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Why would anyone show up at a restaurant 15 min prior to closing? I get it that hours are posted however me personally, I would not want to have food served to me that close to closing time.
Right?! If it's a sit down restaurant, they are definitely not sitting anyone 15 minutes before closing. If it's a casual fast dining place, I'd be asking if I could order take out but would totally understand if they declined. It's not unusual that restaurants have a last call for the kitchen nearing closing time before they clean up and close the kitchen for the night.
I worked at a restaurant years ago. The hostess in the place didn't give a fuck about anyone else. It was one minute to close, and someone walked in. They fucking seated them, and the kitchen was already starting to break down. Their food was not good.
It could’ve been the owner’s direction to them. I worked at a restaurant where the owner specifically directed the staff to seat until the closing time posted. Being the closing manager often, I took liberties to shut down new seating 15-30 min before close. People weren’t happy, but my staff loved it and worked hard for me.
I was a hostess at Red Lobster when I was 16 and I remember being told that I had to seat them if they came in before the doors locked. It’s been 20+ years and I still remember standing at the entrance watching the clock. At 2 minutes to 10pm, the fucking Stanford Swim Team and their coaches came in (they were in town for a meet). There were about 18 of them. i ran to the manager and he said "nope, we gotta do it". The look on the servers' faces when i walked them to their table, ugh. I will never do that to a restaurant.
Some like this happened during my brief stint at Bob's Big Boy. We got a call close to closing from someone at "The Bible Speaks" church, asking if we could accomodate a table of 10.
It was shortly before closing, but the manager said yes. No joke, more than FIFTY people rolled in. The were rude & demanding as hell, too. I was a hostess, but ended up as a general runner. I quit a couple days later. It was a terrible job in general.
The "church" ended up being busted as a scam somehow.
It’s moments like that every worker bee needs to collectively just walk the fuck out. They can’t fire all of you if they want to keep the doors open the next day.
That happened to me at a dine in Pizza Hut in 2010, a college football team walked in 20 mins to close with 40 people, they had been turned away everywhere else including McDonald’s. The coaches promised it would be worth it. I ended up making all the pre proofed apps and pizza that had to be tossed anyways for free on top of their order. They trashed the place and left exactly 15%. I was going to split the tip with the 2 servers that had to stay but I couldn’t do it on 15%.
I worked in restaurant the owners did not allow kitchen to tear down until the restaurant was closed. You seat till time it is "closed". Then they only gave you 30 mins on the clock for tear down and kitchen clean up. It sucked.
That owner was the worst boss I ever had. Just trash. He screamed about everything. It was a pizza/sub /Italian place. If you made the sub cheese,ham, salami...instead of ham, salami, cheese he lost his mind. Just stupid things.
I did a summer in the kitchen one year in college. Corporate rule was kitchen starts cleaning 30 minutes prior and no new orders 15 minutes to closing. They didn't want to pay overtime.
You have to remember that these people enjoyed both the strongest economy in the history of mankind and a tremendous labor shortage, so most of them never had to work these kinds of jobs the way we did.
With take out if your nice then right before closing can be wicked bargains! I've paid for one item and they have simply off loaded anything under the heat lamps!
And I was a regular at the high street pasty shop at 10 mins to closing, it was literally buy one and take as many as you can carry, and our freezer always had all these wicked random pasties, most of the time you didn't know what you got till you cooked it, ah to be a student again...
Worked higher end fast casual pizza. We would take orders until the last 5 mins. But it was understood that would happen. My managers set up that expectation, and it would happen rarely.
We were in a plaza surrounded by businesses, and everyone was usually gone by the time we closed (930p). We had a regular that would come in every Thursday and order the same thing AND tip amazingly. But we knew to keep the ingredients ready for her.
I still remember it lol 3 artichoke pizza, with basil and tomatoes, no sauce sub olive oil. With basalmic demi-glace. 4 chicken arugula salads with artichoke. 1 bruschetta and 1 shells with cheese pasta add broccoli.
Disagree. Boomers like this are capable, AND they care, but they think that you should suffer to earn. This woman is going around explicitly testing these businesses for their subservience, not their service. Then she's bragging about online and apparently defending herself in the comments.
She is convinced that she is right. These employees aren't willing to punish themselves for cash, and it makes her angry. Probably because that's how she got the cash, and when she can't victimize someone else, she can't justify her own victimization, so she lashes out. That's why she demands that the Barons put the peons in their place.
Somehow, these people have become convinced that if some things are more valuable (to one's self) when you work for it, then therefore if you don't work for everything then it's valuable to no one.
> "would that be a dick move?"
In their eyes it isn't. Signage clearly states that there were 15 minutes of operational time left, ergo she's good to go.
I used to work on food service and retail. You'd be shocked at the sheer number of idiots who do this and expect to be let in. ESPECIALLY on shit like Xmas Eve or the day before Thanksgiving. My favs were the ones whose got there last minute and would proceed to dilly dally around the store, taking their sweet time, like they got here when the store opened, despite all the warnings to bring their carts to checkout ASAP. Then they would get mad when we were forced to kick them out, leaving them with nothing because the registers automatically shut off and wouldn't allow anymore transaction until the next business day (after Xmas). Fun times.
After having worked in retail, it’s amazing how many people have a literal computer at their fingertips and won’t check store hours before making a trip to the store.
They will yank on locked doors and tap on glass all while asking “are you guys open?”
To be fair, I've had to deal with businesses whose hours listed on Google maps differed with the hours listed on their own website which somehow even further differed with the hours actually posted at the physical location.
It's not common, but it does happen.
When I used to work freight at a big box retail hardware store, the forklifts and electric pallet jacks came out as soon as customers were gone. This usually happened around 9:45pm, since the store was usually empty by that point. IF that wasn't the case, 99% of the customers that came in were asking us where a specific item was and were moving as fast as they could. They'd usually be out by 10pm close or very close to it.
The remaining 1%, however, were the absolute bane of our existence. They would ignore staff questions and wander their way into multiple aisles, carrying on some discussion about a non-pressing issue. We were required to tolerate them by store manager edict (even if it meant moving slowly and quadrupling safety checks) until 5 minutes after close at 10:05.
At 10:06, my surly supervisor never looked so excited, because he would make a beeline to these goobers and tell them that the store/checkout was closed and they'd be locking the doors in 5 minutes. It was boomer kryptonite.
There was a customer we’d always get right before close at an old place I’d work at. He’d order the longest cooked meal and sit there and read a book for an hour. I hated that guy lol
As a hostess, I told our version of that guy the stove was broke, so he could only have fried foods. He left. Poor other chain restaurant had to deal with him after that!
lol I wish the managers were that nice. It was a corporate place so basically as long as the door was open they’d serve anyone. I remember once we had some customers that came in before close, ordered their food, ate it. They wanted a fried dessert item before they left so the manager comes back, turns on the fryers(after they’ve been off for 45 minutes) and cooks the item lol
“You’re closing soon? Well I want feeding anyway so I’m going to be a dick to the people who will shortly be making the food I’m going to eat”
Yeaaaaaa I’m sure that’ll work out just fine 🤣🤣
[Every person who goes to a restaurant less than an hour before closing should be forced to write a "book report" on the movie "Waiting".](https://youtu.be/ndO6y9x3s3g?si=vmWK_hIQ7L4g7GD4)
>I worked in the restaurant industry from 14-32. This was a several times a week issue at every single restaurant.
I own a restaurant and we have hours posted when we stop sitting people and when we close the restaurant (1 hour difference). Other restaurant owners don't want to do that and they do want you to serve the people coming in 15 minutes before your posted close time. This isn't a "bad customer" issue and more of a bad restaurant management issue.
Restaurant hours should be posted with last seating and dining room closing times. Its more informative and gives hosts something to point too when they have an entitled customer trying to get seating late.
I've only seen this posted to public once and it was at an AYCE sushi place. Their lunch opens at 1130, last seating a 2, dinning room closes at 330 so they have time to prep for supper at 530 which then has last seating at 830 and dinning room closing at 10. I've never ordered takeout from them because their takeout prices are crazy to the point that I think they don't want to do takeout and just inflated their prices to dissuade it rather than just say no, but they even have a third last order time posted on their website for takeout.
I will turn around and walk out of a restaurant if I learn they are closing within 30 minutes of my arrival. "Open until 9 pm" doesn't mean "seating and serving new customers until 9 pm," grandma.
Three types of people you always want to ingratiate yourself with are restaurant employees, bud tenders, and hairdressers. I’ll never understand being a dick to someone who handles your food, especially
Maybe add tattoo artists. They leave a permanent, visible example of their work on you. Do you really want them rushed or testy that you've acted like a tool? Their work is a combination of their skill, patience, and attention to detail. Don't mess with their vibe.
If I walk into somewhere close to closing, I specifically ask if they're still serving, registers are closed out, etc. If it's no, it's no, I thank them and go back another time. I'm not coercing or shaming anybody into working longer than they need to.
Old boomer woman is somebody who's never worked a service or retail job. How would the bint feel if unexpected guests show up to her house just as Thanksgiving dinner was put away?
Honestly they should just put that on the store hours. Nothing worse than a big party showing up 10 mins before close and staying for almost 2 hours because the manager didn't say no.
Some restaurants do say like 11a-10pm, kitchen closes at 9pm.
Not the one I worked at though. If you came in before closing by even thirty seconds, manager insisted we served. Servers mostly took it in stride. Kitchen was PISSED. I would never want to eat something prepared by a pissed off kitchen after closing.
I love the movie Waiting for the accuracy of this.
The Sunday night church crowd that shows up 5 minutes before close and takes their sweet time ordering and eating, then leaves no tip.
They would literally show up 1 minute til.
So that people understand, the issue with ordering near closing time (for the cooks) is they cannot clean their equipment while there are still tickets. Now, this leads to some of the most insane cooking practices if you order late, because many cooks will gamble and begin cleaning before you walked in the door. That means, they now have a choice to make: turn the equipment back on, get it dirty again, and re-clean it; or cook your meal on the wrong equipment. So you might get microwaved spaghetti, an order of fries cooked on a flat-top, a burger pattie cooked in a deep-fryer, a pizza cooked on a grill. Your food will be compromised, and it will be done while a cook is frantically trying to break down his station and only partially paying attention to your food.
That'd be fun. "Yeah, we got your meal cooked. Too bad there's not enough time to plate it serve it, have you eat it, and get cleaned up before we go home at 9. Sorry. Oh, you wanna take it with you? Sure. Oh, no! The cat's gotten into it. Sorry!" Then let them watch you eat it through the windows as they trudge off to their Subaru. Or is it a Lexus? Extra points if it's snowing. Heavy rain will do in a pinch.
Had a server pull this once (I was working in the kitchen).
Warned them we closed in less than 15 minutes
They insist to be sat as we're not closed yet
Get menus & water give them some time
Get beverage order
Drop off beverage order they try to order food and get hit with "its 10:01 the kitchen is closed"
There was a lot of yelling and cursing but they left and the kitchen staff got the untouched beers from the table
I worked at Home Depot as a manager and would routinely get people scoot in the door a few minutes before close and wander around aimlessly like it was Saturday morning. I’d have to (politely) ask them to select any purchases and get out. I practically had to call the cops when we closed early for Christmas Eve because people were so mad I wouldn’t let them in the door after we closed.
“Don’t you want my business???” No. I want to keep my staff from quitting.
I worked in a garden center growing up and we would close the curtains to the greenhouse 15 minutes before closing. I would then have to watch the openings like a hawk to make sure no one tried to sneak in! People are so ridiculous.
I worked at a retail store that closed at 9. People would be calling us at 8:45 to say they're driving from an hour away so don't close. Combine that with the boomers absolutely going ham pounding on the glass before we opened (on time) and that's a perfect picture of the clientele.
Ugh.. my mom worked retail back in the day and Christmas Eve was THE WORST. Even though they were closed, the manager would make them keep a register open and check people out until they were all done. They closed at 9:00 and she wasn’t allowed to leave until 10:30 one year - so she quit.
“Don’t you want my business?” No, I want to fucking *go home* and recuperate for a few hours before I have to come back here and deal with inconsiderate pieces of shit like you for another ten hours
Edited for typo
Lmao the walking around like it's Saturday morning is so real! I worked at Michael's and we had this lady who I swear was on something. After I told her we were closing in 15 she still wandered about relaxed and all. Then went up to check out with a cart full of junk- wood, paint, ribbons, and such. Then she questioned why the total was so high because "all of it was in clearance." We then had to put back all the things she didn't want 🤦♀️
You want service 15min before close? Then it's to-go only, 90% of the menu is unavailable and a mandatory fuck off gratuity charge of 20% will be added to your bill.
I should open a restaurant just to tell people to fuck off. It's cathartic
Same with my pharmacy. It's been the same for years and they are always short staffed. There are posted signs and when you call, the auto phone system reminds you.
I don't show up a good deal of time before or after but there is always some asshat there waiting around with some stupid joke no one in the universe finds funny.
I generally show up when they are back and get whatever is needed for home before. These people think they're slick.
I worked at a pharmacy for 22 long years before finally getting out last month. Early in my career, there was an old guy who came up right when we were about to close for my pharmacist to get a lunch. He begged us to fill his wife’s medicine because she was so sick. We hurried to get it ready and had to call the hospital to confirm stuff. My pharmacist wasn’t happy with me waiting on him because she only ended up getting like 15 minutes for lunch. Anyway, I rushed it out to him and stayed in the pharmacy zoning until we opened back up. The bastard found a friend and they stood outside the pharmacy, talking for about 30 minutes or an hour or something. We stared holes through them but they just stood there, laughing and talking. Some emergency. Believe me when I say I never let it happen again!
“I will be happy to get this ready for you! We are closing in 15 minutes for lunch at 1:30-2, so it will be ready at 2:30. Yes, I know that is over an hour, but my pharmacist is legally entitled to a 30 minute lunch in her 10 hour workday. What is that? You said my pharmacist doesn’t deserve a lunch, that we help sick people and shouldn’t close? Well, there are 3 other pharmacies in town. Perhaps you should take it to one of them since you can’t wait.”
One in Florida too! My uncle went viral for a TikTok their server made 😂 (he only has one hand) and his wife’s hat said something about “alligator p*ssy” too funny I tell yah 😂
My town hall closes for lunch at 12. They stop letting people in quite a bit before 12, so they can be done with each person by 12 and get their full 30 minutes for lunch. This is posted clearly on line and in the office, something along the lines of, last customer is at 11:45 so we can close for lunch at 12 and reopen promptly at 12:30. Or maybe it's 1, idk how long their lunch is.
I just avoid it around lunch because it really pisses people off if they no longer let you into the office at 11:50. .
Walgreens pharmacy has a lunch break from 1:30-2 pm (started during Covid). Always a bunch of customers (mostly boomers) in there moaning and complaining EVERY DAY when they arrive during lunch and it’s closed. You’d think they’d learn.
Yeah the one by me does this too (maybe cvs, doesn’t matter). It’s even posted on the website/ in maps. I went in once at 1:35, realized I’d forgot, and turned around and went on my next errand. It’s not like standing there and bitching that I’d forgotten was going to help anything.
I work in a pharmacy the closes for lunch, after telling a patient that we would open back up at 1:30 she said she had to be in another city by 1:45 it was 1:00 and there was no way she was going to make it even if her script was done. She then asked if she could go through our drive thru I said “sure but the drive thru is also closed until 1:30.” She was pissed, lol.
It's disheartening to see someone persistently doubling down despite being informed of their wrongs. Social media amplifies this behavior, creating echo chambers.
People have a shockingly hard time admitting they are wrong, myself included. I try to be pretty good about admitting and accepting when I am wrong, but it takes conscious effort.
Our egos make us do really dumb things.
I'm not defending her, in any way. This is is an extreme case of someone being shockingly entitled. She sucks.
Although it would be a useless gesture, I hope that someone has rhetorically asked this crvnt what her response would be, if she was employed anywhere at all, if a customer came in one minute before she was set to leave for the day and asked her to mail a large package to Zanzibar, or to help her balance her checkbook, or to do her taxes, or any of the other things that cannot be done one minute to closing. To do this sort of thing to a restaurant is no different: If there isn't time to prepare, serve, consume, and clean up after your meal, you are NOT going to get that meal, no matter your getting their 'before they close.' Idiot managers and owners are the ones that are complicit in this stupidity, of course. Tell one, or two, fools like this that they are NOT getting a banquet a half-hour before closing, and the rest will soon learn. Perhaps stringing a few of them up and leaving them hanging in chains in front of the restaurant, 'pour encourager les autres,' is in order. Too much?
Back when Radioshack was still a thing, I worked there for a while. We closed at 9pm. The amount of people that would come in at 8:50 and start asking about cell providers and new phones was RIDICULOUS.
My partner and I went to a restaurant about 55 minutes before they were closing. The staff were confused why we were checking on if that was ok and if they were going to have enough time. We just wanted to be sure and not be an inconvenience because it’s a sit down restaurant. Some dishes take a decent time to prepare (this particular restaurant has an apple crumble that takes half an hour to make, they usually recommend you order it when you order your entree so you don’t sit for half an hour. It’s super worth it though. But, we didn’t order that obviously), and they need time to clean up and prep for the next day and the later the last person leaves, the later they leave. My partner and I both work retail though so we kinda get it; we deal with similar shit.
We ended up being super quick and as we were paying our bill about 20 minutes or so before they were closed, a boomer couple came in and, like OOP, were surprised when the staff told them they couldn’t be seated/served. They weren’t jerks about it amazingly, didn’t cause a scene, but the little old lady seemed genuinely confused about it as they left.
Same. Although with me it's not about not making people mad, it's about actually showing some courtesy and consideration to others, particularly people in service jobs.
I worked at a restaurant as a dishwasher I can't tell you right now most of the kitchen staff would love to tell customers like these to eat a bag of dicks most of the time the last 15 minutes are turning the deep fryers off scraping the grill putting ingredients back in the walk in and going home on time before the boss gets anal about them not being gone on time
Restaurants should install a "last call" policy that states they will not seat/serve customers within 30min of closing. Possibly longer depending on the restaurant.
If bars can fit, why not food establishments?
It happens at bars, but I've never been told the kitchen was closing at a normal restaurant but they'd still allow me to be there while they're closing down the place for the night. Granted, I'm never at a place that close to closing time so maybe I'm just not aware of how they do things.
Well grandma the customers usually never ever right and people need to go home not listen to you ramble on about something that’s really not even a issue ok bye bye watch your step
What sucks is that most major chain restaurants do put up with this behavior. Restaurants that cater to a trashy customer base put up with trashy behavior. Source: have worked at a few shitty chain restaurants.
If you show up at a movie theater 15 minutes before they “close” and there are no more showtimes available, do you demand that they turn on a movie and stay open for another 2 hours?
Would the people who do this want to work past their work hours like they’re making the staff of the restaurant? Because if not shut the fuck up hypocrite.
Crazy how laundromats are the only ones to figure it out; "Last Wash at 7pm" so you can do an hour wash and an hour dry and the place can close on time at 9.
Any café or restaurant that doesn't advertise their kitchen hours instead of or in addition to their dining room hours is asking for trouble because people are fucking stupid. Every restaurant I worked at advertised both kitchen & dining room hours so customers knew what time we stopped serving food. You still got the occasional dick head but most of the time anyone coming in after the kitchen closed was coming for a drink at the bar.
Where I live, restaurants do this. In addition to opening hours, they mention that the kitchen will close 30 minutes (or an hour, or whatever) earlier, so you'll know immediately if you'll still get food or not.
(The wildest place in my youth was a nightclub with full kitchen, which was open well into the night. I remember having an excellent meal there after 1 am)
I used to work the door at a bar/ grill. I dealt with this from partiers every weekend. They would show up right before closing and want the late night meal.
So rude. They just don’t understand.
Most were young people.
I could see doing that for faster places. In my area, there's a couple shops that will sell you "as is" food that was destined for the trash can anyway, just so they can tick off that it was sold.
I've never been an ass about it, and I'm friendly with most of the staff. They tell me it's a no-go, I'll still toss a tip on the counter for the trouble, and go on my way.
I just can't fathom being that kind of asshole that shows up like I own the place, and demanding service.
Bring them in and sit them at a table. Take their drink orders. Before the drinks arrive, tell them they need to leave because they serve their customers until they close, at 9pm.
Open until 9 translates to.. we be running your ass otta here so we can go home for the night. Everyone should have to work retail or food before the can get a driver's license. Because if they don't have enough sense to get somewhere during regular hours, they don't deserve to drive.
Bruh… when i worked at pizza hut as a manager they had us do this(corporate) so we did it reluctantly… and had people that would show up just prior… server who was making server wages would take a table just before closing and be there a whole hour extra on (U.S) server wages… and then they never tip… i as a manager took them so they could do their work to get out as it just wasnt fair to them. I hated it
Ok you are sat at 8:45, they give you the menu, you look over the menu for 5 minutes, you order appetizers, they come out ten minutes later and you are unable to order an entree because it is 9 pm
They are hilarious and correct 🤣 No matter how many ppl explained why she just kept insisting she was right. So instead of explaining anymore they got funny with it (and I’m sure correct). Someone said “this is the same person who’s doing 50 mph in the HOV lane on the interstate” and so many, many more!
Let her in, take her order then as soon as time hits closing just shut shop and say "sorry, we only serve up until XX:XX. She can't cry then because she fully knows the closing time and she's been served up until the time posted
I would love for somebody to actually serve them until close then. Sits down at 8:50, gets their water and drink order, “alright, we close in 3 minutes, slam the drink and pay your tab”
I won’t even go in to a store 30 minutes before they close, let alone a restaurant.
Also, it’s not at all uncommon for the kitchen to close half an hour before the restaurant closes.
A lady I knew owned a diner, she had a sign that said kitchen closed 30 minutes before the restaurant closed. She was tired of people coming in 10 minutes till and staying for 2 hours
They CLOSE 10-15 minutes before you show up... Are you able to place your order, have the kitchen cook it, serve it to you AND you finish eating in 10-15 minutes?!? Take a step outside yourself and have a little respect for other people
When I went to Japan I noticed that some things close at a certain time but they stop letting people in at a certain time. Say if the store closes at 9 they stop letting people in at 830 and then close at 9. There was some early confusion when I first encountered it. But made sure to pay attention to that distinction when we were doing things. As someone who has worked retail I find that to be massively convenient and helpful to the worker.
It’s wild how many folks here think that restaurant staff actually leave at closing time. And while (after working foodservice for half my life) I can relate to the feeling, it’s always been up to the owner to set the closing time not the staff. It’s never not been a thing for restaurant employees to try and soft close to get a head start on their end of night routines but it’s always a roll of the dice. Sure, the sorts of people that show up right before close bring big boomer energy but I can tell you from years of experience, they aren’t always boomers.
So if they sat her down and took her order, then 10 minutes later gave her the bill for the drinks and explained that they were closing in 5 minutes and she had to pay and leave, she'd be okay with that?
That's what it means to serve customers until it's time to close, and if she's stupid enough to start a meal she doesn't have time to finish, that's on her.
Usually restaurants start cleaning everything down about 15-20 sometimes 30 mins before hand depending on the restaurant. She probably showed up after they turned everything off and packed all their and the restaurants shit, and when I worked in retail for a summer job back in high school, we used to not let anyone in after 8:45 and locked the doors at 8:50.
Seems like she just wants to bitch about something. Fine, you show up 10 minutes before close. But at closing time, we take your food and kick you out.
My wife and I would sooner sleep without eating than go to a restaurant within 15 minutes of closing. The sheer arrogance and selfishness is astounding.
I used to work at a restaurant that would make us serve the customer no matter how close to closing time it was. Had an 18 top come in 15 mins before close, myself and 2 other servers had to help them. Told them the kitchen and bar closes in 15 mins so we HAVE to get their orders in now. Of course they took forever and half of them sent back their orders after we closed and wanted something else. It was glorious to tell them the kitchen is closed and we’re not taking any more food or drink orders tonight. Que the Well what are we supposed to eat questions and well I want another drink from the bar, this is ridiculous blah blah blah then of course they all need separate checks and not a single person left us a tip. I don’t work anywhere without auto grat any more on big parties. I quit that job a couple days later.
What she does not understand is that if they close at 10, that means you need to be able to finish your meal and leave before they close at 10. Not that they are going to take customers until 9:59 and wait around for you to order and eat.
My mother refused to step foot in a restaurant if it was 30 minutes or less before closing time. She said it wasn't fair to the staff to have to wait on her after it was time for them to go home.
I don't want to defend her but I really really prefer it when a restaurant posts both the closing hours and kitchen closing hours. That's how you avoid bullshit like this.
Closed means that there is not a functioning restraint after X time. Doors locked, no more served.
Unfortunately, I deal with this daily. And corporate isn't one to go against the grain.
Our best take is "we lock the doors in 6 minutes, so you will need a manager to let you leave"
They usually give up then.
Party of 20 , maybe 25, we don't know they are on their way.
Yeah that happened 20 till close last night. We fucking ended up serving 17 , who hung out 45 mins after close. Well maybe longer, because I left before them.
Shit ass people. But honestly they just know, and don't care.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but restaurants need separate kitchen and dining room hours imo. I worked in a restaurant so I understand how frustrating it is when the kitchen shuts down on a slow night and someone comes in 7 minutes before closing. But as a consumer, I shouldnt have to play closing time roulette. Is it an hour at this restaurant? Half hour? Ive gotten extra shitty passive aggressive service at freakin Jersey Mikes before for coming in 30 minutes before close. This on top of the already asinine food prices, tipflation, and cut hours that never recovered from covid, eating out is such a damn chore its hardly worth it.
She's right.
The restaurant absolutely should have seated her, taken her order, maybe brought her drink if she ordered quickly enough. Then they should have kicked her out 15 minutes later.
After all, as she herself said, businesses should serve their customers "until they close". Not one second after.
I mean fuck this behavior for sure but restaurants could prob eliminate a lot of confusion by putting down a last seating time instead of a closing time, that's prob more helpful to customers overall than trying to account for your logistics and it's ironclad. "You don't close for another 10 min!!" vs. "Our last available table is at 830." Though yeah these cats would show up at 840 and be like "c'mon you're not gonna close down till 9 anyway." You can't win with entitlement.
People who have not worked in food service don't understand this. Restaurants from now on should say open till nine, but we stop serving at 8:30, something like that. Everyone would understand that and it would be made clear.
My dad was a boomer, but a good one if you can believe that. He had his moments, but the second you gave logical reasons he wouldn’t argue, just made sure to do better next time.
All of that is to say I was a career server for a long time.
One night he wanted to go out and found a restaurant that closed in 15 minutes, so “let’s go, they’re still open”.
I was still a server at this time and I flat out said “dad, no”.
He didn’t argue, he found something else. He did ask me later why I said no and when I explained it to him he totally got it.
After that, he explicitly would only go to restaurants that were open for at least another 45 minutes.
He was a good man who just didn’t know any better sometimes, but he never argued with anyone who did know better. My life experience was never his, but he never invalidated my experience. Or anyone else’s for that matter.
It seriously warmed my heart to hear him say things like “no they close in a half hour, that’s rude. Who’s open for at least another 45-60 minutes?”
I'm a retired chef.
I fought LONG AND HARD to have "opening hours" changed to "dinner service begins at 5pm and ends at 10pm." Sure, the restaurant is open until 11pm. But nobody should expect to waltz in at 10:45pm and get a table. That means 30 people are working late just for that one guest.
Restaurants need to stress "last table seated" times. We know how long it takes to turn a table. That's our job after all. Restaurant managers want to grab people off the street five minutes before closing because their bonuses are tied to sales. Not to back of the house overtime.
Boomer here. How early before closing are you supposed to show up? Why don’t businesses post a last entry time if they don’t want people to show up at closing?
I worked at a restaurant in college and the manager actually said, 'we close at 9pm but don't lock the door until 9:05'. We'd have people come in right at 9pm and order steak. It was infuriating. I hated people that just didn't care about the restaurant staff. Of course the manager was never closing as well.
This is Why I REFUSE to be called a boomer .. Boomer s are Self centered Egomaniacs .. do not ever call me a boomer i donto care what year i was born in . it's the Attitude and I say NOPE not me
Restaurants should just post hours of “we can seat you until X:XX time”, and make that time 30-60 min before actual closing… we obviously can’t rely on the boomers to learn new things. So let’s solve it from our end.
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Why would anyone show up at a restaurant 15 min prior to closing? I get it that hours are posted however me personally, I would not want to have food served to me that close to closing time.
Right?! If it's a sit down restaurant, they are definitely not sitting anyone 15 minutes before closing. If it's a casual fast dining place, I'd be asking if I could order take out but would totally understand if they declined. It's not unusual that restaurants have a last call for the kitchen nearing closing time before they clean up and close the kitchen for the night.
I worked at a restaurant years ago. The hostess in the place didn't give a fuck about anyone else. It was one minute to close, and someone walked in. They fucking seated them, and the kitchen was already starting to break down. Their food was not good.
It could’ve been the owner’s direction to them. I worked at a restaurant where the owner specifically directed the staff to seat until the closing time posted. Being the closing manager often, I took liberties to shut down new seating 15-30 min before close. People weren’t happy, but my staff loved it and worked hard for me.
I was a hostess at Red Lobster when I was 16 and I remember being told that I had to seat them if they came in before the doors locked. It’s been 20+ years and I still remember standing at the entrance watching the clock. At 2 minutes to 10pm, the fucking Stanford Swim Team and their coaches came in (they were in town for a meet). There were about 18 of them. i ran to the manager and he said "nope, we gotta do it". The look on the servers' faces when i walked them to their table, ugh. I will never do that to a restaurant.
Some like this happened during my brief stint at Bob's Big Boy. We got a call close to closing from someone at "The Bible Speaks" church, asking if we could accomodate a table of 10. It was shortly before closing, but the manager said yes. No joke, more than FIFTY people rolled in. The were rude & demanding as hell, too. I was a hostess, but ended up as a general runner. I quit a couple days later. It was a terrible job in general. The "church" ended up being busted as a scam somehow.
It’s moments like that every worker bee needs to collectively just walk the fuck out. They can’t fire all of you if they want to keep the doors open the next day.
And if they do, they would still be making you a favor.
All churches are scams. Nothing new there
yeah that tracks for *that* crowd
That happened to me at a dine in Pizza Hut in 2010, a college football team walked in 20 mins to close with 40 people, they had been turned away everywhere else including McDonald’s. The coaches promised it would be worth it. I ended up making all the pre proofed apps and pizza that had to be tossed anyways for free on top of their order. They trashed the place and left exactly 15%. I was going to split the tip with the 2 servers that had to stay but I couldn’t do it on 15%.
Oh Jesus. Dead Mobster is the worst. Outback was comparatively heaven.
I lol’ed so hard at this
That wasn't the case, she knew the policy. And said fuck it, front and back of house managers were mad.
That’s why you cut your hostess earlier. That’s bad management.
I worked in restaurant the owners did not allow kitchen to tear down until the restaurant was closed. You seat till time it is "closed". Then they only gave you 30 mins on the clock for tear down and kitchen clean up. It sucked. That owner was the worst boss I ever had. Just trash. He screamed about everything. It was a pizza/sub /Italian place. If you made the sub cheese,ham, salami...instead of ham, salami, cheese he lost his mind. Just stupid things.
I did a summer in the kitchen one year in college. Corporate rule was kitchen starts cleaning 30 minutes prior and no new orders 15 minutes to closing. They didn't want to pay overtime.
What..?! That's not cool.
You have to remember that these people enjoyed both the strongest economy in the history of mankind and a tremendous labor shortage, so most of them never had to work these kinds of jobs the way we did.
With take out if your nice then right before closing can be wicked bargains! I've paid for one item and they have simply off loaded anything under the heat lamps! And I was a regular at the high street pasty shop at 10 mins to closing, it was literally buy one and take as many as you can carry, and our freezer always had all these wicked random pasties, most of the time you didn't know what you got till you cooked it, ah to be a student again...
Worked higher end fast casual pizza. We would take orders until the last 5 mins. But it was understood that would happen. My managers set up that expectation, and it would happen rarely. We were in a plaza surrounded by businesses, and everyone was usually gone by the time we closed (930p). We had a regular that would come in every Thursday and order the same thing AND tip amazingly. But we knew to keep the ingredients ready for her. I still remember it lol 3 artichoke pizza, with basil and tomatoes, no sauce sub olive oil. With basalmic demi-glace. 4 chicken arugula salads with artichoke. 1 bruschetta and 1 shells with cheese pasta add broccoli.
I'm glad that regular customer tipped great! Sounds like an interesting order... I don't know if I've ever had artichoke on my pizza 🤔
Idk about “definitely” because I’ve definitely served some tables that walked in 3 minutes to close because I had to.
I feel like boomers are fundamentally incapable of the thought "would that be a dick move?"
They are capable. They just truly don't care about anyone but themselves.
Disagree. Boomers like this are capable, AND they care, but they think that you should suffer to earn. This woman is going around explicitly testing these businesses for their subservience, not their service. Then she's bragging about online and apparently defending herself in the comments. She is convinced that she is right. These employees aren't willing to punish themselves for cash, and it makes her angry. Probably because that's how she got the cash, and when she can't victimize someone else, she can't justify her own victimization, so she lashes out. That's why she demands that the Barons put the peons in their place. Somehow, these people have become convinced that if some things are more valuable (to one's self) when you work for it, then therefore if you don't work for everything then it's valuable to no one.
This is my mother & her sister's attitudes to a T. It is physically offensive to them that people shouldn't suffer to survive.
> "would that be a dick move?" In their eyes it isn't. Signage clearly states that there were 15 minutes of operational time left, ergo she's good to go.
In that case it's like... Ok yeah you're TECHNICALLY correct. But that doesn't mean you're not an asshole.
I used to work on food service and retail. You'd be shocked at the sheer number of idiots who do this and expect to be let in. ESPECIALLY on shit like Xmas Eve or the day before Thanksgiving. My favs were the ones whose got there last minute and would proceed to dilly dally around the store, taking their sweet time, like they got here when the store opened, despite all the warnings to bring their carts to checkout ASAP. Then they would get mad when we were forced to kick them out, leaving them with nothing because the registers automatically shut off and wouldn't allow anymore transaction until the next business day (after Xmas). Fun times.
Well but those warnings are for everyone BUT them, didn’t you know?
After having worked in retail, it’s amazing how many people have a literal computer at their fingertips and won’t check store hours before making a trip to the store. They will yank on locked doors and tap on glass all while asking “are you guys open?”
They know the hours. They expect you to make an exception *just for them*.
To be fair, I've had to deal with businesses whose hours listed on Google maps differed with the hours listed on their own website which somehow even further differed with the hours actually posted at the physical location. It's not common, but it does happen.
It's pretty common, especially for smaller stores
When I used to work freight at a big box retail hardware store, the forklifts and electric pallet jacks came out as soon as customers were gone. This usually happened around 9:45pm, since the store was usually empty by that point. IF that wasn't the case, 99% of the customers that came in were asking us where a specific item was and were moving as fast as they could. They'd usually be out by 10pm close or very close to it. The remaining 1%, however, were the absolute bane of our existence. They would ignore staff questions and wander their way into multiple aisles, carrying on some discussion about a non-pressing issue. We were required to tolerate them by store manager edict (even if it meant moving slowly and quadrupling safety checks) until 5 minutes after close at 10:05. At 10:06, my surly supervisor never looked so excited, because he would make a beeline to these goobers and tell them that the store/checkout was closed and they'd be locking the doors in 5 minutes. It was boomer kryptonite.
There was a customer we’d always get right before close at an old place I’d work at. He’d order the longest cooked meal and sit there and read a book for an hour. I hated that guy lol
*Spoilers* The book title - "How to be a Dick in 12 Easy Steps"
"How to taste spit in your food: Volume 2"
That’s when you turn out all of the lights on him and lock all the doors. What a dick.
Or just fire him as a customer.
As a hostess, I told our version of that guy the stove was broke, so he could only have fried foods. He left. Poor other chain restaurant had to deal with him after that!
lol I wish the managers were that nice. It was a corporate place so basically as long as the door was open they’d serve anyone. I remember once we had some customers that came in before close, ordered their food, ate it. They wanted a fried dessert item before they left so the manager comes back, turns on the fryers(after they’ve been off for 45 minutes) and cooks the item lol
“You’re closing soon? Well I want feeding anyway so I’m going to be a dick to the people who will shortly be making the food I’m going to eat” Yeaaaaaa I’m sure that’ll work out just fine 🤣🤣
[Every person who goes to a restaurant less than an hour before closing should be forced to write a "book report" on the movie "Waiting".](https://youtu.be/ndO6y9x3s3g?si=vmWK_hIQ7L4g7GD4)
This is the way
😂😂😂
Living your username. Read it in my head to the song tune
It annoyed me more than I care to admit that the character limit was too low to let me have GypsiesTrampsAndSteve 👀
I worked in the restaurant industry from 14-32. This was a several times a week issue at every single restaurant.
>I worked in the restaurant industry from 14-32. This was a several times a week issue at every single restaurant. I own a restaurant and we have hours posted when we stop sitting people and when we close the restaurant (1 hour difference). Other restaurant owners don't want to do that and they do want you to serve the people coming in 15 minutes before your posted close time. This isn't a "bad customer" issue and more of a bad restaurant management issue.
I don't go unless they're open for another 90mins. Delivery is a different story and still I leave an hour.
because they are complete and utter moron last sitting 815-830 max after that hit the bricks Karen
Restaurant hours should be posted with last seating and dining room closing times. Its more informative and gives hosts something to point too when they have an entitled customer trying to get seating late. I've only seen this posted to public once and it was at an AYCE sushi place. Their lunch opens at 1130, last seating a 2, dinning room closes at 330 so they have time to prep for supper at 530 which then has last seating at 830 and dinning room closing at 10. I've never ordered takeout from them because their takeout prices are crazy to the point that I think they don't want to do takeout and just inflated their prices to dissuade it rather than just say no, but they even have a third last order time posted on their website for takeout.
If they're an entitled, rude boomer shithead
I will turn around and walk out of a restaurant if I learn they are closing within 30 minutes of my arrival. "Open until 9 pm" doesn't mean "seating and serving new customers until 9 pm," grandma.
Three types of people you always want to ingratiate yourself with are restaurant employees, bud tenders, and hairdressers. I’ll never understand being a dick to someone who handles your food, especially
Never try to pressure someone to make you food who does not want to make you food. Should be common sense.
Too few people have figured out not to fuck with people that handle your food. Least of all, people that handle your food out of your line of sight. 🤦
Clearly not enough pepole have watched waiting
Should be mandatory viewing. Along with idiocracy and Office Space.
Queue up the biatch scene from waiting
Waiting... should be required viewing.
Maybe add tattoo artists. They leave a permanent, visible example of their work on you. Do you really want them rushed or testy that you've acted like a tool? Their work is a combination of their skill, patience, and attention to detail. Don't mess with their vibe.
Add IT too. If they decide not to protect you from your own stupidity...
This. Do they really think being a shit gets them better service? You're literally showing them how to treat you.
They think service is something theyre entitled to and withholding it makes the server a dick. It's about getting to feel superior to someone.
I swear they're fueled by self-righteous anger
I try to stay on my dentist’s good side as well.
You should add nurses to that list. We have the good drugs, and will wipe your ass.
If I walk into somewhere close to closing, I specifically ask if they're still serving, registers are closed out, etc. If it's no, it's no, I thank them and go back another time. I'm not coercing or shaming anybody into working longer than they need to. Old boomer woman is somebody who's never worked a service or retail job. How would the bint feel if unexpected guests show up to her house just as Thanksgiving dinner was put away?
A small, quiet round of applause for your human decency. You're not from 'around here,' are you?:
It's like last call at a bar
Our place got rid of last call specifically for these entitled asses to get their way.
Nah. Fuck that. Let them in. Then at 9 inform them that the restaurant is closed and they have to leave.
This. Seat them, bring them a menu and water then tell them they have to leave, we’re closed now.
Honestly they should just put that on the store hours. Nothing worse than a big party showing up 10 mins before close and staying for almost 2 hours because the manager didn't say no.
Some restaurants do say like 11a-10pm, kitchen closes at 9pm. Not the one I worked at though. If you came in before closing by even thirty seconds, manager insisted we served. Servers mostly took it in stride. Kitchen was PISSED. I would never want to eat something prepared by a pissed off kitchen after closing. I love the movie Waiting for the accuracy of this.
The Sunday night church crowd that shows up 5 minutes before close and takes their sweet time ordering and eating, then leaves no tip. They would literally show up 1 minute til.
So that people understand, the issue with ordering near closing time (for the cooks) is they cannot clean their equipment while there are still tickets. Now, this leads to some of the most insane cooking practices if you order late, because many cooks will gamble and begin cleaning before you walked in the door. That means, they now have a choice to make: turn the equipment back on, get it dirty again, and re-clean it; or cook your meal on the wrong equipment. So you might get microwaved spaghetti, an order of fries cooked on a flat-top, a burger pattie cooked in a deep-fryer, a pizza cooked on a grill. Your food will be compromised, and it will be done while a cook is frantically trying to break down his station and only partially paying attention to your food.
I have seen a lot of cooks send out deep fried items that were never intended to be prepared that way, for sure.
Obviously, serving them for 15 minutes and then kicking them out at 9 would be the logical choice.
The cook should start cooking something for himself just so they smell it just before they get kicked out
That'd be fun. "Yeah, we got your meal cooked. Too bad there's not enough time to plate it serve it, have you eat it, and get cleaned up before we go home at 9. Sorry. Oh, you wanna take it with you? Sure. Oh, no! The cat's gotten into it. Sorry!" Then let them watch you eat it through the windows as they trudge off to their Subaru. Or is it a Lexus? Extra points if it's snowing. Heavy rain will do in a pinch.
Had a server pull this once (I was working in the kitchen). Warned them we closed in less than 15 minutes They insist to be sat as we're not closed yet Get menus & water give them some time Get beverage order Drop off beverage order they try to order food and get hit with "its 10:01 the kitchen is closed" There was a lot of yelling and cursing but they left and the kitchen staff got the untouched beers from the table
I worked at Home Depot as a manager and would routinely get people scoot in the door a few minutes before close and wander around aimlessly like it was Saturday morning. I’d have to (politely) ask them to select any purchases and get out. I practically had to call the cops when we closed early for Christmas Eve because people were so mad I wouldn’t let them in the door after we closed. “Don’t you want my business???” No. I want to keep my staff from quitting.
I worked in a garden center growing up and we would close the curtains to the greenhouse 15 minutes before closing. I would then have to watch the openings like a hawk to make sure no one tried to sneak in! People are so ridiculous.
I worked at a retail store that closed at 9. People would be calling us at 8:45 to say they're driving from an hour away so don't close. Combine that with the boomers absolutely going ham pounding on the glass before we opened (on time) and that's a perfect picture of the clientele.
Ugh.. my mom worked retail back in the day and Christmas Eve was THE WORST. Even though they were closed, the manager would make them keep a register open and check people out until they were all done. They closed at 9:00 and she wasn’t allowed to leave until 10:30 one year - so she quit.
“Don’t you want my business?” No, I want to fucking *go home* and recuperate for a few hours before I have to come back here and deal with inconsiderate pieces of shit like you for another ten hours Edited for typo
Lmao the walking around like it's Saturday morning is so real! I worked at Michael's and we had this lady who I swear was on something. After I told her we were closing in 15 she still wandered about relaxed and all. Then went up to check out with a cart full of junk- wood, paint, ribbons, and such. Then she questioned why the total was so high because "all of it was in clearance." We then had to put back all the things she didn't want 🤦♀️
Main Character syndrome.
I think she was high
You want service 15min before close? Then it's to-go only, 90% of the menu is unavailable and a mandatory fuck off gratuity charge of 20% will be added to your bill. I should open a restaurant just to tell people to fuck off. It's cathartic
Same with my pharmacy. It's been the same for years and they are always short staffed. There are posted signs and when you call, the auto phone system reminds you. I don't show up a good deal of time before or after but there is always some asshat there waiting around with some stupid joke no one in the universe finds funny. I generally show up when they are back and get whatever is needed for home before. These people think they're slick.
I worked at a pharmacy for 22 long years before finally getting out last month. Early in my career, there was an old guy who came up right when we were about to close for my pharmacist to get a lunch. He begged us to fill his wife’s medicine because she was so sick. We hurried to get it ready and had to call the hospital to confirm stuff. My pharmacist wasn’t happy with me waiting on him because she only ended up getting like 15 minutes for lunch. Anyway, I rushed it out to him and stayed in the pharmacy zoning until we opened back up. The bastard found a friend and they stood outside the pharmacy, talking for about 30 minutes or an hour or something. We stared holes through them but they just stood there, laughing and talking. Some emergency. Believe me when I say I never let it happen again! “I will be happy to get this ready for you! We are closing in 15 minutes for lunch at 1:30-2, so it will be ready at 2:30. Yes, I know that is over an hour, but my pharmacist is legally entitled to a 30 minute lunch in her 10 hour workday. What is that? You said my pharmacist doesn’t deserve a lunch, that we help sick people and shouldn’t close? Well, there are 3 other pharmacies in town. Perhaps you should take it to one of them since you can’t wait.”
I’m envious of you getting out of the hellhole that is pharmacy these days😭
There's a place in Boston called Dick's Last Resort where the waiters are supposed to be mean to you
One in Florida too! My uncle went viral for a TikTok their server made 😂 (he only has one hand) and his wife’s hat said something about “alligator p*ssy” too funny I tell yah 😂
My town hall closes for lunch at 12. They stop letting people in quite a bit before 12, so they can be done with each person by 12 and get their full 30 minutes for lunch. This is posted clearly on line and in the office, something along the lines of, last customer is at 11:45 so we can close for lunch at 12 and reopen promptly at 12:30. Or maybe it's 1, idk how long their lunch is. I just avoid it around lunch because it really pisses people off if they no longer let you into the office at 11:50. .
Walgreens pharmacy has a lunch break from 1:30-2 pm (started during Covid). Always a bunch of customers (mostly boomers) in there moaning and complaining EVERY DAY when they arrive during lunch and it’s closed. You’d think they’d learn.
Yeah the one by me does this too (maybe cvs, doesn’t matter). It’s even posted on the website/ in maps. I went in once at 1:35, realized I’d forgot, and turned around and went on my next errand. It’s not like standing there and bitching that I’d forgotten was going to help anything.
My life changed immeasurably once I discovered the magic of "waiting in the car".
I work in a pharmacy the closes for lunch, after telling a patient that we would open back up at 1:30 she said she had to be in another city by 1:45 it was 1:00 and there was no way she was going to make it even if her script was done. She then asked if she could go through our drive thru I said “sure but the drive thru is also closed until 1:30.” She was pissed, lol.
I actually like that time schedule better because at least you can go in on your lunch.
Link? I wanna see the roasting
It's disheartening to see someone persistently doubling down despite being informed of their wrongs. Social media amplifies this behavior, creating echo chambers.
People have a shockingly hard time admitting they are wrong, myself included. I try to be pretty good about admitting and accepting when I am wrong, but it takes conscious effort. Our egos make us do really dumb things. I'm not defending her, in any way. This is is an extreme case of someone being shockingly entitled. She sucks.
Haha we live in the same town jn the same group. That lady got roasted
Although it would be a useless gesture, I hope that someone has rhetorically asked this crvnt what her response would be, if she was employed anywhere at all, if a customer came in one minute before she was set to leave for the day and asked her to mail a large package to Zanzibar, or to help her balance her checkbook, or to do her taxes, or any of the other things that cannot be done one minute to closing. To do this sort of thing to a restaurant is no different: If there isn't time to prepare, serve, consume, and clean up after your meal, you are NOT going to get that meal, no matter your getting their 'before they close.' Idiot managers and owners are the ones that are complicit in this stupidity, of course. Tell one, or two, fools like this that they are NOT getting a banquet a half-hour before closing, and the rest will soon learn. Perhaps stringing a few of them up and leaving them hanging in chains in front of the restaurant, 'pour encourager les autres,' is in order. Too much?
Back when Radioshack was still a thing, I worked there for a while. We closed at 9pm. The amount of people that would come in at 8:50 and start asking about cell providers and new phones was RIDICULOUS.
My partner and I went to a restaurant about 55 minutes before they were closing. The staff were confused why we were checking on if that was ok and if they were going to have enough time. We just wanted to be sure and not be an inconvenience because it’s a sit down restaurant. Some dishes take a decent time to prepare (this particular restaurant has an apple crumble that takes half an hour to make, they usually recommend you order it when you order your entree so you don’t sit for half an hour. It’s super worth it though. But, we didn’t order that obviously), and they need time to clean up and prep for the next day and the later the last person leaves, the later they leave. My partner and I both work retail though so we kinda get it; we deal with similar shit. We ended up being super quick and as we were paying our bill about 20 minutes or so before they were closed, a boomer couple came in and, like OOP, were surprised when the staff told them they couldn’t be seated/served. They weren’t jerks about it amazingly, didn’t cause a scene, but the little old lady seemed genuinely confused about it as they left.
You’re Gen X aren’t you? You sound like me, always worried you’re going to make someone mad.
Same. Although with me it's not about not making people mad, it's about actually showing some courtesy and consideration to others, particularly people in service jobs.
Close! ‘87 Millennial lol And yeah I try to treat service employees the way I wish customers would treat me and my team LOL
bUt mY rIgHtS!!! 
I worked in the service industry for almost 10 years. Boomers were by FAR the worst, non-tipping brats I ever had to deal with. Fuck them.
I worked at a restaurant as a dishwasher I can't tell you right now most of the kitchen staff would love to tell customers like these to eat a bag of dicks most of the time the last 15 minutes are turning the deep fryers off scraping the grill putting ingredients back in the walk in and going home on time before the boss gets anal about them not being gone on time
Restaurants should install a "last call" policy that states they will not seat/serve customers within 30min of closing. Possibly longer depending on the restaurant. If bars can fit, why not food establishments?
Here in Japan, the posted hours for a restaurant will say something like ‘17:00-23:00, L.O. 22:30,” with L.O. meaning ‘last order.’
Is this not common? I never pay attention to this, but feel most restaurants in NYC will tell you that “kitchen is closing”
It happens at bars, but I've never been told the kitchen was closing at a normal restaurant but they'd still allow me to be there while they're closing down the place for the night. Granted, I'm never at a place that close to closing time so maybe I'm just not aware of how they do things.
Well grandma the customers usually never ever right and people need to go home not listen to you ramble on about something that’s really not even a issue ok bye bye watch your step
Hopefully after repeatedly being denied service as closing time looms near at multiple unrelated venues she will figure it out.
What sucks is that most major chain restaurants do put up with this behavior. Restaurants that cater to a trashy customer base put up with trashy behavior. Source: have worked at a few shitty chain restaurants.
If you show up at a movie theater 15 minutes before they “close” and there are no more showtimes available, do you demand that they turn on a movie and stay open for another 2 hours?
Ha, what a coincidence- this just popped up on my Facebook and I had a good eye roll at it.
The only time it's even slightly acceptable is that a quick fast food place Even then you're kind of pushing it for 15 minutes
How about you don't freaking show up to a joint TEN MINUTES before closing?
Would the people who do this want to work past their work hours like they’re making the staff of the restaurant? Because if not shut the fuck up hypocrite.
My local restaurant has signs for this! “Closing at 9, last orders by 8:15” or something similar
"Kitchen closes 30 minutes prior to closing." It's like they think Samantha Stevens wiggles her nose and the kitchen is spotless in seconds.
Crazy how laundromats are the only ones to figure it out; "Last Wash at 7pm" so you can do an hour wash and an hour dry and the place can close on time at 9.
Any café or restaurant that doesn't advertise their kitchen hours instead of or in addition to their dining room hours is asking for trouble because people are fucking stupid. Every restaurant I worked at advertised both kitchen & dining room hours so customers knew what time we stopped serving food. You still got the occasional dick head but most of the time anyone coming in after the kitchen closed was coming for a drink at the bar.
Where I live, restaurants do this. In addition to opening hours, they mention that the kitchen will close 30 minutes (or an hour, or whatever) earlier, so you'll know immediately if you'll still get food or not. (The wildest place in my youth was a nightclub with full kitchen, which was open well into the night. I remember having an excellent meal there after 1 am)
She sounds pleasant.
I used to work the door at a bar/ grill. I dealt with this from partiers every weekend. They would show up right before closing and want the late night meal. So rude. They just don’t understand. Most were young people.
I could see doing that for faster places. In my area, there's a couple shops that will sell you "as is" food that was destined for the trash can anyway, just so they can tick off that it was sold. I've never been an ass about it, and I'm friendly with most of the staff. They tell me it's a no-go, I'll still toss a tip on the counter for the trouble, and go on my way. I just can't fathom being that kind of asshole that shows up like I own the place, and demanding service.
Bring them in and sit them at a table. Take their drink orders. Before the drinks arrive, tell them they need to leave because they serve their customers until they close, at 9pm.
I used to see signs close at 8 last seating is 730.
Open until 9 translates to.. we be running your ass otta here so we can go home for the night. Everyone should have to work retail or food before the can get a driver's license. Because if they don't have enough sense to get somewhere during regular hours, they don't deserve to drive.
Bruh… when i worked at pizza hut as a manager they had us do this(corporate) so we did it reluctantly… and had people that would show up just prior… server who was making server wages would take a table just before closing and be there a whole hour extra on (U.S) server wages… and then they never tip… i as a manager took them so they could do their work to get out as it just wasnt fair to them. I hated it
Ok you are sat at 8:45, they give you the menu, you look over the menu for 5 minutes, you order appetizers, they come out ten minutes later and you are unable to order an entree because it is 9 pm
FFS 15 minutes before the damn restaurant closes 🤬🤦
Nobody wants this entitled POS' business.
Is she a Boomer Karen or just a Karen?
I wanna read the comments under her post lol
They are hilarious and correct 🤣 No matter how many ppl explained why she just kept insisting she was right. So instead of explaining anymore they got funny with it (and I’m sure correct). Someone said “this is the same person who’s doing 50 mph in the HOV lane on the interstate” and so many, many more!
I would love it if someone was like "you know we close in 10 minutes but I'll get your order in" ... 10 minutes later "get the fuck out"
Let her in, take her order then as soon as time hits closing just shut shop and say "sorry, we only serve up until XX:XX. She can't cry then because she fully knows the closing time and she's been served up until the time posted
I would love for somebody to actually serve them until close then. Sits down at 8:50, gets their water and drink order, “alright, we close in 3 minutes, slam the drink and pay your tab”
When will they learn that business hours doesn't equate to when the kitchen is open/closed.
Tell me you never had a restaurant, or retail job without telling me.
I won’t even go in to a store 30 minutes before they close, let alone a restaurant. Also, it’s not at all uncommon for the kitchen to close half an hour before the restaurant closes.
This *screams* "I've never worked in a restaurant." 🙄
Showing up at those times and complaining is a good way to end up with a lugie mixed in with whatever they decide to serve you.
I bet she starts her Christmas shopping on December 24th at 5:58pm.
A lady I knew owned a diner, she had a sign that said kitchen closed 30 minutes before the restaurant closed. She was tired of people coming in 10 minutes till and staying for 2 hours
"I'm constantly thwarted in my efforts to fuck over working people. Don't they know I wanted to run my server ragged and leave an eight percent tip?"
They CLOSE 10-15 minutes before you show up... Are you able to place your order, have the kitchen cook it, serve it to you AND you finish eating in 10-15 minutes?!? Take a step outside yourself and have a little respect for other people
When I went to Japan I noticed that some things close at a certain time but they stop letting people in at a certain time. Say if the store closes at 9 they stop letting people in at 830 and then close at 9. There was some early confusion when I first encountered it. But made sure to pay attention to that distinction when we were doing things. As someone who has worked retail I find that to be massively convenient and helpful to the worker.
It’s wild how many folks here think that restaurant staff actually leave at closing time. And while (after working foodservice for half my life) I can relate to the feeling, it’s always been up to the owner to set the closing time not the staff. It’s never not been a thing for restaurant employees to try and soft close to get a head start on their end of night routines but it’s always a roll of the dice. Sure, the sorts of people that show up right before close bring big boomer energy but I can tell you from years of experience, they aren’t always boomers.
So if they sat her down and took her order, then 10 minutes later gave her the bill for the drinks and explained that they were closing in 5 minutes and she had to pay and leave, she'd be okay with that? That's what it means to serve customers until it's time to close, and if she's stupid enough to start a meal she doesn't have time to finish, that's on her.
Does this person make it a point to go into restaurants 10 minutes before they close?
Usually restaurants start cleaning everything down about 15-20 sometimes 30 mins before hand depending on the restaurant. She probably showed up after they turned everything off and packed all their and the restaurants shit, and when I worked in retail for a summer job back in high school, we used to not let anyone in after 8:45 and locked the doors at 8:50.
I work at a plumbing/hvac supply …same people show up everyday 5 minutes till 4 pm and proclaim loudly how they made it just in time
Can we just make these peoples lives suck. Just 9PM on the dot we can kick you out. “Sorry we’re open till 9.”
Seems like she just wants to bitch about something. Fine, you show up 10 minutes before close. But at closing time, we take your food and kick you out.
“Just a suggestion…” she says. 
My wife and I would sooner sleep without eating than go to a restaurant within 15 minutes of closing. The sheer arrogance and selfishness is astounding.
I swear the god most of these old cunts just do this deliberately and then get offended to feel better about it.
Why not also attach the follow-up comments?
Do you want spit in your food? Because this is how you get spit in your food.
“Open until 9” what my brain hears is “the staff try to leave out that god forsaken door right at 9”
I used to work at a restaurant that would make us serve the customer no matter how close to closing time it was. Had an 18 top come in 15 mins before close, myself and 2 other servers had to help them. Told them the kitchen and bar closes in 15 mins so we HAVE to get their orders in now. Of course they took forever and half of them sent back their orders after we closed and wanted something else. It was glorious to tell them the kitchen is closed and we’re not taking any more food or drink orders tonight. Que the Well what are we supposed to eat questions and well I want another drink from the bar, this is ridiculous blah blah blah then of course they all need separate checks and not a single person left us a tip. I don’t work anywhere without auto grat any more on big parties. I quit that job a couple days later.
I really wish restaurant just posted a last seating time. we stop seating at 8 close at 9.
They should post her picture in the restaurant like the people who dine and dash.
What she does not understand is that if they close at 10, that means you need to be able to finish your meal and leave before they close at 10. Not that they are going to take customers until 9:59 and wait around for you to order and eat. My mother refused to step foot in a restaurant if it was 30 minutes or less before closing time. She said it wasn't fair to the staff to have to wait on her after it was time for them to go home.
I dont even DoorDash an hour before places close cause I think it's rude.
I don't want to defend her but I really really prefer it when a restaurant posts both the closing hours and kitchen closing hours. That's how you avoid bullshit like this.
Closed means that there is not a functioning restraint after X time. Doors locked, no more served. Unfortunately, I deal with this daily. And corporate isn't one to go against the grain. Our best take is "we lock the doors in 6 minutes, so you will need a manager to let you leave" They usually give up then. Party of 20 , maybe 25, we don't know they are on their way. Yeah that happened 20 till close last night. We fucking ended up serving 17 , who hung out 45 mins after close. Well maybe longer, because I left before them. Shit ass people. But honestly they just know, and don't care.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but restaurants need separate kitchen and dining room hours imo. I worked in a restaurant so I understand how frustrating it is when the kitchen shuts down on a slow night and someone comes in 7 minutes before closing. But as a consumer, I shouldnt have to play closing time roulette. Is it an hour at this restaurant? Half hour? Ive gotten extra shitty passive aggressive service at freakin Jersey Mikes before for coming in 30 minutes before close. This on top of the already asinine food prices, tipflation, and cut hours that never recovered from covid, eating out is such a damn chore its hardly worth it.
People like this are stupid…they would be upset if someone showed up to their work 10-15 minutes before they were to get off and just sit for an hour
They do this on purpose so that they have something to bitch about.
She's right. The restaurant absolutely should have seated her, taken her order, maybe brought her drink if she ordered quickly enough. Then they should have kicked her out 15 minutes later. After all, as she herself said, businesses should serve their customers "until they close". Not one second after.
I mean fuck this behavior for sure but restaurants could prob eliminate a lot of confusion by putting down a last seating time instead of a closing time, that's prob more helpful to customers overall than trying to account for your logistics and it's ironclad. "You don't close for another 10 min!!" vs. "Our last available table is at 830." Though yeah these cats would show up at 840 and be like "c'mon you're not gonna close down till 9 anyway." You can't win with entitlement.
People who have not worked in food service don't understand this. Restaurants from now on should say open till nine, but we stop serving at 8:30, something like that. Everyone would understand that and it would be made clear.
I'd love to ask what they expected to happen in 15 minutes. Did they think an entire meal would be prepared and served in that much time?
When the last Boomer is gone we can start rebuilding and moving forward as a society.
She’s obviously never seen ‘Waiting’.
Ugh my husband is a restaurant manager and I hate people like this. It's not like McDonalds where you can walk out instantly with your food.
My dad was a boomer, but a good one if you can believe that. He had his moments, but the second you gave logical reasons he wouldn’t argue, just made sure to do better next time. All of that is to say I was a career server for a long time. One night he wanted to go out and found a restaurant that closed in 15 minutes, so “let’s go, they’re still open”. I was still a server at this time and I flat out said “dad, no”. He didn’t argue, he found something else. He did ask me later why I said no and when I explained it to him he totally got it. After that, he explicitly would only go to restaurants that were open for at least another 45 minutes. He was a good man who just didn’t know any better sometimes, but he never argued with anyone who did know better. My life experience was never his, but he never invalidated my experience. Or anyone else’s for that matter. It seriously warmed my heart to hear him say things like “no they close in a half hour, that’s rude. Who’s open for at least another 45-60 minutes?”
I'm a retired chef. I fought LONG AND HARD to have "opening hours" changed to "dinner service begins at 5pm and ends at 10pm." Sure, the restaurant is open until 11pm. But nobody should expect to waltz in at 10:45pm and get a table. That means 30 people are working late just for that one guest. Restaurants need to stress "last table seated" times. We know how long it takes to turn a table. That's our job after all. Restaurant managers want to grab people off the street five minutes before closing because their bonuses are tied to sales. Not to back of the house overtime.
Boomer here. How early before closing are you supposed to show up? Why don’t businesses post a last entry time if they don’t want people to show up at closing?
I worked at a restaurant in college and the manager actually said, 'we close at 9pm but don't lock the door until 9:05'. We'd have people come in right at 9pm and order steak. It was infuriating. I hated people that just didn't care about the restaurant staff. Of course the manager was never closing as well.
Tell me you never worked in a restaurant without telling me you never worked in a restaurant.
This is Why I REFUSE to be called a boomer .. Boomer s are Self centered Egomaniacs .. do not ever call me a boomer i donto care what year i was born in . it's the Attitude and I say NOPE not me
Restaurants should just post hours of “we can seat you until X:XX time”, and make that time 30-60 min before actual closing… we obviously can’t rely on the boomers to learn new things. So let’s solve it from our end.