they are still here and my manager is asking for my credit card receipts. So I go to the table and ask to pick up the book and she goes to sign it. For 10 minutes she sits there with the pen in her hand talking to the other guests.

I finally go back over to the table to pick up the book and she still hasn’t signed it. She gives me a dirty look and I ask her if shed like me to give her another minute and she nods. I give up. She obviously wasn’t going to tip. So now it’s 11 and we have been closed for an hour. My managers goes to the table and politely asks them to leave since we have been closed for an hour and they just make dirty faces to her. Finally after 20 more minutes the manager has to tell them to leave or she will call the cops. They finally leave at 11:30, an hour and a half after close. I go to bus the table and She didn’t even leave the signed credit card receipt in the book.

Submitted by: Alicia 

They had to wait about ten minutes for a seat to open up, and I just knew they were going to be a pain by the vicious look in their eyes. The first thing I said:

”How are you guys today?”

Answer: ”Ice tea and a sprite, put two lemons in the tea and don’t forget some straws because you always do.”

I have never served these people before….

But I do anyways, and the man ordered a steak well-done with three extra sides than the two that came with the meal. The woman had a pasta with a salad.

I explained that the extra sides were 50 cents apiece. He grunted and I assumed he understood.

I bring their food out on a rolling tray because I’m very a small person and couldn’t carry the heavy plates alone.

That’s where I went wrong.

He preceded to insult me for being small, saying that I had the body of a ten year old boy, and he thought I was a boy at first because I had a ”dyke” haircut and that real women are strong women, who could have brought their food out with no trouble.

I was embarrassed, but hey, I’m being paid right?

I hand off their check when finished, and he goes off the deep end because he didn’t grasp how a 2 for $20 meal was $28 dollars. I tried to explain that it cost a bit more with the extras, and the drinks and taxes on top of that, but he wouldnt hear of it. He accused me of cheating them of their money, of not explaining extra charges to him properly, refusing to pay for ”hidden fees”.

I defended myself; I told them I explained very well that the extra sides were a bit more money, and his wife retorted, ”You didn’t say s**t to my husband about paying more for his meal!”

I’m on the verge of a panic attack because I know they would tell my manager I was incompetent, but also furious. I had been nothing but nice to these people. I told them I would call my manager to talk to them directly.

He then told me he refused to pay for the entire meal.

I said that he would have to at least pay for the base meal….

And then… this man spit directly into my face, right across the bridge of my nose and right eye, and shouted that I was the stupidest thing ever.

I ran off and sobbed in the bathroom. Everyone saw what happened, and though they took my side in the situation, I was so mortified and hurt. My manager told me to take the rest of the day off, but it haunted me for the longest time. I have never been treated so less than human in all my life.

Submitted by: Lacey

So I bring those all out and begin to take their order. The mother orders a small, thin crust pizza with light sauce, pepperoni and black olives. I tell her that by getting thin crust and light sauce the pizza will be dryer and there is a chance there can be some bubbles in the crust because of it, she orders it anyways saying that it never happens.

After this she started to complain about multiple things including the temperature, (which even if we did change the thermostat there is no way she would feel a difference by the time she was finished eating) what came on their salads, (which are listed on the menu and I also asked to make sure that’s what they wanted, which she said yes) along with the noise level and the wait time on their meal, which on a busy Saturday night at a family restaurant what do you expect?
So I bring out all of the food and of course, there’s a bubble on the pizza. It was a bite-sized bubble that I figured since she had ordered this pizza and I had warned her, she would be OK with it. WRONG! She refuses to eat it and demands to have another made (which I would have offered if she had given me even a second to respond).

So i have the cooks remake it, have the manager go out and talk to her, give her a discount on the pizza and $5 off her next visit and we box the pizza up to give to her when she leaves.
The remake comes out 7 minutes later and there’s still a small bubble. At this point I’m freaking out. My manager says to have it made again but to take this one out and let her know but ask if this one is alright. She gets furious so I have my manager take it off of the bill completely and then discount the rest of the meal.

The 3rd pizza comes out with no bubbles so I bring that out in a box along with the other 2 pizzas and their check. At this point their table has been pre-bussed aside from 2 cups so I let her know that I’m just going to drop these off in the kitchen and I’ll be right back to grab the check.

15 seconds later the whole family is up at the front counter paying the bill which went from being upwards of $50, down to about $30 because of all of the discounts. She ends up leaving me a $2 tip and left all 3 of the pizzas on the table just to show us that even though they were free and only 1 bite on 2 of the pizzas had a bubble, she would not eat them.

Submitted by:  Jacob

I thought she just had no money left so of course i said, no problem. and as i handed her the receipt she opened another section of her wallet with twenties and five dollar bills. Continued to the other side and got her coffee, riped the straw wrapper off and threw it on the counter.

The whole point is, it’s not a big deal to brake a five dollar bill when and order comes to $3.12. And to see that we don’t make a lot of money and then to take it for yourself. Yes, it was only 12 cents…but that’s still rude. and then to leave your mess on the counter. just because our job is to serve you coffee and to be polite..doesn’t mean we’re your mothers and we are there to pick after you messy uncaring people…and sadly that’s what we have to do. because no one seems to have any respect for anyone these days.

All i can ever think of when things happen like this is….How would they feel if i came into their work and made a mess? took there money? and was so completely rude because i had a horrible day even though you had nothing to do with it? You wouldn’t like it, no one likes it. And being in retail, working at a resturant, coffee or grocery store i give credit to the people that do it. cause it sucks and it takes a lot to deal with.

Submitted by: Steph