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Most of the time being a server or manager at a restaurant may seem like an easier job to most people because all they have to do is serve the food and help the customers. Restaurant employees know better. The job can be stressful and difficult and is made even more so by really horrible customers that can just ruin your whole day. This may help you appreciate restaurant employees even more.

Some Bad Customer Stories Include:

An impressively evil capacity for vengeance
“We were working at a tennis club that would hold tournaments throughout the year for young up-and-coming players and pros. It was at one of the tournaments that the following happened.

“On the first night, my friend sat a six-top, mostly young tennis pros from various different clubs, and a local lady hosting them. My friend takes their order and does everything right, but as dinner is being served, a plate is dropped in the kitchen by someone else. My friend is informed that the kitchen is working hard to replace the lost meal, while he goes to inform and apologize to the table. The actual diner whose plate had been dropped is completely cool, but the local is steaming. In a short time, a new dish is procured and served and all seems good. That is, until the check is presented.

“No matter that the dropped meal had been taken off and apologies offered from the chef, manager, and server; the local pays by credit card and leaves no tip. Six adults, six entrees, plus drinks. My friend picks up the bill and writes it off, but the local comes back and informs him she would be dining every night that week and that she would ask for him and that he “would get nothing” for “embarrassing” her.

“That's exactly what happens: four more nights she shows up with a large party, asks for my friend, runs him ragged, and tips nothing. The manager had flushed his spine down his nose and spends the entire week telling my friend to suck it up.” — Rick Loughery

Sympathy is fine, but tips are better
“I briefly worked at a lunch/dinner/bar restaurant near an urban national landmark, staffed by national park rangers. They regularly came into our restaurant for lunch, and sometimes their table of two to four was the only lunch crowd we had on weekdays. When I started working at the restaurant, other servers told me that they never tipped and were sort of picky, and mostly just a pain in the ass. Lots of stories about sending food back and complaining the sweet tea wasn't sweet enough.

“We offered a 10% discount to police and fire department employees, and our ranger friends had bamboozled their way into this discount. Yes, they were technically law enforcement officers, but unlike park rangers in Yosemite that deal with bears and stranded hikers and stuff, these guys were basically glorified mall cops guarding a house and a statue.

“Being the new server in the restaurant and an overall cheery person, I was determined to make friends with these folks and get a solid tip out of them. My first few lunches, I was a little dismayed by the ‘$0.00' handwritten into the tip line on their bills. But one day, one of the female rangers came in by herself and looked like she was having a tough day. We slipped into a conversation about her life, her measly government paycheck, her bills she was behind on, and she explained how her pension from the government worked, and that she couldn't retire for 15-20 more years She asked me how things were going at the restaurant — she knew I was new and things were slow at lunch. I casually said it was OK, but it was frustrating sometimes because the only money we actually got to take home was from tips. I told her that sometimes our paychecks were zero dollars because of taxes and stuff. She was very sympathetic and gave me some ‘Oh honey, I remember working for tips!'-type of stories. By this point another table had come in, so I walked away and got them situated.

“Walking by her table a few minutes later, she motioned for the check, which I had already printed and had written ‘Hope the rest of your day is great!' on. I left it on the table and walked away smiling, getting ready to gloat to my co-workers at shift change that I had won over one of the icy rangers. I ran her credit card, dropped it off at her table, and checked on my other table. I went back to the table after she'd left to pick up what I knew would be a solid tip.

“The tip line said ‘$0.00.' I quit two weeks later.” — Felicia Baker

An OTM first

“I was in law school and it was Friday night after a rough week of classes and exams. Along with several classmates and our dates we went to a small, locally owned restaurant near the university which served mostly Italian food. Our party grew as the evening progressed, ending up with about 12 people. Many pitchers of beer were consumed along with suitable pastas and pizzas, but the service was slow and inattentive and when it came it was condescending and arrogant, correcting our pronunciation of Italian terms on the menu. It took forever to get drink refills and food was served cold while our waiter congregated with other servers near the bar engaged in chitchat.

“By the time we were ready to go, everybody at the table had had enough of the poor, contemptuous service. It was agreed that I would handle the check when it came after collecting shares from my friends. We were paying cash and when the waiter returned my change I left one penny in the tray and we departed. When I reached my car in the adjacent parking lot, our waiter came to me and said, ‘Mister, you forgot something.' ‘What is that?' I asked. ‘A penny,’ he said.

I responded, ‘I didn't forget it, you earned it,' which left him speechless and our crowd highly amused.

Maybe you will find a use for this story in a future Off the Menu feature.” — Gary Danvers.

Ekkkkk…. Would You Ever Do This?!

These horrible restaurant customer stories will really make you want to treat employees nicely. Have you witnessed a bad restaurant customer before?

Let Us Know What You Think!

Article Source: Thrillist