Everyone knows and dreads those persnickety customers who come in looking for something to complain about. They’re on high alert their entire meal, waiting for the chance to ruin someone’s day.
Well, they got me today.
Let me preface by saying that whenever my restaurant gets its health inspection, we always pass with flying colors. Our staff is great about cleaning and good habits, so it’s not like anybody has to worry about the place being dirty.
It was a slow Tuesday night shift in the restaurant. Everything was going fine. I had a couple of tables outside, but I wasn’t in a hurry for anything. The inside section near the bar was almost empty except for one table right beside the service bar. It was warm outside and I made the wrong decision to wear pants instead of shorts, so I wanted to roll up my cuffs while I was waiting for a drink to be made.
Admittedly, I made a mistake by putting my foot on a shelf where there are bone baskets and app plates, but people put their feet on shelves everywhere else in the restaurant and no one has ever thrown a fit. I put my foot up on the very edge of the shelf and cuffed my pants, and from behind me I hear, “That’s not very sanitary; you shouldn’t be doing that.” I turned around and muttered “sorry” and put my foot on the bottom of the bar ledge (where people are supposed to put their feet). I thought that would be the end of it.
I was wrong.
This lady is still complaining vehemently. “You need to take everything off that shelf and sanitize it. That’s disgusting; I wonder what other kinds of unsanitary things are happening in this place.” She proceeds to get a manager, and says she doesn’t even want to eat her food and she wants me written up for that, etc, etc.
I took a sanitizer towel to the entire part of the exposed shelf even though my foot didn’t go anywhere near the rest of the stuff on it. I guess that wasn’t enough because she insisted that the manager take everything off the shelf (under her scrutiny) and run it through the dishwasher. I couldn’t even go on that side of the restaurant until they left. Funny thing was, I cleaned that entire area top to bottom the night before.
She was just a miserable nightmare.
I have to give props to my manager, though. He took my side, didn’t give them anything for free (because they didn’t deserve it at all). I didn’t get written up, and we all had a good laugh about how annoying they were.
– The Imitation Krab
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You shouldn't have put your foot on a shelf where there are plates in view of a customer. In my opinion, you shouldn't put your foot on a shelf where there are plates at all. The customer did go overboard though. Glad your manager didn't give in to her demands.
Personally, it drives me nuts when I see staff putting their foot on the shelves. But yeah, the customer seems like a drama seeker.