The painters are back for sure. After going to bed around 2 this morning, they woke me up at 8 yelling at each other in Chinese and throwing tools to the ground from the 4th floor scaffolding. At 8:30 one guy started using a power chisel to take out some concrete.
I made eggs for breakfast and then went to work. It was a great shift except for one table. It was 3 ladies, as a male server this situation never goes in my favor. After 7 years of waiting tables, I have found the 6 groups of people who are notorious for leaving bad tips. They are, in no particular order: women, old people, teenagers, minorities, foreigners, and Christians. I’m not saying this happens all the time, but stereotypes exist for a reason. This table was 2 of the 6 groups, possibly 3, I didn’t ask their religion.
Everything started out great, I asked for ID when they bought alcohol even though they were 20 years over the legal drinking age. When I finished taking the drink order, I asked if they would like some garlic bread to munch on before the meal. This is a trick waiters use to get you to buy more food so the check amount increases, which makes the tip amount increase as well. They were a bunch of needy broads who kept asking for more dressing, extra cherries, extra this, extra that. I smiled and fetched their requests in a timely manor. When I dropped off the check they asked me to split it. This is another sign that I’m not going to get a good tip. I separated the bill and then they waved me over to ask why I charged them for garlic bread. I explained that it was not complementary. They informed me that Red Lobster, The Outback, and Olive Garden do not charge for bread.
I knew my tip was dwindling so I went to a manager and asked him to take their bread off after explaining the situation. Because the customer is always right, he removed the garlic bread from their check. As they were leaving, I thanked them and wished them a good day. One of the ladies came back in and demanded to know why she didn’t get to keep her glass from the drink. I explained that the drink she ordered did not come with the glass, nor did I charge her for a glass. She demanded that she receive a glass. I told her that I could charge her for a glass but this was like throwing gasoline on a fire. She started yelling and swearing at me.
It was a loose-loose situation for me. Had I charged her for the glass, she would have gotten upset, since she didn’t get the glass that she didn’t pay for, she was upset. Before I had a chance to say anything that would have ensured my unemployment, a manager ran over to her from the bank of the restaurant. They could hear her yelling at me from the office. The manager did not give her anything for free which sent the lady storming off swearing at all of us. Once she left, I looked to see what they tipped me. The other two ladies tipped 15-20%, but the angry lady left me nothing. They wrote the tips before the glass situation happened. I secretly hope she steps off the sidewalk and is hit by a cement truck.
The rest if the shift went very well.
I got home around 5 and we had chicken and vegetables for dinner. I decided that I wanted ice cream so Rebecca and I went to the store and bought ice cream and rented a movie.
Rebeca went to bed after the movie and I went for a late night ride on my moped for about 20 minutes before the ice cream started attacking my lactose intolerant system. I rushed home and saw 6 police cars in the parking lot. One of my female neighbors was screaming at her husband or boyfriend about with whom he may or may not have had recent acquaintance. Her words were much more colorful and being screamed from the top of her lungs. Strange that my dealings with very angry, very loud, and overly emotional people were both women…..
I stayed up late again to watch Sons of Anarchy.