Restaurant Stories from Hell

[Pursegrrl]

Wow, now I feel like a shmuck for all the frappuccinos I've ordered over the years, LOL!

I've never worked in a restaurant, but I did work one summer in high school at an ice cream shop. Silly me, I thought ice cream was supposed to be fun! I was astonished at how some people went so apesh*t about things.

In the summer we'd be open until 11:00pm on Saturdays. And we tried to be proactive and clean up/wash up as much as we could so we could get the heck out of there shortly after 11. Well, wouldn't you know it - it was 10:55pm and the drunk crowd from the Italian restaurant next door burst in and...they all wanted banana splits! So much for getting everything washed, LOL! This was my lesson that the customer is always right.

But one time we were bad kids and moved the clock ahead a few minutes, locked up the (just cleaned) doors and turned people away because it was "11:00." Probably closer to 10:50. Oh well!

[ash14vwb]

This is from the ordering side, but I have to share because I was so upset. The 4 year anniversary story made me think of it. My boyfriend & I went out for our 3 year anniversary - and we don't go out to eat that often. We're very simple - no crazy orders or anything. I told the waitress what I wanted, and my boyfriend told her "I'll have the same, the chicken francaise." When she brought the food out, she just brought one plate. I was very, very confused. I thought maybe she would bring the other one out shortly after. She didn't. Not only that, but she was NOWHERE to be found - didn't come back to check on us or anything. When she finally came back, we explained to her that we had wanted the same thing- each of us were going to eat the same meal, but one WHOLE meal for each of us. She just stared at us and said oh, I thought you just wanted one. I said, "Why would we want 1 meal at dinner? And if we were going to split it, since we same we were having the same meal, wouldn't you have brought another plate for us to split it?" I was fuming and didn't care if I was rude - and I'm NOT a rude person. She was VERY flighty, and it irritated me because I felt like I had done something wrong when really it was on her. Of course, I didn't want to get another meal after that because I dind't know what she'd do to it. We waited 2 full years before we went back there again - and this had been a favorite restaurant of mine beforehand - a nice place that I went for special occassions. It was a miserable night out to celebrate our anniversary. She did not show any sign of sympathy or apology - you think she would so that she'd still get a decent tip?? Nope.

[quynn]

Originally Posted by krisluvspurses

I loved the Starbucks letter and can totally relate! I worked at Starbucks for two years. And this letter is right on with he type of people you have to deal with. The worst is customers who come in talking on their cell phones. Once, I was working the register, and I actually had a guy in line, talking on his phone, tell me to "hold on a sec". Must have been an important conversation, but good grief, don't get in line then! My mouth dropped...and I ignored him and asked the person behind him if I could help them. It was really busy at the time and honestly, I don't know what happened to the cell phone guy. I don't know if he left or got back in line or what. And, BTW Frappuccinos really are a pain in the a** to make.

just curious, why is it so hard to make frappucino ? thanks!

[JSH812]

You all might like the book Waiter Rant!


I just finished it, and it was great. No real horror stories of messing with food - but it definitely makes you think twice about your behavior when eating out!

[Divyaangana]

Okay, let me start by saying I've worked in a restaurant for the last 7 years and have seen quite a lot.

My biggest two pet peeves are parents who don't watch their children and just let them run wild! I love kids and will gladly take them in my section until they start acting like little terrors. Especially when they are up and running around the table. I'm always so afraid that I am going to be walking by with a large tray of hot food and have some kid run in my legs and knock me over and spill food on them. And I KNOW there is no way a parent is going to believe me that their child was in my way if I've just covered them with hot food.

My second one is when people don't tell me something is wrong with their food until the very end of their meal at which point I can basically do nothing. A good server should be doing a quality check soon after you get your food which is the perfect opportunity to inform them if something is wrong. Woofing your food down/just taking a few bites, but saying nothing when I check back only ends up making both sides aggravated in the end. If something is wrong with the food just let me know. It's a lot easier to then go fix it versus having to send a manager over, etc.

I have soo many stories though, that I wouldn't even know where to begin.

[blah956]

Originally Posted by Divyaangana

Okay, let me start by saying I've worked in a restaurant for the last 7 years and have seen quite a lot. My biggest two pet peeves are parents who don't watch their children and just let them run wild! I love kids and will gladly take them in my section until they start acting like little terrors. Especially when they are up and running around the table. I'm always so afraid that I am going to be walking by with a large tray of hot food and have some kid run in my legs and knock me over and spill food on them. And I KNOW there is no way a parent is going to believe me that their child was in my way if I've just covered them with hot food. My second one is when people don't tell me something is wrong with their food until the very end of their meal at which point I can basically do nothing. A good server should be doing a quality check soon after you get your food which is the perfect opportunity to inform them if something is wrong. Woofing your food down/just taking a few bites, but saying nothing when I check back only ends up making both sides aggravated in the end. If something is wrong with the food just let me know. It's a lot easier to then go fix it versus having to send a manager over, etc. I have soo many stories though, that I wouldn't even know where to begin.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. people would want food for free after eating more than half the thing because the food wasn't *good*. if it wasn't so good, then why do you eat it all?

there were other customers who maybe didn't like their food entirely, but they didn't want to waste the food. so they'd either eat it, or pack it to go and would order something else.

[Divyaangana]

Originally Posted by blah956

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. people would want food for free after eating more than half the thing because the food wasn't *good*. if it wasn't so good, then why do you eat it all? there were other customers who maybe didn't like their food entirely, but they didn't want to waste the food. so they'd either eat it, or pack it to go and would order something else.

You have no idea how many time a night I ask myself this! And in my restaurant it seems to happen all the time where people try to pull this stuff!

[yeliab]

Divy, do you get repeat offenders who do this?

Originally Posted by Divyaangana

You have no idea how many time a night I ask myself this! And in my restaurant it seems to happen all the time where people try to pull this stuff!

I saw this movie about the mafia carrying around huge dead cockroaches and would put it on their plate after they ate it to get the meals "comped" ... sleazy!!

[candypants1100]

i worked with a waitress who had a regular customer. he would come in every week and sit in her section. he'd get a coffee and a dessert, and if she wasn't busy with other tables, she'd sit and talk to him (we were encouraged to sit and hang out with the customers). he would leave her HUGE tips (i'm talking 100 dollar tip on a 10 dollar bill). for xmas, he sent in flowers, and brought in a small diamond necklace. she gave that back because she felt like it was getting a little ridiculous.....but then she was kicked out of her house by her parents, and had school bills to pay......this is when he came in and gave her a credit card with both their names on it. she insists nothing ever happened between them but i always wondered.... she says she just used the credit card for buying books for school and for getting gas when she didn't have any cash on her....but i wonder...... she maintained that he was just a lonely guy who had no family- no wife/parents/children/siblings, and he just liked talking to her...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[lostnexposed]

Originally Posted by divadivine682

Girl, get me started!!! I've been a bartender/server for 6 years and the stories I could tell would have this whole forum peeing in their pants!!! Lets just say this: NEVER BE RUDE TO YOUR SERVER!!! No good can come of it.

Ooh..Im so scared but so eager to hear your stories!

[blah956]

anyone know the ettiquette for this scenario?

do you tip the people who work snack stands? whenever i get a smoothie or a cookie at like Thirstys or Great American Cookie, they have a tip jar on the counter. I say i tip 40% of the time (usually a dollar) but at the same time i feel silly tipping for a $2 purchase. I've never worked a snack counter so I don't know how much they get paid..

I read an article earlier on tipping on MSNBC and it says not to tip if they have a jar out.

[twinkerbell1986]

where do i begin?
How about the customers that complain their food is "cold" when it is clearly not!
Customers that make out in front of you and ignore your existence when your trying to take their order!
When high school kids and even grown adults walk out on their bill because they think it funny to do.
Another one..
I had this one vegetarian couple come in and asked me to recommend vegetarian dishes to them. So I suggested the veggie (Boca) burger since that was pretty much it. They said it was perfect and was happy about the suggestion. After I brought them the food and went back to check on them, they had this weird face. I asked them if everything was okay and they reacted like they were furious. Apparently...the Boca patty was too "real" of a patty for them to handle! They said..."omg..it tastes like beef!" and I said "yes, because it is supposed to imitate beef." They said they couldn't handle it! WTFFFF??!! If it tastes so much like beef then that means whoever made the patties did a good job. Don't tell me "it's too real" for you and want your money back. Some ppl!

[Sternchen]

Originally Posted by caitlin1214

An open letter to all Starbucks customers: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/wdc/54550251.html

Would someone mind pming me the letter? I'm at work right now and can't read it Darn internet content filtering!

[meggyg8r]

DF (well, he was my BF at the time) and I were out to eat at a restaurant. We had ordered an appetizer sampler when we ordered our drinks. The waitress came back a few minutes later to take our dinner order, and figuring our appetizer would be out any minute now, we put our order in. Fast forward to 15 minutes later; finally our appetizer makes it out. Fast forward to 2 minutes after that; our dinners come out. Huh? We had seriously each taken about 3 bites of food before our entrees were placed in front of us. We complained to our waitress and she brought the manager over. He was like "well, I can take your entrees back and place them under a heat lamp to keep them warm!" and we were just like uhh no, thanks, we'll just eat everything together. He didn't even offer to comp the appetizer or anything, or at least give us free sodas or something! This isn't even the worst part of the night!

So, as I am eating my sandwich, I bite down and chew on something hard and then feel some pain in my mouth. I had eaten HALF A BROKEN TOOTHPICK! I was so pissed at this point that I couldn't eat any more. I complained to to the waitress, who again said she could bring the manager over. I was just like you know what, your manager isn't doing anything, you're not doing anything, just bring us our check and we're leaving. She didn't offer to comp anything, didn't even really apologize.

So, then I got home and wrote a letter to the restaurant's corporate office who, in turn, sent us a $25 gift card to the restaurant. I'm assuming they were just trying to shake us off because I could really have gone after them for the toothpick thing since I practically choked on it.

Anyway, that's the experience that sticks out in my mind as worst. The restaurant chain has since gone bankrupt, so I guess karma is a b*tch! Thanks, Bennigan's!

[meggyg8r]

Originally Posted by blah956

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. people would want food for free after eating more than half the thing because the food wasn't *good*. if it wasn't so good, then why do you eat it all? there were other customers who maybe didn't like their food entirely, but they didn't want to waste the food. so they'd either eat it, or pack it to go and would order something else.

Oh god, my uncle is one of those. He was at Waffle House once, ordered some scrambled eggs, ate ALL of them, and THEN complained to the waitress that he "didn't order cheese in his eggs." Well, uncle, if they weren't made like you wanted, why did you eat THEM ALL? And my god, this was Waffle House, your new order of scrambled eggs would literally be out in one minute flat. He is ALWAYS trying to get out of paying his bill or getting discounts for something being "wrong" with his order. It's beyond embarrassing to go out to eat with him.