The bartender asks me to deliver a drink to another server's table. I do so, not knowing what I'm walking into, just helping out and delivering a drink. I bring the vodka tonic to the table, which is a party of six. Everyone at the table has their food except for the lady who ordered the drink. "Vodka tonic?" I ask her, and she locks eyes with me and says, in a very snotty way, "Well my food would be nice."
Did she really just say that to me? I haven't been by this table once tonight, so what makes her think I'm the one responsible for her food missing? There are dozens of peope working right now to serve over a hundred other people. Does she expect every server on staff to only cater to her needs? Rude.
Of the many pet peeves I have as a server, the worst is when guests flag down any worker in sight to get them something as ridiculous as an extra lemon or to yell at them about what's taking their food so long. We keep tabs on our own tables. Ask us to find your server for you, and we'd be happy to. It's not that we're being lazy and don't want to get you something, we just want you to be considerate that we have tables of our own. You're not the only guest in the restaurant who needs something.
The next day started off with yet another bang. The first table of the shift can make or break the rest of the night. I start the night with a party of five and everything is going smoothly. They have just gotten their food and are eating happily. Then, a kid throws up at another server's table close to mine. The men at my table are freaking out. They come to our sidestand, which is a sacred closed-off spot for servers only, and start yelling at me. "We can't eat our food and we're so grossed out we don't even want to take it to go. So I don't know how you're going to take care of the bill, but we're out."
Oh, is that how it works?
I go tell my manager about these little girls who can't stomach their food (when their actual little girls are still eating at their table as if nothing happened), and she goes to deal with them. She explains it's not our fault that a kid got sick at another table, that she'd be happy to make them a new pizza to go but she can't take care of their check. As eager as these guys were to leave, they're not leaving until she comps their check for them. By this time, the busser has cleaned up the small mess at the other table and the women with my party are still eating. The men insist they're too grossed out to eat and won't even take the new pizza to go. My manager eventually took 50% off just to get them out of her face.
I don't understand why people go out to eat and go through all the trouble of complaining to get free stuff. If that's how you want it then go to McDonald's. Don't go to a nice restaurant and treat your servers with disrespect. Especially the lady with the vodka tonic. She wasn't only snotty with me, but of course with her server and our manager and probably anyone else walking by. Pissing off that many people who make your food is not a good idea. It's that simple.
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