It’s Not A Party For The Servers

I work at a popular steakhouse chain that does not have a room for large parties. We have two party sections in my restaurant, and each party section has a couple of four-tops and two-tops and two big tables that can accommodate around sixteen people, maybe seventeen if they squeeze in tight.

We had a party of thirty-five walk in today. They were upset that we couldn’t seat them immediately, so instead of telling them to wait for a party section to open up — which would split the party between two or three servers — my managers sat them at six tables around the restaurant with five different servers taking care of them. That would have been fine on its own, but this party wanted to be on the same ticket. They were rude and really loud, and they kept adding more people throughout their meal. I think they made it up to like forty people.

The best part: they left ten dollars as a tip on a check that was over $600. The tipshare (pooled tips) for that bill was definitely more than $10, so the servers basically got stiffed.

I wish I was making this up. People suck.