Monday, April 18, 2011

Saw that one coming.

We have flavored teas at my restaurant; they're all the rage now, after all. We have two types of raspberry tea: the pre-mixed kind that comes out of the soda fountain, or fresh brewed tea mixed with a syrup. The second kind costs about twenty cents more, but I get a sales point for it (and they're still all up our asses about that). So I always give people the option, knowing most people will choose the freshly brewed tea.

So when the father at my table of four asked for raspberry tea, I gave him the two options. He stared at me for the moment, then told me as if I were stupid, “whichever costs less.”

His children ordered steaks, and they had some salads. As soon I finished ringing up their sixty dollar order, I knew he wasn't going to be happy with the total, and that I would suffer for his family's extravagance. My only bad tip of the night: $5 on $61. Screw you, cheapass. If you can't afford to take your whole family out for dinner, then DON'T.

6 comments:

Jeni said...

screw them! i had that yesterday too! I had ONE man by himself order an app and some to go's ( he got the to go from the to go person so not affecting my check) his check was 11$ he gave me 10$ tip. Table next to him, family of four, the mom talked to me the whole time, they ordered a TON of different apps ( our place is a little pricey) talked about my kids..blah blah blah...left me 45 on $60. NOTHING wrong with food or servive. if you cant afford to go out, dont.

Jeni said...

not 45...$5. stupid typo

Kasey Breuier said...

Same thing happened to me yesterday too! A table (not in my section) complained to the GM about her server, saying he was horrible, blah blah blah and lucky me, I got the table transferred over to me. Well, in short, I was awesome (they even told me) and they left me...$2.75 on an originally $60 tab (they had our 10% off card and because they complained, got about an additional $20 off their tab). I nearly cried because damn it, I was basically *punished* because they didn't like their original server and I happened to be the next closest server. Needless to say after I said something to GM about them, he bought me dinner.

It's one thing if I get them by chance, it's another when I inherit them...and the other server gets one of my tables to "even it out."

I'll be so happy when I'm out of this industry.

SkippyMom said...

I know it is so hard, but the minute he said "Whichever is cheapest" it would take every fiber of my being to give them any service.

Sorry about that.

Managed Hosting said...

If I were you, at that point I would picked the more expensive one. I remember waitressing in college, and having to deal with that all the time. It's frustrating, but what can you do? But agreed- don't go out if you can't afford it, or just don't want to.

ServingUpAnAttitude said...

The thing that really annoys me about these people is that it costs so little in a tip amount to go from total asshole to decent human being. Seriously, an adequate tip would only have been 7bucks more. Hardly breaking the bank for someone who just gobbled up 61 bucks worth of food and burned who knows how much getting to and from the restaurant. It's not about not being able to afford to pay for the service. Its about being a selectively cheap asshat. And, one day, when I quit my waiting job and am on my very last shift, I will happily explain that to some schmuck, complete with all the expletives.