Unfiltered Story #96661

*The restaurant I work at often gets really busy, unfortunately we didn’t have any bussing staff working this day. Most of the restaurant was fairly full and each of us servers were behind on cleaning tables, though there were still a few clean tables in the restaurant. As I was cleaning one table my manager comes over to tell me to clean a specific table in my section because a family specified they only wanted that one. I get the table cleared off and the family immediately sits down, I greet them and this is what ensues…*

Me: Alright, I see that the kids already have bottled pops from the front, but can I start you off with anything else to drink?

Mother: Obviously not! We were waiting so long at the front for this table my kids had to get drinks from the cooler. Just give us a few minutes with the menus!

Me: Alright ma’am I’m sorry you had to wait so long.

* I give them some time while helping other tables. as I’m taking dessert orders for one table the mother and father start waving their arms and calling for me. I finish taking the order and return to the family’s table.*

Mother: God you guys are slow! We’re ready to order, I know you saw us waving at you, you should have come over immediately!

Me: I came over as soon as I was finished with the other table ma’am. What can I get for you today?

*The mother proceeds to order for the father, herself and her son, then follows with…*

Mother: And my daughter wants your kids pancake meal with the bacon, but she doesn’t like pancakes so instead of 6 pancakes and 1 bacon can she get 1 pancake and substitute 5 extra bacon?

Me: Well, I won’t be able to substitute 1 bacon for each pancake, because bacon is a lot more expensive than the pancake batter. I can probably give about 2 extra bacon strips free. Then if you want more I could put in a side order. *technically speaking we’re only supposed to substitute meat products for other meat products so I shouldn’t have even offered that but I was trying to avoid getting them any more upset.

Mother: Well, how’s my daughter supposed to get a full meal out of that?

Me: I’m sorry ma’am that’s the best I can do. If you want more you’ll have to order a side.

Mother: Well fine, but my daughter is going to leave hungry because of you!

*I walk away to put in their order. A few minutes later I return bringing syrup to the table when I see the mother is changing her toddler’s diaper on the table.*

Me: Um… ma’am, I have to ask you to please change your child’s diaper in the washroom at the change station.

Mother: He’s my child I’ll do what I want.

Me: Ma’am it’s a health and sanitation thing. We can’t allow customers to change diapers at the tables, it’s restaurant policy.

Mother: Well, that’s too bad, I’m almost done anyway. Why don’t you do your job instead of harassing me and get us our drinks? Or did you think we were going to drink our kid’s pops? We’ve been waiting for you to bring us some coffee.

Me: Umm, alright I’ll be back with some coffee but just so you know next time you really need to take your child to the bathroom to change his diaper.

*The customer has continued to change the diaper as we’ve been talking and now is finishing up, I go to my manager and tell him about it but he says there’s nothing he can do as she’s already finished.I bring their coffees and, after a little while I come back out with their food. I don’t see the diaper anywhere so I assume they’ve thrown it away. As I finish placing the dishes on the table the father get’s out of his seat and begins walking towards where we keep the highchairs. I’s important to note that where they requested to sit is part of a narrow walkway between booths and due to fire regulations we aren’t allowed to have highchairs at the booths.*

Me: I’m sorry sir but we can’t allow highchairs at your table. If you need a highchair I need to move you to a different table.

Father: But my toddler needs a highchair!

Me: I’m sorry, I can switch you to another table if you’d like. One where you could have the highchair.

Father: No, we want that table, it’s fine, we don’t need it.

*He puts the highchair back and I go back to serving m other tables. A little later, from the corner of my eye, I see the father grabbing a highchair and wheeling it to the table. By the time I back to the table they already have their toddler inside*

Me: I’m sorry, but as I’ve already explained, we can’t allow highchairs in this section of the restaurant. I’s a fire hazard. If there were a fire your child could get trampled by people in a panic. (this is the reason we were told to give costumers. Most accept it and end up switching tables)

Mother: He needs a highchair! I don’t care what your policy is, he’s my child and he’ll sit wherever I want him to. You can’t tell me he can’t sit in a highchair. It’s not like I’m going to hold him the entire meal.
Me: I understand that ma’am, and if you want I can seat you at a different open table where you can have a highchair. It’s just not safe to have a highchair in this location.

Mother: Well, I don’t care. God! you are just horrible at your job, all you do is harass us about stupid things! Anyway, your manager… the one who sat us, told us we could have the highchair here if we wanted.

*At this point I give up and go talk to my manager. He tells me that when they requested the table he specifically told them they could not have one if they sat there. He goes to talk to them and they continue to complain about how horrible I am at my job. They keep insisting the highchair has nothing to do with fire regulations and their child will only be in there a maximum of 15 minutes while they eat. Eventually my manager gave up and allowed them to keep the child there while the child was eating. The family stayed for over an hour, with the child remaining there. At the end of course there was no tip, and as I was cleaning the table I found the dirty diaper in the center of the table with poop smeared all around it.*