Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Douchebaggery at the host stand.


Twice in the last week we've had customers who were just plain obnoxious from the moment they walked in the door.

The first happened during a lunch shift, when one of the hosts didn't show up. That left Dumb, who's a very sweet girl but doesn't always pay attention, on her own. Unpredictably, the place filled up and went on a wait on a day when we had minimal staff coverage--it was only a Tuesday lunch! Everything just went downhill--long ticket times, screwed up orders, huge waits for tables, etc. People were impatient and rude waiting for tables, servers were pissed about when they were getting sat, and Dumb was just about at breaking point. S had called the next person on the list, had two menus in her hand, and was peering around trying to see which table was open (she knew one was, because somebody had hollered at her). A middle-aged couple comes in the door, and the man walks right up to her--no pause--and pushes past the people she was trying to seat.

"Well, are you going to put our name on the list or just stand there all day!" he snarls at the poor girl. She patiently told him she'd be right back after she sat this couple, at which point he turned to his wife and said "She just doesn't know what she's doing at all, does she!" Keep in mind this girl is about four foot five and 90 pounds, she looks like she's twelve, and this big grizzly old jackass is talking to his wife as if our hostess was a dog or something who couldn't understand him.

Well, she just burst in to tears. Someone saw and came and helped her, but she had to go to the bathroom for a few minutes to calm down. And our manager at this point? Oh, GM was in the office, having a text message fight with her boyfriend and crying. Awesome.

Not two days later, in the middle of a surprisingly hectic Thursday dinner rush a table of two had someone join them. They asked to move across the aisle to the booth that had just opened up, so naturally we accommodated them.

A few minutes later, Pennsyltucky used the walkies to summon GM to the front, where she was thoroughly bitched out by some high-strung middle-aged woman.

"Those people are at our table!" she screeched, gesturing at the guests who had moved. "We've been waiting and they just moved and took it!" The entire lobby was packed at this time, and GM tried to politely explain to this nutcase why the other guests were sitting at the booth. "But he said it was ours! He said we could have it!" The woman pointed at Pennsyltucky. "He promised!"

This woman just could not understand that they weren't even at the top of the wait list--and that people already sitting had priority. She just kept going on and on about how it was "their" table, and how "he promised" and that they were going to leave. GM told her she could either wait for another booth or leave, but the guests already seated took priority.

After bitching and making a scene some more, the woman finally dragged her husband out the door. Naturally, she was threatening to call "the manager" the next day--GM hoped she would, since, you know, she is the manager. I'm just glad the woman left, I'm sure she'd've been a horror to wait on!
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    7 comments:

    CommonWaitress said...

    WTF is with people? It sounds like you need to carry around a stun-gun in your pocket. Your restaurant is crazy!

    That would be nice though, right? Someone pisses you off and you just stun them for a while.

    Anonymous said...

    The GM acted right in this case, but don't think that it can end there. Just because she is the manager doesn't mean she still can't complain even if there wasn't an issue at all. I myself have called the corporate office of a hotel to complain about the General Manager and she received a good trashing.

    SkippyMom said...

    Anon - the woman threatened to call the restaurant back the next day to complain to the manager not realizing GM WAS the manager. So I sure purplegirl and her coworkers would get a good chuckle out of a complaint made to the person the woman was bitchin' out the night before.

    And even if the looney woman get a manager higher up the GM was hired to her position for a reason and I bet immune to any complaint this particular is going to make.

    Although I have to say P/Girl - totally unprofessional of GM to be on the phone hashing out her relationship while working. Hate that.

    Your restaurant is crazy, but I have to say [again] I love reading about it.

    purplegirl said...

    CommonWaitress, I'd love to taser some people--like the woman who smacked me on the arm instead of speaking to get my attention!

    Anonymous, you're right; but after ten years, I doubt our regional manager would pay it any attention, just as SkippyMom says.

    SkippyMom, I'm glad you enjoy reading it. It's actually the tamest of the restaurants I've worked at! :)

    ♥ Caz said...

    Oh wow...
    That was one hectic week.
    I feel the pain.

    I agree with SkippyMom, unprofessional of GM to be having relationship problems on the phone.

    Poor S, I hope that she will fight back after that. After all you can only learn from it and come out tougher! :)

    Mary Sheehan Winn said...

    The place is a loony bin. Amen.
    BUT GM?
    In the office text fighting with her boyfriend and CRYING??
    There's the problem. She's unfit to manage.

    purplegirl said...

    Yeah, she has a real problem keeping her personal life out of the workplace! And she's always lecturing US about not bringing our problems to work!