Customers who lie to save face

The BBQ Pit
1

I hate the people who come to a restaurant, and decide to make me, the waiter, look like a lying incompetent human being to save face. Four people sit at a table, I leave you four sets of silverware. Hosebeast bossy woman(no offense to other hosebeast bossy women out there) takes two, leaving man with no silverware. He asks me for some. I look at the table, count the four sets of silverware, note that hosebeast has two sets. I make eye contact with her and SEE her look down at her two sets. I decide to let her off easy and say “Huh. I thought I had set down four sets…” still maintaining eye contact with her. She says NOTHING. I get to waste my time getting a fifth set of silverware because you are so petty you can’t admit that you took two sets(once again, she could have had another set of arms like some Indian goddess, but I never saw them).

Extra shame because you complain to my boss that I was ‘rude’ for not getting the silverware without comment.

2

That’s all ya got? How long have you been waiting tables, anyway? Of the hundreds of shitty things customers can do to make a servers life hell, taking an extra setting is pretty close to the bottom of the list. If you’re planning on waiting tables for a while, I’d develop some thicker skin…

3

My resturant is the type where you have to pay before you get your food. You won’t believe the amount of people who get their food, decide that they want what their neighbor is having and then come up and say “I didn’t order this, I ordered blah blah blah.”

Just say that you want something else instead, fucktard.

4

Oh, I’ve been doing it for a while. I just have never developed a thick skin for that sort of thing. I can deal with someone screaming at me for no reason and a whole host of things, but I think we all have our own personal pet peeves.

5

I got that a few times when I was working in Burger King. Unfortunatly for me the assistant manager was a bitch so I use to get into trouble when it happened.

6

Not to say that being a waiter isn’t a difficult & crappy job, or that customers can’t suck toad toes with the skill and frequency of a high-paid amphibious whore, but I think you were rude. Not holy-crap-can-you-believe-what-that-waiter-did rude, but rude none-the-less.

Why was there a need to say anything at all other than “Certainly, I’ll get that for you right away”? I suspect that the woman had done it accidentally, and your calling attention to her error seems gratuitous and unkind.

Imagine she was on a first date with one of the men and feeling self conscious and nervous? What if she was trying to impress a new boss or an important client? Maybe it was the man who was a bossy hosebeast, and perhaps the silverware had fallen on the floor and he had chastised her for picking it up and she was desperately hoping to avoid a further scene about it? Or maybe you’re right and she was a horrible, evil, selfish woman who really wanted to have two sets of silverware.

No matter what way I try to look at it, I can’t see any purpose to making a comment. What productive result were you expecting? You knew she’d made the mistake, she knew it, and after you called attention to it, her companions knew it too, and bottom line, you still had to get more silverware, so why?

I’ve waited tables, I’ve worked retail, I’ve answered customer service lines, and I know customeritis well. And I am not begrudging you having made the comment, I likely would have too. But I would not have then attempted to pretend it was even remotely polite of me to point out the error of a customer and make them feel as if they were putting me out by having to get another set of silverware.

And I would also like to point out that saying nothing is not lying. Sure, it would have been great if she had said, “Oh, I’m sorry Steve, I seem to have accidentally taken yours. So sorry, Waiterman, would you be so kind as to bring more?” But her failure to do so does not constitute lying.

7

He did say they later complained about to the manager. Which is pretty poor taste.

8

I’ll agree that was unnecessary on their part, but so was him making the comment in the first place. Don’t want to get tattled on for being rude? Then don’t be rude.

If you were the manager, would you honestly have thought that it was a good customer service move on Inky’s part to have done anything other than get the requested silverware with a smile?

9

I’m surprised that he didn’t pick up her second set and with a cheery smile put it down in front of him with a “Will that be all Sir?” If Ms Nobility needs a soup spoon and a salad fork to be added to her normal table setting so she could eat without her head exploding, I’m sure she’d have piped right in.

10

inkysplotch unless your restaurant was running out of cutlery you really should just have given an extra set without any action to make the woman uncomfortable. (Though maybe checking the count of knives and forks after could be in order).
Question for you waitpersons, is it better for a customer who is short a knife or fork or similar to get your attention and ask for one, or to get one from an empty place setting.

11

Bippy - when I waitressed, I ALWAYS prefered someone ask for additional cutlery rather than taking one from another place setting UNLESS that place setting was at the same table. Then everything got picked up and washed regardless, so it made no difference.

I HATED the idiots who would grab something from another table, because 9 times out of 10 we didn’t see them do it. Then we’d seat someone at that table later, and the new customer would be annoyed that the setting is missing cutlery, and often it is all crooked and messed up from people not looking when they grab their extra knife or whatever. That made us look bad to a new customer, even though we knew it wasn’t because of a failure on our part.

If you need something in a restaurant, ASK FOR IT! don’t take it from someone else, just because there isn’t someone sitting at that place at the time.

Oh, and for the people standing in line on an unexpextedly busy night - yes, I know you can see an empty table over there. That has nothing to do with why we can’t seat you. If we are overrun and don’t have the staff because we thought it would be quieter, then you wouldn’t get served at that table even if we did seat you. Please wait quietly, and we WILL do our best to serve you.

12

Count me as one of these people who’ve made this mistake. I always assumed that it was better to try and rectify a situation yourself without adding more work to the wait person’s plate. Especially if they’re busy or you’ve already had someone else in your party who’s terribly demanding, sending them back and forth on multiple trips. I thought it was helping instead of making things more difficult later on.

My sincerest apologies and I promise to never do it again.

::: hangs head in shame ::::

Please mnemosyne, let me make it up to you with a better tip next time.

13

I’m with the OP on this one. I also find it strangely bizarre that someone would require two sets of silverware. I’m sorry, but the customer isn’t always right.

14

I hope you at least spit in the food or dropped the silverware on the floor…

15

If I saw someone take two sets of silverware, I’d think that either they made an innocent mistake or that they were planning to use one set and take the other home for a souvenir. Or maybe that the first one had turned out to be dirty.

16

Employees Who Lie To Save Face: This one example has happened to me and seriously burns my ass. The Domino’s Pizza near my place has a relatively new service where you can pay with your bank card. They come with the little machine like you see in stores ~ the only difference is it has a big antenna on it like the old cell phones. WONDERFUL! How convenient! I’m the type who never has a cent in her wallet because I’m constantly paying with my bank card. So, if one night I want to order out, it’s between going to the bank for money to order chicken (which defeats the purpose) or ordering pizza. Pizza it is.

So I go ahead and order my pizza. Ding-Dong, it’s Domino’s. I give him my card to pay. Message on the machine: Transaction Incomplete. Try again. Transaction Incomplete. He says, “Let’s go outside. Maybe I’m losing signal in this building.” So now I’m outside my apartment building, doing the whole spiel on the machine, for the world to see. Transaction Incomplete. I look at him, knowing I have no money to pay for the pizza on me, and say: “So now what?” He says, “Well I have to take the pizza back.” Famished, I ask: “Can I pay by Mastercard?” He didn’t bring a slip. He asks me to use my phone to call his boss. He stands at my door and I bring him my cordless. Keep in mind I live in a small building, 8 apartments total on 4 floors ~ paper thin walls. Everyone hears everything. This is the conversation between the delivery guy and the boss:

“Yeah, I’m at 123 Famished Boulevard. The lady wanted to pay by Interac, but she doesn’t have enough money in her account to pay for the pizza. Now she wants to pay by Mastercard; what do I do?”

I was STUNNED that he did this. I most certainly DID have the money in my account! At this point, I just want it over and want him out and want the pizza in my stomach. He says, “The boss says to sign regular piece of paper for the amount and put your credit card number on it.” SAY WHAT? That’s the only way to get my pizza. I call the boss; the boss confirms what the guy said. I get the delivery guy to sign a receipt for the same amount, in the event of a credit card dispute. On top of that, I don’t even sign my real signature on the paper. This is just not kosher in my mind. Well everything worked out and my credit card was charged for the right amount. I was embarrassed that my neighbours heard the guy say in a loud voice that I don’t have money to pay for a pizza. But whatever, bigger fish to fry. We’ll chalk it up to a bad experience.

Bad experience that happened twice in a row, third time worked, fourth didn’t. Almost the same scenario; always an embarrassing comment about me having no money.

The next time I call Domino’s, I ask straight away to speak to the manager. I pre-emptively blast him for the situation that will most certainly occur. I tell him that I’m embarrassed that the delivery guys say I don’t have money, so loudly in my building. I tell him that I always have more than enough to pay. (I sometimes wish I would have been tacky enough to tell him HOW MANY pizzas I could have paid for from that account, but that just rubs people the wrong way). I tell him that I resent the delivery guys blaming it on my financial situation instead of the real culprit, THAT MACHINE! Nice idea ~ this bank machine thingy~ if it worked.

I ask him to send the guy with a Mastercard slip in case the machine doesn’t work (avoiding the foolscap Mastercard slip situation). The Manager apologizes profusely. He offers me a 2L bottle of Coke free of charge with the delivery, for my troubles. I’m not into soft drinks too much, but I appreciate the gesture. I ask if the large bottle of Coke is replaceable with a small can of Orange Crush instead. It most certainly is and that will be sent ahead with my pizza shortly. Wonderful.

Sure enough, the machine doesn’t work. I pay with my credit card ~ frustrated beyond all hell, but happy that they’ve redeemed themselves with my twice a year treat of soft drink. I set myself up in front of the TV, get my soft drink out of the paper bag it came in. Diet Coke. Well fuck me.

Unfortunately, Domino’s doesn’t realize the business they’re losing. I just can’t be bothered anymore.

But the worse part of it is: These employees seem veritably INTIMIDATED by thier boss. They’re afraid to say the truth. So, back to the flavour of the OP …

Some employees lie to save face, too.

Inky, forgive my ignorance here but … Why didn’t you just say, “Oh, I see there is an extra set of cuttlery here next to Madame. Let me set that for you.” Then grab the cuttlery and place it very purposely in front of Monsieur?

And I agree whole-heartedly with you, Parental Advisory, the customer isn’t always right. The things I’ve seen would make your hair turn grey.

17

My husband used to work for the home office of a local restaurant group and we were supposed to evaluate the service whenever we went out to one of the restaurants. What you did would certainly have merited a mention to you, and, depending on the amount of eye-rolling, sighing, and general attitude that went along with it, probably a mention to the manager.

The restaurant business is very competitive. Details matter. No, the customer is not always right, but any even halfway reasonable request should be met with nothing less than “Sure, right away.”

I mean, honestly, which scenario “wastes” more of your time?

Man: Could I have a set of silverware?
You: Sure, just a moment.
Or
Man: Could I have a set of silverware?
You: Significant pause…accustory eye contact…significant pause…Huh, I thought I had set down four sets…accusatory eye contact…, etc.

Later*

Manager: Inkblotchy, could I speak with you a moment…

18

Preach it! I hostessed for a while at a local resort, and I hated trying to explain this to people. Of course, I also had people try and argue me into giving them window tables when all the window tables had already been seated.

There are lovely customers out there. And then there are the other ones.

19

I’m afraid I’m with the majority on this one, inky. When you’re in a customer service job (and waiting tables is definitely in this ballpark), you’re not doing yourself any favours by copping attitude with the paying public. Like the sign at my last job said, “The customer’s don’t interrupt our work, they are our work.” Sure, customers are a great big fat pain in the ass, but you wouldn’t really be needed without them, would you?

In closing, my suggestion is be as nice as possible to the customers (it’s great practice for all the shit we all have to eat all of our lives), and come here and rant later.

20

My theory behind this is simple. It’s during a busy lunch. It’s going to take a minute round trip to get this person their silverware. I’m slammed at the moment, and other people arre waiting for things. Yes, the man got his silverware and the lady managed to save face, and keep an extra set of silverware for whatever reason. However, everyone else in my section got slower service.

So, one lying customer gets more attention than a lot of honest people? That’s a load of hooey, in my mind. I also don’t think it’s copping an attitude to remark that I thought I had put down four sets of silverware, which I did. There was no eye rolling involved. There was eye contact, and yes, it was probably accusatory.

Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I think the theory that many people have that servers need to be suberviant is, frankly, wrong. Just because I’m in a service position, does not mean that I should have to make up for some ladies petty little pride issues. My time is valuable, and she just wasted it by making me do pointless work. I still got over 15% from the table, since the man paid, and I think he realized what had happened. My boss also didn’t really care about the comment, since it was a pretty silly complaint.

This is no longer the 17th century. I am not your footman. I will do my best to get you your food correctly, and in a timely manner, with witty banter thrown in for kicks. However, you still need to respect me as someone doing a job.

Yes, in retrospect, I should have just gotten the silverware without comment. I guess I gave the customer the benefit of the doubt that she’d be honest about something so trivial.

No, I didn’t spit in her food or any such thing. Blech.