I go out to breakfast at a mom-and-pop diner and have a delicious meal. I worked in the serving industry for three years and still work in customer service. I can’t stand my meal being interrupted by some jerk being dramatic in public.

It is a really slow morning, and I feel bad for the waitstaff. I am one of two parties seated. Another couple comes in, and they’re seated for four or five minutes. The servers are chatting; as I said, there is almost no one there at the moment.

The new table decides it’s time to order, and the guy speaks up a little bit.

Customer: “Uh, can y’all stop talking and take our order?”

Server: *Immediately* “Oh, I’m sorry!”

She runs over to the table. Instead of giving her his order and moving on, the guy starts berating her for being unprofessional, decides she rolled her eyes at him, and gets up while slamming his chair and stuff.

Customer: “This is the worst service I’ve ever received! I’m leaving! How dare you roll your eyes at a customer?!”

He’s making his way to the door repeating insults and, of course, a party of five comes in, and this irked party of two is being loud as they bump into the party of five.

Customer: “Don’t even walk into this h***hole. You don’t want their food or to talk to these tr—”

I can’t deal with it anymore.

Me: “Sir, that’s enough. You said you were going to leave. Now shut the f*** up, stop being dramatic, and leave. The food is fantastic, the service has been—“

Customer: “WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!”

Me: “I said leave.”

I turn to face the party of five standing by the entryway. They all look like deer stuck in headlights.

Me: “The food has been fantastic. Sorry for the theatrics. That dude needs to go. Please have a seat wherever you’re most comfortable.”

The rude guy and his wife were looking at each other and at me, bewildered, but eventually, the wife nudged the husband to leave the store. The place started to settle. Three servers came up to me to say thank you. Eventually, my check came my way, and the table of five loudly asked the manager to give me a discount for getting them to stay.

The restaurant where I work was closed for the first few months of the current health crisis, but we reopen on the fourth of July weekend with a holiday dinner pick-up offer: fried chicken with multiple sides and dessert, enough for four people. It proves very popular, and we are super busy all weekend. On Tuesday, the phone rings.

Me: “Hello, [Restaurant].”

Woman: “Hi, I’m so glad I reached you. My husband and I ordered the special dinner over the holiday weekend—”

I brace for a complaint.

Woman: “—and it was absolutely delicious! And I realized when I looked at our receipt that I had forgotten to add on a tip when I made the order. I would never forgive myself if I didn’t tip you all for doing all that work, and on a holiday, no less. Would you be able to run my card for a tip belatedly?”

Me: “I… Sure! How much did you want to tip?”

Woman: “Twenty-five percent, please. Thank you again. I am so glad to see you all open, and I hope we get the chance to support you again soon!”

That made my afternoon! And thanks to her and other generous customers like her, we’re still open!

Related:
Tipped To Be A Good Day

This story is part of our Fourth-Of-July-themed roundup!

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I have a service dog that I bring everywhere with me. My parents own a Mexican restaurant, but I’m almost never in it because my mother is crazy. One day, I have to go in to talk to my father, and a new employee stops me at the door.

Employee: “No dogs allowed!”

Me: “He’s a service dog, you have to—”

Employee: “Leave!”

Me: “Dad!”

My dad comes out.

Me: “Can you please explain to her the laws about service dogs?”

Dad: “[Employee]?”

Employee: “I have already told several people that there are no dogs allowed!”

Dad: “[Employee], I’m surprised at you. Wait. How many people did you send away?”

It turns out that there is some kind of conference about medical laws going on in Albuquerque, and she has sent away at least a dozen service dog owners. 

Dad: “I can’t believe this! You’ll ruin our reputation, and you tried to send away my son! You’re fired!”

The waitress burst into tears and tried to backtrack, but Dad was having none of it. He told two other employees to make sure she packed up and left, which she did, all the while begging for her job back.

I’m working a lunch shift today, and my table is going well until after this guy and his wife cash out.

Customer: *Angrily* “I’ve never been anywhere that it costs $72 for a soup and salad!”

Me: “You also ordered two cosmos and grilled salmon for your salad, and your wife ordered two glasses of wine, a shot of whiskey, and two more food items.”

Customer: “Well, I’ve never been anywhere where it costs $72 for lunch. Also, this dressing was bad.”

Me: “Again, you got more than that, but I’d be happy to take seventy-five cents off for that extra dressing you asked for.”

We go back and forth with the same dialogue two or three more times, and I finally just say:

Me: “Okay, thanks. Have a great day!”

He calls me back over five minutes later.

Customer: “I’m ready to pay.”

Me: “Sir, you’ve already paid. Have a great day.”

I was so confused. He didn’t tip me, of course.

I’m a server at a popular restaurant in a college town. On the weekends, we have $15 bottomless mimosas. Today, we were pretty busy with a big brunch crowd, and it felt like almost all of my tables ordered bottomless mimosas. They got at least ten refills each, and toward the end of my shift, when I only had about three tables, I was still running back and forth frantically trying to keep up with their drinks. The bartenders were pissed at me. We ran out of orange juice and almost ran out of champagne, so I was giving them grapefruit and pineapple juice mimosas.

I had one table of girls that had to have had at least five bottles of champagne between the three of them and they didn’t even seem drunk. They ended up camping there and I had to stay an hour and a half past my shift just serving them drinks. I finally gave them their checks.

Me: “Totally no rush. You guys can keep ordering after you pay.”

When a server tells you this, they definitely want you to leave.

Twenty minutes later, they still hadn’t taken their cards out.

Me: “Hey, do you mind if I check you guys out? My shift was supposed to end an hour and a half ago.”

They were apologetic about it, and I felt bad, but I have homework to do! But I kind of just said f*** it because I got a hunch that they were going to be terrible tippers anyway. But they tipped me 20% each, and one tipped me almost 40%, so that was a nice little surprise!

I came back an hour later to get myself some food and they were STILL there, having other servers get them mimosas.