Coworkers (Up) In Arms

(I am a day hostess and work during the weekdays. My family and I go to the restaurant where I work at for dinner one weekend. There’s a new server there.)

Me: “Hi! My name is [name], we haven’t met but I’m the day hostess. I don’t believe we’ve met yet. Could you please apply the staff discount to my bill? If you need confirmation of my employment here, you can go to the [manager] or [assistant manager].”

New Server: “That won’t be necessary. I’ve never seen you before.”

Me: “That’s because we never see each other. You know what? I’ll just go pop into the back and say hi to them both to let them know I’m here.”

(I start walking to the kitchen when the new server grabs me by the arm and pulls me away.)

Me: “Excuse me, but you cannot touch me.”

New Server: “And you can’t go into the back!”

(The manager hears her and comes out.)

New Server: *to the manager* “She claims she works here, but I’ve never seen her! She just wants discounted food because her family can’t afford to pay full price!”

Manager: “First of all, yes, she DOES work here, as the day hostess. Secondly, you absolutely cannot talk about customers that way! Go do your job. I better not hear another thing about you tonight.” *to me* “Have a good night, [name]. See you tomorrow!”

(After we finish eating, we receive the bill, but discover the new server has not applied the discount.)

Me: “Excuse me, [name]. You didn’t add the discount. [Manager] even confirmed I work here, and you still didn’t do it. I don’t want to be rude, but if you don’t fix this, I’m going to have to go to him to fix it. ”

New Server: “It’s not my fault you can’t afford to feed yourselves! The food here is decently priced, and if you want to scam the company of their money, fine! But that won’t happen on my watch!”

(Thankfully, another customer who has heard everything from the start grabs the manager. The new server was fired on the spot, and the manager gave my family our dinner on the house.)