“Maybe You Should Go To The Drive-Thru Next Time”
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“My friends and I went to a restaurant with 6 people. This restaurant is kind of an ‘art scene’ restaurant, but definitely portrays itself, and prices itself, as a gourmet restaurant. The place was not extremely busy, probably 60-70% to max capacity on a Friday night. Our waitress comes by to take our drink orders and we order two pitchers. Twenty minutes later we get our drinks. That’s not a huge deal, but somewhat confusing considering they weren’t that busy. We let it slide. She takes our orders once she delivers our drinks. No one orders anything complicated. it’s all typical stuff; an appetizer and entrees for everyone. The appetizer, which was the price of a full meal, was supposed to be gourmet crackers and cheese. She literally served us club crackers and frozen, yes frozen, cheese.
On top of that, she didn’t even bring out the entire appetizer, and we had to ask for it. After 30 minutes, we get ONE plate out of SIX. She just sits it in front of one of our guests with no reassurance that the rest is coming. After ten minutes of the food just getting cold in front of him, we insist he goes ahead and eats.
It takes 45 minutes until we get the rest of the food, and one of the orders was extremely incorrect. It didn’t even have all the listed ingredients in it. It was a cheesesteak without cheese. She asked to have her order fixed the right way and the waitress gives her this snarky look and says, ‘Maybe you should go to the drive-thru next time.’ Everyone was shocked and offended by her remark. We had waited on our food for a little under 2 hours and she is getting mad at us. So I did what I thought was the most appropriate; I wrote, ‘DRIVE-THRU’ on her tip.”
Put Some Attitude On My Burrito Baby!
“One afternoon, I went out to lunch with some co-workers at one of my favorite local eateries. I was trying to get the waitress’ attention because I ordered a grilled steak burrito and got a grilled chicken burrito instead. The place was packed, you could barely hear yourself think. So I called out: “Miss! Miss!” and raised my hand in the air. By instinct, I snapped my fingers, as well.
Apparently, this is like the cardinal sin of being a restaurant patron. She literally stomped over with this sour look on her face and tartly said: ‘Don’t…snap.” I can’t convey in this font the intensity of the words. “I’m sorry,” I offered, “it’s just really loud and I couldn’t get your attention and my order is wro…’
‘Don’t snap,’ she said as she cut me off. ‘Just because I work for tips and get paid like crap doesn’t give you the right to treat me like I’m your personal servant.’
‘Wha…you know what? Just take this back and get me grilled steak burrito.’
I got my burrito (which she probably spit in) and didn’t leave a tip.”
Spilled Drinks, Nonexistent Service, And Stonewall Management
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“My best friend gets back from overseas, and to celebrate we decided to go out to a local restaurant that just opened. We were broke and heard this place was affordable, so we gave it a shot. I arrived early, ordered my own drink and his favorite, a coke. He shows up right as the waitress comes back with our drink order. As he sits down she spills the entire tray on him. Being good-natured, he laughs, gets up, goes to his car, and changes into some army gear that he had in his bags. He returns, sits down, and the waitress comes back and spills the drinks on him AGAIN. This time, frustrated because he has nothing to change into, he goes and tries to dry off in the bathroom. He comes back a second time, sits down, we order our food. An hour goes by before we get fed up. I call the manager over and ask where our food could possibly be, and our server. Turns out the waitress forgot to put our food order in and left work unannounced. To top it all off? Even after the horrid service the manager wouldn’t comp us anything and made us pay for our drinks. Overall experience rating is a strong -2/10. I would never consider again in my life.”
Grieving Waitress Tells It All
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“We took my wife’s father out for her birthday dinner one night. He chose the Olive Garden, so my parents and the in-laws met us there and we were seated at a big round table in the back of the restaurant. Our waitress came bouncing up and introduced herself, asked a few questions, and figured out that it was Bill’s birthday. His 60th birthday. I noticed that she seemed to pause when she heard this, but she took drink orders and off she went.
Dinner progressed, but at some point, she came back and dropped the bomb: her own father had just died two weeks prior at age 60. We were all a little flabbergasted, but we offered our condolences and she turned it around a bit by reminding us all how precious we should be to each other, blah blah.
Not 5 minutes later she came back and proceeded to fill us in on HOW he died: battling aggressive cancer for a year, he died a long, slow, painful death. Very sad. Again, birthday dinner and all, we managed to console her a little and ordered desserts.
Desserts come out, and she brings an extra-happy surprise: a printout of an email that her father sent her. You see, during his time in hospice, he sent her multiple emails daily telling her that he loved her, writing poetry and inspirational quotes. She saved them, leaving them all unread to go through after he passed. She proceeded to read this poem to us, which was very sweet I’m sure, but I could barely hear it over the blood pounding in my ears out of sheer embarrassment. I was staring at my plate by this point; I can honestly say it was the most embarrassed I have been since middle school.
As she had brought out the desserts, a bus/run guy had come through to clear a booth from the now empty section of the restaurant. About two lines into the poem, he stood up, looks over at her and said, ‘You’re kidding.’ I glanced over at him and he gave me the most sincere ‘Oh I am SO sorry’ look.
She finished the poem, we paid up, left a decent enough tip (probably around 20% because the service–grief aside–was good), and went home.
The next day, my wife gets a call from a manager. He asks if we had had any issues with our waitress the night before, and my wife very kindly explained that the woman was obviously still grieving. He explained that it was her first shift back since taking time off to grieve and that we were her first table of the night.
The manager refunded the meal to us and sent us a $50 gift card.”
“She Ignored Us And Gave Our Pizza To Some Guys She Was Flirting With”
“My girlfriend and I went to a restaurant we used to frequent and were told it was a 30-minute wait because we hadn’t made a reservation. Not a big deal at all, it’s in an area with tons of foot traffic so this was to be expected.
I ordered a pizza, and my girlfriend ordered pasta. Hers came out first, with the promise that mine would be out shortly. Apparently, they had burned it the first time around, so they were going to remake it. Again, not a huge deal.
About 10 minutes later, I see what looks to be my pizza coming out, only to have the runner walk right by my table and bring it to another group that had been seated about 30 minutes after us. I was just hoping that this meant that their order had been put in before mine was sent to be remade, and that mine would be next.
Another 15 or 20 minutes pass, and we’re starting to get worried. I’ve tried to get our server’s attention multiple times, both for my pizza and my glass of water that has been empty for 30 minutes, but she keeps blowing right by us. We were right near the kitchen, so she had to pass us to flirt with the guys a few tables down who had received what appeared to be my re-made pizza.
Finally, a manager comes by to ask how our meal is going. I explain the situation, and he immediately calls her over. She argues with me and claims that the pizza was sent out 30 minutes ago, and I point to the table where she’s been flirting for the last 20 minutes to point out that she sent it over there. She gets rude and defensive, and the manager sides with us, has her make a new one ASAP and also has her leave a pitcher of water at our table since he sees she cannot be trusted to serve us.
He apologized profusely and has her send us a free dessert once our meal is finally finished. At the end of the meal, the manager had our server come over to us and give us her name and a comments form in order to give her boss a list of everything she messed up, as well as to personally tell us that we were not to tip her a dime. Half our meal was comped, and we also received a voucher for a future visit. We still haven’t been back since.”
Salad Please, Heavy On The Glass
“My husband and I chose to eat at a really popular joint that serves sandwiches and adult beverages. I ordered a house salad to get me started. After I took my first bite, I felt a sharp pain and started bleeding out of my mouth. There were shards of glass in the salad. The waitress freaked out and asked me not to tell management. She said someone broke a glass near the salad making station and did not dump it all out like they were suppose to. I couldn’t even talk I was busy mopping up blood and spitting glass out. My husband screams at her to get management. The manager comes running over and profusely apologizes. We go to the ER and they clean out my mouth, I had so many cuts and had to be on antibiotics. In the purest attempt to avoid a lawsuit, they paid the ER bill and offered a decent settlement.”
A Clean Fork And A Dirty Attitude
“My wife and I once went out to eat at a restaurant near where we lived. We were both seated fairly quickly and opened our silverware while waiting for our server to arrive. I noticed my fork was slightly dirty like the dishwasher hadn’t completely cleaned off all the old food. Now, I didn’t for a moment think that I was intentionally given dirty silverware. When the server came to take our drink order, I politely said, ‘Excuse me… but this fork is dirty. Could I please have another?’ She smiled, said, ‘Sure!’ and left. She came back a minute or two later and placed another set of cutlery on the table. ‘Here you go,’ she said. She then put a glass full of hot soapy water on the table, and said, ‘That’s if this set isn’t clean enough for you.’ My wife and I looked at each other, got up without saying a word, and walked out.”
The Proof Is In The Breadsticks
“When we turned 16, my friends and I loved celebrating our freedom. We heard of a little french type bistro an hour away and made the trip. Turned out there were only a dozen and a half tables, and although we had no reservation we got seated as only three or four other tables were occupied. Our waitress came out and got the drink orders. Returned with the drinks, and took our meal order. We got our breadsticks, then another batch 15 minutes later.
Then the waitress comes out to pick up all the baskets and cleaned up the little plates, then returned with the bill. We laughed a bit, said a mistake was made. We haven’t even eaten yet. She argued that we did, that she even just cleaned up our plates and silverware. We argued about it, she went and got the manager who came out to confront us about trying to get out of paying our bill. Nobody was sitting near us, and when asked they said they really weren’t paying attention to us, but we started getting ugly looks like we did eat and refuse to pay.
He gave us the ultimatum to pay up now or the police would be involved. We said we’re not paying for food we haven’t received. A police officer arrives and hears both sides of the story. The manager and waitress were going off how we were lying when suddenly my friend then stood up and said he’s got this handled.
He asked the waitress what he ordered. She picks up the bill, flips it, and told him. It was a baked pasta dish with sausage. He confirmed that’s what he ordered. He asked the manager if the chef wants to come out and confirm he cooked it – turns out the manager was also the cook and said he cooked it. He asked her if she really did bring it out and serve it, she said yes. He asked if she threw away food away from the plates she picked up. She said ‘No they were all cleaned up’, as in we ate all the food. He asked the officer if he would please step outside for a minute and he’ll prove they are lying.
Less than five minutes later, the cop walks back in, said to the rest of us at the table we were free to go, and told the manager/waitress they made a mistake. They tried to object, and the cop bluntly told them that the only thing the kid threw up was breadsticks, and if they want to go out by the bushes and check for themselves, they were welcome to it.
Everyone in our group had our eyes wide open, and the manager and waitress were equally stunned to reply.
We didn’t argue, we got up and left, and hit the first drive through on the way home. Craig was twice as hungry as the rest of us since he didn’t get to digest his breadsticks.”
She Put A Children’s Menu in Front Of Me With A Smirk And A “Here You Go, Dear”
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I’m a small woman, and I look younger than I am.
Years and years ago, I went to lunch with a bunch of business colleagues. We were all dressed in dress clothes (IIRC I was actually wearing a suit) and my hair, nails, and make-up was all on point.
When we sat down, I ordered coffee. The waitress looked at me and said, ‘Oh, you drink coffee?? How adorable!’ like I was a ten-year-old. I just looked at her and said, ‘Yeah, I drink coffee. Do you?’
When she returned to the table with our coffee and menus, she put a children’s menu in front of me with a smirk and a ‘here you go, Dear.’
She continued to treat me like a child throughout the entire meal.
When it came time to pay, I left her a ten cent tip and a note, ‘Little kids don’t tip well. Next time, treat me like an adult.”
Per Your Special Request
“I used to work at a Mexican restaurant, who offered free kids meals every Sunday. This ‘offer’ would always bring in horrible tippers with four kids. Of course, the cheapest families always had the kids that left a horrible mess on the tables.
Like most other Mexican joints, we gave chips and salsa to every table. This particular family always wanted chips with no salt which was a pain, because we didn’t cook chips with no salt. All chips had salt. To meet the request the server or a, if possible, a free cook had to get raw chips from the fridge and cook them for this horrible family.
One Sunday a server got sick of this family and decided he would lick the salt from their chips and serve it to them that way. He stood there and licked every single chip and served them with a smile to this nightmare family. They enjoyed the chips, almost as much as I enjoyed watching them devour them.”
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It Was A Crazy Busy Sunday After All
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“I worked the prep line at a major sit down burger restaurant. During a busy Sunday rush, a party comes in which includes a complete and total shrew of a woman. The server is a very small girl, like just over 4 feet, and the shrew is treating her like garbage as they all order food. The order gets placed, food goes out, the shrew complains and gripes while taking it out on the server. The server is crying at this point, full on sobbing, and returns the food to the back to me and says ‘The lady wants it to go because we obviously can’t make it correct in time for them to leave for their afternoon movie or whatever’. The server runs to the back to cry.
‘Okay’, I say to myself, ‘I can take care of this’. I decided to remake her food, however, I make sure the condiments come from the crusty corners of the pans. Also, the lettuce and tomato are the freeze-dried pieces from the bottoms of their pans. Lastly, the fries. Oh my, the fries! I reached behind the fry drop next to the grease fryers and scrape crusty, old, dehydrated fries that have been there for hours into her to-go box and seal it up. For my amusement alone, I drew a smiley face on top and sent it out.
As the shrew was leaving I saw her pop the box open and eat a fry. Afterward, I told the server what I did. She was equal parts furious I did that to her guest, and grateful that I cared enough about her to get revenge. I told her we look out for each other, it was a crazy busy Sunday after all.”
Karma At Its’ Finest
“My first job was working as a busboy in a tourist trap restaurant near Disney World. One fine day these two obnoxious, Ferrari driving, jerks came in and purposefully made a huge mess on and around their table. They spent the whole time laughing and making comments like, ‘Aw, shucks, do you have to clean that up, boy? Oh, we are sooooo sorry buddy’, and ‘Work real hard and you might get a real job someday, boy.’ They tormented the waitress and only left her a penny tip.
As I was cleaning up their fallout, which included crumbled biscuits and spilled water, I noticed that they had dumped some of their food onto the floor beneath the table. As I was on my hands and knees trying to clean up the mess underneath the table I spotted something: their car keys! I went straight to the bathroom and flushed them down the toilet. They were so very nice when asking for my help in finding their keys. I was so very concerned when I said, ‘I am very sorry sir, but I have not seen your keys. You may want to leave your phone number with the manager so we can contact you when we find them.”
Crazy Waitress Gets Owned By Boss In A Language She Doesn’t Speak
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“Friends were visiting me in Europe, and I wanted to make a good impression, so I took them to a beautiful lakefront grill. I was the only one who spoke the language (French), so I made an effort to be jovial and witty with the waitress in order to show off as much as possible.
From the getgo, the waitress was super combative… There was no way she was going to be ok with our presence. We ordered simply- I translated … And she refused to understand. And I’m talking ‘I’ll have the number 2’ level French. There’s no way she didn’t understand- she was just making trouble.
My friends don’t understand and so aren’t getting why the waitress is upset. 2-3 minutes of the waitress wailing on about how we aren’t making sense and I finally growl ‘It’s not that difficult!’ and I smacked the table. Unfortunately, the table was a light metal and the mighty clang that rang out was not in any way representative of the force I put into it. But that’s exactly what the waitress wanted. She cries ‘I won’t put up with this’ and runs off to her manager and I can see her waving her arms and screaming about us.
I tell my friends red-face that we may have to go elsewhere. I then calmly get up and approach the manager and waitress and say (in French) that I’m sorry, but I’ve never been treated so badly by a waitress, who clearly just wants to fight, and that we’ll be going.
The manager looks at me and says, ‘You speak English?’ Already nerves rattled, I respond ‘I can speak French.’ He says, ‘But you speak English.’ I cannot tell what he’s getting at, but I’m thinking it’s leading to French anglophone insult. He says (now in English): ‘I’m going to speak to you in English.’ The waitress is still standing next to us I’m really ready for it now.
‘She’s crazy,’ the manager says, ‘I’m not joking. Like really crazy.’ The waitress doesn’t blink and I realize he switched to English because she doesn’t understand a word! ‘But I can’t fire her because she’s family, so please let me serve you personally and I’ll make sure everything goes better.’
Immensely relieved, I sit back down and relate the story to my friends, while out of the corner of my eye I can see the manager yelling at the waitress.
The meal goes amazingly- the manager comes by every few minutes and apologizes superfluously. He ends by saying ‘she’s really a … How do you say in English? Jerk? Jerk!? Can you call a woman this?’
I didn’t impress my friends, but faith in often dodgy European restaurant service was somewhat restored.”
If Only She Could’ve Dropped Some Of The Conversation Instead
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“My family and I were literally the only people in a restaurant for dinner, so you’d think we could get decent service. You know when someone asks how you’re doing and you say, ‘Fine, how about you?’ You, I, and pretty much everyone else in the civilized world know that this is just a formality. I don’t care how your day is going.
Unfortunately for us, our waitress decided she was going to unload her life’s story on us. Took her literally 10 minutes while the rest of us shared awkward glances. Then when she was serving our drinks, she decided to eavesdrop and chime in on our conversations randomly. ‘Oh, you’re from Florida? I’ve been there before. It’s so nice. Have you been to such and such…’ ‘Omg I know, wasn’t that movie so cool? I saw it last week with my friends and we… etc.’
The icing on the cake was when she was FINALLY bringing our order out. She managed to burn her neck on a plate while she held the tray on her shoulder. She dropped the whole thing. In the middle of the empty dining room.
After she cleaned up she comes over and goes, ‘Umm, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that was your meal I dropped.’ Oh really?? ‘I burned my neck on a plate. See? This is the mark. I burned it right here. But, I’m gonna tell the kitchen in a minute to make a new order. It should only be a few minutes.’
We eventually got our food and had to endure her for the rest of the meal.”