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

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