Are there any worse people in the world than people who act like A-holes at restaurants?

[WhiteSteve]

Was just reading some Yelp reviews and couldn't get over the level of douche baggery of most of the "critics." Gave me horrible flashbacks of my days as a restaurant manager. I firmly believe that everyone should be required to work in a restaurant for six months before being allowed to eat out.

People have such unrealistic expectations for service. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't. You're either not attentive enough or you're annoying. Some people want casual small talk, some want it to be all business. Like what the hell do you expect? People treat them like slaves. They're servERS, not servANTS. Their job is to take your order, bring you drinks, bring you food, and drop your check. No more, no less. And people don't understand that they're juggling multiple tables, plus other chores required by management. Your drink might be empty for a few minutes sometimes. You're not their only responsibility. Get over yourself and just deal with it. Things will never be perfect, so stop expecting perfection. It's like people are LOOKING for problems with their service. Calm down, it's really not that serious.

I see good, decent people I know turn into absolute monsters at restaurants. I lose so much respect for people who don't know how to act at restaurants. It's just dinner, if something goes wrong, just take it in stride. The customer-server relationship should be mutually appreciative and respectful. When I go out to eat, I go out of my way to let my server know that I'm understanding and try to put them at ease. In Massachusetts, these people make $2.67 per hour, and rely completely on tips that apparently you're expected to do cartwheels for. The job sucks, give them a break. Don't come in with an attitude like they need to impress you. Unless you directly and intentionally insult me, or get in a near-fistfight with me, you're getting 20%, minimum. I OWE you that for taking my order and bringing my food. You can EARN the extra with remarkably exceptional service or even just being friendly. Anyone who looks for reasons to tip less is a cheapskate who probably shouldn't eat out, and I hope they get Lou Gehrig's disease. Just horrible excuses for human beings. Rant over.

But my question remains: why? What makes you be a jerk off like that? What the hell is wrong with you?

[myspacemybroke]

I know entirely what you're talking about. I'm a cook in a tiny little restaurant right now in a very small community. All generally goes well, but around 4 or 5 in the afternoon everyone and their goddam dog shows up and starts placing orders. Most of the time it's just me in the kitchen, running the grill, running the fryer, doing the prep, and doing the dishes by hand in a 15 ft by 15 ft room. The waitress is constantly asked when the food will be ready, meanwhile I'm trying to make fifteen burgers on a 24 inch grill, and people get their panties in a bunch if they have to wait a bit for their order. Then you get the ones that say I want extra this and extra that, and make sure my order is this way and not that way. My boss is far too much of a people pleaser, and will never say no to anyone so I'm stuck with doing a bunch of specialty sh*t for people. The back and front room split tips, and we're lucky if we make 30 bucks between us in a day. I mean I don't generally expect a whole sh*tload in tips, but it would be nice if people would sit the f*** down, shut the f*** up, place their f***ing order, and just f***ing wait.

[WhiteSteve]

F*ckin' A, bro. I managed a large restaurant that sat 450. On a busy Friday or Saturday night, it got backed up, because we were a pub that sold a lot of burgers and chicken breast. There's a finite amount of space to work with. Your med-rare burger took 45 minutes because 50 other people ordered burgers before you, and sorry, but we don't have 100-foot grill, so it's gonna be 20-25 minutes before we can even start cooking that b*tch. You don't see the 400 other people around you?

[Anonymous]

I try not to be a jerk. I have the same approach at bars. I realize that I could easily dine or drink at home, and I will gladly pay a little extra in gratuity to have people cook for me or provide a social setting at a restaurant or bar, respectively. I don't expect anything other than you taking my order, bringing me the food and giving me the check. That means I don't expect you to be an a**hole or an idiot.

One waitress didn't tell me she was going on her break and she stood 10 feet away from my table texting. I waved to get her attention and she didn't say sh*t or even motion for someone else to come over. Waiters who hit on my date suck too. Or servers who joke around with each other while my entire table's plates are ready and sitting outside the kitchen.

Just because you live off tips doesn't mean you can provide crappy unwarranted service and feel entitled to a minimum 20% tip. Once they see that I don't leave a tip maybe they'll realize "durr, I shouldn't have made that comment to his date" or "durr, maybe I'll...you know...do my job a little f***ing better next time"...just wishful thinking haha.

[Opinion Owner]

Also, those were the 3 times I've never left a tip. If there are no major problems I always leave 20%, 25% if there's some sort of thing they correct nicely (like if they mess up a pizza and make me a new one yet let me keep the original) or if the server was cool and made my dining more pleasant.

[Opinion Owner]

Sorry for updating again, hit Submit too early haha. I feel paranoid that if I speak up the waiter will get really annoyed and my dish will get spit on or something. I assume the worst in servers because my sister is one and she tells me how much she hates it. If I don't leave a tip it gets the message across that they sucked and I didn't make a scene.

[britannny]

Well said. I work at a steak house. I hostessed for a year, and a lot of the customers were absolute ****s. I hated every moment I spent as a hostess, and would never do it again. I had to be rude back. I can't let someone be rude to me without being rude back. Now, I do prep work. Safely tucked in the back, away from everyone else. It's still awful, because it's restaurant work. But it's a little better.

[WhiteSteve]

If I ever own a restaurant, it'll be one of those ones where the staff is rude on purpose, like Dick's Last Resort. That's gotta be a great day at work.

[britannny]

I had no idea those types of restaurants exist.

[WhiteSteve]

Oh yeah, they have one here in Boston at Fanueil Hall. They make you wear a bib and a stupid paper hat, the waiters insult you, and they don't give you napkins, they wait for you to ask and then just literally throw them in your face. That's gotta be the most coveted job in the hospitality industry, haha.

[ShesSoSilly]

Well I think a lot of people are ignorant about this and its not just with restaurants but in any place where service is expected. People will blame employees who aren't even remotely responsible or at fault just because they are the first face they see. In general there are a lot of self entitled people in this world and they don't have respect or consideration for what all others do and have to do.

[TimePhantom]

Some people are just like that. You should just accept that those kinds of people exist in the world. Especially on Yelp, it's pretty easy to complain when you can do it from the privacy of your home. But honestly I think you are making a broad generalization about people. Granted I have never worked in a restaurant, but I have several friends that do. I'm sure you can agree that MOST are generally well mannered, tip decent, and you have little to no problems with. The small number of people who are jerks may feel like they outweigh the rest, but I'm sure if you looked at an average night most diners are very civil.

And for the record. It annoys me when my friend, who is a server, fells obligated to tip much higher than average because he says he sympathizes with other servers. Now to me personally I think this is overkill. It's a job, just like any other job, and with tips generally the pay is pretty decent.

[Anonymous]

I don't get those people. I worked at a restaurant/bar, and ever since, I've tipped a lot more generously for people, haha.

You can truly tell a lot about a person by how they treat those they don't think they need to treat well.

Oh, and it's hilarious how some people are like, "Hey, tips aren't mandatory, they should get paid normal wage." I would love to see how server quality would go if they suddenly were getting minimum wage with no tips. It would plummet like a rock--people only suffer through it because you can get $11-$15 an hour with a fair amount of it tax free, if you work at a decent place.

[Anonymous]

Not my concern. I'm always very considerate with food service staff. What I don't agree with, and never will is the whole idea of tips. Pay the employees a bloody decent wage without some ridiculous ritual of needing tips from customers. It's not like you can choose not to tip, anyway. If you don't tip, you're the next hitler, or something.

Think of it this way: how often does it happen that a waiter/waitress is incompetent enough to not deserve a tip, while still competent enough to be accepted by the employer? The whole tip business makes no sense. Just pay them a proper salary and demand good performance.

[Anonymous]

I'd say people who won't parent their sh*tty, little kids are worse, but that's just my opinion. Though they turn up in restaurants pretty often too.

I disagree with your assertion that you should give them 20% and you should give them more for being exceptional. Some actually are sh*tty.

[WhiteSteve]

Agreed about the parents, they suck too. But for me, 20% is an assumed cost of going out to eat. Making judgments about the adeptness of your waiter should never be a part of your dining experience. We had such a problem with it that we had to just add a mandatory 18% gratuity to the bill to counter it. If I hire a lawyer, they get paid the same, win or lose, other than those ambulance-chasers that advertise on TV. Waiters should be no different.

[Opinion Owner]

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. I tip pretty well as it is, but if someone's half assing their job...

It doesn't matter what they do, really.

[WhiteSteve]

Fair enough, man. But just as a warning, the whole thing about spitting in peoples' food is NOT a myth.

[Opinion Owner]

Well, I suppose they should get a beating instead of tip, yeah? What kind of threat is that?

[WhiteSteve]

Take it easy, I'm not threatening anyone. I'm just saying that it's a real thing that happens...A LOT. Ever seen the movie Waiting? Like they said, "Don't f*ck with people who handle your food." No one wants to do it, they just want to be paid for their work. Unfortunately, it's one of a few jobs where people are paid based on the presumed quality of their work, and more unfortunately, the average person is an idiot and often will look for any excuse to tip less. It's usually a matter of...

[WhiteSteve]

...a few dollars at most average-priced places, which really makes it a matter of respect more than anything. People often look at waiters as "beneath them", and those folks get a well-deserved loogie in their milkshake.

[Opinion Owner]

There wouldn't be a reason to add that otherwise, would there?

I guess they are the only people that are incapable of doing poorly.

And if they do put a "well deserved loogie" into someone's food, they do deserve a nice beating. Though I suppose we should let them act like animals as well.

[WhiteSteve]

It's not that they're incapable of doing poorly. If they do, they're reprimanded and coached to do better. I just think the system of letting random strangers decide how much you get paid is flawed, but it tells you a lot about someone's character. If the cook or the hostess or the manager screw up, they make the same amount. Why should the waiters suffer?

[Opinion Owner]

Well, if you noticed in one of my earlier comments, I mentioned I would feel the same way regardless of their job. Shouldn't half ass it.

When you own your own restaurant, you can do away with tips and pay them yourself instead of making the customer pay for that waiter/waitress directly. It'd probably be a better system.

[WhiteSteve]

Well, like I said to Britannny, if I do, it'll be like Dick's Last Resort, where the whole novelty is the rude waiters. They have their fun, and the customers came just to be treated that way. Good times for all.

[Bluegameroyon]

I was never an a**hole in the restaurant. in fact, I'm hardly an a**hole outside- though I barely go outsides nowadays. but I'm trying to change that by going to the beach every week.

i go to restaurants to eat and maybe even have some fun. but I definitely don't go there for making trouble.

[pezzonovante88]

I guess it comes with the territory of being in customer service. I think anybody, at any level, who has to deal with customers/clients often feels like they just can't win. A lot of people do seem to like creating unnecessary drama and seem to be hypercritical.

Maybe these difficult people feel like they get/have gotten treated the same way by their customers where they work so they subconsciously take it out on others when they become the customer.

[InquisitiveMale]

I'm paying and they're servicing. Do it right and do it with a smile.

Food is overcooked? Take it back. Glass is empty? Fill it up. Table is full of cleared dishes? Clean it up. Meal is finished? Bring the check. Don't like it? Though.

I put up with sh*t just like the rest of the world in order to earn my money.

And I'm not going to give a 20% min tip. That's outrageous. 20% MAX for phenomenal service.

Call me cheap? Sure, I don't care. I shouldn't have to pay your wages.

[WhiteSteve]

That's a piss-poor attitude, bro. If it was that easy, they'd do it flawlessly. It's tough work, and people want all sorts of specialized orders, etc. That takes time, and when you have 4 other tables doing the same sh*t, it's impossible to do it right, you just do the best you can. You probably stiff the waitress because your food was overcooked, even though she didn't cook it. Bottom line: if you can't afford to tip at least 20%, you can't afford to eat out.

[WhiteSteve]

Also, you "shouldn't have to pay [their] wages?" That's just the system in place, we didn't invent it. For whatever reason, the government decided it was OK for restaurants to pay the wait staff d*ck and make them rely on the generosity of their customers. If you can't handle that, write your congressman or cook for yourself. What kind of miserable pr*ck thinks like that? If you don't tip, they just made $2.67 for an hour of work. That's garbage.

[britannny]

If you're too cheap to tip properly, you aren't financially secure enough to be wasting your money eating out. You've probably never worked in food service before.

[WhiteSteve]

"I'm paying and they're servicing", yet you shouldn't have to pay their wages? So if you pay them based on their service quality, then it's OK for them to serve you based on your payment quality, right?

[InquisitiveMale]

If you're complaining about how hard you have it waiting tables then clearly it's not bad enough.

Raised from dirt. Born with a smile.

You're not going to get any sympathy from me.

[WhiteSteve]

I don't wait tables and never really have, other than to help out. I'm not sure what your statement even means. If I'm complaining then it's not bad enough? That doesn't make any sense. All I'm saying is that people mistreat waiters more than any other profession, and it's not right. I think insecure people get off on feeling in control, and they get a rise out of judging someone else's performance. But you're clearly a person of low character, so I think we're done here.

[InquisitiveMale]

I pay a 13% standard tip on my tables. If my food is poorly prepared I'm going to send it back. When my glass is empty I want someone to come around and fill it. When I'm done eating I don't want to wait 15-20 minutes to get the bill. That hardly makes me an a**hole.

You're complaining about the customers? Well I'm complaining about the waiters!

[p.s] stands to reason you wouldn't understand that statement.

[Anonymous]

Sadly I see very bad service at most restaurants these days. I see where you are coming from of course but if I see a decent server than I know that they are decent or good. I rarely act the fool but if I get atrocious and or rude service I definitely will show my displeasure with a lame ass tip.

[asianfreak]

Yes, at times in restaurants, there are those customers who just show crappy behavior, but that shouldn't be an incentive to give bad service to other customers in the restaurant.

[WhiteSteve]

No one gives bad service on purpose, everyone has the best intentions. But with amount of chaos on a busy night, things will invariably go wrong. People need to understand that.

[asianfreak]

Yes, but that doesn't mean you never be careful, because a few mistakes on a busy night is understandable, but one mistake or few mistakes happening multiple times implies there's a problem.

[WhiteSteve]

Agreed, but understand that most problems are not the waiter's fault, they just take the heat for it. If your food takes a long time, that's on the kitchen, or it's just busy and your order is in line behind others. If the food is cooked wrong, 90% of the time in my experience, the waiter entered it right in the computer. It's very rarely lack of effort or ineptitude on the waitstaff's part. But people don't understand and they tip less when it wasn't their fault.

[asianfreak]

Have you ever seen a crappy waiter or waitress before? Tell me your definition of a crappy waiter or waitress. I eat out year-round at times, and I can tell whether the person serving my table is a good one or a crappy one.

[WhiteSteve]

By my definition, a bad waiter is one who is intentionally rude and has an obviously bad attitude. But my criteria for adequate service is: did you take my order, get me a drink, and bring my meal out. I don't put time restrictions on it, because I've worked in the business for a decade and I know that's out of their control. The quality of the food isn't their fault. The speed of the food delivery isn't usually their fault. If you mess up, just make it right, I'm not going to rip your head off

[WhiteSteve]

...for that. It's just a meal, it's not life or death. No one else gets held to the ridiculous standards waiters do. When I screw up at my job, my paycheck is the same. My boss doesn't dock me, he just tells me I F'd up and to be more careful. These waiters make next to nothing and deal with obnoxious people all day, some of whom tip badly regardless. It's terrible.

[Deft_maiden]

I really don't spend much time on what a random person has to say about anything

[Seek81]

People aren't always nice.

Look, bad behavior is par for the course. Are you nice to others all the time?

[Anonymous]

my mom used to be like this sadly :(

But I totally understand the frustration to have to deal with bitchy customers. its like 'we're making you food!"

[MikeK]

Yes, the restaurant industry is bogus.