“I Don’t Even Know Who You Are”

I’m prepping the bar before the restaurant I work in opens. The phone starts ringing.

Me: “Thank you for calling [Restaurant]. This is [My Name]; how can I help you?”

Woman: “I’d like to make a reservation for four people at 5:00 pm.”

It’s a Saturday and we’re ALWAYS booked for Saturdays by Thursday.

Me: “Unfortunately, we’re booked tonight; any reservation would have to be after 8:30 tonight.”

Woman: “Are you serious?”

I’ve never had anyone respond like that on the phone before and I don’t know what to say for a minute while I’m trying to process her tone.

Me: “I’m sorry, but we’re booked at that time—“

Woman: *Hisses* “Are you seriously saying no to me?”

Now I think she’s messing with me and I offer a chuckle before repeating that we’re booked.

Woman: “I just can’t believe you’re saying no to me. You tell everyone in that restaurant who you’re saying no to.”

I’m too stunned to say anything helpful, so I just say, “Okay,” and hang up. I turn to my manager and ask, “What the f***?” We have a pretty good relationship, so he just laughs, not knowing what happened over the phone.

Me: “Some lady just called asking for a reservation, I told her we can’t do it, and she asked if I was seriously saying no to her.”

Manager: “Who was it?”

Me: “I didn’t recognize the name on the caller ID.”

Then, the phone rings again.

Me: “You answer it, in case it’s that lady again.”

It was. When my manager answered, she tried to tell him it was her birthday, a detail she did not try with me. Regardless of whether it really was her birthday, we still couldn’t have fit her party in on such short notice. My manager said we couldn’t make the reservation, and she went off with the “I can’t believe you’re saying no to me” bulls*** again and hung up.

We took the name and number from the caller ID and put it into the reservation system to see if she’d been in before, and we even called my boss (the owner) to see if he knew her. Nope. Nothing. We still don’t know who she was, but we still laugh about it.