# Dear waiter I stiffed the other night: **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 28, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538 "2006-08-28T16:09:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/21 "2006-08-28T18:17:53Z")
[QUOTE=Foxy40] The waiter was rude, no doubt. He was also wrong for not putting on a happy face. But anyone who comes to a restaurant prepared to have a nice leasurely meal, drinks and socialize is not being considerate to show up 30 minutes before closing. [/QUOTE] Actually, we showed up at ten. The last call (both kitchen/bar closing) was at midnight, and the closing time for the restaurant is also marked as midnight. We ordered most of the food right when we got there; I only ordered extra wings at 11:30 because I was still hungry and the wings were really good. And I finished them in fifteen minutes, way before closing time. We also ordered another round of beers at 11:45 but since that only required taking out some bottles or pouring beer into a glass it is not that much work. Actually, it is pretty stupid that last call is at midnight when closing hours are marked as midnight. If the servers are so eager to close ASAP they should get the manager to make last call/food run at 11:30 so that people can have a buffer zone to finish their food before being shuffled out, and the dishes can get into the dishwasher around midnight. There were also at least two other parties there (may have been more in the nonsmoking section) so obviously other people wanted to stick around a bit longer. I could understand if we’d have ordered a smorgasbord at 11:30, or if I ordered the wings at 11:50. But I don’t think I was being that unreasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/22 "2006-08-28T18:40:19Z")
I don’t know. Even when I worked at a McDonalds, we knew that we’d be staying at least an hour after closing time to clean up. I can’t see assuming that closing time is when the staff goes home. **Davenportavenger** , if you can describe where you sat, the manager should be able to work out who your server was based on who was assigned to what section that night. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/23 "2006-08-28T18:54:06Z")
[QUOTE=davenportavenger] Actually, we showed up at ten. The last call (both kitchen/bar closing) was at midnight, and the closing time for the restaurant is also marked as midnight. We ordered most of the food right when we got there; I only ordered extra wings at 11:30 because I was still hungry and the wings were really good. And I finished them in fifteen minutes, way before closing time. We also ordered another round of beers at 11:45 but since that only required taking out some bottles or pouring beer into a glass it is not that much work. Actually, it is pretty stupid that last call is at midnight when closing hours are marked as midnight. If the servers are so eager to close ASAP they should get the manager to make last call/food run at 11:30 so that people can have a buffer zone to finish their food before being shuffled out, and the dishes can get into the dishwasher around midnight. There were also at least two other parties there (may have been more in the nonsmoking section) so obviously other people wanted to stick around a bit longer. I could understand if we’d have ordered a smorgasbord at 11:30, or if I ordered the wings at 11:50. But I don’t think I was being that unreasonable. [/QUOTE] I don’t think you were unreasonable at all. My husband and my brother-in-law run a restaurant. Our closing time is 10pm for the kitchen and 11pm or so for the bar. We joke that it’s irritating when people walk in at 9:50 for dinner, but in reality, they are greeted with the same level of courtesy as someone who shows up at noon for lunch. We are open, and that’s it. 9:50 is not 10pm, so their food will be cooked and served with a smile. The way an independent restaurant stays in business is to be accommodating to each and every guest who walks in the door. No matter how close to closing time it is. And that crap about the dishwasher was just that: crap. I’ve never worked in any restaurant that didn’t have a few unwashed dishes at the end of the night left for the next morning. Discourteous servers like the one you had waiting on you will almost always guarantee that the customer will not return. Restaurants do not survive on one-visit customers, and that server should’ve known better. ---
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/24 "2006-08-28T19:00:37Z")
Davenportavenger, you have every right to be pissed off. If I were you, I wouldn’t just send a letter to the manager/owner – I’d send a letter to the local paper, too. They might be interested in an editorial piece about how bad customer service has gotten these days in local establishments. And to think you PAID for the privelege of being sneered at all night. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/25 "2006-08-28T19:37:38Z")
Something similar happened to me at a place I go pretty often. Dude behind the bar was a complete asshole. Makes me not want to go back. ---
**Author:** ![Cemetery\_Savior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/26 "2006-08-28T20:20:52Z")
Right after I had graduated college, I was an assistant manager at a Bennigan’s in a college town nearby. I had the confidence of the real managers, and was allowed to watch over closing time. Would the cooks bitch about cooking at 10:45pm (we closed the kitchen at 11pm)…sure. But as a group, they were so used to this that the grumping was mechanical (and I started as a cook, so I could identify). As a manager, I expected them to grump, and would have found it odd had they not. Front of the house is different. If I had seen/heard of a hostess or waitress giving someone a hard time, I’d wonder two things: [ol] [li]Didn’t they want the money froma 4-top (or more…I’m not sure how many friends you had)[/li][li]Why didn’t they want to work in my Bennigan’s?[/li][/ol] And let’s be honest…they were just delaying their cleanup, and delaying their time at the bar with the bartender’s free beer (beer is free, no mixed drinks!) (Liquor costs). -Cem ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/27 "2006-08-28T21:13:09Z")
302 S. St Clair Street? A quick Google indicates that it’s not part of a chain. You might consider adding your comments [here](http://pittsburgh.citysearch.com/profile/8604775/). ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/28 "2006-08-28T21:21:28Z")
From a customer’s point of view, it also sends out a less than welcoming vibe if the staff starts vacuuming the rugs (literally under your feet in some cases) more than an hour before scheduled restaurant closing time. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/29 "2006-08-28T21:22:13Z")
Interesting find, **Quartz**! It looks like this is a place that prides itself on service; several of the reviews comment on how great the service is. I really wonder if there was something else going on–maybe the staff were all headed to a party after work, and that made them obnoxiously impatient. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/30 "2006-08-28T21:31:42Z")
Wow, I’ve been to the Sharp Edge a bunch of times and never had a bad experience there. I think you just really got shafted by one particular server and I think that you should let the management know about it. They usually have good food, good service, and I love the ‘Mystery Brew’. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/31 "2006-08-28T22:10:54Z")
[QUOTE=davenportavenger] I don’t mind saying it on a public messageboard–it was the Sharp Edge in Bloomfield (Pittsburgh). [/QUOTE] [Found their website](http://sharpedgebeer.com/html/full.htm) and the owner is Jeff Walewski. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/32 "2006-08-28T22:42:28Z")
[QUOTE=cruel butterfly] And that crap about the dishwasher was just that: crap. I’ve never worked in any restaurant that didn’t have a few unwashed dishes at the end of the night left for the next morning. [/QUOTE] I have. While I won’t defend the deplorable service experienced by the OP, I will say that I was once a dishwasher at a restaurant (not even a good one, either - it was Shoney’s), where every dish had to be clean before the dishwasher went home. One time, a group of eight people showed up five minutes before closing, and ate their meals at an incredibly leisurely pace. I had to stand around doing nothing for two hours until they were finally finished before I could wash their dishes and go home. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/33 "2006-08-29T19:13:34Z")
[QUOTE=neutron star] I have. While I won’t defend the deplorable service experienced by the OP, I will say that I was once a dishwasher at a restaurant (not even a good one, either - it was Shoney’s), where every dish had to be clean before the dishwasher went home. One time, a group of eight people showed up five minutes before closing, and ate their meals at an incredibly leisurely pace. I had to stand around doing nothing for two hours until they were finally finished before I could wash their dishes and go home. [/QUOTE] I concur. I worked in about 6 different restaurants as a boy growing up in the 90’s as either a busboy or dishwasher and not a single one of them (even the skeeviest ones) would leave even a single dirty dish till the next day. The dishwasher was ALWAYS the lowest paid person, but also the last one out of the facility every night. God I hated that fucking job… ---
**Author:** ![bigcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@bigcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigcheese)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/34 "2006-08-29T20:25:37Z")
[QUOTE=davenportavenger] Fuck you. When we came into the restaurant it felt like we weren’t even wanted there. I thought it was just me being paranoid, but no, everyone else agreed: you didn’t want us there. It didn’t matter that every other time we’ve graced your establishment, we’ve always tipped 20%. You probably took us for a bunch of bad tippers because of our youth and the way we were dressed, so fuck you. When I tried to order food a half hour before closing time, you sneered at me. “We’re closing soon.” Yeah, in thirty fucking minutes! You finally allowed me to order but were none too pleased about it, and it’s not just me, everyone in the group felt your resentment. Listen, I used to be a waitress. We had a closing time but we were supposed to happily serve food right up until then, and not hassle the customer, even if their meal goes for another hour. The food serving ending time and the closing time are separate concepts and I have a hard time believing your manager would want you to give us the bum’s rush right at the time the kitchen closes. Oh, but here’s where it gets interesting: you start taking our food away. The nachos we ordered right after coming in at ten and have been nursing all night–you snatch them out from under us, because “sorry sir, the dishwasher is being loaded.” The fuck? You do not do that to customers, not if you want to stay in business. And you do not roll your eyes when we ask for a take-home container. Again, we all saw you, we know you did it. You also do not overcharge a customer (me) three dollars on a drink I have had multiple times before. I know you are lying about that being the correct price, because it is my third-favorite drink and I order it all the time. And the menu had my price on it too. Just saying. I figured that I had a legitimate concern when you came back with the wrong receipt and I asked if my friend’s debit card would be charged that amount, but from the way your eyes rolled into the back of your head, I suppose you disagreed. You might want to get that checked by the way, it could be a serious medical condition. But oh, the discomfort. You and your waiter cronies stared at us as we finished our drinks at a semi-leisurely pace, even though there were other people in the bar (to be fair, sometimes the view switched from us to them, but everyone agreed we were the main attraction). Did your manager know you were staring at us like the guy from Scanners? We’ll never know, since you wouldn’t get him for us. But I think he would be less than pleased, somehow, that you were making paying, well-tipping customers feel so uncomfortable when we are just trying to finish our drinks. Due to all this, we decide to leave you a Canadian penny as tip, with a list of helpful suggestions (really they were, I didn’t just write “shove it up your ass” though I might have liked to). So right before we leave you get all up in my face (since I was the one who wrote the note, which you know as you were watching me like a hawk) and say “oh, I’ll remember you.” Um, okay, it’s been three years since I have waited tables but from what I remember you do NOT go up to the table to collect the tip before it has been vacated and you do NOT comment on the tip! Especially when you know damn well why you are getting this tip, creepy man who tries to take away our plates and treats us like morons. Oh, and I cannot stress this enough: do not flip off your customers through the window! And yes, you did do it, even though your cronies backed you up and said you couldn’t possibly have done it. WE ALL SAW YOU. Again, we could not get the manager. You all have a sweet little cover-up going on, don’t you? Seriously, I have never stiffed a waiter before. Left ten percent? Sometimes. But you are the first I have left a penny to and I am glad I did it. Of course, I am not so glad that I can’t go back to your place of business because it was a really great bar and I’ve had a lot of great times there. What happened in the space of the last month to make it so awful I’ll never know, since I’m not going back. Fuck you for making it so I can never go to my favorite bar again. I hope your shitty service gets your whole fucking establishment shut down. Maybe then your manager will come out of his office, though I doubt he even knows what kind of an asshole you and your friends are. And because this is the Pit: fucknugget. That is all. [/QUOTE] You are not playing fair. You are basing your opinion of an entire restaurant, wishing a really good bar to close and trashing it on the internet because a douche bag server was acting like an ass. You admit yourself that you did not get to speak to a manager, that you have made no attempt to contact the ownership or upper management and you are still bashing them online. That is a load of crap if ever I heard one. I am service industry myself, and if you claim to be as well at one point in your lifetime, then you should know that the attitudes and opinions of the staff rarely represent the opinions and attitude of management. How in the hell can a problem be solved if the problem is not brought to the attention of someone who can do something about it. And to assume that any person on staff would catch the back of that big of an asshole is dumb. And as someone who is supposedly an ex-waitress then I can assume that you have also been in a few kitchens, and as a chef it offends me on a moral level that you would even begin to assume that something would be done to your food or beverages if you were to return. I have been working in restaurants my entire career and I can say with 100% confidence that I have never had an employee or coworker who did something deliberately to a food or beverage item as a way to get even with a customer. Not to mention- as I am sure you are aware as an ex-waitress, that the kitchen and the FOH staff rarely get along well enough that a cook would ever go out of their way to help a server bus a table least of all sabotage someones food. That is assinine and statements like those that you made are inflamitory and retarded. You are only expressing your own ingnorance in making statements like that and I would love to know at what previous places you worked so I can avoid them like the plague, anyplace that employees people that would behave that way are not places that I would dine at. Bottom line- grow a set and talk to someone at “your favorite bar” and see what can be done about it. I cannot image that your comments would be disregarded and you may be able to work something out. But to write off an entire restaurant because your server was cranky, having a bad day, just broke up with his girlfriend, was tired, stubbed his toe, had cramps or whatever reason he was being a little bitch is stupid. And to trash them online without giving them a chance to defend themselves or correct the situation is immature, stupid and very shortsighted. Sounds to me like you are just too chicken to confront the issue and this passive aggressive bullshit is just to make you feel better. I happen to LOVE that bar, I am there quite often, and it offends me personally to hear this kind of shit, especially when it is an issue that can so easily be resolved by GOING TO THE SOURCE! You think you are the only one who ever had a complaint about this guy? Doubtful, and if it really is “your favorite bar” then I suggest you make some kind of effort to resolve it as opposed to the trash talking internet shit. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/35 "2006-08-29T21:03:15Z")
Hi, **bigcheese** , welcome to the Dope. As a guest, you probably don’t know that it is part of our culture here to not quote the entire OP when addressing it in the thread. It is also part of our culture to insert lots of paragraph breaks so that our posts can be easily read. Yours is very difficult to read. I attempted to plow through it, and as far as I can tell, the gist of what you’re saying is that **davenportavenger** is in the wrong to complain about a restaurant on the internet where the restaurant can’t defend itself. Well, you’d best get used to that if you want to hang out in the Pit. Sometimes we complain about things here instead of real life for a variety of valid reasons, including that we feel like it. You can take his internet complaining personally if you like, but that probably won’t be very good for your blood pressure. As for your first paragraph - sorry. I can’t figure out what your point is at all. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/36 "2006-08-29T21:26:54Z")
Seriously, email the manager and ask if you can set up a time to meet at the restaurant. I’d try to do it in the evening on the same day of the week as your last visit. That way, you can point the server out and say, “Yeah, that’s the douchebag right there, and this is what he did…” If it’s one of your favorite hangouts, I say fight for it. As **bigcheese** \* noted, no chef is going to mess with your food. And the solidarity of the waitstaff is rarely so strong that they’ll risk their jobs and tips in order to put a booger in your brau. They probably don’t even like each other that much. If you really want to set things right, as opposed to just bitching, **Lute Skywatcher** has located the manager for you. - welcome to the Dope, bigcheese. Not a bad first post, not bad at all. It was even a good _Pit Post_. Hope you stick around. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/37 "2006-08-29T21:41:37Z")
Oh, leave him the hell alone, **Lou**. **bigcheese** has as much right to pit **DavenportAvenger** for a mispitted pitting as DA had for mispitting the pitting in the first place. As for technical marks, yeah, paragraph breaks would have been a nice consideration, but the finesse of quoting is only developed with time and practice. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/38 "2006-08-29T23:20:11Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] A quick Google indicates that it’s not part of a chain. [/QUOTE] I believe it is. I googled “sharp edge Bloomfield Pittsburgh” and got [this](http://www.pubcrawler.com/Template/dsp_restaurant_zoom.cfm/flat/ID=331361) BTW, I used the contact page and sent a link to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/39 "2006-08-29T23:23:08Z")
[QUOTE=bigcheese] You are basing your opinion of an entire restaurant, wishing a really good bar to close and trashing it on the internet because a douche bag server was acting like an ass. [/QUOTE] I am surprised at the number of people who will drive miles out of their way to go to another store, **of the same chain**. because of one employee. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538/40 "2006-08-29T23:55:39Z")
[QUOTE=Lord Ashtar] I hope she had to pay for that meal out of her paycheck. Served her right. [/QUOTE] While I agree the waitress was way out of line, and you were completely in the right, by law, servers cannot be compelled to pay for stolen items or walk-outs. I’d rather she got her ass canned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-waiter-i-stiffed-the-other-night/370538.md?page=3)