People who stay 30 minutes at their restaurant table after they've paid, while there are people standing and waiting for the table...

Technically, you're right. But I have a problem with people, in any situation, who take full advantage of any given entitlement at the expense of other people just because they can. There's no law that says you have to have manners or be conscious of people around you.

Maybe it's all of those couples where one of them decides to break up in public to avoid an ugly scene.

x-post: I waited on a couple who were regulars and was there the night they broke up at the restaurant. It actually made me sad. She came in first, ordered for both and he came in (late) for like 5 minutes. When I came back, he was gone and she just asked me to pack up his untouched meal.

I never do the drink/dessert routine. I feel guilty being a one-top if I eat lunch at a place with service and tip $3 on a $6 meal.

But I also feel like "Hey, if it annoys you that I'm just going to come in for dessert or just appetizers, then why don't you put a big sign on your menu with a minimum order amount."
Management doesn't really care if you make the server's life hell. But at least your server stands a good chance of getting yelled at if their per-person average isn't up to snuff.

Ever since I had to wait tables, I've become militantly pro-server. Fuck the customer; eat a full meal, eat fast, tip well for anything resembling decent service and never complain unless your order is completely wrong. I won't even eat with my immediate family now, every time they whine constantly about unimportant crap (not enough bread, etc.). I wouldn't mind so much except that it's the same complaints every time - sooner or later figure out that service at a chain (even with $20-25 PPAs) isn't going to be perfect. Just don't eat out if you're going to whine.

this is not so bad if they give you drugs.

the girl was kinda hottt in a "i'm very obviously 'bisexual' and write bad poetry" kind of way tho.

Best part about going out for dinner: Being waited on.

I mean, I try to be courteous and friendly with the servers, and try not to make things difficult for them .. In fact, I try to be overly kind so that they enjoy their jobs, and I tip well & overtip if the service is exceptional. But if restaurants and servers don't want to serve the patrons or can't figure out how to let patrons enjoy their meals and still make money, then they should get out of the business.

..In a nice restaurant, that is.. In a cheapo chain restaurant, I agree - you get what you pay for & if you're going to bitch, stay home.

gave her $15 tip on a $25 order (4 shots makers, 1 pint). no buyback. wtf?!?

When I tended bar I would plumb forget to pour the free ones when it got too busy; but those two weren't overworked really.

On topic: I am way too antsy by nature to ever stay in a restaurant after I've paid.

I actually have no idea why I'm always at the Magician. Things just work out that way. I crash downtown a lot. I love emptyish bars and it's one of the few Manhattan can offer. That tattooed dude is a definite liability though.

i just left with the drinx as soon as i paid.

Umm, this is maybe because one party (typically the one with the penis) wants to go home and have sex with the other one, but at the close of the meal things are still kind of a wash and they could theoretically go home separately, so extra time has to be spent before going outside, just to clinch that they're at least going out for drinks after. Alternately I think you get a lot of pairs of women who don't see one another in forever and then pledge to catch up over a long dinner and then kinda momentarily fall in love with one another and bask in it, even though when they go home they're going to avoid one another's calls for the next six months, leading up to another extra-long dinner.

Stencil: I am far too unsophisticated to even hazard a guess on this, but maybe the $15 tip was like a little nervous-makingly too much?

my first night a guy i had never seen before, who is not a regular at my bar, gave me a $1000 tip.

you people are mental.

OTM.

Alternately I think you get a lot of pairs of women who don't see one another in forever and then pledge to catch up over a long dinner and then kinda momentarily fall in love with one another and bask in it, even though when they go home they're going to avoid one another's calls for the next six months, leading up to another extra-long dinner.

painfully otm and all too familiar.

But I have a problem with people, in any situation, who take full advantage of any given entitlement at the expense of other people just because they can.

totally ON THE FUCKING MONEY

I don't understand the question?

xpost

milo, I don't know about Britain but there are definitely faster, Bistro type places in France where people eat quicker, they're just not as ubiquitous/dominant as they are here.

You are TALKING really swank here. I doubt if I've been to a restaurant that didn't do this.

HARDCORE THRIFT, INDEED.

At 10:30, no one was there besides us. You could hear the crickets chirping. The boss kept eyeing the table and I wanted so badly to stand up and remark on how "crowded" it was. Fucking focker.

xpost

Hey, if it annoys you that I'm just going to come in for dessert or just appetizers, then why don't you put a big sign on your menu with a minimum order amount

um hi, what kind of asshole goes to a busy restaurant taking up an entire table just to get an ice cream?

so wrong.

That's it! I am bumping this thread as it contains the most restaurant complaining i can find on ilx.

Tonight I was pointedly berated by a customer. Here's what happened:

The table finished their two orders of mussels and wanted to take home the broth. Ok, this is somewhat common but we don't encourage it. It's actually pretty annoying as we don't have anything at hand to put liquid in. I offered him a foil to go container w lid and a bag.

He asked if there was a soup container. I said (precisely this) "I don't have access to that right now" as the soup containers are kept on the highest shelf in the kitchen, i had 6 other tables, and i am too short to reach them on my own and would have to bother another person to get one for me.
He asked our buser who is like 6'5" and has arms twice as long as mine and he brought the guy a soup container. Ok, everyone's happy.

Nope.

After all the people at the table got up, he came over to me with the cc receipt in his hands. He proceeded to tell me that I seemed like "a lovely person" but that I shouldn't tell people I don't know where something is (didn't do this actually), I should "not be lazy" and stop everything I'm doing and go do what the customer asked.

I said "thanks for your advice"

He kept talking, saying the same thing in like 3 different ways. I said "I'm sorry" and he said "I don't want you to be sorry or apologize"
I said "I don't know what you want me to say" I was very cool and emotionless. Mostly I wanted it to be over ASAP. I didn't react emotionally at all.

He said "I want you to say that you'll do this differently the next time someone asks for something"

I said "thank you for your advice"

Literally CANNOT BELIEVE how much this guy wanted to wound/hurt me/make me feel bad for telling him I was not able to access a soup container at that very moment.

his face was red as he walked out of the restaurant

sounds like man has control issues

just a little lol

Ugh

There’s a bunch of things I can think about that guy, none of them good.

The weird thing is that he tipped 20% and their bill was pretty huge. He truly simply wanted to make me squirm. Over a mussel juice vessel!!

One that he actually got no prob

Um, maybe he fancied you?

And?? So what?? He’s going to belittle me so I …what? I’m supposed to feel how about that?
Nope gross no thanks also I’m almost 50 years old hope that helps

Sorry. I didn’t mean it as an excuse for his behavior, just a possible explanation. But not really needed for weird controlling stuff I guess.

I don’t honestly care whatsoever why he did it — fact is, he did it and it was aggressive behavior. I still don’t feel bad in spite of him trying to make me feel bad.

You shouldn’t.

i have encountered these ppl in sales cust service as well and i dont know what it is but they’re like fucking landed gentry who demand satisfaction that the peasant has learned some kind of life lesson & i could not hate it more

like sir you are wasting too much time on a thing that i truly could not care about & you need to just go hit a golf ball or swing a polo mallet or whatever you fucks do to get this out of yr system

What a dick.

Also taking home mussel broth is kinda gross imo.

this guy and all people like him are the worst.

and yeah, 95% chance he just ends up tossing the salty sipping broth in a few days that he made such a scene about.

These kind of people never seem to learn any lessons themselves, they always have to be on the giving end.

Lol @ everyone, thanks for the validation. I’ll add that they had food after the mussels and this was clearly something he had been harboring for most of the meal. I’ll probably never understood people who want to corner other people and make them feel bad. I’m grateful to be blessed to recognize it had nothing to do with me personally.

Lol *understand

happy loving couples always keep on sitting
happy loving couples even though they paid
till the time when I can keep the hungry people waiting
those happy couples better not get laid

so he wanted you to affirm his belief that he has ultimate control over how you do your job?

reminds me of when people used to routinely harangue government employees with "i pay your salary". like, what, the whole thing? your signature is on my paychecks? well, shit, i'm not working for you anymore, you don't pay me enough to put up with your crap!

yeah, I got the "I pay your salary thing" a few times at a library job I used to have (quit last month) and I always wanted to give them a quarter and tell them they just got their money back and made a profit, which would have been accurate cause I did the math.

I used to enjoy politely replying that I was a taxpayer too and therefore paid my own salary just as much as they were claiming too.

(REALLY enjoyed someone responding that they obviously earned more than me and therefore paid more of my salary than I did, and getting to ask if they were arguing that I ought to be paid more, or openly stating that this made their opinion on public service matters more important.)


Similarly enjoyed LL’s quiet equanimity in the above anecdote.

Today’s Maximum Asshole award goes to the brogrammer stereotype in the Whole Foods pickup lane who was lecturing the WF worker that “you should obviously know that Thanksgiving week will be busy as fuck so you should have more staff here.” Of course he was driving a Tesla that had a steering yoke. Incongruously, there was a smiling retriever mix in the back seat oblivious to it all. Sorry its owner is Max Asshole

LL, guys like that customer are precisely why I decided I couldn't handle the industry anymore. it is completely controlling behavior, he just wanted to see you "humbled" because you didn't do what he wanted.

fuck him and fuck customers like that.

LL sounds like a quiet man that gets the rare opportunity to shit on someone they feel bigger with in comparison

serial killer vibes

"i want you to SAY YOU LOVE SATAN"

Should’ve got the chef to make a wee addition to the broth.

The man's afflicted with chronic manager mindset. Whether someone wants it or not they're getting advice at how to SUCCEED at their CAREER.

This man was just a complete asshole. There are a lot of people who will do much less extreme versions of this but Jesus. I'm still not over asking for mussel broth wtf. I just to get annoyed when people would ask to take home half eaten bread but mussel broth?!

I would have had a much easier time saying with earnest enthusiasm that I love Satan than supplicating to that fucking guy about his stupid mussel vessel.

I fully understand what the dynamic was and am still feeling good about myself for quietly counter-shaming him for shaming me so pointedly. He has no idea what I have seen or who I have dealt with in my life and he was a blip, a passing turd in the night.

As for Tesla bro, that's a classic complaining to the wrong person problem, like when people try to negotiate with me to order an item that is no longer on the menu. There's literally nothing I can do to make the wedge salad or steak come back, but let it all out sweety <3

Mussel guy totally comes off as Mr Coercive Control

Yes, totally. He is most certainly an emotionally abusive partner at the very least :(

Drinking day-old mussel broth led to the brain atrophy imo

I wonder if there's some sort of 700 pound, 8 foot tall hairless beast chained up in dude's basement that demands leftover mussel broth