Have No Reservations About Stealing Reservations

(I am working as a host in an upscale restaurant on a busy Friday night. As we have a large number of reservations – including one reservation for 12 people – we are currently not accepting any walk-in customers. Four men approach me.)

Me: “Good evening! Welcome to [Restaurant]. How can I help you?”

Guy #1: “Yeah, Hi. Erm, there’s 15 of us meeting here, so…”

Me: *cringing* “Do you happen to have a reservation?”

Guy #2: “Maybe under [Name]? Probably not, though.”

Me: *checking the system* “Unfortunately, I have no reservation for that name and, as we are pretty busy tonight, I can’t accept any more walk-in customers until at least [two hours later]. I am so sorry!”

Guy #1: “Oh… erm, well, we weren’t the ones organizing this so when the rest arrive we will ask if they made a reservation.”

Me: “Okay, no problem, but I don’t see a reservation for that amount of people in the system… The largest I have is for 12 people.”

Guy #2: “Okay, cool. Let us get back to you on it!”

(The rest of the group arrives around five minutes later and a lady approaches me. She stands behind me as she talks to me, facing the computer which is not completely unusual to do.)

Lady: “Hi. I have a reservation for 12 people but I have 15 here now. We want to be seated now.”

Me: *panicking because the restaurant is nearly at full capacity* “Oh… sure, what was the name on the reservation?”

Lady: “It’s on the screen behind you! [Name]!”

Me: “Perfect! Just give me a minute to set your table up.”

(I sit them down and just about manage to grab another table for the extra people that had arrived. The group has been nothing but rude and dismissive of me the entire time. Ten minutes later another lady approaches the host stand.)

Me: “Good evening and welcome to [Restaurant]!”

Lady #2: “Good evening! I have a reservation for 12 people under the name [Name]. We are ten minutes late and only 10 have made it! Sorry about the inconvenience.”

Me: *gesturing* “Oh! I believe I already sat your group just over there.”

Lady #2: “Um… I don’t think so. I don’t know anyone at that table.”

Me: *paling* “Oh… If you could just give me one moment, I will arrange a table for you.”

Lady #2: *shows me emailed confirmation of reservation and laughing* “Did that table steal our reservation?”

Me: “It appears that a mistake was made. However, it’s no problem as I can seat you also!”

(It turned out the first group did in fact steal the reservation as the server overheard them bragging about their ingenuity. Thankfully, the second group found the whole situation funny and I was able to seat them anyway, even with a busy restaurant!)