Thank You

Before I get a bad reputation for constantly spitting venomous, invectives targeted at A-hole customers, I would like to, first, express my love for the job that I have. For the most part, I truly appreciate working in the service industry and have always taken pride in what I do.

It is, actually, BECAUSE of my passion, and devotion to my job, that I address certain issues as adamantly, and fervently, as I do.

With that being said, I will never apologize for the asshole customer. They are cancerous, morale-breaking DBAGS that need to be made aware of their violations. It is them that give the service industry a bad name. Ironically, however, it is also the service industry in which allows their behavior, if only to preserve, as well as perpetuate, the cyclical nature of the business.

It is my duty, as well as my mission, to give excellent service to every customer I wait on, on any given shift, on any given day. I have a tremendous amount of pride in what I do. However, I also have a tremendous amount of self-respect. It is not in my constitution to allow some asshole to treat me like dog shit. We, as a society, are told to always exercise self-assertion in any adverse situation we may encounter. However, the "customer is always right" mentality seeks to eliminate this self-assertion process, thereby rendering a server weak and indefensible to an array of degrading, disrespectful, and, at times, hostile behavior.

I can't stand for that and I never have. So, it is no surprise that a lot of my posts will be aimed at said DBAGS.

However, a lot of my posts will be stories that recognize the gracious efforts of awesome customers. These people make the job totally worth it. These people are WHY I do what I do. They are good-natured, good-humored people that are a pleasure to have. I am thankful to these people and the relationships I've engendered over the years.

So, to the customer that makes the job worth doing: Thank you! Keep Coming. I am honored to have you.

"Hey, I'm the Customer!"

Just the other day, I had the incredible privilege of witnessing a customer, with his elitist "We're-always-right" attitude, be stricken from the restaurant by the owner himself.

In walks a party of 2: a married couple. As they approach the maitre'd, they request a table by the window. The maitre'd responds by saying: "Well, we don't have any window tables available at the moment right now, but we can get you as close as possible." Upon hearing this, the customer retorts with a blatant lie by saying: "We were told we could reserve a window earlier today when we called to make a reservation."

Now, knowing that the restaurant NEVER reserves window seats because that, of course, would gridlock hundreds of people every night, the maitre'd calmly responds by saying: "I'm sorry, sir, but we do not reserve tables by the window. If you would like, you could have a drink at the bar and when a table by the window is available we will get you seated."

This seems to dismay the customer so much so that he adamantly counters with: "We were told we could have a window. GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER." Now, this customer clearly thinks he is in a restaurant in which he is blanketed by this false, bullshit mantra, that the "customer is always right."

Boy, is he about to get a wake-up call.

Before the maitre'd can even spit out her response, the owner jets out of his chair and confronts the 'customer'.

"Why, don't you get your act together?!"

Now, I'm sure many of you reading this (especially FoodGod) will think that this is an extremely immature approach on behalf of the owner. Well, the owner is only demonstrating that self-assertion in the restaurant is not entirely lost.

The customer now, very much engaged, says: "Hey! Don't BE RUDE!" This seems to express just how myopic this DBAG's perspective really is. Apparently, he didn't find his original comment about getting our acts together to be rude. The owner wants to remind him of this.

"I'm not being rude. You said we needed to get 'our acts together.' That's rude, is it not?"

Clearly having no other valid defense, the customer feels as though he can rely on that unforgotten mantra; that impenetrable suit of armor every asshole customer hides behind. In an attempt to exercise his "rights" as a customer that is never "wrong", he reasserts to the owner: "HEY! I'm the customer!"

to which the owner responds by saying:

"No you're not, you're leaving!"

The look on the face of this jerk was the best thing I have seen in ages. Feeling the embarrassing sting, the DBAG customer attempts one last time to assert his machismo and, thus, dominance. Heading out the front door he turns around, raises his hands high in the air, and challenges the owner to "step outside."

To that complete asshole, I recommend this:

Take your rude, the "customer-is-always-right" elitist attitude to a restaurant where you can get away with such behavior. If it is in your code to treat people like shit, I am sure you will flourish in the spineless, corporate restaurants that expend their own employees on your behalf. I suggest you go ruin the lives of helpless servers in any, and all, of the following restaurants:

Joe's American Bar and Grill
T.G.I.Friday's
Uno
Chili's
Cheesecake Factory

Thanks