Order(s) Out Of Disorder
RESTAURANT | RIGHT | JUNE 5, 2013
(It’s 8:30 pm on a very slow Monday night, so my manager has sent everyone home except me and another server. Suddenly, we get slammed. Within 20 minutes I have over 20 tables. While I’m doing my best, about half my tables still need to be greeted, much less have their orders taken.)
Customer: “We need refills. It’s been like twenty minutes since you came over here last. We’re all done with our food and we’ve needed refills this whole time!”
Me: “I’m sorry, sir; I’ll be back in one second with those refills, okay?”
(I get the tables refilled, despite the fact that I have to ring in four other tables and check out three of them. Because I am so busy, I make a mistake and give him a regular soda like his friends instead of the diet soda he wants. After dropping them off and trying to attend to the outrageous amount of other guests needing me, he begins yelling for me.)
Customer: “HEY! LADY! WE NEED YOU OVER HERE NOW!”
(I look sympathetically at the couple I am currently taking the order for.)
Me: “I am so sorry about this; I will be right back.”
Couple: “Oh, don’t worry about it; we do understand. It’s crazy in here!”
(I hastily run to the shouting customer. He shoves the cup against my chest, sloshing soda on me and the floor.)
Customer: “Can I get a DIET soda this time? DIET? DI-ET, as in NOT REGULAR?”
(The shouting customer’s wife has been looking embarrassed during the whole exchange. She suddenly pipes up.)
Customer’s Wife: “SIT. DOWN!”
(The customer sits immediately, fuming. I refill his diet soda quickly, trying to ignore the cold soda all over me.)
Me: “Here you go, sir; I’m very sorry about that.”
Customer’s Wife: “Thank you so much dear. Whenever you get a chance, we’d like the bill. Take your time.”
(Trying not to cry, I take care of some other customers, including the poor couple I had to run away from, and then print their bill out. The husband does not look at me or talk to me again the rest of the time.)
Customer’s Wife: “You were an amazing waitress, honey. Thank you.”
(The wife left me a 30% tip, and the other couple dropped a $20 bill for my tip on top of their small, $20 tag.)
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