The waitress respectfully explained that we had ordered our lunches ahead, but that meant nothing to the complainer.
The server went on to give details about how the restaurant was extremely shorthanded and had even reduced the size of the menu and hours. However, the customer continued to rant about everything she could think of.
After putting up with the loud personal criticism much longer than we felt was humanly possible, the server handed it back to her and walked away.
It was an ugly situation.
After the customer departed, we all breathed a sigh of relief.
We spoke with the server who shall remain nameless for her protection and I’ll not name the restaurant either. This situation could happen at any of our local eateries.
She was frustrated. The restaurant cannot find enough workers, and it is not through any fault of the business. An experienced waitress, she has worked there for years and told us she feels like she works with family. She loves it. However, to stay open the business has had to restrict the menu and hours. And it just takes longer to get food with only one person in the kitchen.
We know food quality is as great as ever and are just happy they are still open.
It’s just a fact of life that there will always be complaints in any customer service business. It’s the nature of the beast, but since the pandemic, things seem to have gotten worse.
“Why do they think it is OL to abuse a server?” she said. She explained that people are more demanding than ever. They say things that are meant to hurt feelings and demean.
Sadly this is not an isolated story. Things like this happen in restaurants all the time.
A college-aged waitress told me a customer criticized the ragged hem on her pants and said he’d not tip properly until she dressed properly for the restaurant. She wishes she could have asked him how she could buy new slacks if she got no tips.
That rudeness, impatience and lack of civility may be one of the reasons people don’t want to work in service businesses. Could this be the reason for the lack of applicants?
I don’t know if it’s the rude customers who have chased off the wait staff or if the pay isn’t good enough. As we know, most of the pay that servers get is from tips. If there are not enough customers or if they tip poorly, some servers just cannot manage.
Management can be great or it can be the problem.
One former server told me she quit after her manager insisted on her working immediately after she was in an auto accident in front of the restaurant. The teen was trembling, bruised and scared. All she needed was a delayed start, an hour or two to get herself together.
Teens tell me they fill out applications and drop them off but no one ever calls back or even texts. They feel like they put their applications into a shredder.
Restaurants that get few applications might want to ask themselves if they have been good employers.
On the other side, a manager told me he has so many teens call off with lame excuses he’s often scrambling to stay open. Teens and many adults need to learn how to be good employees, too.
I don’t know what the answer is.
I cannot understand why there are so many vacancies and so few applications being turned in. Is it because of the customers being mean? Is the boss an ogre? Is pay/compensation too low? Are people too lazy to work? I think we all will need to mull this over.
And perhaps we all need to improve.
Meanwhile, when we go out for dinner and a smiling waitress or waiter makes our meal delightful, or even just normal, we tip well. We tip for the service and we tip simply for their being there. We are happy the restaurant is open.
Until a solution is found we need to generously reward those who show up to work daily, keep businesses going, and top off that cup of coffee.
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