# Restaurant Servers Who Think They Are Comedians **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163 "2018-01-08T21:18:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/21 "2018-01-09T01:14:27Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > X 2 Obscure Chevy Chase joke from an under-appreciated couple of movies. You had to be there, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/22 "2018-01-09T01:26:07Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I appreciate a server with a sense of humor. When we asked to charge our party’s meals to our room on Christmas Eve, the waiter’s response was “Charged to the Underhill account?” > > The women didn’t get it, but the men cracked up. That comment alone boosted his tip 10%. Kinda curious how only the men got the ‘Underhill’ reference. (never saw “Fletch”) My only issue is with waiters who are [louche and incompetent.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVJDxrW3FDE) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/23 "2018-01-09T01:33:41Z")
I think “Fletch” and Chevy Chase in general appeals to men more than women. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/24 "2018-01-09T03:56:48Z")
Issue #109, page 14. > **[MAD comic | Read MAD comic online in high quality](https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/MAD)** > > Read MAD comic online free and high quality. Fast loading speed, unique reading type: All pages - just need to scroll to read next page You’ll either have to rotate the page or tip your laptop on its side. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/25 "2018-01-09T05:14:55Z")
The OP’s server must have watched [this training video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBAVOutwJhY) (Warning: weapons-grade cringe. I’m talking hydrogen bomb, radioactive fallout, world-ending level.) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/26 "2018-01-09T06:12:04Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > The OP’s server must have watched [this training video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBAVOutwJhY) > > (Warning: weapons-grade cringe. I’m talking hydrogen bomb, radioactive fallout, world-ending level.) Oh, thank you. That guy tops my Inadvertently Hilarious list for the week. By the way, any servers who’ve had Comedian Customers? People like my dad, who assumed all waitstaff would love his stupid “dad joke” puns, or such gems as “I’ll have a Manhattan and my mother will have a Martini.”… referring to his wife. Har, har! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/27 "2018-01-09T06:32:13Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I think “Fletch” and Chevy Chase in general appeals to men more than women. YMMV. I confess, I had to look it up (as I didn’t read far enough in the thread), and I’ve seen “Fletch.” ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/28 "2018-01-09T06:36:50Z")
What if the service itself is funny? We had a waiter in one place bring out the creme brûlée and finish it in front of us with what looked like a shop torch. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/29 "2018-01-09T07:17:40Z")
I’ve literally had multiple different servers in my life ask me “Well what’s the password then?” after I asked for a refill. It caught me off-guard enough to make me feel weird which is something I definitely don’t like when I’m enjoying a meal. It’s the almost the same thing when random people ask you to smile when you aren’t, it’s a “harmless” comment that annoys you in a weirdly deep way. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/30 "2018-01-09T08:17:32Z")
I want the people serving me to be competent and unobtrusive. Take my order, bring my food, and be around ready to help me and inform me when I ask. I treat them as equals but I certainly don’t want them trying to entertain me, I’m not out for a meal with them. If I absolutely am obliged to pay some sort of optional service charge (a contradiction in itself but there you go) then a “comedian” server is going to get less not more and if they annoy me too much then they’ll get nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/31 "2018-01-09T10:01:45Z")
> [@golffan1963](#): > > …to which I replied “That’s enough of that, sir!” Sorry, but that was unnecessary. For reference, see post #3. ---
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/32 "2018-01-09T11:05:20Z")
There’s two sides to this coin. Nothing more annoying being close to the end of your shift and a customer just have to crack a joke, usually at your expense. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/33 "2018-01-09T13:33:58Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > At a fast food joint I frequent, there is a legit funny counter person. I’m leaving for St Martin Friday. There is a beach attendant (Friar’s Bay) I met and became friends with on my first visit. He brings you drinks from the beach bar, rakes the sand, adjusts umbrellas, singing the entire time. And he is a _great_ singer. On our first meeting I told him how great his voice was, and how he could probably sing professionally. The next time we were on his beach he gave me two of his CDs. He’s actually pretty well known in the Caribbean, has significant money, and works on the beach to keep busy. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/34 "2018-01-09T13:41:31Z")
> [@golffan1963](#): > > … > “That’s enough of that, sir!” > > … And thereafter, the cook and the waiter spit in your food. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/35 "2018-01-09T13:41:57Z")
Normally I don’t care, but one time I had to complain to a manager about a server. We were in a family friendly restaurant, and as usual I told the server my 9 year old at the time daughter has a nut allergy. He responded “So extra peanuts for her then!” No, joking to a child about putting her into anaphylaxis is never funny. She got upset, and refused to eat anything. He tried to explain it away as a joke, but I found the manager and explained what happened. He assigned a different server to our table & thankfully explained to my daughter that the “comedian” wouldn’t be anywhere near her food. He comped her meal as well. I have no idea what happened to the server - the manager asked if I wanted him to apologize, I told him it would be best if we didn’t have to deal with him again. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/36 "2018-01-09T13:47:23Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > When I was a waiter in high school and college, the better the jokes, the better the tips. How long were you on food stamps? ---
**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:** [January 9, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/37 "2018-01-09T14:06:06Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I want the people serving me to be competent and unobtrusive. Take my order, bring my food, and be around ready to help me and inform me when I ask. > I treat them as equals but I certainly don’t want them trying to entertain me, I’m not out for a meal with them. Yes. Though I’d accept the occasional lame joke as an alternative to stopping by multiple times during the meal to ask how the food _tastes_. “Too much goddamn paprika.” In the realm of attempted entertainment, I have a loathing for something probably no one here experiences - the “entertaining” hospital transporter who announces the arrival of specimens for pathology frozen sections in song or singsong. ♫ ♪ **“FROZEN!!!”** ♬ ♭ Bite me. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/38 "2018-01-09T14:10:50Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > For what it’s worth, if I were eating with you, I’d be more annoyed at your snippiness with the server than any of the comments from them that you shared. Really, so a server cracking a joke about a disability, and then calling the OP out for not laughing at the joke that they didn’t find funny is fine with you? Because that’s the last situation described in the OP. Joking about disabilities in general is pretty hit or miss, you’re probably going to irritate someone who struggles with the disability or has a relative/friend who does if you keep doing it. That’s not too bad of a risk, but trying to force someone to fake-laugh at your joke by threatening not to do the job they’re paying you to do is harassing, pushy behavior, and if I encountered a waiter treating me that badly I’d be complaining to management. I don’t go to restaurants for wait staff to engage in petty bullying or to tell me what I have to laugh at, and since I’ve never had this experience in my life I’m pretty sure most restaurants understand that patrons are allowed their own emotional response. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/39 "2018-01-09T14:28:13Z")
Yeah, cuz I’m not an idiot and when someone makes a bad joke, I don’t generally rub their face in it. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163/40 "2018-01-09T15:24:50Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I’ve literally had multiple different servers in my life ask me “Well what’s the password then?” after I asked for a refill. “No tip.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-servers-who-think-they-are-comedians/806163.md?page=3)