The Gloves Are On But The Gloves Are Off!

I’m waiting on an elderly couple. The man appears to have some sort of dementia. The woman does all the talking and ordering.

Woman: “Oh, and you’ll need to cut his food up into tiny bite-size pieces before bringing it out. He can’t do so himself.”

Me: “Okay, no problem. It will be out shortly.”

I have been asked to do this on a few occasions by single patrons that had difficulty cutting up their food, but I’m a bit annoyed in this instance since we are busy and the woman is capable of cutting up her husband’s food herself. Her attitude doesn’t help, either.

After the food is ready, I cut up the man’s food into small pieces that are at most a half-inch square before bringing it out.

Woman: “I said you needed to cut up his food in small pieces.”

Me: *Moving the plate closer to her* “I did. I think it’s just hard to see since it’s covered in gravy.”

Woman: “Well, it’s not good enough. Do you want him to choke? He doesn’t remember to chew at all. It needs to be small enough to just swallow. Each piece needs to be cut at least twice. Take it back to the kitchen and redo it.”

Now I’m even more annoyed that she didn’t just cut up the food herself since she obviously knows what she wants. I smile, apologize, and start to head into the kitchen with the man’s plate when she calls after me.

Woman: “You forgot my food.”

Me: “I’m sorry, did you need yours cut, as well?”

Woman: “No, I can do that myself. It’s just rude to leave food in front of one person when the other has nothing to eat. You need to put mine under the warmer while you cut my husband’s. Don’t you know basic etiquette?”

I do as she has demanded, and I take a minute to calm down before taking the food back out. Thankfully, she seems satisfied with everything the second time. Toward the end of the meal, I’m flagged down by the woman’s husband. It’s the first time he seems aware of where he is.

Man: “Can I have a new water? I sneezed.”

He holds up his glass and it’s covered in green streaks of mucus.

Me: “I will be right back with that for you.”

He tries to hand me the glass, but I walk away as quickly as I can. I am willing to jump through hoops to ensure my customers have a good experience, but I am not going to touch that glass.

While I’m in the kitchen getting his water, I put on gloves and grab a few napkins. When I get back to the table, the man no longer seems to know where he is. I set the clean glass down and use the napkins to take the gross glass and a few other dishes away. They finish their meal, and the woman just glares at me for the last few minutes that they are seated. As they get up, she waves me over and sends her husband ahead toward the door.

Woman: “You are so rude. You needed to just take the glass. My husband was so embarrassed when you came out in gloves. It just drew attention to the mess he made. And then you didn’t even clear all the dishes after we were finished. I saw you take them from your other tables, but not ours. You’re just rude. We are never coming back.”

She stormed off, unfortunately before she could see me come back out in gloves again to fully clean and disinfect the biohazard of a table.