Saturday, 19 November 2011
-
Only in a Restaurant
I work as a hostess at an Applebee's and let me tell you, the people I encounter daily are incredible. Sometimes they're incredibly stupid and others, they're incredibly funny.
I'm going to start this story off by explaining a policy we have at the restaurant and why we have it. We aren't supposed to seat any incomplete parties. The reason we have this policy is because if we seat someone who's waiting on someone else, chances are they aren't going to order until that person gets there. If they're waiting for even just ten minutes, that's the amount of time it would have taken for the next person on the list to sit and order and maybe even receive their appetizer if they know what they want. With parties of eight or more, we REALLY enforce this rule because they take up more than one table. If three people come in and say they're waiting for five more, we will not seat them until the other five arrive because if they turn into a group of seven, we can fit them at only one table. Why would we keep two tables open when the others aren't even there yet and there are other hungry people waiting?
As you can see, we have a very logical reason for doing this, but some people just don't want to listen.
A group came in one night of about 14 people. One of the girls, who was especially nasty, worked as a hostess at Friday's. She was whining like crazy when we told her that she had to wait for her friends to get there before we could hold tables for them. After all of her friends got there a half hour after she said they'd arrive, she expected to be sat immediately. We politely told her that we hadn't been holding tables open because we were on a 30 minute wait. We told her that one table had just opened up though, so we'd keep it open and wait or two more tables so we could fit all of them. We gave them the option of splitting up, but she denied it.
She decided to wait for their table in a walkway.
As servers politely said "excuse me" while walking passed, she'd mumble rude things that were barely audible. She'd go on about how Friday's was so much better and how they would have already been eating by then (meanwhile Friday's is less than five minutes from my job and she was still waiting...lol). Then, she took it to a whole new level. She tried to light a server's hair on fire. I'm not even kidding. She was standing in the middle of everyone getting pissed off as servers tried to walk through carrying plates, but she was mad when they said "excuse me." I mean, really. Just get out of the damn way!
My manager was certainly NOT happy about that and went up front and flipped out on her. She wasn't kicked out, nor did she want to leave. However, she thought it was necessary to say how her manager "wasn't that much of a bitch" to everyone in earshot.
Yeah, she's definitely a bitch for not wanting her employees on fire.
Do you work in the service business? If so, do you have any stories of jerks like this?
RecommendRelated Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to ireallylikefood's IReallyLikeFood Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in ireallylikefood's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
About the Author
-
- From: ohaider@xanga
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 2 Views: 0 7410 Comments: 0 69 View all posts by ohaider@xanga
Comments (28)
I would've kicked her out. She'd have no choice in the matter. But since she insisted on staying, just curious, did you do anything...er..."special" to her food? ;)
Wow, she sounds horrible! I can imagine that she probably skimped out on the tip, too huh?
Wow what a bitch! I'll bet no one blamed your manager for flipping out on her. She should have been picked up and thrown out the door at that point!
Your manager is an idiot for not kicking her out.
I mean, the story seems kind of hinky, she tried to set someone's freaking hair on fire and she gets to stay?
Bullshit!
I used to work in a quick service restaurant and have countless incidents in which some customers are just so unreasonable. Some people just feel like this because they are there to spend money they are entitled to act like jerks. If that woman was unsatisfied with the wait and service, and claims that another restaurant would have seated and served her already, why didn't she go there? That makes no sense at all. Sometimes, management flipping out on a customer is totally justified. Some customers forget that servers are people, with feelings, too. It's one thing to be rude, but totally another thing to set another person's hair on fire.
pregnant fish she is
It's shit like this that made me quit working in a restaurant (Don Pablo's, to be exact) after about six months
wtf. that's attempted assault. i'd kick her ass to the curb.
i work in a pharmacy so i've dealt with theft, i know people who've been held up by knife, people have thrown things at me, one of my colleagues got spit on... etc.
ohmygod! what a bitch!
I work for Pizza Hut and we get some nasty people. For example, if someone is out of our delivery area, they beg to be an exception. But if we started to go out of our area for one person, we have to do it for everyone and our delivery area is already huge. Some offer to meet us on street corners which is a safety risk for our drivers. And when we refuse them, it's "bad customer service." I'm sorry but my drivers' safety is more important than your food. We also get people the cry if their order is like 5 minutes late over the delivery time. They don't understand what goes on and people are even worse when theres bad snow or rain.
I'm sorry, but your manager is an idiot for not throwing her out and/or calling the cops. That's attempted assault.
Would be interesting to hear more about the woman setting the hair on fire. Personally, I find it really annoying when I walk into a restaurant and find a large party clogging up the waiting area. I'm not going to fight my way through the crowd. I'm certainly not going to mingle with them. I'm just going to leave.
i worked at a Target photolab for about 3 years, and man, i have some good stories.
one that happened more than once, though, was the following. a person would come in when we were busy, and would go to the self service machines and start doing their order. it would be busy, so i didnt have time to go all the way around the counter to "monitor" what they were doing. (btw, our policies are posted in about 3 different places, and you have to agree to the policies before you start your order on the computer). so after about 45 minutes of this guest being on the computer, they would submit their order, and all of their pictures turn out to be professional. we cannot print professional photos unless we have a release form from the photographer, because it is copyright infringement, blahblahblah. (our store almost got sued once for printing someones professional photos, so we are really strict.) so i would go to the guest and politely say that we need a release form, or we cannot print them. then they would go into a huge rant about how they spent almost an hour doing these photos, and the paid $5,000 for the pictures so they have the right to print them. i would be forced to say, i'm sorry. no. you don't have the right to print them. for all i know, it could say in your contract that you HAVE to buy prints from your photographer. so they would get even more upset. i had one guest actually start throwing things at me. such good times!!...this is why i dont work there anymore, haha.
also--your manager IS an idiot. should have kicked her ass out. :)
The girl was a bitch and she should have been asked to leave. I have a great deal of respect for you, because working as a server is not an easy job.
I had to chuckle though because (even though I'm sure that service is better in the restaurant you work in than the ones in my town) the last time I ate at Applebee's I waited so long for my baked potato that I joked with the waitress that the cook must have walked to Idaho to pick it himself. It did not prevent me from tipping her because the delay wasn't her doing. The restaurant was maybe 2/3 empty (it was a Sunday evening) and I waited 35 min for a baked potato that wasn't even completely cooked. I didn't make a scene. I wouldn't dream of stiffing the waitress. Who knows why there was a delay?
I don't go to our Fridays because of disastrous service we received there. We placed drink orders for 4 (2 sodas, 1 unsweetened tea, 1 bottled beer) with the sodas and beer delivered. I had to flag down our server to inquire about my tea (she replied that I didn't order anything o_O ). When our dinner order was taken we asked for utensils and napkins because they weren't on the table. We waited 45 min, the adult meals were placed before us. No utensils or napkins and no food for my kids. I waved to the server but was ignored. Finally, I stood up and waved both arms like I was flagging down a rescue plane, "Hellllllllooooooo!" When a server from a different section hustled over I told her that my kids' plates weren't on the table and our meals were getting cold because no one had utensils. SHE hurried back and found the kids meals and delivered them with apologies, but NO UTENSILS. I got up and walked over to the hostess and asked if I could get utensils which she got for me. The food was mediocre and now cold. We ate it anyway. The server brought the bill which totaled $52 and change. We had a gift certificate for $50. I laid it on the bill and we waited for 20 minutes. When no one came back we got up and left. No tip, and short on the bill and I don't feel a bit bad, because there was no excuse. I've never been so unimpressed with service or food.
In fact, I've never eaten in a Fridays since. At least I can get a damn fork in Applebee's! LOL
@beesuze@xanga - Im a server and I still dont blame you for stiffing the waitress at Fridays! That is terrible service. I also appreciat that you are one of the few that realizes that food delays and things of that nature are not our fault! :)
ugh i hated customer service jobs soo much. the employees that are actually good, dont get enough credit. at all. and they're usually huge corporation jobs so you're not valued at all.
wait til you go to an asian owned restaurant if you haven't already to check out their customer service if they can even call it that:D sometimes the service is okay, but usually, it is expected to be flaky and rude. if you're missing a utensil or want another one because it is dirty, then just get up and get it yourself at another table because waiting for them to get it will take hours if not metaphorical decades:P but if it is a casual place, then what does one really expect.
I worked at a high end restaurant where each party spends at least a couple hundred if not thousands of dollars due to the pricey food and I haven't encountered that many rude customers. they are usually courteous and appreciative. so sometimes it depends on the place/area. the problematic thing was some of my gossipy coworkers than the customers.
I light people's hair on fire all of the time. I don't see the problem.
honestly, why do people act like idiots and then complain about the story to other people? that just makes them look bad... I used to work in fast food, and when I got another job, I was ready to gtfo. my coworkers were my favorite part, but the customers were my least.
I don't know why the cops were not called actually. She probably does crap like that all the time. I understand, she's hungry, her party is flaking on her, but to try to set someone else's hair on fire means she should be arrested. Good luck to you, may you have more sane customers than not.
I can only wonder why she wasn't thrown out / the police called after she tried to light someone on fire. People only behave the way you let them behave.
Stuff like this is the reason that I wholeheartedly believe that the customer is NOT always right. That is a bullshit phrase and I wish people would stop using it. Having unreasonable demands does not make anyone right!
Also, isn't setting someone's hair on fire considered physical abuse/assault? Even if she didn't actually complete the act, she still attempted it. Pretty sure in some places she could have been arrested for that. At the very least it would have warranted a call to the cops to diffuse the situation. Not only should she have been kicked out, she should have had a police escort!
That is attempted assault and I am sure some sort of attempt at arson and she should have been removed from the location immediately, no acceptations. The police should have been called on her.
I worked at a Hobby Lobby in a college town. Loads of old ladies would come in and cause trouble, but mostly it was the younger crowd that would get my blood boiling. There are soooo many stories I could share, but not enough space or time to tell them. My stupid manager would always say, "the customer is always right..." even though there was proof of the customer being wrong right in front of both the manager and customer. I only worked at McDonalds for 4 days because the management was so terrible that I literally broke down and cried in front of an entire lobby filled with Sunday afternoon passer-by's. And don't even get me started about how rude people are to you when you work behind a deli counter. I think it is an 'every job' thing. People are going to be rude to you no matter what industry you work in.