Behaving Like A Child

I work in a small restaurant that has meal deals for seniors and children. Seniors can get $15 meals, and children get $10 meals, when they can present a seniors card or have a child under ten with them. We’re meant to be pretty strict on this, but when we’re really slammed most of the waitresses tend to just let orders through to save time on arguments. Tonight is one such busy night and I have a line at the register that stretches halfway through the restaurant.

A woman in her mid-forties comes up and orders a bowl of kids’ chicken nuggets. It’s not uncommon for parents to order the kids’ food first and their own meals later on, and the restaurant is crawling with families tonight, so I don’t overthink the fact that she doesn’t actively have a child standing next to her.

The transaction goes smoothly; she’s very friendly and cheerful. About twenty minutes later, I’m walking through the restaurant when someone grabs my arm from behind and yanks me backward. It’s the woman from earlier, sitting alone at a table with a kids’ meal in front of her.

Customer: “Look at this! This is the smallest f****** meal I’ve ever seen in my life! What do you call this?”

I remove my arm from her claw.

Me: “Um, a kids’ meal, ma’am.”

Customer: “Do I look like a child to you?”

Me: “No, ma’am, but you did order a kids’ meal, so that’s what they brought you.”

Customer: “Well, when I ordered, I asked the girl on the till if it was large enough for an adult and she said it was!”

Me: “Actually, I was the one who took your order and that didn’t happen. We have a pretty strict policy to not serve kids’ meals to anyone over ten so I wouldn’t have said that.”

Customer: “How f****** dare you?! Are you calling me a liar?”

Me: “No, ma’am, but as I said, I’m the one who served you and I would never recommend a kids’ meal for an adult. In fact, if I’d known it was for you and not a child, I wouldn’t have been allowed to sell it to you.”

Customer: “Well, listen here, you little twit. I’ve been at work all day, I left home at 6:00 am, and I haven’t eaten all day. And I’ve been looking forward to coming out for a nice dinner all day. And now I sit down in this s****y little pub and you try to serve me this bulls***?”

I am surrounded by tables that need clearing with zero time to listen to this woman complain about getting exactly what she ordered.

Me: “Let me get this straight. You’ve had a super long day, worked all day, and haven’t had the chance to eat?”

Customer: “Yes!”

Me: “I totally get it. Been there. So, you come out to a restaurant for dinner with the plan to basically have a whole day’s worth of food now?”

Customer: “Exactly!”

Me: “And you’re ravenously hungry?”

Customer: “Yes!”

Me: “So you… ordered a kids’ meal?”

She immediately started screaming obscenities at me, the chefs, and the concept of a kids’ meal in general, insisting that we shouldn’t even serve dishes this small, etc.

Eventually, management came over and she got a free meal out of her tantrum. Naturally, she ordered the most expensive dish on the menu, and after essentially licking the plate clean, she complained about that, too.