Restaurant Hard To Please Customers-Scams-Tipping-Timed Dining

I've been a server for many years and for the most part I enjoyed my career in the restaurant business. When I was young I worked in the kitchen, moved up to coat check, became bus-person then became a server and served people for 22 years. What a ride!

Anyone who has to deal with the public daily as part of their career deserves a huge pat on the back. Dealing with the public in my opinion sheds a few years off your life. Not all but I'd say about 35% of people suck. They just suck. Nasty, non-deserving idiots who must already know they are self-righteous individuals who never had to live without and in many cases makes dealing with them almost unbearable. They treat help or customer service representatives as if they are not worthy of their presence unless you are bending over backwards to please them. Yup, I said it and I'm glad I have an outlet like writing to get it off my chest.

The opening of this article is to speak about Pain In The Ass Customers who go out to dine. Again, not all but a lot of customers who go out to eat expect extra special service and what I mean by extra special service is that the 35% of customers require special attention. They want to be heard more compared to the average customer, talk about restaurant gossip that is non of their business nor do you the server care to speak about a fellow coworker. I think to myself my god, get a hobby or find some friends but then I think it's just their selfish arrogant and sometime ignorant self-absorbed personality that gets under my skin.

YES! This article was meant to be a rant and proud of it. I retired from serving in November 2012. I'm so glad that I made the decision to finally make the move to move on from being a server in a restaurant and to get out of the restaurant business all together. As I grew older and became more experienced in life and good at what I use to do, I realized in the last couple of years serving people that I don't like everyone the way I use to. I use to be so attentive, happy to see the customer and so glad they came in to the restaurant I worked at but now I find myself disliking a lot of people who came out not only to eat but required special attention because of their self-absorbed, self-righteous screaming for attention personalities. God, that feels good to put into words. Yeah!

It would be great to read comments from people who worked in the restaurant business for a long time and who understands where I'm coming from. I would love to read their stories of how they now perceive serving the public in general. I use to love being a server but after decades of pleasing customers overtime I learned were so hard to please, it took a toll on my mental and physical health.

A close friend recently asked me if I missed being a server and without hesitation I sad no. I have no regrets and I thank my lucky stars that I will never have to go back to serving in a restaurant.

In the last few years of being a server I experienced the pain in the ass customer who acted out to get free food or drinks. I guess with the economy sinking people had to do what they had to do to get a few freebies. If I can't afford it I just don't go out.

I've served the public as a server for about 22 years and throughout those 22 years at least four times a customer scammed to get out of paying for the check and all four times it happened in the last few years of my serving career.

It amazes me what people will do to get something for free. The making a scene, the slamming on the table like a 2-year-old, the complaining about a $30.00 entree they ordered saying it did not taste right after they ate a full appetizer, salad, a glass of wine or two and at least a 1/4 of the entree. Good food cost a lot of money but a selective few feel they have the right to demand the entree to be taken off their check. What a joke. Loses for sure.

In the last six month stretch of me working as a server I had the pleasure of serving a deuce bag that fought me all the way just to get some free food. He made my job so much harder than it had to be. The man did not have the nerve to complain to me because he knew I knew he was scamming. Amazing. A scammer would complain to a manager about the service but then leave the server a $20.00 tip. Leaving me such a tip tells me that they were just scamming to get what they ate for free or at least partially for free.

Let me ask you this. If you had a horrible experience dinning at a restaurant and you complained to the manager and the manager discounts the check to please the customer, wouldn't you think that the customer would want to leave? Instead, I had to kiss the scammers ass and kill them with kindness and asked if they were ready to order dessert, cappuccino, coffee or tea, (I had to ask because that is my job) and they had the nerve to order dessert, coffee and a cappuccino and then I brought the check and placed it on the table. I smiled, said thank you and moved on. The scammer walks up to the manager again and said they expect the dessert, coffee and cappuccino to be taken off the check too. WHAT? If the scammer was so disappointed and annoyed by the quality of the food or the service, wouldn't you have to think that they would have left when I asked them if they would like to order dessert, coffee or cappuccino? Of course you would because a well-balanced non-mental ill person would not cause such a scene just to get something for free.

In my opinion if you can not afford it don't go and buy it. It's as simple as that. Dining out should be a pleasurable experience, not a hassle or something that needs to be done but rather a choice to go out to dine and appreciate good food.

If you lived in a populated area such as New York City, would you support a set time limit at popular restaurant chains during busy peak hours? I would.

Popular busy restaurant chains during peak hours get slammed in populated areas. It's just the way it is. It boggles me when customers walk in a restaurant during the busiest time of day and expect to be seated immediately and served food immediately. I look at these people and I simply wonder what could they possible be thinking. Anyway, the point of this topic is to find out if other people feel the same as I do about setting a timetable during busy peak hours at popular restaurant chains such as AppleBee's, TGIF or Outback.

Take Out Tip Etiquette

Do you tip when you pick up a Take-Out order?

I live in Long Island, New York and when I pick up Chinese food or Pizza I do not tip unless I placed a huge order to pick up. I don't know many people who do tip when picking up Chinese food or pizza.

What about picking up a To Go order from a full service restaurant? I order food occasionally from the local full service restaurant and when I do I tip.

Lets say you placed a To Go order from a full service restaurant, do you tip?

When I retired from being a server I took a long well deserved hiatus from restaurants. I stayed away from happy hours and barely ate out for about two years. I needed to feel as if I started over and removing myself from surrounding I was familiar with for most of my life needed to be done to make a fresh start.

When I eat out I treat staff with the highest respect because I know exactly what their job entails. I speak to them with respect and don't over react or get upset over mistakes when they happen and it is because I've had customers speak to me nasty, yell and swear over the smallest easy to fix mistakes. I'll always remember those last few years of my serving career and how the customers tried to make me feel.

Now I enjoy dining out and meeting up with friends again and look forward to it. Dining out has become an enjoyable experience.