Some years ago my partner and I had our worst dining experience ever. I have a short memory for such things, but this one was so appalling, I still recall it vividly.
We chose to go to a moderately-expensive Italian eatery in the suburban area where we were living… we had eaten at this place on a few occasions before, and had never received bad food or service.
On this particular evening it turned out to be rather busy; nevertheless we were soon seated at a table near the center of the large, open dining area. Our server, who looked like he might have been just barely old enough to drive, arrived at our table after just a minute, but from his expression and body language it was immediately obvious to both of us that he had a problem waiting on two men who happen to be a couple. Mind you, we weren’t holding hands or cooing at each other, and neither of us is a “flaming queen,” but I guess when you’ve worked in hospitality for even a short time, you learn to spot who’s ‘together.’
Well, this kid must have had us pegged from across the dining room, and he made no effort whatsoever to conceal his contempt for us, or his regret that we’d been seated in “his” section.
He took our order, and after that we never saw him again. Not to fill our water glasses, which quickly emptied as it was mid-Summer, not to bring our drinks, not to bring our food when it was ready. All these were handled by various other (female) servers. While our waiter was attentive to the families and mixed-gender couples at adjacent tables, he studiously ignored us and went out of his way to avoid eye contact.
By the time our food arrived, our wine glasses were empty–and of course they stayed that way for the rest of the meal, since nobody ever checked on us (the other servers, I suppose, must have assumed our waiter was checking, which he did not).
After we finished eating, we sat for more than 45 minutes with our empty plates and glasses in front of us, scanning the crowded dining room for signs of a manager before finally catching the attention of a female server. We should have asked her to get a manager at that point, I know, but we were upset and tired and just wanted to get out of there, so we just handed her a credit card and asked her to bring the bill. We paid for our meal, but left no tip. This is the first and only time I’ve ever “stiffed” a server. I have worked as a waiter before, and am normally a generous tipper, but I felt zero empathy for the schmuck who was supposed to have been our server that night.
On our way out, we did stop and speak with the manager, and let her know how upsetting it was to be discriminated against by her server.
If you’re going to work with the public, you really must leave your personal prejudices at home!
Tagged as:
discrimination,
owner/manager,
server,
tipping
