A long time ago when I was still in college, my family decided to take me out for pizza on my birthday. We decided to try the new location for a favorite pizza chain of ours.
It was all adults and there were about 8 of us, so we ordered 3 large pizzas. We got to chatting and soon realized that the pizzas should’ve been ready quite a bit ago, so we called the waitress over and she went to check on our pizzas. She did not come back. We waited about another 10 minutes, then called over another waitress, who went to check on our pizzas and waitress. It now been over an hour. About 10 minutes later, my Dad goes up to the check-out and asks the girl there to send the manager to our table. A few minutes later the manager comes out. He explains to us that our pizzas got stuck in the oven and burned. They were out of large pizza dough bread, so they were making us 6 medium pizzas for the price of 3 large pizzas. We had so many pizzas on our table we barely had room to eat!
Luckily my family is pretty easy going so we just laughed about the whole thing. We did tell the manager that it would have been nice if someone, anyone, had said something earlier to us, instead of just disappearing, and he agreed. He even said it was his responsibility, but that he had been busy trying to fix what caused the pizzas to jam up in the oven. He went so far as to give us ½ off our bill, which was really nice. It was definitely a memorable birthday!
Tagged as:
food & beverage issues,
owner/manager,
server
I work as a kitchen assistant at a restaurant and I feel compelled to tell this story of what happened to my boss. He works both as the restaurant’s manager and host, so he has to meet everyone that comes in and show them their seats. I feel sorry for him as he has to deal with many stupid and arrogant customers, but when he told me this story I was shocked.
It happened on a bank holiday and I was not at work that day. It was also pouring with rain outside and the restaurant was very busy with only about two tables free. A snooty businessman came in and asked my boss for a table for ten people! He clearly did not notice the busy atmosphere. Anyway, my boss explains that they do not have any room for that amount of people. But this snooty bootie does not take no for an answer. The following argument went like this.
CUSTOMER: But I can see some tables free over there.
BOSS: Yes but there is still no room.
CUSTOMER: Well can’t you join them up together or something?
BOSS: There is no room to put all those tables together sir.
CUSTOMER: But there is plenty of room here!
He points to the space that the staff need to use to move from the restaurant to the kitchen doors.
BOSS: I’m sorry sir but the staff need that space to get to and from the kitchen.
CUSTOMER: But there is plenty of room!
BOSS: Sir if you all sat there, you would be blocking the other customers and staff and have food spilled all over you. I’m sorry sir but what you are asking is just not possible.
CUSTOMER: Well where else am I supposed to go then?
BOSS: Well sir on a rainy bank holiday, there are only two other restaurants I can suggest to fit in ten people, McDonald’s and KFC!
CUSTOMER: I WANT REAL FOOD!
I d0n’t know how it finished but there is absolutely no excuse for the way this snobbish son of b**** treated my boss.
Tagged as:
kitchen staff,
owner/manager,
seating,
snooty
One night my boyfriend, my roommate and I decided to go out to dinner to a local steak and buffet restaurant. We each ordered entrées and sodas, placed the tickets on our table, and then went to the buffet line for some salads. When we returned, our tickets were still on the table. No big deal, the waitress must be busy. By the time we had finished our salads, the waitress walked by and grabbed our tickets without saying a word. She was about 5’8” (with the height from her mullet) and covered in tattoos.
After 10 minutes and no drinks, we finally flagged her down and she brought us our drinks—all wrong. We didn’t bother telling her. We waited another twenty minutes for the entrees to arrive. Without a word, she put down my boyfriend’s meal and my roommate’s meal and walked away. Ugh… okay, maybe she doesn’t know how to carry three plates, whatever. So I wait, but she didn’t return with my meal. I flagged her down as she whipped by the table and asked her if my meal was coming out. The woman grabs my arm, leans down over me, gets up right into my face and screeches, “WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHIN” SOONER? I THOUGHT YOU AND I HAD AN UNDERSTANDIN’?” My eyes grew wide as I yanked my arm from her grasp. My boyfriend jumped up at that point and asked her what the h*ll she thought she was doing. She said that we knew each other and I should have said something sooner. I’d never met this lady before in my life and I would have said something if she were around.
The manager brought out my meal, cold by that point, and never said a word to apologize. As we’re finishing our meal, the same waitress started busing the table next to ours. She knocked over a half glass of orange soda all over the table. Cursing like a sailor, she made a half hearted attempt at cleaning it up. You could still see the soda glistening on the top of the table and soda was dripping down onto the chairs. A family came and sat down but before we could warn them, their son sat in a pool of the soda. Guess they didn’t leave her a tip either.
Leaving the Ranch Hungry
Tagged as:
gratuity,
owner/manager,
server
A couple of months ago my husband and I were out running errands and decide to meet up with some friends at a local “Mom & Pop” restaurant. These friends of ours had just ordered their lunches with their 9 month old daughter when we arrived. My husband and I decided to just order a couple of sodas and desserts as we had a big breakfast earlier in the day and we explained to the waitress that our two orders would be on a separate ticket which seemed to confuse her.
After we ordered the waitress came back and apologized saying they were out of the pecan pie I had ordered. I changed my order to some specialty chocolate cake they had without much ado. A couple moments later our waitress arrives with the Taco Salad and melon plate my friend had ordered for herself and her daughter and just placed it in front of me without a word and breezes away. Then she circles back with drink refills and the remaining orders and notices a melon rind on the floor that had been accidentally dropped by the 9 month old. She glares at the back of our friends’ heads, scoops up the rind and storms off.
When it came time to pay she brings our ticket and explains that she rang us up for the pecan pie I had ordered as it was less expensive and what I wanted in the first place, but we noticed that she charged us for our friend’s Taco Salad. We point out the mix up and she snatches the bill up and flounces off. She comes back with the new bill and my husband notices that she rang up his dessert as “a la mode” which was about a dollar more expensive, and not what he ordered. He calls her back over and explains the mistake and she proceeds to try and justify it by saying that if she would have rang up the bill with my chocolate cake and his correct dessert it would have been the same total as the bill we were currently have. My husband looks at her and says he thought she was cutting us a break on the bill because they didn’t have what I wanted. The waitress just stares back at him, snatches the bill from his hand and storms off and starts shouting across the entire restaurant “THEN I’M CHARGING YOU FULL PRICE FOR HER DESSERT!!!”
Everyone in the restaurant stares at her then at us. I was so embarrassed by the spectacle she made us into that I just wanted to leave. We promptly got up from the table and found the manager and explained what just happened. He still made us pay full price for the two sodas and the two CORRECT desserts and just said she talked to him about it so he knows what happened. I can only imagine what she actually told him. That was the first time I did not leave a tip.
Tagged as:
gratuity,
overcharged,
owner/manager,
server
