I’m working in a restaurant as a waiter. A family of three is sitting at a table, ordering mainly fried foods. The mother gets herself our fried camembert with salad. Our camembert is a higher quality one which is breaded by hand two times to ensure that it won’t leak during frying.

A few minutes after receiving their food, the woman waves me over to their table.

Woman: “Everything is perfect, except I would like to complain about my camembert.”

Me: “Apologies, madam. What is the problem with the camembert?”

Woman: “It tastes really good, but as soon as I cut into it, all the cheese just flowed out onto my plate. This is unacceptable.”

I just stand there for a few seconds staring at her and her plate back and forth, thinking that she might be joking, but she is dead serious. I apologise again and, without touching the plate, I tell my manager. He goes to the table.

Manager: “I’ve heard that you had a complaint regarding one of the dishes. Could you explain it to me, please?”

Woman: “Yes, as soon as cut into my camembert, it just flowed out onto my plate. and this is not how it supposed to be.”

Manager: “Well, our camembert is freshly made to order with high-quality ingredients, and it is normal for melted cheese to do that if you cut into it.”

Woman: “Well, the ones I buy and fry at home from [Grocery Store] do not do that if I cut into it!”

My manager just apologises to her and asks if she would like to have another one on us. She says no and then cleans her plate without any further complaints. Later, when I have a chance to speak to my manager:

Me: “You know, the reason her cheese from the store isn’t like the one she had here is that it’s not cheese.”

Manager: “I know, but if I had told her, she probably would have started screaming at us because she knows better and I would have needed to comp their food. If you notice that your complaining customer has a lower IQ than you and your colleagues altogether, you should just shut your mouth, apologise, and go away so you don’t get into any trouble.”

I work in a coffee shop on the till. I can hear a commotion behind me, so I turn around.

A lady bought a bunch of food and was planning on paying with her gift card she got but my coworker swiped it and it said that it was inactive. 

Customer: “I got it as a gift a few days ago; I even have the receipt.”

She shows us the receipt and it’s the debit card receipt for something completely different. She starts freaking out. We’re all being super nice trying to figure it out but she isn’t having it. 

My supervisor comes along to try and diffuse the situation, and she says to call the number on the back of the gift card. 

This doesn’t fly with her, so she throws it at my supervisor.

Supervisor: “I’m trying to help you; I’m being as nice as I can.”

Customer: “SO AM I!”

She tossed 20$ at my supervisor, who was being super nice to her and trying to get her stuff together. The customer was still shouting and being rude as she took her food and stormed out.

I work in a Chinese restaurant. I’m twenty-one, but many say I only look about sixteen. A lady comes in and sits at a table right by the door.

Customer: “I’ll have the teriyaki chicken, please.”

Me: “I’m sorry, we don’t have teriyaki chicken.”

Customer: “Ugh, fine, I’ll have the butter chicken.”

Me: “Again, I’m sorry, but we don’t have butter chicken.”

Customer: *Yelling* “This is ridiculous! You are a bloody Asian restaurant! You’re telling me that you don’t have Asian food?!”

Me: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but—”

Customer: “No, I’ve had enough of your d*** apologies! I want teriyaki chicken and I’m not leaving until you get me it. Now stop being some lazy-a** teenager and go and do your job!”

Me: “Ma’am, I’m not a teenager, and secondly, this is a Chinese restaurant, so if you don’t want anything off the menu, I suggest you leave.”

I walked away, hoping she’d either shut up or just leave. The lady sat there for the next twenty minutes complaining to any customers walking in that we were absolutely awful. Eventually, she gave up and left, trying to slam the door on her way out but failing because our hinges prevented it, and ended up falling on her backside.

Related:
Don’t You Speak Asian?, Part 2
Don’t You Speak Asian?

Customer: “I’ll have the sweet and sour pork.”

Me: “Would you like that as a lunch special or a main meal?”

Customer: “I’ll have a main meal. I don’t eat rice.”

Me: “That’ll be $16.50, then.”

Customer: “No, shouldn’t it be $8?”

Me: “Sorry, no, the $9.90 price is only for the lunch specials, and for the lunch special, you have to get it with rice or noodles.”

Customer: “Well, I don’t eat rice or noodles, so what are you going to do about it?”

Me: “I’m sorry?”

Customer: “I said, ‘What are you going to do about it?’!”

Me: “I’ve presented you with your options; it’s your choice.”

Customer: “I want the sweet and sour pork, but I refuse to pay $16.50 for it. So, what are you going to do about it?”

Me: “Like I said, I’ve given you your options; other than that, I’m not going to do anything.”

Customer: *Very whiny tone* “But your prices are ridiculous! I only want to pay $8! Besides, your food isn’t even that good! I should be entitled to pay only $8!”

Me: “Miss, either you pay the full amount or you leave; those are your options.”

She did give up and leave once she realised I wasn’t budging.

My friend, her eleven-year-old daughter, and I go to a local village today for their Scarecrow Festival, a tradition that we’ve been enjoying for about seven years. Before getting started, we go to one of the restaurants for lunch.We didn’t go last year due to the weather.

We arrive a little after 11:00 and are seated right away. The waitress brings our menus and takes our drink orders. When she returns:

Me: “I’ll take chicken salad on a croissant with American cheese and mayo on the side, please.”

Friend: “I’d like roast beef with horseradish sauce and a bowl of French onion soup.”

Daughter: “I’d like a house salad with ranch dressing and chicken fingers.”

The waitress leaves and comes back a few minutes later.

Waitress: “Where did you see roast beef?”

Friend: “On the menu.”

It turns out that they have new menus they started today, and the one my friend ordered from was the old menu. [Friend] changes her order to a crab cake sandwich. No problem.

The food comes out and my friend’s daughter tries her salad.

Daughter: “This isn’t ranch dressing.”

[Friend] and I try it and we both agree politely that it’s not, and we request the correct dressing. When the waitress brings out new dressing, she has an attitude.

Waitress: “Try this one.”

The ranch is right this time. I politely remind her about my mayonnaise, which she has forgotten.

For the next forty minutes, our waitress ignores us. She doesn’t check to see if everything is okay and doesn’t see if we would like refills. I never get my mayonnaise. She serves the tables around us since it’s gotten busier now. But she walks right by us and looks right at us but ignores us. We’re finished eating but she doesn’t even come back to take our dirty plates. My friend and I are both getting pissed, but she’s keeping it together because her daughter is with us.

Finally, after we’ve been there an hour, the waitress FINALLY comes back to our table and asks if we’d like anything else. We say no and that we just want the check, and she leaves. Five minutes later:

Waitress: “Hey, I just wanted to double-check. You didn’t need anything else, right?”

Us: “No.”

Ten minutes after she first asked us, she brought our check out, and then we had to wait another five minutes or so before she took the card to run it and then finally came back with the receipt. She got a $2.99 tip on a $60+ check.

We didn’t blame her for the first two things; they were out of her control. But the attitude and the fact that she ignored us for most of our lunch is inexcusable.