I was working the closing shift one night when a group of six came in late. I had two other tables that were almost finished with their meals. I approached the new table of 5 ladies and one man. The man was talking to the women and did not acknowledge that I was standing at his side, so I was waiting for him to take a breath so I could break in and introduce myself, welcome them to the restaurant, and take a drink order. Well, he never stopped talking.
I looked away from them and noticed one of my tables signaling me for their check. I discreetly walked away and handed the check to the other table and they handed me a fifty dollar bill and told me to keep the change. This took about 15 seconds.
I walked directly back to the six top and was finally able to speak, greeting them warmly and asking for a cocktail order. The man looked up at me and said, “Well! We did before you rudely walked away!” I was shocked as I looked at the ladies at the table. They seemed embarrassed at his behavior. He continued to talk to me like I was I was crap on the bottom of his shoe.
I took their order and served them as well as I would have taken care of any other guest but without a smile or any chitchat. My only other table was finished and as I was presenting their check to them they said they could not believe the way that guy was treating me; and they were bikers from a gang. They had more class than he did.
When the six top was finished he presented a charge card which I ran and brought back immediately and watched him practically tear through the paper as he was signing it . As they were walking out the door I went to the table and saw a hand full of change on the table. That was my tip on a $90 check! I had held my cool long enough! I scooped up the change and ran to the door, opened the door and saw them just shutting the car doors. I threw the change at the car as hard as I could and yelled, “Don’t ever come back!” Then I started to cry and went to tell my boss what just happened in case they called him and he said, “Don’t worry about it, we don’t need those kind of people in here.”
Here’s the funny part. About 4 years later I was working in another restaurant when he was seated in my section with another gentleman at lunchtime. I recognized him right away. Everything went fine; as I was presenting the check I said to him as I say to all my guests at this time, “Thanks for dining with us, hope you enjoyed everything!”, as this opens the door for compliments about my service and generally increases my tip. He could not stop gushing about my service; “Everything was wonderful!” I’d like to believe that I had something to do with his new manners.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I have had some horrible service and have never treated a waitress like this. He’s lucky you were nice enough to wait on him the next time you saw him. I’d of probably “lost” his order.
Ok, you acted really juvenile in throwing the change at them. Regardless of how you are treated, you have a job to do. The jerks are just as much a part of it as the grateful guests. Bad form.
I would have said, “Sir! YOU FORGOT YOUR BUS FARE!”
A few things.
Yes, the man was a jackass. Fuck him.
When he accused you of being, bow and apologize and simply tell him you misunderstood the situation and thought the guests needed more time to settle into the table. Than ask what cocktails the guests would want and be ready with lots of information. He wants everything to be perfect and done with a smile.
Fuck him, give it to him, who cares. Upsell the hell out of him, rob him blind and send him away ready to tell friends to come give you more money. He wants to impress, take it to him.
Never, ever throw change unless you work the swing shift at Denn’ys, than consider it target practice
Your ego tells you when guests treat you this way that there is something wrong. Nothing is wrong, he is just a dick.
P
Her job is to serve people food not to be abused. I hate it when people think that you should forget you have feelings and just take peoples’ shit with a smile.
I have never thrown change at anyone, but have seen it done a few times and I just cringe in fear the server is gonna get their ass beat. A former co worker of mine had a table one night, 12 top? and one man paid and assumed his guests would chip in for a tip. Well, no one chipped in. She’s a petite little scorpio, she chased them out the door and asked what was wrong with the service? Why would you run up a tab that high and not tip? That’s when he explained the confusion..
He returned a week or so later, brought the same party, asked for my friend to serve them and then tipped what he -should’ve- tipped last time on top of the tip for that evening alone. She made so much money she tipped out all the servers that helped her run food. I think that’s good karma.
Well that guy does seem like a dick.
At the same time tips are not compulsory to give.
You acted like a child by throwing change at him, what would happen if you hit someone or you scratched a car, the damage would outweigh the tip.
You have to deal with dicks like that guy in any job and you don’t get paid extra for it either.
ALL restaurants in this country should as most European do: Ad 15 to 20% to the bill. Some restaurants in South Beach, Fl. do so because of all those international tourists.
I don’t know about all European countries, but none of the ones I have ever been to have added anything to my bill.