Another server and myself had the bar as our section, half of which was reserved for a party we were to serve and the other half we were rotating. the party was to arrive at 7pm and was for 30 people, who did not pre-order any of the food. i knew this wasn’t going to be the easiest because usually when a party of that size doesn’t pre-order, it just makes it that much harder to figure out what everybody wants. well the half of the bar they hadn’t reserved was in full swing when finally around 7:30 the people in the party start to show up. it was ten people at first, appeared to be the one’s in charge, and seemed really nice. after that all hell broke loose.

the rest of the party started showing up and it turned out they ”had a few more than expected, is that ok?” a few more was actually 20 more people than they had told us. so now we had to figure out where we were going to put all these people, and THEY had the gall to be upset with US. for what? not being clairvoyant? like we should know that when they said 30 people, what they really meant was 50?! so we told them as soon as the tables in the bar started clearing out we’d be able to seat the rest of them. i was at one of those tables boxing up their meals and asking if they’d like anything else when one of the guys from the party came up, interrupted me, and asked ”are they leaving? like now? are they leaving now? cause we need this table when they do.” BEYOND RUDE. i looked at my table apologetically. so eventually we get everybody situated and start to explain our pizza deal that we have. it’s where a large group of people can order two types of big appetizers, two types of big salads, and an assortment of pizzas (the amount of food in each course correlates with how many people there are) for about $16 a person not including drinks, which sounds like a lot but is actually a deal in the long run; it would be more expensive if every three people ordered their own appetizers, salads, and pizza. not to mention the fact that if they took the pizza party deal, it would be way easier on us. so they all agreed to this pizza deal, even when we explained that we would not be able to split the check based on how large the party is and just the way the pizza party deal goes into the computer-it can’t be split.

so we get all the appetizers and salads out and everything is pretty messy because the people are all over the place (like walking around all over in the bar) and really needy and demanding. so we get them fed, and the time comes for the dessert option. for some reason, still unknown to me, we ended up giving them free dessert even though they had brought their own cake. why? because they complained about not having a dessert deal in the pizza party deal. yeah. so that’s about $80 off their bill. this was after we didn’t charge them for the kids in the party considering the pizza party deal was more than enough food and kids don’t usually eat that much (on a daily basis we really only count the kids as 1/2’s ).so we were already giving them a good deal.

finally the time comes where they’re ready to settle their bill and we hand it over. after all the drinks and a few random side dishes they had ordered, it was almost $800. then the complaining starts again. i’m not entirely sure what all they complained about because they were talking to my manager for quite some time and i was trying to shut the restaurant down (at this point it was past closing time, which was at 10pm) i know that a couple of the things they complained about was that they said my serving partner had told them all different deals with different prices (not remotely true) and the fact that about 10 of their family members had left before the bill came, so they were angry that they were stuck with their portion of the bill. they acted as if it was all our fault. HOW?! i mean, that’s between them and their family members, not us. it’s not our fault their family members are sheisty and left without chipping in for the bill. yet they complained and complained until finally my manager took another $100 off their bill. way to stand your ground, manager. so in the end they paid less than $700 for a bill that should have been closer to $1,000. so my serving partner and i only got about 50% of what we should have made off the party.we each made $50. for all that work, and running around, and chaos. it should have been closer to $100 each. unbelievable that people would act that way.

Submitted by: Sara

So, the girl gives me a card to pay for the whole check and the card is denied.  I tell her this, and she says that it is her mom’s card and they don’t have any other way of paying.  I told them that they had to pay somehow.  She calls her dad who says he will bring in some money.  He gets there over an hour later..

Keep in mind that the only reason I have been at work this long was because I was waiting on him.  He pays the check, and in the meantime, is one of the rudest, most dispicable people I have ever encountered.  It wasn’t my fault his wife’s card was declined!

Finally, I am at the point where I can go clean the table and get out of there.  I approach the table and smell something really off.  I get to it and realize the kid had dumped the entire “dip cup” onto the table and his spit was oozing onto the side of the table and the floor.  I almost threw up then and there.  Disgusting, rude little creeps!  Oh yeah, and the jerk stiffed me!

Submitted by: Katie

They started accusing me of being the reason it took so long, saying that I had forgot to put their order in. I tried convincing them that it took that long because of the cooking time for the steak, and the general business of the restaurant, but they would not have any of that.

They actually asked to talk to my manager, and before he said anything the guy said “I don’t care what you say, I know that the server forgot to put the order in, and that’s why it took so long.”

People will try anything to get something for free…

Do I even need to mention that they left me a terrible tip? I think that one’s pretty obvious.

Submitted by: An Angry Server

Read about the tip he left on an $800 dollar bill here.

[Source: www.tmz.com]

I do this with a smile on my face of course, and what really ticks me off is how little of a tip they always leave. They’re entire bill is comp’ed, and I’ll usually only get a 10 percent tip for my hours of work.

Frustrating to say the least that the people who own a restaurant chain do not even know the proper way to tip.

Submitted by: An Anonymous Server

Here’s a few of their notable characteristics:

• We had free WiFi, so the the wife would bring her laptop in with her, and they would proceed to stay there ALL DAY while she studied on it.
• The man would go through about 4 milkshakes with every meal they had.
• They would eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at the restaurant.
• They were a very difficult table that made their server run, and were quick to blame anything that was wrong on them.
• They were quite rude on top of all of this.

The best part is that after eating 3 meals there, and going through about 3 different servers they would often only leave a $2 dollar tip when they finally payed their bill for the ENTIRE DAY.

Submitted by: An Anonymous Server

I had two young women come in and immediately start asking me questions before I could even greet them. The questions were about which drink is the strongest, which plate of food is the best deal, etc. Anytime I’d ask them if they wanted a drink they’d respond by asking another question about the menu. They finally ordered drinks and I quickly brought them over. Seconds later as I walked away they yelled for me to come back to them, because the drinks weren’t strong enough. This has happened before when customers try to get free drinks, so our store policy is that we take the drink away and order something new (and void the first drink). When I took the drinks away they were not happy, obviously thinking I’d let them finish their “weak” drinks and give them something else for free.

Then they ordered their food, and when I told them we were sold out of the potato salad, one of the women literally rolled her eyes at me and turned her head to face the wall, in disbelief. Moments later she turned back, shrugged, and switched her order to cornbread. The food, like always, came out quickly and the women were happy, except for one thing: that darned cornbread. They were made it wasn’t made to order. It would be lovely if we could make cornbread to order, but we unfortunately don’t have 45 minutes to bake cornbread for every customer who orders it (which is plentiful). They asked for my manager, who was smart enough not to give into their obvious demands to want something for free.

At the end of the night, they were the worst customers I had all week. They constantly waved me over or yelled for me loudly when I was in the area, even though I would walk by their table minutes earlier. I kept a happy face on trying to “kill them with kindness,” but at the end of the night, received $40 total for the $39.46 bill.

Submitted by: Heather

This happened a few weeks ago when I was the closer.

Two people with a baby came in 10 minutes before close, the baby was around 1 year old and the two were pretty far apart in age themselves. Not sure if they were a couple or not.

They proceeded to order a full course meal with apps and steaks, and she was dominating long island iced teas.

Her total count was around 3, and then she started complaining that she wanted her next one to be stronger, to which I obliged.

At this point it’s past last call, the baby is crying, they are the only ones in the restaurant, and she asks for yet another long island, this time she wants it stronger than her previous 4.

After a heated conversation about not being able to give her one since the bar was closed, the late comers finally decide to call it a night, and you guessed it, got a crappy tip on top of my troubles, not even 10 percent.

Submitted by: Mary

You wouldn’t believe how may customers got angry with me when I tried to tell them about the special, so suspicious, always thought I was trying to somehow pressure them into spending more or getting something they didn’t want, to I don’t know amuse myself?

One group in particular came in.. Can I tell you- NO!! we know what we want! extremely complicated order for ten half slab rib meals ensues… each one with special request for the baked potato, extra butter extra bacon, no onions, etc. They then have me recite everything so they know I have it.

Still trying to be nice I again try to explain that not only will the get the extra chicken but its actually cheaper to order the special, again I am interrupted NO!!! they don’t want to hear about it!!! then as the order is about to come up, one of them is on their cell and learns about the special from a friend.. they want to change their order even though its already done.

I oblige, and then they berate me for not telling them about the special… nope, no tip either. Even though they had excellent service, everything was good and they got their chicken and reduced prices. UGHH

Submitted by: Jenny

As I was dropping of a check to table that gave me no problems up to that point, the lady proceeds to officially lose her mind because she sees lipstick on the glass she was drinking out of. I sincerely apologized, even though I think it was her lipstick, but she would not have any of it.

She insisted that I bring out the dishwasher so she could show him the lipstick, and basically belittle him in front of the entire restaurant. I saw this as a crazy request, so I got my manager and she continued to argue saying that she wanted to see the dishwasher.

Eventually we coaxed her out with a couple free appetizer coupons, but as she was leaving she kept screaming that she worked for some “government institution”.  Needless to say, tip was awful.

BRIGHT SIDE: As another woman was leaving, she came up and gave me $10 and said, here you deserve this for how she treated you. Score!

Submitted by: Samantha from PA