I’ve been working at a family pizza restaurant for the past 5 years. I love my job and I’ve had MANY compliments on my service. I am usually very patient with my customers and I always try to get them the best deal for their buck as possible. I’ve been a customer many times so I treat them like I want to be treated.

ANYWAYS, it was lunch time and we have a pizza/salad/pasta buffet at lunch hour. She came in the door and right away, one of my co-workers went over and asked her if it was only for one. She abruptly said yes (in a cold, snappy way). My co-worker carried on to ask if she wanted buffet or a menu. She replied: ’I’m HUNGRY, I don’t want BUFFET’, in an attitude that we should be able to read her mind and not even dare to ask!

Anyway, she sat in my section so my co-worker told me to be careful with this one. I looked quickly over, but she seemed like a nice lady so I figured my co-worker was exaggerating.

I went over to the table with a huge smile and said Hi She said: ’I don’t want buffet!!’ (She was very rude and snappy).

I’m just thinking: I know, that’s why you have a menu lady…

Anyways, I said ok and I asked her if she wanted something to drink while she looked at the menu. She said water so I went over, made her drink and went back to the table. I put her drink down and asked if she decided.

She had the nerve to ask me what was on the buffet (after she practically yelled at me that she didn’t want it), so I started enumerating everything that we served. She asked how much it costs and if their was Cesar salad (which I had JUST mentioned there was…). She was clearly not listening to me. So I told her the buffet was 9.99$ and yes, there’s Cesar salad.

Then she looks at the menu and says: ’Well, if I order a large Cesar salad from the menu, it’s more expensive than the buffet.’

I’m just thinking: I don’t make up the prices, and buffet is always cheaper lady!

So I just said that yes, unfortunately it was more expensive if you order from the menu. So I asked if she changed her mind and wanted to take buffet.. She looked at me as if I had just ruined her LIFE for asking her about the buffet. She practically yelled NO and told me ’I said i wanted to order the Cesar salad from the menu’.

I’m just thinking: You didn’t order anything, you asked me about prices and buffet.. and complained about our ’expensive’ prices. So anyways, I apologize for my ’misunderstanding’ and ask her if she wants anything else with her salad. She asks me if any bread comes with the salad. I start by telling her that no, we don’t serve bread with the salad (she gave me the angriest look ever) BUT that we do have a bread bar she can help herself to. And I pointed to the bread bar which was just in front of her (like 2 metres away). I told her (with a huge smile and in a nice way) that she can serve herself to the bread.

I’m about to walk away, but then she says (snappy and very rude of course): ’Don’t give me soggy Cesar salad from the buffet!!!!!!! Not at the price I’m paying!!’

First of, I would NEVER give a customer a soggy salad or leftover buffet salad… as if! So I told her ’Oh, of course not ma’am, I’m going to make you a fresh one. Won’t be long ’

I rung in the order and made her salad RIGHT AWAY and PERFECT. I didn’t waste any time on her order. So 1 minute later, I bring out her salad, drop it off very carefully on the table and said ’Here you are, Enjoy your meal ’

About a minute later, I go check on her and ask her how her salad is. She says ’What? You guys don’t put anything in your salads? There’s nothing!’

Her salad was FULL of fresh lettuce, croutons, bacon and Parmesan and it looked soooo good. So I asked what she meant by that and how I could improve her salad. She said ’ Well, there’s only bacon and croutons.. were’s the veggies????’

I didn’t know what she meant because I’ve never seen a cesar salad with extra sorts of veggies in it. So I asked her what she wanted added but she denied my offer. I tried to persist but she brushed me off. So, I carried on. If you don’t ask me for anything, you can’t have it your way. I can’t read your mind lady!!!

I didn’t want to bother her for anything else, as she was reading the paper so I was glancing over at her often to see if she was done her meal. I had noticed that for the past 7-ish minutes, she had stopped eating. What kept me from going over to her table was a small piece of bread left uneaten on her plate (the size of a thumb basically). So after those several minutes and the bread untouched, I went over and asked if she was all finished. She SAID yes, so I leaned over to grab her plate and she lifts up her arms in disbelief that I am taking away her CRUMBS of bread left. She quickly snaps ’ Can’t I NOT just finish MY MEAL!!!! ’

I was so shocked by her behavior and stupidity as she just TOLD ME she was DONE. So I said : I’m sorry ma’am, I misunderstood you were finished. And I quickly left her to FINISH her ’meal’.

Not even 30 seconds later, she was getting up and putting her coat on. So I printed her bill and asked her to follow me to the cash register. I handed her the bill and said the amount that she owed. She took the bill rather roughly from my hands and examined the bill for WAY TOO LONG. Then she asked me what the ’NO DRINK’ on the bill meant. I responded not to worry about that because it didn’t charge her anything, and I pointed to the 0.00$. Then, very very angry she said loudly ’ I DIDN’T ASK YOU WHAT IT COSTS, I ASKED YOU WHAT IT WAS’.

I just looked deep into her eyes, asking myself if I was on a hidden camera or something. Anyways, I explained to her that we didn’t have a button for WATER in the system and that we can’t print a bill without adding a drink to the check. So, I need to add NO DRINK (0.00$) to the check for it to actually print.

She finally handed me over a 20$ bill. I think I owed her about 7$ and some cents so I quickly take out a 5$ bill from my wallet and put it on the counter, and as I’m plunging my hand down my apron to give her the rest of her change, she didn’t give me a SECOND to even breath and she says ’YOU CLEARLY OWE ME MORE MONEY.’

There I am, standing with my hand down my apron, not wasting ANY time to give her her change. I just looked, again, so deep into her eyes, trying to resist the urge to strangle her.. and I say ’ I know ma’am, I’m giving you the change right now…. as I’m putting down the change on the counter….’

Then she went on a rant to say that this restaurant is not a restaurant and that it was LOUD, and that she had cleaned her home all morning and she just wanted to come in to relax. She made it sound like it was the worse experience in the world, and that her house-work was soooo exhausting, etc etc.. I apologized and said that if I had KNOWN that she wanted a nice quiet place to RELAX, I would have sat her in the quiet corner we have in the back of the restaurant rather than where the other waitress had sat her. She complained on a few other things which I can’t remember but which I apologized for and told her that if I would have known, I could have made her ’dining experience’ a better one.

Anyway, ANYTHING I said or tried to do for this lady during her visit was just not good enough. She was just a cranky, miserable lady who wanted everything served her way and catered to her as if the world owed her so much.

I still can’t believe that some people live like that and address other people as if they are a piece of shit. I am actually really impressed by my patience with her, and to be honest SHE was really lucky to have ME as her waitress because none of the other waitresses working would have been so nice to her…

Submitted by: ibelle

Everything was cool, the kids behaved really well, sodas were limited, our waiter was great & everyone was happy. After paying the bill, the alpha male declared that he left $7 as a tip. I was horrified & started to reach for my wallet for a $20 when my 2 year old fell out of her highchair.

All hell broke loose & when we got home I realized that that poor waiter had been stiffed big time. I wanted to go down & give the tip to the waiter but no one remembered his name. That was before I started to read the blogs & understood that not knowing his name would have been no problem, everyone would have known who he was because of the stiffed tip. We haven’t been back because I now read the blogs & don’t dare go back.

Submitted by: Liz

Editor’s Advice: Go back to the restaurant, request him, be courteous and leave him a great tip. No use avoiding the place because of some bad tipper relative. If the waiter will remember anyone, it’s the guy who left $7.

Anyone else have advice for Liz?

It was Monday night, a night in which we have a 2 for $14.99 special. Coupons were also put out in the news paper and we were short three servers. I had been taking extra tables all night, as well as other servers. We were on a wait, and food was not coming out on time. My last table sat was a couple and their two kids. i forgot to refill the mother’s drink once (I was running around like a crazy woman), but she said it was alright and they were seemingly nice to meas the night continued.

I had noticed their food was taking thirty minuets as well as my regulars food. Iv notified my key manager. she went to speak to them but it may not have helped, she offered them a dessert but they refused. I asked her to please do something to take care of them so she took off $10 their bill. I assumed they were still eating, so I was talking with a manager and a few co-workers in the kitchen alley. We have an open kitchen and from my section, that night, you could see into the alley.

The father walked into the alley and i told him he could not be in there, my manager said nothing what so ever to the man. He demanded a box and the check, and remained standing where he was till I brought him a box which was next to him. I hurried to bring him his check, I handed it to him instead of setting in down to avoid any other drama. They set down the book quickly so I went to check if they had even left any money at all. He left me just enough money to pay for the bill, leaving me 23 cents as my tip.

I walked to the main door and opened it and said, ”Thank you!” calmly and turned around. He came, obviously mad, and asked for a manager. He was cursing up a storm and was obviously upset. Everyone had my back that night, and admitted he was rude. The next day(Tuesday/yesterday) I came into work and was let go. My manager barely said a but a few words to me, he told me he could not defend me and that what I did was a ”terminal offense.”

Corprate was not even involved at that point, he could have helped me out. I had never been written up and I have seen many of the people who I work with treat customers like they were nothing, and who have done many things which deserved punishment. Another manager sat there in silence and avoided me when I walked through the door that night. Ridiculous or justice brought?

Submitted by: Lindsey 

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

These two ladies, an elder lady and who I assumed to be her daughter about 40 yrs old, sat in my section tonight. They ordered two glasses of wine and soup.

I thought to my self ” great here’s anothor 40 dollar check.” But I’m still gonna wow these ladies with the best service ever. So I did, I brought out their soup and wine fast . Checked back with them making sure everything was to their liking. About an hour later they asked for their check.

The elder lady of the two gave me a hundred dollar bill, told me to keep the change.

I told her ” ma’am that’s 60 dollars.

She said ”I know”.

Blew my mind great table and they made my night. Thank you so much.

Submitted by: Ryan

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

Working in the restaurant industry during the holidays can be both a blessing a curse. It is one of the few times when being a server can really pay off, because there’s no need to play casino slot machines to try and get your bills paid for this month.

That is of course if you’re willing to put up with both the good and the bad…

The Bad

• Large Parties – The holiday season is not complete without, you guessed it, holiday parties. Be prepared to push tables together, clean up wrapping paper and offer coffee for hours after the meal is over.
• Out of Date Diners – Holiday parties can also bring out some people who only go out to eat a few times a year. There’s always a possibility you’ll have the older customer who is trying to use an expired coupon from 1985, while tipping 10% because it was the norm back in the day.
• Separate Checks – When you start putting tables of families and friends together, be prepared for the following situation.

Server: “Hi, can I take your order?”

Customer: “Sure, first off, we’re on separate checks, the two on the end need their bill split, add the lady next to them on mine, the gentlemen across from me is on his own and gets a senior discount, what are the soups today?”

• Working Long Hours – When you’re scheduled during the holidays, its usually a pretty safe bet that you aren’t going to get cut early.
• Not seeing family/friends – This was a huge one for me, and probably the worst part about being a server during the holidays in my opinion. While your friends and family are making plans and getting together, there’s a good change you’ll be working while they’re having their parties. Nothing was worse than carrying a tray of dishes back to the kitchen while looking at the clock and saying “Happy Freakin’ New Years!”

We always complain about the bad ones and sometimes the nice ones get overlooked.

Submitted by: Chris

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