I woke up too early

After getting about 5 hours of sleep, about half of what I normally get since I don't have much of a social calendar, I am up and blogging.

Okay, I will more than likely go back to sleep soon but not until I relate the story of how a customer, yesterday, tried to ruin my night by embellishing just how tragic her life was.

At 4:45 pm, I ordered food for this table of two women. They were kinda snobby to begin with but they are a customer and you get what you get. Anyway, she got her food at roughly 5:00 pm and began eating it. At roughly 5:05 I inquired on the food, to which responded that it was good. Five minutes passed and noticed that she needed a refill. Five minutes or so later they stopped me to see if they get a free refill on a non- free refill drink. I watch their plates closely, as to see if they need boxes, and in that time the restaurant fills up. By the point of 20 or so minutes later, I inquire if they need boxes, giving them ample time in which to eat their food, when the customer pulls out the jerk card.

You see, if I might stop the story here, this is where it gets ugly. Most customers are peaches. They enjoy themselves, realize it is a meal and they are relaxing and having a good time. They also realize that it is Saturday night and most people go out on Saturday nights so they don't lose their mind when things go wrong or take a little longer. Unfortunately, this woman was an exception. She about lost her mind, demanded that her food be free, because I "ignored her" for an unrealistic amount of time and, when a manager suggested that I give them free dessert, she got mad.

Now, understand that body language is key in a restaurant. If a couple of customers are chatting away with the food squarely in front of them, they are usually not done eating and want to be left alone. You watch them every time you go by, making sure they don't want to leave right away. This woman's body language did not change from eating to done eating. Granted, it is my job to still ask, but, unfortunately on this evening, I was both sick and had an object hit me on my head, causing a bit of problems but nothing major.

The moral of the story is two-fold: Don't underestimate a customer based on body language. Sometimes they don't give off any. The second is don't go out to eat angry. I could tell, when they first got there, that they meant business and seemed little involved with having a good time. The fact that the woman "watched" me go to my other tables, being sat all around her at a frenetic pace, and not being willing to understand that it was, once again, Saturday night at a high-volume restaurant, got her a free meal she did not deserve. Nothing was wrong with her food or beverage service. She even told the manager an embellished amount of time to make her seem more pathetic. 

And I wonder why I have server nightmares...