We've watched Gordon upbraid restaurant staffs for bad service, (on some of his 'other shows'), and we've watched him yell at obnoxious customers in Hell's Kitchen.

Whether you've had bad service in a restaurant, or have had to serve annoyingly awful customers, here is your place to vent.

Make Gordon proud!

Here's one:

T.G.I. Friday's is my restaurant crack. I took Hubby there to celebrate his birthday. I was the one paying for the meal, but the frisky waitress pointedly ignored me the entire time we were there. She was in Hubby's face so much I thought she was going to give him a lapdance!

I'd ask for a glass of water, she wouldn't hear me. Hubby asked for the water for me, and Miss Thing placed it in front of him.

I was so mad that I asked for the manager and told him that the server shouldn't have ignored me during the meal since I was paying for it and I was not leaving her a tip. Hopefully she learned from that experience.

I worked as a waitress at one of those horrid little Coney Islands a few years ago. I was waiting on a couple that were the most impatient people I'd ever seen.

I would take their drink order and ten seconds later they're flagging down another sever to ask where the drinks are, or I'd go to put the food order up and find yet another sever hovering over the table because the customers thought it was taking too long. (keep in mind they waited all of five minutes for a huge order)

I finally got asked by another server why I wasn't taking care of that table and had to explain what was happening. I also vented to her a bit about how rude and impatient they were and of course at that exact moment my boss walks by, stops, backtracks and asks me what the hell I was doing talking bad about his customers.

I told him that I wasn't badmouthing them, that I was just a little frustrated because they couldn't seem to wait five minutes for a large order without flagging down half the servers working that night.

And then he fired me.

Worst. Job. Ever. I only wish I had taken a moment to tell off those customers before I stalked off.

Never got my last check either dammit.

How about a meal where you wish Gordon (or at least the owner of the place you ate) was there to send the meal back before it made it to your table?

One of the reasons I have a high resepect for Gordon... he gets what a lot of chefs don't.... it's good when it goes out perfect, not just when it doesn't get sent back to the kitchen.

I had a particularly horrid breakfast at a fairly high end place known for a fantastic breakfast service. Heavily french influenced. Boy was I excited when I sat down, and was I ever looking forward to a breakfast including the cornerstones of breakfast food.. good crisp bacon and perfectly moist, light and fluffy scrambled eggs.

What I got back looked like I had ordered from Denny's. Hard eggs and soggy bacon. At six times the pricetag.

My heart sank. I was dining alone and feeling somewhat timid to begin with, so I ate my breakfast, truly broken hearted. Didn't send it back, and man oh man I should have. This was a place where I wasn't supposed to EVER have to send something back. There were bright spots in the meal, and the service staff was fantastic, but I never left a table more disappointed in my life. I know for a morning service it was probably mostly the line cooks doing everything, but it bordered on unforgivable.

And yes... since then, I have imagined Gordon throwing the eggs on one of the line cooks. And it makes me a bit happier.

Phew...I had a bad one at a Perkins...

Two friends and I ordered and enjoyed a "meal" which was mostly deep-fried, heavy salt items (by design). As soon as the waitress brought the food, she put down the check - well, slammed it down, really. 45 minutes later, we're looking for her to refresh our drinks, and my friends both wanted to order dessert. Or at least to see that she's not dead. As we were the ONLY people in there (it was 3 am at that point), we kept our conversation going and looked for anyone.

About 3 hours later, I went to the ladies' room, and when I came back, my friends told me that we had been asked to leave. I went right up to the counter and asked for the manager. Apparently, the waitress told him that we were taking up space (yeah, the 3 am rush of no one was really hurting her paycheck). I explained that we hadn't seen the bitch in three hours. Then I dislodged the detritus of my purse, showing him my copies of dinner checks (about 20 in the previous month alone, with tips of 20-25% on each). I made sure he knew that my friends and I had been frequent diners, good tippers, and that he needed to pay a little attention, even in the middle of the night.

His offer of a free meal for each of us wasn't good enough. The diner down the street picked up our business, and we never looked back.

Oh man oh man.....

I love to go to IHOP every now and then--along with Waffle House, it's about my favorite place to go and have breakfast-type stuff. A few years ago, I was at my favorite IHOP and had possibly the worst service I've ever had there. I was seated by my server, and then given a glass of water....and then I was ignored for about 45 minutes or so while Laughing Boy went to the smoking section to suck a couple smokes down with a friend of his. Then he came up and took my order. He got me a half a drink, then went and sat in the smoking section again to chat with his friend some more. Meanwhile, my food came up and was sitting there at the pass getting colder and colder.....

...finally the server noticed the plate (I was the only customer in the place at the time--it was shortly before 7:00, which meant that the usual bar-rush crowd was home sleeping it off and the morning rush wasn't due for another half-hour or so), and went to get it and bring it to me. Keep in mind, the whole time he acted like I was the biggest burden to him--because heaven forbid anyone should want to eat or anything, right?

About five minutes into me finally getting to eat my food, he comes up again--with his jacket on--and says:

"I'm done with my shift, so I'd like my tip now."

Ummm....yeah. Let me see. You ignore me, treat me like I shouldn't even be there, bring me food that's cold because you were more interested in rappin' with your buddies in another part of the restaurant than you were in actually doing your damn yob, and now you expect a tip?

Excuse me?

He eyes my plate like he's going to spit in my food if I don't give him the answer he wants. "I'm getting ready to leave, and I've come to get my tip."

I gave him a dollar to get rid of him, told him that after the way he's treated me I shouldn't give him a tip at all, and then politely asked another server for the manager so I could complain about Laughing Boy. The manager comes over, a Peruvian cat who looked for all the world like Peter Lorre with a very oily aura about him. I'll call him OPLC (Oily Peter Lorre Clone).

"Eees there a prolem?"

Your server there (I pointed to the retreating form of Laughing Boy) did absolutely nothing the whole time I was here except sit back in the smoking section and chat with whoever his friend is there. It took me 45 minutes to get my order taken--and then I got half a drink and no refills while the server went back in the smoking section again. My food was cold when I got it, the attitude I got was absolutely horrid, and then he had the unmitigated gall to come up and demand a tip because he was getting off shift--and it was made pretty clear to me that if I denied him that tip, he'd spit in my food.

"What is the prolem?"

You don't see a problem with the way your employee treated me?

"There ees notheng I can do about my servers, what do you want me to do?"

You're kidding, right? Your server treats me like I shouldn't even be here, tries to extort a tip that he doesn't deserve--and makes it clear that if I don't give him money he'll render my food inedible--and you refuse to do anything about it?

We went round and round like this for about ten minutes or so before I finally told OPLC that I was just going to pay for my food and not come in again as long as he and his Pet Servers were working there. I wasn't offered a free meal (which I didn't really care about). I wasn't even given an apology--which really would have been quite sufficient for me. I just got a "there ees notheng I can do" runaround until I got so disgusted that I just up and left, and didn't go there again until OPLC finally got fired for making a pass at a new server (who complained to IHOP corporate, who then got on the case of the owner of that IHOP, and so on).

Just...ugh.

You are a nicer person than me, because I would have dared him to spit and kicked him if he did! I would have been arrested that day.

I'd considered it strongly, but at the end of the day A $10 meal at IHOP really isn't worth catching a charge over.

That and I really didn't feel like being accused of racism by refusing to tip (Laughing Boy was black. I'm white).

(I know, I'm a wuss)

This is nowhere near the level of the above stories, but there's a level of cluelessness that's almost funny. We'd gone to Friendly's a few weeks ago and my mother and I both ordered grilled cheese w/fries, which is made with large rectangular slices of sourdough bread. My son had chicken strips and fries. When mom and I got our sandwiches, I picked mine up to separate the two halves and found barely enough cheese to hold the bread together. Seems they'd put ONE thin square of cheese right in the middle of the bread, leaving about a two inch border of plain dry bread all around the edges! AND the fries were cooked nearly to death. By this time we'd waited quite awhile for the food to come anyway and since my son (who adores Friendly's) has Asperger's, and complaining and waiting for replacement meals would have made more trouble that it's worth, we didn't say anything then. We just ate our 'cheeseless grilled cheese' and crunched through our fries. But when we left, my mother told the person at the counter about it, and the server said, "Well, you see, the bread is really WIDE...."

Ummm...then you put MORE than one slice of cheese on it, maybe???

In all fairness, we'd never had trouble with Friendly's before except at this ONE particular location, which can't seem to get/keep their help. When I got home I went to their website and gave very definite details (which they ASK for) and within days had received an apology and a gift card.
I just get a bit of a laugh picturing somebody in the kitchen trying to place their one square of cheese carefully in the middle of the rectangular bread ;)

So just turn him over to Julia--she'd bitch-slap Laughing Boy into next week, just for giving restaurant staff a bad name!

It's odd, but I've had experiences recently in restaurants that are similar to both Laughing Boy and Flirty Waitress.

I've read the website "Bitter Waitress" (it's great) and I know that some waitresses complain about women who think they are flirting with their husbands/boyfriends, when they're not. I'm not one of those. I don't even mind, frankly, if she flirts a little bit, because I've been a (banquet) waitress before, and know it's hard work. I was even a cocktail waitress (way long ago, Lol) for about 5 minutes and watched some flirt to get a bigger tip. I get it.

However, this woman was ridiculous. Hanging all over my husband, leaning over him at every opportunity (and it was just a tiny table, and we were the only ones there - it wasn't as if she needed to reach over him - she could've walked to his other side) and completely ignoring me. He wasn't even eating anything (he'd eaten a bit earlier in the food court), and only drank water. He ordered my food for me before I got there - we had finished shopping at the mall. This was a small sit-down place near the mall exit. Anyhow, she refused to even look at me. It was so extreme I had to laugh about it later with hubby. He hadn't even noticed her and said basically, well she was barking up the wrong tree. I thought at first she was fishing for a bigger tip - but then she plopped the bill down on my side of the table. She had the small table next to ours, and hubby's side of the table, which were both empty. But she plopped the bill down almost in my plate. It felt like she was saying, "He couldn't possibly be paying to eat with you". Lol.

I hate handling anything while I'm eating, so I picked the bill wallet up by the corner, and dropped it on hubby's side. I mean, I was trying to eat as fast as I could, so they could leave...even though the mall was just closing. Hubby was just sitting there. It made no sense to ask me to do it, especially if she was trying to hurry us along. (I wasn't eating half the menu either, just a veggie burger and fries and iced tea)

And the week prior, hubby and I had gone to a Hamburger Hamlet near us. Usually we love it there - service and food are usually good. But this time? The woman completely ignored both of us. I mean, it was extreme. Every time we looked for her, she was in the back corner, body language completely relaxed as she chit chatted with one table. Always the same table. We guessed it must've been a celebrity table. (In which case I'm sure they wanted nothing more than to spend a night out talking to their waitress!) Whatever we asked for, she forgot. Some things we never got. Other times, she would bring it too late, after being asked more than once. Some things she brought something completely different, that we never asked for. We never got refills of water or tea. She never buzzed by to ask how things were. When she went to a nearby table she didn't even glance our way. She seemed to treat everyone this way or similar (all but the favored back table). Her section was almost empty, though. It wasn't near closing time, just sort of after the dinner rush. I noticed there were no servers to be found anywhere - the restaurant was way too quiet, and no one seemed to be walking through as they should. It was just really strange. We never normally do this but we complained to the manager before leaving. And hubby (against my advice, since they are taxed on tips, I know) left her a dollar tip. He wasn't even going to leave her that much, but that was as much as I could talk him into. He was really irked by her blatant lack of interest in her job.

I've been a banquet waitress, worked in a kitchen, and been a cocktail waitress (after getting my B.A. but it was a recession Lol) and I know how it can be. People always wanted to tip me even when work didn't let us accept tips. I've had to smile at insufferable customers. I vowed to never be one. But these two just took the cake.

I tip no matter what, and believe that everyone else should too. (The amount you can play with, but I don't think it's right not to tip). However, you should feel somewhat better knowing that yes, servers get taxed on tips, but at the end of each night, they have to declare them and that's how they are taxed. So if you don't give them the tip, they won't get taxed on it.

I usually tip something at least, but didn't the time my waiter was spending all his time flirting with the college girls in the next booth. I had to flag him down for a refill on my tea, and then as they were leaving, he stopped to talk more while he was holding my tea in his hand and then set my tea down on their table and walked them out. Ten minutes later (that's 10 minutes without anything to drink, even melted ice because my glass was gone) when he finally walked by on his way to the kitchen (my table was right on the way or he wouldn't have been anywhere near me), I managed to flag him down. When I asked to have my tea, he looked around blankly like he was thinking, "You had tea? Huh. I didn't know you had a drink."

It was after the lunch rush -- in fact I believe it was well after 1:30 p.m. -- and he didn't have a whole lot else to do. I just was apparently not young enough or cute enough for him to pay any attention to. There was no way I was giving him extra money, no matter how little he gets paid.

That brings up an interesting misconception about tipping, namely, that it's somehow mandatory in this country, even in cases of horrendous service. It most decidedly is not; while it's true that tips are how wait staff really earn their living (the base wage that they get is actually about half the Federal minimum wage, IIRC), the usual 15-20% extra that customers pay directly to them is strictly discretionary, depending on the quality of service rendered--and that includes the decision of whether to tip at all. Most wait staff know and understand this, and will therefore usually go out of their way to render the kind of quality service that will consistently bring them at least that extra 15-20%.

Incidentally, if you go abroad, tipping is severely frowned upon in many countries in Europe, and it's not allowed at all in Japan. There, the service is usually included in the bill (but it's always a good idea to ask if that's the case before you pay the bill.)

We went to a favorite irish pub on a night where everything went cosmically wrong. We were seated at a mostly empty restaurant and gave our orders and then waited. And waited. At the 45 minute mark we asked what the heck was up, as the restaurant was now packed to the gills, and were told that the manager had sent home all but one cook and one server for a restaurant seating about 100, at a pub offering an irish music night.

We did forgive them but it took a while to get over. Most restaurants that fall on our `bad`list usually serve dreary food despite the hype, or like the other day, a server who was just kind of a pest. I kind of felt nagged, and i wanted her to leave us alone for at least two bites.

I`m not a fan of places that cook bland food, and i`m tiring of massive portions. I`d LIKE to sample more than one dish at a go, but the trend to monster-servings here means it`s unlikely. We eat out now about once a week and through actually learning to cook and do it well, and watching insane amounts of cooking shows, we're also becoming a bit more...discerning. I don't want bland grub.

Me too - I actually like ordering off the kid's menu. Some places charge an extra fee for that, but I like ordering different things and not feeling overwhelmed by a heap of food. Side note - I once took someone from Bosnia out to dinner (friend of a friend, who was visiting America with a group, as a translator). She was downright offended by the huge slab of ribs she was served. She felt it was wasteful. To watch her reaction was very interesting (of course, if I'd had any clue that would be the case, I'd have steered her to something else). She literally lost her appetite, and seemed angry. She kept saying to the waiter, "But it's too big!". He seemed to be on the verge of anger himself - as if she just was giving him a hard time. But, they had lived on beans for three years during the war. Getting the Fred Flintstone side of ribs (we'd asked the waiter what he'd recommend) was just too much.

About tips. I read once that the IRS assumes a certain amount of income derived from tips and taxes them on that. The rest, if over that, is up to them to report. But I read that some years ago, I guess. We weren't allowed to take tips at the place I worked waiting tables, and the brief stint as a cocktail waitress (I don't even drink, so I hated it...and the others wanted me to keep pestering people pushing drinks on them every few minutes) didn't yield tips either. We weren't allowed to take tips directly, and got whatever the waitperson gave us at the end of the night.

Tipping in the US is better then in Europe. In the US you can choose how much you leave. In Europe the tip is inculded in every bill. At least it was in Italy, France, England, Ireland, Germany, and Austria when I was there. So the wait staff knows that they are going to receive a tip no matter what happens. Service can be pretty bad. It is actually not a bad time to play up being an American. The wait staff knows that most Americans do not think that the tip is included in the bill and so will give you decent to excellent service in order to get a double tip. My Italian friends loved going to to dinner with me because the level of service was soooo much better as long as I did the ordering and played stupid American.

So stories of lousey service? After softball my team likes to go out and drink and eat (I think we consume more calories then we burn). We have several folks who are only happy when sitting in sunlight. This limits our options. There is one restraunt which the team found that had the request seating and was about a five minute drive from the field. So the team starts frequenting said restraunt.

On one visit, the bill is left paid with a twenty and a bunch of ones. More then enough to cover the tab and tip for the person in question. The waitress picks up the bill, takes the money, and brings it back. She tells the individual in question that there was only a 20 in in it and that would not cover the entire bill. the other folks there saw the ones in the bill and told her that there was more then enough to cover the bill and the tip. The manager comes out and asks what the problem is. My friend explains what happens and the Manger says "Well if you feel comfortable with that" and walks away.

For some strange reason we returned to said restraunt the following week. They really like the sun on my team. We have a group bill that is $155 plus tip. We left $189 ($25 on credit card). More then enough. The waitress brings back the folder with $1 and the credit card slip for $25. I went in and asked how much cash was in the billfold. She tells me that we left $169. My BF went in after I returned and told them this. The Manager comes out and says she was there as the waitress counted the money and that it was $169. For some reason one of the guys on the team tosses in the missing $20. We had two people count the money and have never come up that short on a bill. We know that $189 was in that billfold (including the credit card which she brought out)

For some really strange reason the team insisted on going there again. I suggested another bar but it did not have outdoor seating so we couldn't go there. This time the waitress brings the wrong beer and says we won't be charged for it when they ask for the right beer. Then the other waitress (the one who took the money both times) brings the food. By brings the food I mean she carries it out and slams it onto the table in one place. She does not ask who has what and pass it out. She walks out and slams it on the table. Then the other waitress brings the bill and has included the beers that should not have been included on the bill. She gets pissy when we ask for those beers to be removed. As we are leaving the restraunt the team captain suggests that maybe we need to find a new bar to go to but is upset since she knows we won't find one with outdoor seating.

I am not sure what is more amazing, the theft and bad service or the fact that there are still people on the team who want to go back. I was making alternate suggestions after the first incident.

There has only been one time when I left without a tip. I took my daughter and her friend to Longhorn's for her birthday. We were going to see a movie afterwards, so we arrived fairly early in the evening, and the place wasn't crowded.

We got The Waitress In Search of a Clue. She was horrible. We sat there for 20 minutes waiting for someone to take our drink order. Then another 15 minutes for our drinks. Then half an hour waiting for dinner (which was two kids' meals and grilled salmon), which only arrived AFTER I tracked down Ms. Without a Clue and said we were going to be late for our movie.

The enormous party of 10 seated next to us, arrived 10 minutes later than we did, ordered hors d'oeuvres, multiple drinks and dessert before we had time to wolf down our meals, which weren't even right. It was insane.

I don't punish the waitstaff when a restaurant is busy and you can tell they're doing their best. I know I could never do that job without getting arrested for hitting some jerk by day two. But in this case, I wanted to not only leave without a tip, but walk back into the kitchen and spit in *her* food.

Eons ago I worked at a chain restaurant (can't remember which), and we had to report a minimum of X% of our sales for the shift as our tips. Anything above that was gravy, and screw Uncle Sam. If we made less than X, boohoo for you, smarten up your service.
If Laughing Boy or any server said "I want my tip now" I'd tell them they already have all the tip they're gonna get out of me. Most any restaurant will forward a tip to the server who took care of you if the server has to leave before you settle your bill.

Today we had lunch at Friendly's, though a different one than the 'one slice of cheese' location I reported on earlier. This was absolutely fine....sandwiches oozing with cheese, fries done perfectly....and from our seat I could see into the kitchen and actually SEE the cook at work. He looked quite proficient :) But the funny part was the woman sitting in the next booth. All I could think was, "boy, this is one for the TWOP thread!" This woman had the poor waitress (the same one who very competently served us) near tears. First she ordered some kind of tall, iced drink, either something coffee-ish or chocolate, and sent it back 3 times for various reasons that I couldn't quite hear. Then her lunch came and that wasn't right either....THAT went back 3 times. I have a feeling she's the type of woman who doesn't bother to read the menu to see HOW things are served, then complains when her order comes with something she doesn't want on it. And/or she fails to make clear what she does want when she orders and (loudly) blames the waitress when there's something wrong.. I'm pretty sure she didn't give any real specific directions when she ordered, but man, every little thing was wrong with her meal when it arrived.

The place was about half full, nobody else was having any problems, and the service was fast. I can understand legitimate complaints but this woman just gave off a vibe where you KNOW she does this everywhere she goes. I felt like tipping the waitress double just to make up for her! She was so cheerful when we came in, and by the time we left, you could tell her day was shot.

Are you sure about that? I've eaten in all of those countries and rarely paid an automatic tip (I'm not saying it doesn't happen - but it isn't a given in all situations). In fact I'm sitting here looking at a receipt from the "Cul deSac" in Rome (a really nice lunch restaurant) and there is no tip included. The bill is for two lentil soups (15 Eu); 1 lasagna (7.70 Eu); a caprino caldo (8.80 Eu); a liter of mineral water (1.50Eu) and an Averna (1.90Eu) Totale Pagare 34.90 Eu. Not even a cover charge (and it came with masses of really good bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar). There are a lot of places that do levy a cover charge - but that's not the same thing as a tip - it's usually minimal and designed to cover water and bread etc. For example, the cover charge for Pizzeria Tosca, also in a prime location in the center of Rome was only 2.20 Eu for two people and that again covers bread sticks and water. That was for a 30Eu bill, if you treat it as a tip then it comes out to a paltry 7.3%. If you are regarding that as your "automatic tip" and not adding to it, I'd say you're getting off pretty lightly. My brother is a chef in the UK and assures me that he's never worked in a restaurant (all the way from pubs up to fine dinning) where tips were automatically included - although there was a cover charge in some of the more upscale places.

In general tipping is much less generous and less automatic in Europe - in part because wait staff can't generally be paid less than other workers (and in part because there are many places where the "service mentality" is pretty damn awful). I know it's a real struggle to get my parents to tip decently when they visit the US - they can't quite get their heads around the fact that tips are supposed to make up for proper wages - and they expect to only tip excellent service not just run-of-the-mill service (in the US in general it seems ordinary, everyday, nothing-special service still warrants between 10-15% - again relying on the guilt of the customer who knows that tips are part of the wage structure).


My personal service hell was at a local chicken restaurant here in Arkansas where, having had our order taken after 15 minutes, our waiter's shift ended without him bothering to turn the order in to the kitchen. So we sat....and sat....and sat......and after 45 minutes of watching everyone else around us get served and wondering where the hell the waiter had gone finally flagged down his replacement. Since she assumed (correctly) that our order had been taken, she had never come by to check on us, and was too distracted to notice that our order never came up to the pass. So we ordered again, and got our food and then at the end of the meal got presented with TWO tickets (one for each couple at the table). It took the manager to sort out that NO we didn't actually order and eat the same four entrees twice over (although by that time we'd been there long enough). To add insult to injury we missed the movie we were going to and I ended up with food poisoning from the coleslaw (which I should have known was suspect, it was warmer than room temperature). Needless to say, have never eaten there since.

Yep. It's awful to run someone ragged. Your story reminded me of some other experiences I've had. One, a relative who ran the waitress ragged, (I try to group any requests, at least; and always add "when you have a chance") and then wanted to leave a fifty cent tip! I left a decent tip.

I like to leave a decent tip - up to 50% if service is really excellent. I'm not their favorite customer as I often dine alone (for expediency while single, and while out running errands etc., currently) and don't drink. The wine, etc. drive up the total tab. I've had waitpersons ignore me often enough, because they assume their tip will be small on my small bill, to really appreciate those who go by faith it won't be. But your story also brought to mind a truly awful couple I saw basically abuse the staff at The Good Earth out here in L.A. They were quiet until their meal was done. Then they began claiming everything was awful, and they didn't want to pay! I think the manager eventually said pay or go to jail - and they finally paid. But I'm sure they didn't tip. And they too ran their waitress ragged.

Someone else's story of bread with almost nothing in it passing for a sandwich rings home, too. I once walked out because I got a sandwich with literally about a spoon-size strip of turkey inside. The waiter had a terrible attitude about it. I told him I felt that especially since I asked for just turkey lettuce and bread it was a lot to pay for just the lettuce and bread. I paid for the meal, but not much tip - maybe 12%. And I told the manager why I was leaving without finishing (I was a regular) when I left.

On the other side of the table - the only bad customer I can remember was Mr Gourmand. He probably weighed 300 lbs. He liked to flirt with the young cocktail waitresses. He was interested in meeting the 'new girl' so he had my trainer bring me to his table. Let me just say first that I had a B.A. in English. He motioned me over and with a huge grin said "I am a gourmand. Do you know what that means?". I was so tempted to say "Yeh. You like to eat!". But I just smiled back. I had been warned "Be nice to him, he's a regular" on the way to his table. No wonder I didn't last there very long! Other than that one condescending comment though, he wasn't too demanding.

I always end up somehow going with people who embarrass me. I went once someplace and the people I was with ate almost all the food off their plates and then flagged down the waitress and asked for it to be taken off their bill because they didn't like it. THEY GOT THEIR WHOLE MEAL FOR FREE! And they, of course, didn't even have to leave a tip . . .

In Mexico too, there is a nice little all you can eat seafood place where the cooks take your order and cook the food right there in front of you. Also, the waitresses come by and give you refills and stuff (just like a normal restaurant) and some people who went down there with my group didn't want to leave a tip because they didn't have to "bring" the food to the table. The rest of the group tipped more to make up for them.

Now, as to bad service. I went to a mexican food restaurant where the waitress repeatedly ignored me when I spoke to her, wouldn't let us choose the kinda meat that came in our burritos and generally acted like we were annoying. I had a major problem with her because I ordered a margarita and, like some sly restaurants do, they put hardly any tequila in it and a whole lotta watered down strawberry juice. When I, very politely, told her that I didn't care for the strawberry flavor because it covered over the tequila (which was my subtle way of telling them I knew that there was no tequila in it without actually accusing them of it) and said "I think I'd rather have a regular margarita." She goes "okay", walks off and NEVER BRINGS IT TO ME. I had to ask another waitress to do it. Apparently she thought I was just talking out loud and didn't really want her to bring me another one to make up for the craptastic one I'd already gotten. I told the other waitress (who was much better) bluntly that it was watered down and the next one that she brought was perfect. She also messed up out billing at the end too. And then the owner has enough nerve (we were a large group, so the one waitress was for our side of the table, and the other was for the other side) to yell at the other waitress in front of us about the bad service, while patting the horrible one on the back and comforting her. We firmly told him what we thought of that because it just wasn't right. We all kinda thought it was perhaps because the one waitress was white (the good one) and the other was hispanic (as was the owner). Otherwise, we couldn't think of any reason for him to show such favoritism to a sucky worker.

Even worse than bad service is dining with people who just can't be satisfied. I usually don't dine with them ever again. They surely ruin an experience quicker than the food or service does.

Places that just have an off night will generally get a second chance, (the irish place, which we actually avoided for quite some time as the menu offerings were really...weird and offputting. When they simplified it, we were there twice a month) Places that just plain don't have their act together, never get a second chance. Hostesses who ignore us, vomit at the bottom of the stairs, forgetting drinks, slow service or trying to rush us when we haven't been there an excessive length of time, don't win favors with me.

I used to be part of a group of 10-15 who would go out for regular dining, reservations and all, and some places were stellar, but some were just dismal. It was a really interesting experience to see how places handle larger groups.

I've never sent dishes back, but i think i've just been lucky so far.

You went to Oscar's? ;)

I used to work for a company where the president/owner would chew with his mouth open. Yakking the whole time. At business dinners, I would look at my plate for the duration just to get through a meal. And the vice president was one of those people who have to ask about every.single.aspect.of.every.single.dish....and then orders the first thing they were going to choose anyway. Don't miss that job AT ALL.

I have sent food back at least once that I can remember. I ordered a spinach salad and it came out with enough sand to fill a litterbox. I sent it back, and after 30 minutes, was brought a replacement salad...with even more sand in it. Don't miss that restaurant AT ALL either.

Oops, no,a local canadian irish pub. But perhaps new irish "gastro-pubs" are required to have really dodgy menus at first? heh.

I've worked in several restaurants: I'm sure that anyone who has too knows all to well what goes on behind the scenes. I try not to think about it when I order out, and I try to be nice to the employees no matter what because I'm scared what they might do to my food.

But as to bad customers...


A few years ago I was at Red Lobster, and there was a family sitting near me, complete with a little boy who looked about five. While Mom and Dad ate, Junior was allowed to run around the restaurant as fast as he could, getting in people's way, and causing total chaos.

Well, Junior ended up colliding with a waiter who happened to be carrying very hot coffee. The coffee went all over the child and all over the waiter as well. Mom and Dad rushed over and started screaming and shrieking at the waiter for burning their precious little angel. If I had been the waiter, I would have ripped them another one, but he just kept apologizing, and it wasn't even his fault.

I've never been tempted to tamper with someone's food. The summer of catering hell, one particularily snotty young lass customer got a meatball thrown at her head by the chef as she left the serving window.

The kid? dunk him in the lobster tank to cool the burns...but then there's the pinchy. oops?

I was at a mexican place in Atlanta with a group last year and they started tearing into the service as soon as we arrived, from drinks not being served within 5 minutes to being seated at the back of the restaurant, to every last thing. I finally snapped and told them if it was bad they were free to leave but this was not THEIR restaurant and the service was just fine and they could suck up and deal.

They clammed up real quick.

Every restaurant I ate at in Milan, Rome, Florence, Venice, Sienna and a few other cities included the tip on the bill. There was not a tip included at the coffee shops and sandwich places that we went to. I have a friend who just got back from Rome and told me that the tip was included on all of her restaurant bills. (shrugs)

I have sent dishes back a few times. Normally when I order something, after stating that I have a seafood and shellfish allergy and making sure said dish does not contain either, and it comes out with seafood and/or shellfish.

Every now and then we end up having to eat out with some family members who, in spite of being lovely people in other ways, drive the waitstaff crazy. Nothing can ever be straightforward...they want to substitute and change things, they ask for ten different items every time the server comes to the table, they question everything, and on and on. It's all asked pleasantly, but they just don't realize how annoying they're being. On top of that, they're terrible tippers. Mr F and I usually end up slipping back to the table and leaving an extra tip whenever we're 'treated' to lunch by them!

My strangest experience was at a restaurant in Indianopolis. I was out with a group of about 8. I ordered a sirloin, rare. It's a running joke with my friends how rare I like my steaks, so one of them commented to the waitress that I "really meant it," so the order was definitely given correctly to the waitress. Well, the entrees come out, and the steak I am given is a ribeye and is 3/8" thick at best. I internally decided not to make a big deal of it, but was still debating whether I was actually hungry enough to eat shoe leather when one of my tablemates noticed the steak. He insisted I should cut into the steak to see if it was rare (ha!), so I made a cut, and it's grey all the way through. He flags down the waitress and tells her my order was wrong, I ordered a rare steak. She very pleasantly takes the steak back.

Time passes. Everyone else finishes their entrees. Finally, the waitress returns with my steak... which looks familiar. In fact, I can see the knife cut. She asks if it's better now. Uh, no, it's the same damn well done steak. And then she said, completely sincere and a little flustered, "Dang, I told him to make the steak more rare!" She genuinely believed this was physically possible. And the poor thing could not figure out why we were all laughing. (The manager eventually got me a brand new, rare steak, and threw in some free drinks. We still tipped her decently, with the hope she would use it for some kind of schooling.)

Sounds familiar. Hubby and I used to dread going out with his parents. They always wanted to go to Red Lobster and always asked for a bazillion little things, nitpicky stuff like making sure there was a lot of dark green lettuce in the salad and stuff. The wait staff were always very nice about it, but Hubby and I always felt bad and wound up not asking for changes we might otherwise have (simple stuff like "no onion") because we didn't want to make it any worse. Then at the end of the meal, Hubbs's father would hand the waiter a $5 tip (on a meal for four) and act like he was being really generous. I'd typically stash some cash in my purse ahead of time and tell them I needed to go to the restroom and would meet them in the car, and slip back to leave more of a tip.

And it wasn't that the in-laws were really being stingy, it's just that they genuinely thought that was a really good tip and didn't think they were being demanding. After father-in-law's unfortunate passing, mother-in-law started asking us for advice when eating out and was mortified to find out how low a tip that really was. She's improved very much since then; she still gets picky with her requests sometimes, but not nearly as much, and she tips much better than before to compensate for it. :)

starcr, if I didn't know better, I'd swear we share the same in-laws!!

That was funny!

Can you imagine what GR would do to her???? The mind boggles....

From the server side, one of the worst things was when people would eat their entire meal and then say it wasn't what they wanted and they needed their money back. Of course, "the customer is always right!" so they got it removed from their bill, and I got a smaller tip because their bill was less and they didn't bother tipping extra to make up for it.

Only once when I've eaten out has someone in my party gotten free food because it was wrong. It was actually at Chili's, which I wouldn't expect to be good about that kind of thing. Something got messed up with someone's salad (I forget what), but they said it would be 30 minutes before they could do a new one the way it was supposed to be (busy night), so my friend just ate it as-is. The waitress very nicely took it off the bill even though my friend ate it, so when we left the money (when paying cash, my friends and I tend to just leave the whole thing on the table in the billfold), my friend still paid for it and it ended up being a very nice tip for the waitress!

We eat out a lot. My kids (10 and 13) are generally well-behaved (please and thank you, they don't run, they sit and wait patiently -- or at least only whine so I can hear it). We rarely ever get bad service; in fact, it's usually the opposite.

Two stories of good service: We went to a Bennigan's. (Hey, kids, 10 and 13. You think we're going places other than casual dining? They're good, but they're not angels!!!) As we were seated, our waiter came out with a not-good look on his face. Apparently, the cook quit on the spot. The manager was cooking that night. Our food might take longer than usual. He took our orders and kept our drinks filled. The food did take much longer than usual, but we weren't too upset. Why? Because our waiter did it exactly right. He told us as soon as he knew, which gave us the opportunity to go somewhere else, should we want to. He kept coming back to make sure we knew we weren't forgotten. He got the tip he deserved!

Second story is just plain nice waitressing. This time at a TGIFriday's. Apparently, many children aren't aware of the concept of "please." Or at least this girl didn't hear it much. So, this girl just loved our table, and that was before she found out it was my son's birthday. They brought out a big dessert. Then, she asks us if we want to sample some of the new dessert menu items. Yes, please! She comes out with a tasting sample. Yummy! And none of it was on the bill. You can be sure I tipped as if it were!! She also got a phone call placed to the manager the next day (I did leave out the "not on the bill" part. I just praised her in general. I wasn't sure if that was going to get her in trouble, so I skipped it).

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've rarely had bad service that couldn't be explained. (First night solo, which still wasn't bad, just a little slow; crazy busy restaurant; air conditioning breaking, etc.)

Some of the best steak I have ever had is at a place called Rays the Steak in Arlignton Virginia. The service is good, the steaks are amazing, and the sides a huge and cheap but yummy. I have always had good to excellent service there.

If you plan on eating there, get there early or really late. They do not take advanced reservations but you can place reservations for that day if you drive to there and put your name in in person.

I have waitressed in the past and hated it. But, it's given me a lot of sympathy for people who work in the service industry. I was at a restaurant and two guys did a dine and ditch. The waitress was new, her tables were spread out all over the place and the guys were at a table by the back door. But, the owner reamed her out in front of the customers, telling her the bill was coming out of her check. She wasn't our waitress, but we asked our waitress what the bill added up to (something like $25) and after we tipped our waitress, we gave her enough to cover the dine and ditch bill with a note attached to it that said, "It wasn't your fault and it won't always be this bad. We hope this improves your day." The owner rang up our bill and asked how our meal was. I told him it was great, the service was wonderful, but we wouldn't be back because he treated his staff like dirt and it was offensive.

And we never went back.

Just the other day my husband and I went to breakfast at Friendly's. I placed my order and specifically asked for the meat on a separate plate. I'm a vegetarian and my husband is not-so he usually eats the meat that comes with my meals. The waitress heard us discussing this so she knew why I was asking for the separate plate. So our meals come out and on top of my eggs sit two huge sausage patties. I politely reminded her about the separate plate and she was really apologetic telling me she would have them redo my meal. She went back to the kitchen and we heard the cook say he would not remake my food and I was just going to have to live with it. The waitress then brings back my food with the meat on a separate plate. My husband looked at her and told her we heard the cook and would they please remake my food. The waitress looked shocked but went back to the kitchen. We heard the cook say again that he would not remake the food so the waitress brought the plate back. I was totally dumbfounded. I know that as a vegetarian Friendly's is not the best choice but WOW!!!

Ok, my story is pretty mild. A couple of months back my sister and I went to Disney and stayed at one of the nicer hotels. The first night we had a really good server. However for breakfast the next morning, our server was very rude at the beginning. He comes up to our table and brusquely ask, "What do you want?" Well, we were going to do seperate checks and I thought it would be best to tell him at the beginning instead of springing it on him at the end or after he had already ran up the check. So very nicely and happily (this is Disney after all :-) ) I said, "Hi, just to let you know, we're going to have seperate checks. I'll ha..." Then, very condescendingly, he snapped at me, "I didn't ask you that, sweetheart, I asked you what ya want!"

Ok, I know reading it it doesn't sound like much but trust me I'm not exaggerating when I say it was said very rudely. Like, man, what did I ever do to you. I then gave him what my sister described as my "death stare" and he then acted overly polite for the rest of the service, but it was so obviously fake. Still, it gave my sister a good story for the rest of the day..."boy, you really scared that guy with your 'death stare'" "now don't scare this one" "I have been on the receiving end of that stare and it's not fun."

Wow -- I didn't think the staff were ALLOWED to be rude at Disney. I bet if you'd reported him, he'd have been banished from the Magic Kingdom. ;) But hey, can you teach me that death stare? It must come in very handy!

We went out to a going-away lunch at work a while ago, about a dozen of us. It was some non-chain 'Southern cooking' sort of place.

Awful service. The disappearing waitress syndrome. The funny thing is, though, that one of the guys at the table got tired of waiting, and took matters into his own hands. After ten minutes of eyeing our food just sitting under warming lamps in the pick up area, he got up and served it himself. By the end of the meal, we were getting our own water and tea refills, helping ourselves.

I think the waitress did eventually reappear. We got the 'automatic gratuity' for the bill (added for us being a large party) taken off the check.

Yep. Sometimes cooks/waitpersons just don't 'get it' as far as what being a vegetarian means. A vegetarian doesn't want the juice (or taste) from the meat on their other food. To people like the cook in your story, it makes no sense: "just because it touched it, big deal". It was always a relief when I was a (lacto-ovo) vegetarian, and the server would ask if I'd like the veggie burger cooked in a separate skillet, etc. But there were other times - like being served vegetable soup with chicken broth, or even spaghetti with meat sauce, after being clear about 'no meat or meat products'. To some, vegetables or pasta equal vegetarian. Oh, and the time I was given pork rolls instead of vegetarian egg rolls...It's amazing this type of thing still happens. It still happens to me sometimes, too, but it's not as bad because I'm not a vegetarian any longer. Still, there are some animals I won't eat, and sometimes they not only leave it on the salad but add extra it seems. (I sometimes ask for the chicken etc. to be 'on the side' for my hubby, too. But it's taking a risk I won't be able to eat dinner that night, if it's takeout.)

That was really rude of them to plop the meat right on TOP of your eggs, though. At least if it had been off to the side, you could've asked for an empty plate and carefully put your eggs on it and start from there. (If the juice hadn't slid over, I mean.)

I think my aunt qualifies as one of the worst customers ever.

Once, when she was visiting my mother for a few weeks, they went shopping for the day at K-mart. After several hours of buying nothing, my mother decided to have a sandwich at the K-mart cafe. My aunt ordered the blue plate special, which consisted of 3 pieces of chicken. She ate 2 of the pieces, then demanded to see the manager. She then ranted about how bad the chicken was, and how she was due another plate of chicken to make up for it. The manager noticed that she had eaten 2/3 of her meal, and asked why it took so long to notice the chicken was bad. Aunt continued to rave. Manager screamed back, look, it's fricken K-mart! What kind of quality did you expect?. Aunt continued to rave, and eventually got a new plate of chicken. She immediately asked for a take-out container, boxed up her 4 pieces of chicken, and exclaimed that she always did this in restaurants, and always got extra meals to take home. She was quite proud of herself. Don't think she does this too often, since she is so cheap that she never pays for her own meal, and I don't think her meal partners ever ask her out twice.

Got two for you on both sides of the fence.

I was out running errands this morning and I like diner food. SO occasionally I treat myself to a meal. You know the kind of place where you can get 2 eggs any style with grits or home fries and toast for under $5/ well I go to this place and as I'm leaving a customer walking out and says, "best omelette's ever". So I think I'm making a good decision. No one else is in the place and it only seats maybe 20 people, but I'm in a hurry so I get my order to go. Well I get it home and the best part of it was this nice, crusty bread. The eggs which I had asked for scrambled soft, well well done, but edible. The home fries were just plain burnt, as in black & charred. To top it off, the entire meal was greasy, greasy ,greasy. Needless to say I won't be returning there.

On the other side I have a couple in my congregation that I refuse to go out to dinner with because they are the type who ask for water and extras lemons and make lemonade at the table instead of ordering a beverage and then barely want to leave a tip. I won't even begin to discuss their table manners. And if there is a bread basket, they will ask for a take away box to take it home or worst yet, ask for refills towards the end of the meal so there is plenty to take home. I've gotten quite good at begging off their invites.

This depends on where you eat. In the US many restaurants automatically add the gratuity in on large parties of 8 or more.

Cheap customers? My parents have friends who go to buffets and the woman brings an entire box of Ziploc® bags in her purse! She even offers to distribute them to the other (sane) folks at the table. Because why go to a buffet if you can't make another twelve meals out of it? I don't think they're terrible to wait on, but I can't imagine they tip for crap.

Of course, this is the same couple who went to McDonalds for their anniversary. Because they had BOGO coupons.

When I waited tables at a mexican restaurant, we carried the plates on our arms, not trays, and since almost all of the plates went through the oven before going to tables, they were EXTREMELY hot (we used gloves and things that looked like giant potholders to protect our arms) but every now and then the plates or gloves would slip and we would burn the hell out of ourselves trying to get the plates to the tables. It literally took years for the scars I had on my upper arms to go away from those blankety-blank plates. If I saw a small child running around, I would immediately find the parents and tell them (I'd usually show my arms for emphasis) that our plates were smoldering hot and that their kid could be seriously burned if they didn't make them sit down, and the restaurant wouldn't be responsible (the wait staff had had a sign put up after we all got sick of burned stripes on our arms from trying not to hurt a child.)

And don't get me started on the chips. Bane of my existence, those chips.

Now that I have kids of my own, I make sure that they park their little behinds in the seat the whole time.

Bad restaurant experience that was just too funny not to share.

A friend of mine texts me at work to invite me out to dinner with a group at a nice restaurant that most of us haven't been to but have heard was great. There was 7 of us total, it's a celebration. One of the ladies in our party was running late, so we ordered drinks and appetizers waiting for her to arrive. The waitress was new, poor thing. She spilled a tray full of drinks on my friends boyfriend to start off the evening. She's appologizing profusly. He's really good about it, we all get a good laugh out of it. We're joking around with the waitress about it, (to the point where when she comes back with drinks we're yelling "incoming!" and laughing). So the late friend shows up and we all order dinner, and the waitress skips over one friend. We get her to come back and get the order. We see her write it down. I think she asked twice for a specific pasta with it too. Food comes out eons later, the one she almost forgot doesn't get any food. We get the waitress to come back and they don't have the order for missing food. Drama ensues, we've been there for like 2 hours already and the girl needs to get home. The owner comes over and says she'll make the food quickly and it'll be on the house. We've got to tell them like 3 times what it is. OK so finally she gets her food. My friend gets up to use the ladies room. I end up going two minutes later. Right before we go, the waitress tells us that they are going to give us all free dessert for our inconvience. My friend comes out (it's a one seater) and says the toilet is overflowing. I go in and there is water pouring out of the back of the toilet all over the floor flooding the room and we can't get it to stop. My friend is wondering who we should tell. I'm like the first person we see! So we tell bus boy whoever that the toilet is overflowing all over the place in the ladies room. (He' going thru the dining room with a mop) Now I'm stuck because I've drank a lot and I really have to pee bad! My friend tells me to go in the men's room because it's just a one person anyway and she'll watch the door. So I go in and lock the door. She decides to quickly go back to the table because she saw the dessert cart coming and wanted to see the tiarmisu. Needless to say the lock on the door didn't work and some man barged in on me in the men's room on the john. Thankfully I'm wearing a long skirt but I'm horrified still. He's like "you're in the mens room!" Friend comes back of coarse after I've been barged in on. We go back to the table and of coarse have to share. The guy who had the drinks spilled on him decides to tell the waitress that he's the "Phantom Gourmet" to cap off our perfect evening. (TV show here that does restaurant reviews and no one knows what the person looks like) The poor thing looks like she is going to start crying and die. She just had to be thinking she was going to get fired for sure. We have to tell her that he's just kidding and leave her a really good tip for the heart attack we just gave her. It was the biggest restaurant drama I've ever been part of.