well monday - we meet again you son of a bitch.
i hope that everyone had like the best weekend ever because mine was total shit.
but that's a tale for another time.
today i bring you a server story.
which i think are the best because it's like you don't think people can actually be as asshole-ish as you think but then you have to wait on them and it turns out that some people are truly horrible.
so the story.
it was friday night. the restaurant was mildly busy when the manager decided to cut the floor (basic restaurant speak for going down to the closing servers and like me who is usually the last non-closing server to show up). and typically when this happens the servers still on the floor end up with full sections and a late dinner push. which is exactly what ended up happening. it was nothing insanely busy but it was enough to keep you running around.
i had a table with a gentleman and his wife. and at the beginning of service they had given me a movie ticket stub (the restaurant gives you five bucks off your meal if you go the movie theater across the street in the same day you come and eat at the restaurant) and i thanked them and put it in my pocket and went about my merry way. suffice it to say that the man was unbearable from the get-go. as in every time i checked on their table he went above and beyond to respond to make my questions with his obnoxious take on what my voice sounded like. not to mention that the times i did go back to the table it was evident that he found me doing my job to be an annoying interruption of whatever lame story he was telling and couldn't possibly be bothered with me asking if he wanted another drink. and it's exactly these people who are the kind who you can't ever win with. my mere presence annoyed him but had i stayed away he would have been peeved that i wasn't attentive enough.
so the meal came to an end, i ran their credit card, and so very sweetly it would give you cavities told them that i hoped they had a "wonderful weekend," and then high-tailed it to the kitchen. a few had minutes elapsed when a fellow server found me and told me that i had a table saying i had forgotten to take the five dollar discount off their bill. and after a slew of expletives because i had forgotten and i knew which table it was i ventured out to speak with the gentleman. i apologized profusely, told him i had completely forgot, and that i would void the transaction, take the five dollars off, and then re-run his credit card. his response: "no. that's ok. i'll just take it off your tip." and then he opened the check fold and in front of me furiously scribbled out the tip he had originally given me and wrote in the new tip.
in my head, while it was happening, i convinced myself i looked like this:
in reality i'm sure i looked like this:
the gentleman handed me back the book and i sweetly thanked him, once again, and hauled ass to the kitchen. once i arrived back in the kitchen i couldn't stop laughing. like at all. the entire thing had given the kind of lolz that i couldn't control and just kept bubbling out. i managed to get the story out to the manager and truly it felt like i had just been reprimanded by my father. like the gentleman shorted me the five dollar discount that i had forgotten and then went above and beyond to dock my tip another three dollars. almost as if to punish me further and perhaps teach me a lesson about forgetfulness.
in all fairness - i had forgotten the discount and that's my bad.
but truly this gentleman was a prick.
shit happens. restaurants get busy and things get forgotten. but you bet your ass that i try and make up for it and go above and beyond to fix whatever mistake i made and be honest about it.
at the end of the day if that man feels way good about himself for shorting me on a tip because of a mistake i made that i offered to fix then so be it. i'll take my ten doll hairz (that i had to tip out on to other people so really i only made eight doll hairz on that table) and i'll enjoy the taco bell it bought me and i hope, you sir, enjoy your miserable life.
