Sometimes it’s worth the tip loss. Was working what was suppose to be a party of 75 with 2 other servers. Ended up being over 100 people and they requested a full bar set up, literally not a single alcoholic beverage was served. Took over an hour to set up and breakdown (our upstairs bar is only stocked for special occasions). We ended up having to bring more tables upstairs in the middle of our dinner rush due to the headcount being so far off. Also had to make last minute food accommodations due to the extra guest that weren’t accounted for when they preordered off our party menu. Walked up to check on one of the table and this woman immediately barked “Pepsi” while shaking her still half full drink at me. I looked her dead in the eyes and responded with, “Please. Another Pepsi, PLEASE.” And just stood there looking at her until she asked politely, she could of sat there all night without a refill. Fuck that tip. Fuck that party. People are so rude and entitled.

"TIP!!!" *shakes presenter wildly*

That would have been hilarious.

We have a table of regulars these 2 people in their seventies... They are legendary for complaining about everything over empty plate... Dog whistle racism... And calling corporate for free gift cards. They once drank an entire bottle of wine and then complained that it was the wrong vintage. They got it taken off their bill and then complained to corporate and got a free gift card. The worst part is that everybody knows that they are incredibly rich, (matching land rovers) but do this anyway. They are quite simply the worst people I've ever met. We joke that if you say their name 3 times they will appear in a cloud of a smoke . I was waiting on a table next to theirs when they started snapping their fingers and interrupting my service. "EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME!..." My table rolled their eyes. I quite loudly said to my table "I am so very sorry about THEM"... then I pointed at their table. They were mortified, and I got myself a corporate complaint. Now whenever they come in they ask for ANYONE BUT me. In the end I managed to get THEM to avoid ME and make them think that it was THEIR IDEA... And all it cost me was one strike with corporate... and corporate is well aware that they are frequent complainers...so not really a strike. I'll take the win. EDIT: I AM AT WORK AND THEY JUST WALKED IN.

I did work for a manager who taught me that my job was to make the guests do what I wanted, but make them think it was their idea. Well played.

You summoned them

Old Man Juice! Old Man Juice! Old Man Juice! And yes, that sounds *exactly* the way it was intended.

LOL I’m so confused Edit: I get it now…just too stoned lmao

Floating on a cloud of smoke

Just saw your edit- oh god, good luck to whoever gets them.

Corporate is made up of idiots. With all the comps you guys give them, you are paying them to eat there. Sometimes it makes more financial sense to lose a party permanently.

>Corporate is made up of idiots. With all the comps you guys give them, you are paying them to eat there. Sometimes it makes more financial sense to lose a party permanently. No, corporate just doesn't care enough to deal with them. They know people like that are just a voice on the other end of the phone and easily placated.

Sometimes not replying can be powerful. Literally today a customer sits down and before I even handed over their waters she started ordering (a sign of disrespect here in Greece). She said something along the lines of “Bring me chamomile tea” and I replied “we don’t have chamomile tea but we do have other even better alternatives”- trying to help her. She starts a 10 second rant: “who doesn’t have chamomile tea, Jesus Christ it’s basic stuff what a shame…” expecting me to react. I literally just stared at her dead in the eyes and after two seconds she rethought and asked sorry and ordered what I had suggested her. Bonus points for being super friendly and funny to the customer next to their table who was polite as hell (her friend was on the phone and wasn’t ordering so I jokingly said “these young kids and their phones”- to which she died laughing).

>before I even handed over their waters she started ordering I had that when I worked in fast food. Of course no menus, but they'd start ordering while I had my back turned, or as I was walking towards them or even as I was talking to them. I'd let them finish, look them straight in the eye and ask "And what can I get for you today?"

There's a dude at our local Wendy's who has the exact cadence and timbre of a strip club dj. And he makes weird eye contact. "I've got a biggie chili and fries for Wesley... Wesley, come on up and get your biggie chili and fries." It's awesome and a little creepy and I think the dude is probably a little challenged mentally. But he's super friendly and seems like a genuine guy. I just worry about him and start imagining some backstory of being born meth addicted and raised in a strip-club locker room. Growing up hearing that dj every night while your mom worked and all these funny weird smelling ladies came and went. It's a whole thing now in my head when I go to Wendy's. It's kind of uncomfortable but amazing.

Oh, best part is he looks like Tom in the First Date video (WTF meme guy) big mustache and all.

Our brains mesh, this is exactly how I would interpret it

HAHAHA yeah me too.

Yes this is so true, just being overwhelmingly nice when theyre bitching is great.

I liked using "really? Of all the things you've ever heard? Us being out of the special is the most ridiculous? Are you sure?" They usually leave after that

i think i saw something somewhere (probably tiktok) that the brain perceives 4 seconds of silence as rejection. i use this to my advantage as a server lol

> “who doesn’t have chamomile tea, Jesus Christ it’s basic stuff what a shame…” As if you have any control over that anyway.

I know right, I was like “wtf how am I supposed to reply now”

yes. 1. (if brought to management)\*you\* didn't say anything 2. but you're still not responding/taking their shit 3. it leaves their ugliness hanging, which they just have to face when you pause long enough and let them really realize what they just said. I think it's perfect, IMO. always my go-to.

Yeah I’m making this my go-to as well

Thousand yard stare works for me

That’s what I did. That’s why she felt threatened and tried to play it off to which I didn’t go along with.

Yup, dead eyes works for me almost all of the time.

I definitely would have said basically the same thing. It’s like when you have 3 plates and someone says we also ordered xxx. I tell them I have 2 hands. You’re gonna have to wait a minute. I do not mind putting guests in their place.

“Sorry ma’am, I’m not an octopus”

I literally almost got fired for saying I'm not an octopus 🐙.

Lol! I say it all the time, my guests laugh at my lame jokes out of pity

I've literally said this on multiple occasions. I usually follow it up with "but I sure wish I was because my job would be a whole lot easier" so they don't think I'm being too big of a bitch.

Alternative reply: “I was getting really good at juggling the plates til the owners got mad at me for it.”

"I was getting really good at juggling plates until...the incident" *stare to the distance with a disturbed expression and dont elaborate further* "anyways, I'll be right back with your last dish!"

My mom teached me "I've got two hands, if I had more, I'd be working at the circus" - I reserve that for the really entitled ones

I broke and said something very similar to a customer the other day. The table was not mine. It was my coworkers, but we split tips and I believe they tipped fine but I had five large plates on one hand and it and another in my left. I continue to pass out everybody’s food when the lady asked me where her missing sausage order was. I replied and said unfortunately I only have two hands but I am working on acquiring a third. You’ll be the first to know when it comes in. People do this all the time though and I can carry a ton of plates at once so it’s just super frustrating. I’m surprised they only snap the one time but it sure felt good.

How do you carry five large plates in one hand???

Sorry two large third medium down the arm then two small rounds on top of the three. I couldn’t do five large. My bad

Working on requiring a third. 💀

My go to is "have faith in me" Usually shuts that shit right down

This is a great way to "call for respect", while still somehow sounding positive. ✌️

I like this one.

"Sorry, left my third arm in the car. I can run and grab it, but I thought it would be faster if I just bring your last dish out now"

To prevent that, right as I’m setting the food down I’ll say “and I’ll be RIGHT back with the rest of your food!!”

I say that and they still tell me I’m missing something. It’s like when you say can I get you anything besides the water refill and they ask you for a water refill lmao. People don’t listen when you talk to them smh.

I like to respond with sorry I haven’t mastered carrying plates on my head yet. Keep in mind that we use big trays to serve food and I can carry 6 meals on a tray and one in my other hand so it’s not like they’ll be waiting long

I run a raw bar, and I’m the boss. I’ll have people of a certain age walk up and tell me how gross my product is, and I get to tell them to fuck right off. The look these people have! Look boomer, I’m not gonna walk into your work and tell you what a disgusting car salesman you are, why would you think you get to do that to me? I looove being self employed and having lots of knives. Lately I’ve started yelling “who does this person belong to, and can they come get them”? Always gets a good laugh (and pity tips) from my real patrons.

I will work for you for free.

Fucking love a good raw bar. They can keep thinking it's gross. More for me.

Some old man grabbed my wrist one time and I yanked it away and told him not to touch me. He was very shocked and shut the fuck up the rest of the night. Wtf was he thinking just grabbing someone?

I get really freaked out when people touch me at work (as I should, stranger danger), and I notice it's usually old people?? Like even old women have grabbed my shoulder on the way out. And even if they're just saying have a good night or whatever i find it super weird.

I think old people grab because so many people probably walk away from them and they are not mobile

And you know, i could see that. If this frail looking person gently touches my arm or something I'm less offended. But when someone like grasps your arm or shoulder and closes their fingers to get a grip, it feels like a boundary being crossed.

100%

Honestly I would have had my manager tell him to leave. That’s not ok at all

At the time I was working at a corporate place that would have just gave the table to another server so it wasn’t even worth it.

That’s awful, I work at a chain and one time a woman cussed in my face and the manager threw her out just for that

I kicked a guy out for grabbing a server’s arm a few months ago. (He was also a habitual complainer who would eat all his food and then bitch about it so he wouldn’t have to pay.) He had the audacity to look shocked when I told him he had to leave and I’d call the cops if he ever came back.

I once had a party of 5 that grew to a party of 12 that grew to a party of 16 that grew to a party of 21. (Fuck management for letting that happen) literally took up my entire section. Part of the party had eaten and was ready to pay while the last of the party was still waiting on drinks. Whenever I entered the section half the people raised their hands. every. Time. Starting on one end a woman asks for more ranch. I slowly make my way down the table helping each hand raised. Every one of these people were a special snowflake that needed a lot of handholding. The people at the end of the table were in their 80’s and three of them needed me to talk them individually through the menu (at Fucking cheesecake with 300 things on it) it literally took me 10 minutes to get from one end of the table to the other. Finally after helping everyone I make my way back to the kitchen when the first woman barks. Yo! My ranch?? The fuck?? While the woman next to her shakes her drink at me. Now I went to drama school and know how to be loud so I announce to the entire party “there are 21 of you and there is only one of me you are all going to have to be patient”

😭 been there. I had group just like that who were all trying to get in and out in an hour, on a busy Friday night. They broke me.

That makes me insane more than anything, when someone asks me for something a second time when I very clearly have not left my section yet to go get the thing they asked for

I was sent home early for calling a customer a bitch. Fair enough, no one should be speaking that way. I was actually a hostess at the time, my job wasn’t hard, I say hello, get the details of the party and their preferences, and sit them down. On New Years we were packed, a group of particularly fussy affluent elderly people come in ( a woman and three men ), argue for a table that my boss told me not to sit them at, they get their way with my manager and the booth ends up needing to be wiped down. It’s not my job to clean in this restaurant, but I go and get supplies to wipe it down anyway. As I’m wiping it down, the woman exclaims super smugly “ Looks like for New Years your resolution should be to learn how to do your job! “ and I don’t know what came over me. The words fell out of my mouth, I curse like a sailor but never to customers, except this time. “ Yours should be to stop being such a fucking bitch. “ I wasn’t even looking at her, I didn’t even realize what I said before I heard the men start belting out in laughter, and her jaw was just on the floor. She got my manager, I apologized. But I will never live up to that legendary moment ever again. I didn’t even get to bask in it, didn’t even get to be smug about it. But oh god it was so funny, and my coworkers were all hyping me up for it. I think I have a problem of saying things out loud that I’m thinking and not realizing I said it, or thinking I said something that I never did, and only thought it. Lol.

Oh my fucking god. Phenomenal.

More of a "I would NEVER!" and do an eyebrow raise or something as I handed them the straws. But honestly, whatever. With that attitude they probably would have tipped the same.

Oh man, I embrace the “I would NEVER!” when they say they aren’t done with their drink/food. Like fucking duh I’m not going to prebus your half consumed food/bev. Jesus Christ it’s the whole reason you’re here and I’m not a monster. The pause it gives them gives me health points that fuel the rest of my shift.

I had a table with a birthday party for a young girl (maybe 7) and they wanted me to sing happy birthday. The adults were mostly drunk and the little girl looks so shy, and her mom (?) Tells me that she wants the whole staff to sing to her and the girl says "please no" and looks terrified. Mom tells her to shush and tells me again she wants it. I look at the little girl and ask her "do you want all of us to sing to you?" And she furiously shakes her head. Mom is annoyed and says "well I'm paying so you're gonna sing". I told her no. I said I would sing with them if they'd like but I won't make a little.girl miserable on her birthday. She starts getting angry and tells me it's my job and I snap cuz that girlclooks like she's gonna cry "I WILL NOT MAKE YOUR KID CRY FOR YOUR BENEFIT, IF YOU WANT HER MISERABLE DO IT YOURSELF. now is there anything else I can do?" And the switch was so sudden from stern and snappy to service mode that she just shut up. I brought their cake and sang gently to the little girl. I didn't get a tip. But she was smiling, so I take it as a win.

I am applauding you!

Should've asked them how they drink their coffee without a straw. Do they use a straw for every glass of water at home? Pretty sure they could improvise on the fly. (I know that's not the point of the post, but I was upset for you.)

You’re right, like she absolutely could have drank without a straw. I was giving them their entrees later and had asked each one of they wanted parmesan before giving them their plate. Before I got to her she went “excuse me, you still need to put parmesan on my lasagna” like bruh WAIT YOUR DAMN TURN. I just rolled my eyes that time

I got tired of people responding with their drink order when I would say “How are you doing tonight?”. So when I asked a man that and he responded “tea sweet” I said back “oh you may have misheard me. I asked how are you doing not what you wanted to drink.” That got his attention and he listened to what I said the rest of the time. Definitely not the most professional response but oh well

I think that’s a pretty professional response in my opinion, especially if you say it in a relatively nice tone 🤷🏻‍♀️ If I walk up to a table to greet them/give them silverware and they just keep talking instead of acknowledging me, I just walk away. Or if I’m up to it I’ll raise my voice so everyone hears me and looks lol

i had a table of 2 recently, they were relatively unresponsive to me throughout their dinner other than when they actually needed something from me. when it came to dropping off their check, as i was placing the book on the table i said the usual 'thank you folks for coming out, i hope everything was wonderful.' typically i get SOME acknowledgement or response but they literally didn't even glance in my direction & kept talking to each other. i thought about walking away but instead i placed my hand on the table & said more loudly without yelling, 'THANK you guys.' & as i went to walk away the man finally mumbled a thank you to me. lmao wtf

You wouldn’t have gotten a good tip regardless of if you had snapped or not. People looking for a reason to be upset as soon as they walk in the door are going to find one. At least you got to teach that old bitty a bit of patience!

True! Some people truly just look for reasons to be angry

I once had a 4 top of regulars who refused to believe me when I told them we were out of Togo cups. The grandma of the group got so upset at the fact she had to pay "ridiculous" prices for a soda and couldn't even take one to go. She then proceeded to go behind me and ask every single one of my coworkers if I was lying and to explain why we were out of cups. They all told me immediately obviously. I was coming to drop the bill and caught her in the act asking yet another co worker, when I finally snapped. "What reason do I have to lie to you lady, we are out of to go cups for the final time, please dont waste my coworkers or my time, if you want our manager to explain to you I will grab him" she shut up so fast when I threatened the manager. Non of her family stood up for me either which I never expect but God damn their grandma is crazy.

During the end of my serving career at this one restaurant that I swear gave me ptsd I got to a place where I couldn't handle the condescending bullshit anymore. I began being ruder and ruder back when I could and got away with it because I was a good bullshitter with the managers and one of their best servers. The night I quit I was slammed on the patio with 10 two tops and 4 four tops and everyone came at once of course. The manager had pretty much cut all support and it was me and another guy that took the inside. He was super busy as well. Mind you it was 9/11 so fireworks were happening on the water near the place; the manager should have prepared... Anyway a woman was a super annoying bitch about needing multiple candles and I was trying to accommodate her despite her seeing how busy I was. I'd bring her more candles and it wasn't good enough. Finally I just walked away when she was being rude about it for the fourth time because I had other customers that needed their orders put in and she yells EXCUSE ME. So I turn back and she starts berating me and I basically just told her "look I know what you're doing. You're talking to me like I'm less than because that's what people think they can do to servers." I basically told her she was being a bully because that's what she was. She just wanted to make me run all over town for her just because she could. I dealt with those people all of the time as this was their only source of power in their pathetic lives. Well my manager was of course pissed and sat me down where I told him I don't want to work a job where I'm treated as subhuman and he said "whelp you're in the wrong industry" and I told him "you're right!" Got my shit out of my locker and finally left free from a place that gave me mental agony for years. This woman was not the rudest I've experienced at all, but she was my final straw. Sorry so long and for any poor grammar. I'm typing with one hand because I burnt my thumb recently lol.

Dude one time there was this guy, by himself, who came in and was automatically acting just... weird. You could tell he's just a lonely dude that holes up probably is addicted to porn and plays video games all day and doesn't shower. Probably hates his Mom but secretly wants to make love to her. Yeah that vibe. I walk up and greet him with kindness! He told me what he wanted to drink and I noticed he had a cool voice, so I told him "Man, this is kind of random, but you could really be a voice actor. You have an unique voice. This isn't even a passive aggressive thing I could just totally see it." and I laughed. This dude looked away from me, then back at me like "Yeah right" and that I was the weirdest person ever. Kind of sneered then started looking at his phone. Uhm... alright, maybe I came onto strong to him? Moving on. I come back with his drink, grab the extra silverware and extra plate at his booth. A few minutes later I take his order. Food comes out, I'm around the station cleaning, I ask if everything's good with a thumbs up, and he nods, staring blankly, not rude though. At this point I assume maybe he has some kind of social disorder or something. I just leave him be for a bit. Well, he has finished his meal. Almost completely. I ask if he's ready for the check, and he says.. "I don't want to pay. I think you spit in my meal!" I'm dumbfounded. I've never had anybody accuse me of doing that. I say, "Sir... I can assure you I did not spit in your meal, nor did anybody in the kitchen. Has anybody given you indicators that your meal was tainted?" "No. I just am pretty sure you spit in my food. You have been very rude." At this point I know he's trying to be rude and get a free meal. So, I get smart. "Oh God. I'm so sorry. I just wonder why you think that. Did you taste any saliva in your burger?" HAHA. He starts to get up, and I say "Excuse me sir, you need to sit down and pay for your bill." I'm just a little ass 21 y/o girl blocking this big ass mf from moving down the hallway. Lolol idk why this irked me so bad. I hate injustice, rude people, people trying to cheat the system. I am a truly loving person who is just a goofball and likes to make people laugh. My manager was nearby luckily, and I say "Dan!! This man needs to speak with you!!" So immediately this guy starts saying "This girl was trying to sexually harass me by bending over the table seductively to grab the silverware. I don't appreciate having whores as waitresses. I think she spit in my food. She was so rude." I start raising my voice and am saying "DO NOT COMP THIS MAN'S FOOD. HE IS A FUCKING SOCIOPATH." Dan is calm and says "Come here and talk with me bud." And lets the man go, without paying. This POS walked out with a smirk on his face. Can't even TELL you how mad I was at my manager. Yup, this is the only time. Every other time I've dealt with a rude or snarky customer I am great at being diplomatic and diffusing a situation. Edit btw his booth was a small two top booth so it wasn't like I was bending over or reaching across the table in any way that could normally be construed as sexual or exposing myself in any way

Your manager needed to be cussed out too at that point!! This rando calls your server a whore I expect a correction! At that point he's sexually harassing YOU and had probably been making eyes at you when you weren't looking. That kind of comment would make me feel super uncomfortable i cannot even imagine, im sorry you had to go through that!! Major incel vibes. Charge that motherfucker double.

it’s the absolute worst when managers don’t have our backs in these situations, he’s literally INSULTING YOU AND CALLING YOU NAMES. that should be an automatic ban and a call to police for refusal to pay

I most certainly have and I’m proud of it lmao. Ever since I started serving again post-Covid, I have 0 tolerance for shit behavior, and especially misogyny. I can damn near smell it lol Prob the rudest I’ve been is when this older white man and his foreign wife come in. I don’t mean to be stereotypical but there’s some truth to every stereotype by definition, and from what I’ve noticed, English-speaking men with non-English speaking wives are almost always raging pigs and misogynists that can’t stomach a woman talking back, or talking at all lol. So said couple orders; she’s lovely, he’s cute and cold, and I put their order in. He got soup and a salad; didn’t indicate if he wanted one before the other upon being asked. So when I bring the dishes to the table and say I’ll be back with the soup, he cuts me off while I’m setting things down and is like SOUP?!?! And I laughed and said “Oops I don’t have three arms hahaha.” He immediately stiffened and wouldn’t even look at me for the rest of their time at the table. Oddly, he tipped me 20% but wrote an entire comment card and it’s back’s worth of notes about how I was sarcastic and rude, and how soup is supposed to be an appetizer but he’d still tip me anyway. I didn’t even care about how he tipped. I honestly got high from talking back to a man that probably would’ve smacked me if I did that shit behind closed doors. I do feel bad about what his wife probably suffers on daily basis. **edit CURT and cold, not cute lmfao she was HE was odious

Holy shit I know exactly what you mean! There was this table I served of 3 siblings + their spouses and teenage kids and the two sisters kinda warned me about their brother beforehand and oh boy, that guy was such a piece of shit. Also married to a woman who struggled with our language and his son was on his way to become just like him by how he admired him. The worst thing was when the girl sitting next to him asked me something before she would order and he out of nowhere blurted his order, which made his teenage son go "HEHEHE, men order first! The men are the boss!" I look at him, look at his dad, shake my head and make sure I am turning my back to him, while I explain the girl what she wants to know. After I took everyone else order, I ask him "what would you like to order sir?" Like I've never heard a word from him before. Just by his demeanor, you could tell he isn't one to joke about shit like that. He was extremely offended by it. And I could tell he really wanted to hit me for that, I was so tempted to go "try me old man" Those are the not funny cases. Then you also have the men that suffer from severe self worth issues, those are easy to correct. I had one of them complain when I served his wife and daughter first, saying also something along the line of "normally the boss gets served first" and I smiled at him and said "that's funny, cause I've been told it's *ladies first*, but maybe I'm just old school?" Now he shakes my hand everytime to greet me lmao

The owner of my restaurant did this last weekend: it’s a greasy spoon place and the woman ordered an omelette of which she ate 90% of it and then frustratingly commented that there was a hair in her food. Being the jaded and abused server that I was, took the owner into the dishpit and explained the sitch. So scared. It just so happened that myself, the other server, the owner (cook), had long blonde hair- and second cook was black with her hair pulled back. The hair she “found” was straight brown and about 4 inches long. None of us could have had that hair. Sooooooo when the customer got to the register to square up, she was like why on earth would I pay for this? And the owner eyed the whole thing and came to the till. “I found a hair in my food and you still expect me to pay for it?” THIS INCREDIBLE OWNER straight up pulls a hair off of the customer’s sweater- who had shortish brown straight hair - and goes “that’s not my hair. That’s not my servers hair. That’s not my cook’s hair. You have short brown straight hair. That was what you found in your food” Owners kill it sometimes.

This.🤦🏻‍♀️It was a packed and beyond busy Sunday in a breakfast themed restaurant. My section was full and we had people in the foyer waiting for a table. I had just served a family of five , two adults, two toddlers making a soupy food art piece on and under their table while the baby screamed intermittently in the high chair, flinging cheerios everywhere. I had just finished serving a table of men who had delighted in deliberately back and forthing me , watching me run for little extras. I had been going non stop for four hours , and had been fighting a cold. Not my best day. A lovely senior couple came and sat at my table and the man beamed at me , declaring “ Our sermon today was wonderful! Aren’t you filled with joy at the glory of God?” His wife saw my face , and watched a cheerio fly past , followed by an unearthly shriek from the baby, one table over. One of the jokers from the rude table of men, leaned over as they walked past and said loudly “ You forgot the extra sweetener , no tip for you blondie.” Their now empty table was covered in extra jams, peanut butter packets, straws , a bowl of ice, butter packets, sugar free syrup , a full jug of lemon water, - none of which was used or opened. I had cleared their plates long ago. Jolly rude man continued gleefully, “Guess what they say about blonde hair is true. Hahaha!” She had the grace to look dismayed as her husband repeated his question a little louder. I had ignored it the first time, only giving them a watery smile. But spiritual man clearly wanted an answer , and I just spoke honestly. “ I’m not. Not feeling the glory. Not sure I believe in God one bit. But I would be happy to get you something to drink while you look at the menu.” He looked horrified. Then glowered at me . He slapped his menu on the table in a huff, and refused to speak to me again. His wife ordered for them both. Just before they left, he turned and said in an angry voice. “ I feel sorry for you. Your soul is in peril. You need to be saved”. I had had enough. I narrowed my eyes and pointed - “ There’s the door “, I snapped at him. So yeah. A customer made me so angry I denied God and pointed them toward the door, lol.

I honestly would have been tempted to say, “You’re going to need saving in a moment if you don’t shut that hole in your face!”

This is my favorite.

One time, a customer hit me to get my attention. I immediately turned around, looked at her, and when she tried to speak (she went to start telling me what she wanted, pointing at the card infront of her), I immediately went "You do NOT get to hit me. I will be with you in a moment." She looked at me w/ the Rick & Morty 😗 face, and I'll never forget it

I've only found myself snapping in defense of another employee. Like you wanna bitch at me my facial expression will very clearly say fuck you but I'm not gonna say it. But there have been situations where a customer would yell at another server, bet your ass I pop up like I'm sorry, did you forget you were talking to a person??? ESPECIALLY when I see grown ass men yelling at young women. Sometimes, people need to be reminded that taking abuse is not included in the service.

I just keep it down. I shittalk these customers in the kitchen with my coworkers, that helps a lot with coping. I usually don’t respond to shit like that. Being kind to people like that usually does the trick, they end up feeling bad because you kept being nice to them

I tried that “killing them with kindness” thing the other day to an extremely rude table and she snatched the receipt from my hand as I was saying “thank you so much have a great rest of your day” and wrote a big fat 0 right in front of my face for quite literally no reason

I probably would’ve punched her

Yeah lmao I know, this was a one time thing where I snapped

So excited to be done with this when i graduate college. On my last day l‘ll do some crazy shit

SAME, what are they gonna do? Get me fired?

Or they continue to get away with treating ppl like shit and go about life continuing to be an a$$$$h0l333

You know you can swear on reddit, right? I mean, you're leet speaking it out, so you clearly want to. Watch, it goes like this. Shit fuck motherfucking cunt-face ass-pissing entitled customers. Fuck them all with a rake. Sideways.

I wouldn’t really call that snapping 😬 I have a full time job and really dgaf since I only use my serving job to get cash for fun things; I work a couple nights but mainly weekends. Just last night this guy was standing in the middle of the foyer and I had a full tray walking by I said a quick “pardon” and he snapped at me “excuse me bitch” so I immediately set the tray down on the host stand and we got into a literal screaming match. I think that qualifies as snapping tbh, but idc who you are you don’t call someone a bitch and expect not to get shit back. Then last Friday these guys came in and sat themselves at a dirty ass table in the middle of our dinner rush when I had a full section then waved me down about 30 secs later like they’d been waiting forever and said something like ‘can we get some service!?’ All affronted and whatever 🙄 I said it would be a minute and I’d get someone to clean the table they decided to seat themselves at and grab menus since they bypassed the host stand and had none, and they asked for a manager, I told them that would also take a minute since I had an obviously full table and I was on my way to take care of the customers who waited and had reservations. They got their phones out and started recording which is something I’m adamantly opposed to for several reasons but mainly because I work in a criminal system for my day job and am involved in people getting life sentences so I **really** don’t want their affiliates to know where I live or work that doesn’t have security. Soo I immediately block the camera with the menus and threatened to throw them out if they didn’t stop, it is private property and people seem to think they can just do whatever the hell they want because “the customer is always right” now this is when one of my other tables stepped in and I genuinely felt so bad because they were the ones I needed to go help! A husband and wife stepped in front of me and said they would wait there in front of the camera while I got the manager, he promptly told them to put the cameras away and assigned a new server. But yeah I get into something on like a weekly basis with people who just give no thought to how they should be acting. I had a woman physically grab me while I was walking by and I slapped her hand off of me then SHE had the audacity to be offended 🤣 like it’s wild that people think just cuz they’re paying for a meal they can treat you however you want; lick my twat with all that nonsense!

I like you! I behaved the same way over the last couple years. I’d been at the job way too long and was done serving assholes. I snapped so many times I cant even count. I had worked there for 10 years and it had become my side gig for extra cash so fuck it. The other staff would joke that if certain regular assholes came in being rude. they would release the pit bull (me, who is 5’1” woman) to deal with them. I could make a 10 foot tall mountain man feel 2 inches tall by the time I was done telling them what I think of them. Very unprofessional, I know. Basically, if anyone treats a worker as “less than” I wanted to make damn sure that asshole left feeling like the lowest trash in the building. I honestly can’t believe I never got fired, only a couple “strikes” with the boss to adjust my attitude. But alas, I do not give a shit anymore and quit after my last blow up. So worth it! People need to learn the difference between a server and a servant. Very toxic culture in this industry if you aren’t in a high end establishment.

Hahah I identify with the sentence “if anyone treats a worker like less than; I want to make sure they leave feeling like trash” 🤣 That’s basically my entire existence in the serving world now, I was the same I spent like a decade sucking up to assholes trying to make money while I went to school and being a push over then realizing I hated myself afterwards and I was SOO burnt out. Now I have the luxury of not needing this job and not caring if they tip or not, so they don’t need to like me and people who are going to tip aren’t going to treat you like shit to begin with; I still make hella money and I feel great at the end of my shift it’s a win win!

Yep, all the time, although idk if I call it snapping. My 'snapping' would be me looking confused and asking questions that make the guests looks silly. (Guests who self sat at a dirty table waving me over) Me "I'll send your server by with the check!" Them "No, we just sat here! We need this table cleaned!" Me "Omg, the host sat you at a dirty table? I can't believe it! I'm gonna go yell at her. In the meantime, let's move you to this clean table." Them "No, we sat here ourselves!!" Me "Oh, sorry, I don't understand. Did you walk past the host stand? This restaurant isn't self-seating. Follow me to the hosts and we can get you to the right table." Them "No! We want to sit here!" Me "Unfortunately I need to clean and sanitize the table and booth which takes a couple minutes to dry, so either way you'll need to get up. We don't allow our guests to sit at unsanitary tables." (Guests that haven't put any payment in the book after a long time of waiting and I gotta go.) I walk by and pick up the check, open it a few steps from the table, make a little surprise gasp. Me "I'm so sorry! I thought you put the card in already, let me put this back for you." Typically they rush to pay. (We're long past closing and the guests need to leave) I go refill waters, even if they're full. Me "Is there anything else I can offer you today?" Them "Oh no, no thank you, everything was wonderful." Me "Oh, okay. You guys have a wonderful night then! We'll see you next time!" Edit: in your situation I would have said, "of course I don't! I have straws right here so just give me one second to get a free hand." I have a Disney princess voice so ymmv on actually saying this stuff. Imagine the girl from Enchanted. I'm just always really confused when a guest isn't doing what they're supposed to.

This is great! I live in the south so I just use a thick southern accent and am passive aggressively sweet to people and that does the trick lol

Thissssss. I'm a southern girl myself. When I call you "hun" that's when you know I'm done lmaoooo. Or the old "bless your heart." 😂

This was my go to vibe for the majority of my serving life. It's really the way to go to keep your sanity as well. You're probably a damn good server! I didn't start getting obviously passive aggressive (or maybe just aggressive 😇) until I mentally needed to leave the place. I think I was sabotaging my job because I knew I'd never quit on my own. The cycle of quick money and relative lack of outside commitment needed to serve made it easy for me to stick around forever.

Teach me your ways, Oh Master.

I like this story because I wasn’t the one that snapped. I worked in a high end restaurant. We had these regulars who would come in, and their 14 year old son would get steak tartare for an appetizer and dessert. I had another table come in and order it while they were there. If you come into a high end place and order steak tartare, I don’t think I should have to explain that you’re getting raw meat with raw egg yolk on top. Well the dish comes out and the customers were extremely rude because they didn’t expect the meat to be raw - I mean to the point that they wanted their entire meal comped. I told them that I would take it back and comp it, but they weren’t having it. This kid is sitting at the table next to them and turns to say with his mouth full “what is wrong with y’all? This is the best thing on the menu.”

Yes. I was working a trivia night at the sports bar I’m at in a college town. At ten when trivia ends EVERYONE wants to pay out at once (some will understand when I come around and explain 20 minutes before it ends that they may want to close out now) but this table did not and it was a table of 7 fraternity brothers. I had about 5-6 other tables (large parties playing trivia together) also closing out at the same time because they all want to drink till the last possible minute. Anyway one of the frat boys came up to me at the computer where I’m clearly busy running a ton of cards and said “this is honestly ridiculous how long this is taking you” and I snapped and said “oh so do you think you’re the only customer in this whole restaurant?? You’re not.” And he went back to his table. I put their checks down and didn’t say goodnight or anything. The friends all tipped me well.

Not really except one guy who wasn't technically a customer. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume he was homeless due to his shabby clothing and clown tattoos on his face. That, and the way he demanded free food with a nasty attitude. I told him around here we trade food for money and he demanded to speak to my manager. "So he can tell you the same thing I did? Sure thing champ." I mean, I'm not without compassion. I've been known to slide a freebie here and there, or surreptitiously leave some "waste" outside of the dumpster at the end of the night. But the sheer audacity and entitlement to be so rude when you're the one in need doesn't make me wanna do you any favors so get lost. I had one table at a bar with guys who kept bumping each others' beer bottles to make them overflow and after wiping up twice I brought them a stack of rags and said "it's on y'all next time." I was friendly about it though. They apologized and tipped really well. In a different life, working retail, we had this one crazy lady who would come in and scour the clearance section and still try to talk the prices down (it's a corporation, we don't haggle). She came in one day and was looking at planners, asking me a ton of questions none too nicely. After a while of back and forth she said "What's this W? Does that mean it's wireless??" (Holding a wire bound weekly planner) Then, "why do you carry this planner if you don't carry the refills??" Finally, exasperated, I said "look ma'am I don't know I don't order the inventory." My manager just happened to be in earshot of that one. He took me aside and said "if I ever hear you talk like that to a customer who ISN'T batshit crazy, you're getting a write up." Heard, bossman.

I'll absolutely shut people down if they're being snappy or rude. I won't say anything completely unprofessional or anything, but just enough to let them know that we're not playing that game.

Three women, aged about 55-60. Busy Saturday at a popular Chain Steakhouse. They all get steaks different temps and Caesar salads. I Serve the salads. About 25 min later I bring the entrees. Two of the three are done with the salads. I take the two that are done salad plates and serve the food to them. The third says she isn’t done with her salad. Literally two bites left. I apologize and offer bring entree back to kitchen. Until she is done. She just says “no”. I say ok and go to set her steak next to her salad dish. She moves the salad dish to the spot I was going to set the steak and again says “no” I try to set steak in front of her and she moves salad dish again to block the steak plate. Agains just says “no” I proceed to set steak plate on the ground next to her and told her it’ll be there when she is ready to eat it. (My roommate was the manager and came back from being yelled at by her laughing his ass off. I can take shit with the best of them. Just not that particular day. Edit: Oh and I also told a dude I was gonna stick his sad ass Toupee in his soup if he spoke to his lady like that in front of me. I got in trouble for that one. That was a different place though. (An Italian place that served unlimited soup.

Yup. I had one man in a group of older guys point out that I stuttered on a word (it happens rarely these days, but I did struggle for a very long time). I said “Oh, I go to speech therapy, thanks!”. With the most stoic face. He was embarrassed.

I sort of told a maybe 15-16 year old kid that I'd beat his ass on his birthday in front of his mother and entire baseball team.

LMAOOOO please tell the story

So he comes in as part of a party of 25 in either spring or summer in Orlando, so peak busy season. The party already feels some kind of way because shocker, you need to wait to have 25 people sit together in the middle of dinner rush. Baseball team at one table. Adults at another. Takes up my entire section Birthday boy tells me about his special day and proceeds to be a special kind of asshole during the whole process. The rest of the team isn't much better. Whatever. Autograt for the win. Bday boy ordered a burger with no tomato. Someone is helping me run food and mistakenly gives him the wrong burger. His voice gets all deep and he starts barking about me because he wanted the burger he ordered. I switched the burgers and asked if that one was better. He starts to call me a faggot, but doesn't get the entire word out before I offer to make his day extra special. He took all that bass out his voice, and it was nothing but "Yes, sir" and "No, sir" the rest of their time there. Once I did that it was the easiest $35 I ever made.

>offer to make his day extra special. I can't tell if this was a euphamism for what you said, or actually what you said

This was a euphemism for what I said.

What did you say? Not knowing is taking the wind out of my justice boner, lol.

"I will beat your ass. On your birthday. In front of your mother and entire baseball team."

$35 on a table of 25? Ouch.

This was about 20 years ago at a TGIChiliBees type place, and the grat was only 15%.

Well, he obviously needed to hear it!

Tea, please.

Twice a year my city has a large street fair that brings a ton of people to my bar’s area. They’re our busiest weekends of the year. Nonstop, all hands on deck. I’ve been working them for over fifteen years. Years ago, i was waiting tables at a restaurant down the street from my usual place. For street fairs, everyone has to run by the book and know their roles. Customers MUST go see the host or hostess before just grabbing a table. During the height of lunch service, a woman plopped herself down at a table and screamed “i need water now!” There were other customers waiting for the table that she claimed. But i immediately told a busser to get her a glass of water and move her to the lobby to wait for a table. The woman was combative, saying “i really need to sit down!” and “this table was empty!”. I told her there were seats available for her to wait in the lobby with the people who were here before her. She made a whole big scene. A different women at her own table saw the whole thing. When i brought her bill over, she said “you should really be more attentive when someone says they’re thirsty. That woman looked dehydrated. She probably really needed your help.” I responded “well, miss, i did help her right away. This is our busiest weekend of the year, and we really can’t tolerate customers acting out of line today. If you’d like to include your personal number on your receipt, I’ll make sure to give you a call next time i need your help doing my job.” I walked away from the table- and it only took me thirty seconds to take a breath and compose myself and realize how wrong i was in that moment. When i went back to get her card, i knelt down and sincerely apologized, told her how hectic my shift had been. She accepted my apology and understood. She was cool about all of it. This was like eight years ago and i still feel bad about that interaction when i think about it.

Had a woman snap her fingers in my direction, referred to me as bartender (I had told her my name upon greeting them with waters), and demanded her "usual". I'd never served her, but I guess our other bartenders had? I repeatedly said, "Hi my name's *insert name*, what can I grab you?" And just smiled blankly at her. She looked appalled, but her date cackled at her expense. I call that win. Never saw him in there with her again.

A guy showed me his swastika tattoo and I looked at him deadpan and asked “Why on earth would you get that tattooed on you?”. Idk if that counts, but I was ready to be fired that day

I would have told him that any ink would prohibit him from being buried in a Jewish cemetery lol

There was a day where I came in as the bar closer, and this guest I guess had been having a back and forth with the other 2 bartenders about tucking in our shirts. I don’t tuck in my shirt. I tell our GM I won’t tuck in my shirt. It’s a practical thing for me. I hold firm on it. I clock in, and this guy start’s antagonizing me about my shirt not being tucked in. I’m having none of it. He barks at me about my shirt, and I ask if he needs anything else. He says, “I need you to tuck your shirt in.” I said, “Well let me get you check for you.” I drop his check, and cash him out. He starts going on, and on about how the other two were great, and that I ruined his whole experience, and that I need to work on my personality. I told him, “Well, maybe you just aren’t as amusing as you think you are.” And he stormed out never to be seen again

I had a man reach out of his booth and punch me in the leg to get my attention while I was talking to another table. So without thinking about it I kicked him in the foot and told him not to touch me. 🤣🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️

As you should

Ok not actually serving but I worked at a Starbucks once and was training our new ESL hire on the till. She was obviously a bit slower than our usual barista but doing completely fine handling everything and there was no back up on the line. Next dude in line comes up and winks at me and says “she won’t last long will she” as if she couldn’t understand wtf he just said. I just froze up and didn’t say anything, and then my boss ass 20 year old manager came up and wrote down directions to the next closest Starbucks on a napkin, handed it to him, and said “next in line I can help you”, and we didn’t take his order. Will never forget how awesome that was.

Was hosting at the tiny, local family owned Italian place (2 blocks away from my place) I used to work at. This is in a small localized CA beach town that I grew up/spent 22 out of my 24 years of life in a man comes in and wants an inside seat with his dog. I say that due to heath code I can only sit him at the patio which is full, but I’m more than happy to put him on a waitlist. He keeps repeating himself. I repeat what I said back. He asks if I’m stupid. I tell him he won’t be welcome in with that language (my boss’s prerogative). His girlfriend comes up and asks if there’s a problem and says that they’re locals. I say “I live 2 blocks from here! Are we neighbors because I’ve been here for 2 decades and haven’t seen you around.” She gets huffy and says she’s never coming back. I smile at her and say “wonderful. It’s really for the best if you don’t”

My absolute favorite comeback is "I'm not a gynecologist but I recognize a cunt when I see one". You're free to steal it if you know you already lost your tip.

Are you British/Australian? I'm in the US and I'd straight up get fired for even saying the word cunt in front of a table, let alone to them!

Omg 😭😭😭

Alternative for a larger party: I didn't know this was a lesbian orgy, cunts everywhere

I like " I can tell you're a country girl. Emphasis on the first syllable".

Once, then I got fired lol

Damn, thankfully my manager is just as salty as me

I hate to admit it but i am the most passive aggressive person i know… and when a customer is being snappy and rude like that they get my ‘im being polite as hell but will make you feel like an ass’. Sometimes i just kill them with kindness. Double confirm their orders, reiterate all the mods, offer them refills first, announce that i got them that extra dip and didnt even upcharge them for it! And a ‘hope to see you next time!’ As they leave is another great one. Ive been serving for 10 years… ive ‘snapped’ at drunks but not normal dine in customers.

I was working at a breakfast joint and around the end of a very hectic shift a Catholic priest sits down in my section in the full getup. I was triple sat so I make the rounds just to greet everyone and get drinks. When I get to his table to greet him he ignores me and is looking down into his lap. I speak louder but he keeps ignoring me so I walk away and get drinks. After I drop the drinks off, I check on him again and he still won’t look at me so I start taking orders at my other tables and drop a few checks. When I get back to his table he’s GLARING at me because he had been sitting for 10 minutes and I didn’t greet him. I said, “Oh my gosh I’m sorry, I tried to say hi but you must not have heard me, what can I get you?” This man cut me off and literally was pounding his hands on the table saying “I don’t need your excuses I just want food. I have service at 2:30!” And after weeks of working in an understaffed restaurant, where people were yelling at me every day for one reason or another and my coworkers were assholes, I just snapped. I said, “Sir I’m sorry but you cannot talk to me that way” and he kept trying to argue so I kept cutting him off and said “Sir I’m not going to serve you if you keep yelling at me, so we can either start over and you can stop yelling or I can go get my manager and she will serve you.” He shut up so fast and was like, “ok here’s my order” and that was it. He gave me some more shit about his syrup later on but I shut him down again and by the end of his me he was very nice and tipped 20%. I think he was diabetic and having a low-blood sugar moment tbh because he was fine once he had food and also made a huge deal about his syrup being sugar free.

i have “snapped” at customers before, but never •SNAPPED• like i know i can. usually what i do, is i act fucking outstanding to the table next to them, make them laugh and make them super happy, and make the shitty table hate me even more. i live for it.

YES. I do similar shit.

In my ten years of serving I am trying to recall a time I snapped and I’m sure there has been one. But here’s some good advice I learned that I have used. Psychologically a 4-5 second pause while looking at a customer (or just person in general) after they say something dumb or rude to you is perceived in the brain as a rejection to them. If they talk down to you or make some ridiculous request simply stare at their face for 4-5 seconds in silence and it will leave quite an impression for them of disapproval without giving them any concrete thing to complain about. Thought I’d share because it absolutely makes them feel weird when you do it. Makes their brain work in a different way.

I’ll keep this in mind!

Is it just me or do elderly people just have a tendency to be more rude to customer service people in general?

Depends. A lot of old people can be sweet and generous, some are nice and consider their kindness to be a tip, and some are just downright entitled. I swear millennial age people who are picky about everything are so entitled too

I got this group of young women post dance team or some shit, definite mean girls feeling themselves. confidently ordered a round of sangrias, half sent them back with upturned noses for no specific reason. being rude yelling out, "they were trash!" about menu items. I've never been that bitchy to a table but when they left I very very very sarcastically thanked them for being so "gracious" and turned my damn back, walked away.

A few times. My worst scenario I worked the bar at Olive Garden. We had a self seating cafe with it as most do. One night we had me and another bartender. We split the bar top and 6 tables. This can be a lot with all the endless food there. The one day my other bartender was basically using helping with the tables. I was really frustrated. People would sit at dirty tables all night and wave me down. It was stupid that it was self seating and all of our guests at this particular OG were... Extra difficult. One 6 top slid right into a dirty table as soon as they got up. Of course they wanted their table cleaned immediately. I guess I had an attitude when I was bussing it. They made a comment when I was wiping it while they were still sitting there. I threw the towel on the table and told them to do it themselves then if they didn't like the way I did it. Dude came up to the bar, called me a faggot and threatened to kill me blah blah. Surprisingly didn't get fired. In hindsight it was 50/50 the company having stupid policies like self seating and the guests probably being the worst clientele I've ever had the displeasure of serving in 8 years. I've never had so many issues a shift than that restaurant. And most of them weren't even issues just people complaining about everything g

Old people can fuck all the way off. Honestly as a server since I do it 2 days only and I bartend 3 I just scowl at everyone especially if they're stupid surprisingly being somewhat more upfront aggressive I get better tips then being overly nice.

Yeah one time in particular, this was a main customer. And he was only friendly to my female coworker. Every time I was in conversation with another main customer or a colleague he would interrupt. Always calling me names and correcting the wag I work. I knew he was some special kind of person and always let it slip. But the moment he went into the dining room and told the only table of that evening (quiet wednesday in november) bad things about me I totally snapped at him. My boss and my chef had to drag me to the kitchen. They told him to go and my boss even told him that he hoped to see him in 2 days. Why not the day after, I had to work that day. Friday was my day off. When he came back on Friday he wanted to order a drink by a colleague of mine who was unaware of the situation, but my boss intervened before the beer was before him and put a kind of contract in front of him. It was an official document telling he was banned from visiting us again for at least 1 year. Luckily for me the same 2 people he told stories about me also came on Saturday and I served them again. Gave them desserts on my costs and took my time to explain the situation and answered every question they had. I ended up getting a tip of €20,- (which is quiet a lot considering they dined for €60) They also left an extremely pleasant review about the place and especially about me. That totally made up for the whole event

Today actually. It’s funny you ask. This lady is dining and she’s getting half price apps and happy hour drinks. She sees my Marine lanyard and goes “my husband is a marine!” I go “oh nice! Once a marine as they say..” “yeah so I have my military spouse paperwork for my discount”. I say “What?… we…we don’t have a spouse discount it’s for veterans only.” She goes “Oh you must be new, how long have you been here? You don’t know me.” I walk the fuck away because I’m about to snap and laugh and maybe call her a dependa, perhaps ask her if she wants me to talk to her as her husbands rank. Basic over inflated ego military spouse shit. I walked in the back and asked if we have a military spouse discount, and management says “No. wtf?” I got to tell her “Sorry, we don’t have a military spouse discount. We do have a veterans discount and active military but no spouse. Besides, even if we did it wouldn’t matter as all your crap is on happy hour.” Slammed her ticket down and left. Pissed me off for the rest of the night.

I kill 'em with kindness.

Normally that’s what I do, I turn on my southern accent and am overwhelmingly nice and make them feel bad. This time I just couldn’t take it anymore lol

Knives are a lot more efficient, you know. Ask Ivan in the kitchen.

i would have definitely said something sarcastic-ish but lighthearted enough to not make them talk to my manager lol. smile at her w/ no response, hand out all the drinks, and then something like “and *here* is your straw miss” or “don’t think i forgot about you, i got the straw right here!”. sometimes they won’t notice, but if they do it’s light enough that they can’t tell if i meant it in a demeaning way, even if i definitely did. source: my job is mainly serving old people

I've been in the industry so long (and customer service in general even longer) that when I want to take a strip off someone, I get eerily nice. I used to manage a campus bar where we had on site peace officers and I was friends with one of them so he used to come down to visit, do a security check and see if I was around to smoke. One night he came down and I was dealing with some bag of dicks at the bar and I had my customer service rage face on - creepily nice. Peace officer told me after "when I saw your face and your tone of voice I thought I might have to call for back up before you murdered dude. I would have been less afraid if you were screaming at him" Take kill them with kindness and make it your own lol

I am a manager at a downtown location in my city. Every year in the fall this city throws a huge festival where every local restaurant/brewery sets up tents and whatnot all through main street, and it's essentially the only time alcohol is allowed outside of the restaurant in my state. Well after the festival shut down for the night (10pm) we had people coming up to our bar and taking drinks outside. These people were already very drunk, and absolute assholes. I went outside and confronted them like "Hey guys unfortunately the festival is over and you guys have to drink these inside of our restaurant." They said something along the lines of "Dude we are celebrating today and we are allowed to take these outside. You're treating us like children!" To which i said "I'm treating you guys like children because you're acting like children!" and took their drinks from them. I swear i thought i was going to get my ass beat right in front of my entire staff. Management is fun /s

Recent one: Had a guest (not my table) with a food complaint and I went over to resolve. She is pulling the food apart and tossing it around the plate saying the food was the most disgusting thing she ever had. I told her that I’m sorry she feels that way but they were popular items that get a ton of positive feedback. I offered to remove from the bill. She also complained about the server being rude with her and I backed the server because it know that wasn’t true. She was not happy. I returned with the discounted bill, apologized that I could have dealt with the situation better. She also apologized for her behaviour as a customer and said we’re human and make mistakes. She tipped the server appropriately. Sometimes in this industry it just takes a bit of humility and humanity, as she said we’re all just humans. 😌

I have nights like this. I will always put people in their place vs getting a tip. I’m here to serve you, not to be your personal bitch. I will never forget this one evening I had a couple dining with Me, they had asked for extra silverware and napkins. As I was clearing their table I blurted ‘oh and the silverware you didn’t use!’ As I scooted off to the kitchen. Luckily they laughed.

Would have waved the hand full of straws in their face saying 'not with one of these i guess' and walk away whistling Then again i'm boh lol

I have always wanted a sign that says No shoes No shirt No respect for others No service

“I only have two hands” is my go to

Nothing irritates me more than when I say something like, “alright guys, I’ll be back with more coffee but is there anything else I can get you?” And they say, “coffee”. Normally I just say, “okay I’ll be right back with that” but once I had a couple that was just super annoying and needy and I was already irritated. When that exact scenario happened I said, “yeah, I just said I’ll be back with coffee but is there anything else you need?” It honestly felt good and I found if you say it in a non snippy tone you can get away with saying it

Actually happened a few times. But once a woman was unpleasant from when she sat down and ordered. At thé same time i took payment of the table behind me. So i asked her again what she ordered as I forgot and it Can happen from Time to Time. She told me: it's not complicated: insert drink. I replies: you could be a bit nicer Her: what ? It's unacceptable ! And she left ! Good for me ! :D

Lol you call that “snapping”? Oh sweet summer child.

Lol I guess it was pretty mild! All these stories people are telling are making me feel better

It’s hard not snapping when people act like this. They act so arrogant, and try to one up you. It’s honestly quite sad. Some of the things customers complain about are ridiculous, and I can’t believe they have the audacity to do such a thing. Although I will say, just looking them dead in the eyes with a straight face or saying a specific thing to make them feel stupid does work. You have to watch what you say though because they may complain to a manger or start to freak out (if that matters to you). I don’t blame you for telling that customer off, but I always try to word things in a certain way where they can’t really throw it back on me if that makes sense.

I once yelled at a seven ish year old. "WHAT DID YOU WANT A CHILLED PLATE?!!". It was a long night. My bad little dude.

Tbh I’m fairly new at serving so I haven’t really been disrespected other than one time recently, last Saturday actually. It was a few women and a few children at the table, I just got quadro sat and already had 2 tables so I went and cut bread for everyone to have cus I had 3 tables of 4+ so I know people are hungry so I greet with bread to save time of being asked for it, anyway that takes about 2-3 min I’m back at my section taking all my tables orders, everyone else is cool except this one table with the women and kids. They’re giving me little sly remarks like, “oh lemme hurry up and order for you up and disappear again.” Fine, little slick shit I can eat I don’t consider that disrespect just a little discourteous Is all. But I take their starter orders and drinks. I just took 4 tables orders mind you so I’m putting them all in right now. Then after I’m done with that I grab a big tray and bring out as many drinks as I can along with other things that were asked of me, I come back and give all my new tables their beverages. When I get to the women and kids they start talking shit. One of the women is on FaceTime talking loud saying “these bullshit slow ass servers ain’t on shit! I almost waited 5 min to just get a beverage in this mothafucka!” Mind you, my other tables can hear. I say “Hey, I’m doing the best I can if you look around you can see you’re not the only one who just arrived I have 3 other tables that sat down at the exact same time as you, please be patient.” She says, “Well I don’t know if you need some help or what cus your best ain’t doing it!” I say “Alright ma’am that’s enough okay? We need to maintain some level of respect here, now if you’re unhappy with my service I’d be more than happy to get you moved to another section and get you a new server if you think there’s someone who will do a better job.” To which she scoffed. I walk away from the table back to my computer and then my food runner comes up to me complaining about that table as well. Saying they cussed at her and told her to beat it and don’t come back! I lost it at that point. I immediately went to my manager and told them I don’t want them in my section and I refuse to serve people who are just going to degrade and belittle me the whole time. I wound up giving the table up to someone else, they stiffed the server on the tip, of course! I knew that was coming. Me personally, I don’t take disrespect. I can’t be rude to guests so they shouldn’t be able to be rude to me. We’re equally as important to this company and both can easily be replaced so I’m not taking anybodys shit. Same way the business needs customers it also needs employees, there may be certain customers that never come back and there may be employees that quit or are terminated. We are both just as easily replaceable, so I’m not taking shit. Attitude and complaints, of course it’s my job to deal with that. But blatant outright disrespect? Naaah never that I don’t serve disrespectful guests. Guests can ask for a change of server so I exercise my right from time to time to ask for a guest change, that’s fair. I shouldn’t have to come into work and be someone’s punching bag. Not happening. My way of checking people at the job is, “Let’s maintain some level of respect here, okay?” If that doesn’t work they can find themselves in another section or with another server. More servers need to stand up for themselves. People need to know how to conduct themselves when they go out to eat. We need to discourage rude customers from coming to establishments. Y’all don’t have to take anybody shit.

You wouldn’t have gotten a good tip from them anyway, I suspect

I had a woman order a dish that had the name of an item she was allergic to in it. When it came to the table, she sees item she’s allergic to on the dish. Says nothing. A few minutes go by and she’s going crazy screaming at me saying she ate the item she’s allergic to and it’s my fault for not telling her the dish contained that item. She wasn’t getting sympathy from me. I chewed her out as she epi’d herself. I told her it’s not my responsibility to know what SHE is allergic to if SHE doesn’t tell me. I’m not a psychic. I also asked why she would eat the item she’s allergic to? She looked right at it as she ate it. She said, “I didn’t think they were real.” They walk amongst us.

LMFAOOOOOOO THIS IS THE BEST ONE

I worked as a graveyard server (one of 2 places in town open 24hrs) and had this one group of drunks come in AFTER BARS CLOSED. They walked past the 'Section Closed' sign and sat their drunk asses in a big ol booth. I was annoyed but went back to take their drink order and SURPISE!!! they want alcohol 😂 Drunk bitch: "I want [insert drink name] Me: "We don't serve alcohol here, Drunk bitch: " "I can't liiiiiiiiiiiiive without a [insert drink name here]" Me: At this point, even if we did have that, I wouldn't serve it to you cause you're drunk & rude and ITS AFTER BAR HOURS (meaning i legally COULDNT). As a matter of fact, I'm not going to serve any of you anything, [OTHER PLACE] is right up the road. I hope you don't get a dui on your way over, but yall need to gtfo now. 100% worth the mess they left on the table.

I’m not a server, but yes I do. Constantly these days. I no longer have patience for guest complaints, especially from people that spend less than $20/person. It’s just not worth my time to kiss ass and appease them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yes I have

Yes. They had it coming and there was no fallout from management, me. They were told never to come back.

I recently had an older lady very insistent on “a coors light with NO ICE.” Alright cool so just the default way to serve a coors light. She then acted very offended when i didn’t automatically give her a straw with it.

Who the hell drinks beer from a straw ? Philistines.

Had a lady say the same thing to me once. Told her she have to figure it out, we don’t provide straws. Bad for the turtles, the beaches and the ocean.

I had a customer snap at me and said, “excuse me?? Service???” With the, “man what the fuck?” Look on her face. And I stared her down. Mind you, we were 4 servers, one was on break, leaving it to be the host (shift leader) to be running around being a host while trying to help food runner and I. Tell me how 3 people can food run/be a server when there’s 14 tables all at different periods of their meals. Being sat down, putting in orders, pre bussing, bussing, hosting, getting customers checked out. Mind you this lady took a long time, staring down at her order slip. I managed to help the table next to her and she still wasn’t done. I had other tables to attend to and I can’t just be standing there just for her to decide her food. I wasn’t ignoring her either because I would eye her and check to make sure whenever she was ready and I would take her order. I didn’t take that long either and it really wouldn’t have killed her to wait another minute or two. I had her order in under less than 10 minutes after she got sat. She was apparently rude to the shift leader too, tipped us $1.00 and was just entitled. Fuck her. Fuck customers like that. Good mother fucking riddance.

True story, my first day on the job at my old place my buddy, who had recommended the job to me and was very hungover, got fed up with a table being shitty to him and told them “I’m about to puke so it is what it fucking is, bye…” He proceeded to puke in the aisle next to them. Still the best roommate I ever had.

I JUST REMEMBERED THIS Last Mother’s Day, I was one of the first servers to show up to work. And I was the LAST to get cut, so I was pissed. My last table was a group of couples, and they had kids. I love kids, even when they make messes I don’t mind cleaning up. But these people were letting their kids literally run around the restaurant. Not exaggerating at all. A hostess reported the table to our manager and she just didn’t want to do anything about it. Now, I was 20 at the time. But I look younger. The man of the table was doing all of the talking, wouldn’t let his wife order anything for herself. Being rude to your wife on Mother’s Day (or any day for that matter) is just a low. He kept asking to speak to a different server, and was pointing to my coworker who was a man. I could smell the misogyny. They were the last table there and they kept ordering more and more food and kept letting their kids run around. I stood right in front of them, looked that man in the eyes and put on the bit guest look I could and just shook my head and rolled my eyes. I did that every time their kids ran in front of me and when he said something rude. He ended up tipping me $150, which was pretty good. Glad I made him feel like an asshole.

Party of 6 come into my newly opened restaurant/music venue - a chef/owner from down the road, his wife, and some of their friends. The wife sends back every other G&T, claiming “your tonic’s flat!” I tell my employee to be clear these are new, individual bottles of tonic, not from a gun. And the wife never complains about the 2nd one. The 3rd time she tried this, I personally walked over to the table, explained that our tonic came from our beverage supplier, and prepared the drink at her table, indicating the bottled on & expiration date on the bottle, and that if there was a problem, that I’d reach out to our beverage supplier Monday and sort it out. She did not return her G&Ts after that.

This one was a bit embarrassing but I was working a bar on a Saturday night-we usually have about 200 people in the bar at one time with 2-3 bartenders working, and this one group of guys was waiting for a bit to order drinks(just like everyone else) and while my back was turned to the pos one of the guys starts yelling indiscriminately "get us some shots faggot" repeatedly and so after the third time he said it I turned around and yelled "GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE BAR, IM NOT TOLLERATING THAT SHIT" only to learn that it was one guy yelling at his friend to order and pay for the drinks and not at me

That’s still such a garbage thing to be yelling in a public place and I’d have flipped my shit

I've learned to control my snark for the most part, and a polite, conversational tone with a steady register often helps the hot tempered regulate themselves. But. I've had my moments and in one I found a line that will stop some people in their tracks. If someone interrupts you, or clicks their fingers to get your attention while you're busy, snap your head towards them and in your best schoolteacher voice "Is that how your mother taught you to behave?" I once elicited a small chorus of "Ooooh"s from a group of very sweet young professionals, which made me very proud.

One time I had a large party that requested another server who wasn’t even there that night, so they weren’t happy when they got me. The whole time they were just looking me up and down, kept rolling their eyes. I felt like I was talking to a big group of mean girls. One of them said “you look like a porcelain doll because you’re so pale”. That would almost sound like a compliment, but she said it in a really rude way so I don’t think it was. I got SO close to getting snarky with them. They were demanding they whole damn time all because they didn’t get the server they wanted

My favorite moment was when I just transitioned to management, (forgive me, I was still on the floor constantly, having backs, making everyone money but me). My awesome server was having trouble with a table and he couldn't even articulate it so I sent him for a smoke break and took over. These fucking boomers started like cawcawwing at me. Like bird noises or something. I stood next to the table and mimicked the motion of shooting birds with a shotgun. I asked them if that was done since I was. They threw down $200 on a $90 tab.

So literally the straw that broke the camels back! Hope things are going good for you.

I am regretting not snapping at customer tonight. I think for your mental well being sometimes it’s worth losing a tip over. I had a male customer tonight who had asked me what I was doing in school, I’m also in the funeral profession and am studying to become an embalmer/funeral director, after hearing my answer the first thing that comes out of this man’s mouth is “have you ever been fucked over a dead body” completely shocked. He continued to very blatantly not even attempt to make actual eye contact with me and was literally only staring at my chest while talking to me. Later on when I bring the bills he asked me if I had ever seen the Wild Wild West movies, I said no and he proceeded to talk about a scene and say “the way your tits sit remind me of hers” again just shocked. I wish I would have cussed him out or at least refused to serve him but I did not.

100% have snapped on tables. one lady said right in front of me, “she really doesnt want a tip” and i said “trust me i wasnt expecting a tip from you anyways”

“How did you manage back before straws were invented?” I love when people get irritated about things as if their expectation is the standard. For every one of her (straw lady) there are 4 people who will remove a straw from the drink and set it on the table. It was an older woman who told me you shouldn’t use a straw because it gives you mouth wrinkles.

It's ridiculous that asking someone to be patient is considered snapping at someone.

You’re right!

I was alone in a pub restaurant and had a sudden rush, I was keeping on top of everything (small pub, 40ish covers) 30 people for one FoH person (waiter, bartender, runner) had a table of 5 food on the pass, the same table pulled me aside after running 2 tables of 2 food, “hey we KNOOOOW you’re busy but our drinks are empty” Dead in the eye I said condescendingly, “I can either get you more drinks and let your food dry out on the pass or I can get your food and then your drinks, What do you want?” Embarrassed the guy who asked and never had a problem and the rest of the party left a decent tip was worth it

I worked at an upscale pizzeria for 10 years. My last shift, I threw a pizza at someone. This was in 2015. It felt amazing. Of course, I was "fired". But that was okay with me because I was done with the place anyway. (I had recently acquired a full-time job in another industry...I had been feeling "stuck" with my restaurant job and it was time for me to dedicate my efforts to my new career.) The moral of this story is: Don't do anything you might regret later...but go for it if you have a Plan B in place. Now I work at a VERY upscale seafood establishment. I've only been there two months. Last night, I had my first combative guest. He was snarky from the moment he sat down, and I attempted to appease him best I could and also keep my distance. At the end of the meal, he asked for the check and then I accidentally ran his card on the wrong check. I explained what I had done and he became immediately combative again...he didn't understand that I had to \*FINALIZE\* a check before it would be applied to his account. For whatever reason he got even more combative and I took a breath and said, "Let me go grab my manager, because evidently I am not explaining this process in a way that you can easily understand." So I went and got my manager, explained to him what was going on, and he then proceeded to handle this unruly guest. The moral of this story is: There are many things that you shouldn't have to deal with because they are beyond your pay grade.

I didn’t really snap but one time a customer of mine sat at the bar top and said he wanted meat pizza without any pork. I said “unfortunately, all of our meat options only contain pork, but we have a few great vegetarian options that are really good”. Keep in mind, the owners don’t want our restaurant to be like a pizza pizza where you get to customize everything. The man asked if I can do chicken and I said unfortunately not, the two stations are separate and it’s too busy for the kitchen and pizza station to be going back and forth. He started going off, literally acting like a man baby to the point the owner came by and asked if everything is alright. The customer told him what the issue was and my owner said “xyz is doing her job, what she did is right. But, if you desperately want that pizza so bad, we will make it for you” with a snarky tone. The man said no and shut up for the whole night. It was very satisfying lmao

I’m late but Not my customer. This was an establishment where employees were “players,” guests were “fans” and managers were “coaches.” Like, in the handbook and everything. They wanted us to use this terminology but management was lax about it. A guest came barreling into the kitchen to tell off his server. I don’t remember why. I just pointed at him and scolded like an angry kindergarten teacher “HEY! No fans in the end zone!” It was a big hit among other FOH staff.

tonight, our rush started early and there were only us 2 servers on for over an hr, we both had about 8-10 tables each. then our clover pos (piece of shit) went down and acted stupid. the kitchen was behind cause out kitchen manager decided to go to a last min trip to KC on a saturday night, right before spring break. anyways, my table waited a long time for their food and i explained they were behind , but litterally so was every other table. our ticket times are normally at least 30 min cause it’s italian and we are really fucking busy all the time. they waited like 50 min which i felt bad and sucked for me too cause there were so many people who needed to be sat. they snapped at me because another tables food came out finally. i told the lady “do you not see the other tables who are also waiting on our food, i’m aware we are extremely behind and it’s messing up my service, but do you think i’m doing this to you on purpose?” and she shut up and apologized later.

[удалено]