Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Half-eaten Meal Walk-out

So the other night I'm at work, when a familiar couple walks in. I've seen these two before at one of my previous serving jobs. Suddenly a memory sparks somewhere. These people have caused me trouble before. I recall them sitting staring at their food, not paying the slightest attention to it, for a good 10-15 minutes before starting to eat. Two bites into it, they complain that their food is cold. Okay sure, I can accept that. They were lost in conversation and now their food is cold. So I take it into the kitchen, noticing that their food is still steaming, and reluctantly reheat it for them. Once they got their food back, they took another two bites of it, and the lady comes practically running up to the counter where I'm standing and tells me that half of the food isn't cooked and some of it is burnt. Some logic, lady. Not cooked, but burnt somehow. She goes on to tell me that she refuses to pay for it, and doesn't let me get a word in edge-wise before heading for the door with her husband.

Flash forward to the present.

I know where this is going to be heading very very soon. So I go ahead and take their order, and take it back into the kitchen, and tell the cook to make sure the food is hot, as I've had a history with these people. She agrees and starts making their food. A few minutes later, I'm behind the counter after serving another couple and taking their order, when I notice the lady staring at me. This seems awfully familiar of them as well. So I check and make sure everything is okay, and they don't seem to have any problems. They still continue to stare though.. But whatever, I can deal with someone with staring issues. Not comfortably, but I can deal. So the food for the other table comes up before theirs does, because it was two orders of chicken fingers, as compared to their two spaghetti dinners. As I look over towards the side of the room they're sitting on, I notice the lady's face contort. She's pissed. Obviously someone doesn't get the concept of a deep fryer. So I take their food out, and the spaghetti dinners come out shortly after, and are taken to them right away, as I know the lady isn't happy about not being priority #1. So they start eating and looking over at me, and looking over at me and eating. Suddenly, another customer of mine comes up to pay for their meal. As I'm taking care of them, the lady rushes over to my co-worker and starts talking to her. I know what she's up to. I gave the guy his change, and look over as the couple is walking out the door in the same way they did a year before. They informed my co-worker that the spaghetti wasn't cooked, and the sauce was burnt. Odd, because I had a table order a spaghetti shortly before that the customer couldn't get over how good it was. But, alas, once again they've walked out on me without paying. Now I'm not one to automatically assume that the customer is wrong, so I go over to check the food. Sure enough, the spaghetti is perfectly fine, not to mention two-thirds eaten.

So this time I decide to tell the boss when he comes in. Ironically enough, the cook actually knew the lady, and was able to get her phone number. My boss ended up calling her and informing her that the next time she gets a free meal on her own terms from the restaurant, the police will be informed. Well played, boss-man. Well played indeed.

I'm excited to see her come in again...

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6 comments:

  1. Awesome, I love reading about drama like this lol.

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  2. lol, this stuff is just so fun to read-but probably not fun to experience. My ex is a server and she hates people that do this too.

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  3. Can't believe there's people like this in the world, but that's how it is.. Have a good one dealing with this *good customers*

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