People assume you are an uneducated, low paid servant, meant to cater to their whims. Being uneducated you have no other options, therefore you will accept their treatment. That was the explanation given to me one time. I no longer work in the service industry, but do recall some very rude people! A customer went after a special needs cashier I worked with once (calling her retard) and his dad joined in. Thank God we had a manager who supported his staff and he told the guys to get out of the store before he bashed their heads together! That is key - a manager who has the balls to deal with rude individuals who have no power in their lives and therefore feel the need to humiliate those the perceive beneath them! I have said to customers "I am sorry you are having such a bad day, but I don't appreciate you taking that out on me - is there any way we can make your dinner more enjoyable?"! It makes them feel like a schmuk all while remaining polite. My best horror story though was a date I was on once. The guy was so rude and condescending to the server, I excused myself to go to the washroom and left the restaurant as soon as the meal came. The best part was I had picked him up so he was stuck with the check and had to cab it home! Before I left, I apologized to the waitress for his behaviour, gave her a good tip, and told her I was leaving. She gleefully said she would pass on why! I never called him again and did not return his calls. Being rude just is not an attractive quality!
2007-02-06 12:37:47
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answer #1
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answered by Baby boy arrived March 7th! 6
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Don't feel bad, it isn't just restaurant workers, it is everyone in a job that directly serves the public. I'm a nurse, and people can be just awful! Not so much the patients, but he families!
I keep the smile and the professional demeaner, but neither will I let them say or do things that impedes the patient"s care.
A good manager, who knows how and when to squelch bad behavior is essential. Making fun of a mentally challanged worker is not OK, some imperious behavior could be overlooked. Calling the server bad names, or inappropriate touching, no.
People are rude, because we are an attention seeking society, any attention, even negative, is what society wants. It is a power trip for such a person. Best way, usually, is to ignore it. That takes away the reward for the bad behavior, which is your attention on it. People see other people acting out, on TV, and out in public, see the attention paid to such people, and want that, too.
But in the public's defense, we have all had bad experiences in a restaurant. One chain has lost my business. The server and the waitress accidently bumped into each other, dumping an entire pitcher of ice tea on our table, ruining 1/2 eaten food, clothing, even found ice cubes in my purse. No apology, no replacement of food, no calling of the manager, no cleaning of the dripping table, nothing. What did happen was the waitress followed the server into the kitchen, and fought with him over who caused it. Until my friend talked to another waitress, and insisted the manager be called, and asked for new food, the table to be cleaned, an apology, etc., nothing was done, we just sat there, with the tea dripping into our laps. And it was all done, but so begrudgingly! The manager said, well, it was an accident. So, what, I'm sure they did not conspire to throw ice tea over us on purpose! My friend got a coupon for another free meal, and was told to send the manager the cleaning bill. The corporation sent her a letter, saying they were not responsible for any accidents the customers might have experienced. No more Red Lobster! Not now, not ever! Got home, and my checkbook was soaked with tea, a minor expense, but still! We all agreed, after we got outside, that if an apology had been offered immediately, and the food replaced, we would not have said a word. Nor did we make a scene, we were polite, quiet, just firm in what we expected.
Managers out there, empower and train your employees to take action when such a thing happens, they should clean up immediately, and offer new food, and report to the manager as soon as possible. Or maybe the first step should be to call the manager, so he can take care of things immediately.
2007-02-06 21:31:01
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answer #2
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answered by riversconfluence 7
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I think it really is because they can get away with it. They think that we are somehow less than human and we need the job so we can't say anything back. I have been a server for 3 years and have waited on some pretty low people the funny thing is that people think that we are servers because we are uneducated. I work it because I love it! (most of the time) I have a Bachelors and have plenty of experience doing other jobs. Many of the servers I wait with are educated. Some are not, but at least they have a job and they are good at it! And serving is also a gift. It takes a real servant to truly be a good server. One story I do have though was when I asked a gentleman if I could take his plate and he didn't answer me, completely ignored me. He had some rib bones left on his plate and so I knew he was done. SO I tried to clear his plate and he says to me, I said "No" are you hard of hearing? So I left the plate and as I was walking back down the aisle with some other dirty dishes I could hear him using some profane language describing my hearing abilities. His daughter and wife came and apologized later and told me he had no right speaking that way. He has a bad temper, I hadn't done anything wrong. That made me feel better. The daughter also told me that he was there to meet her boyfriends parents. What an impression!
I agree and Mr. Be Happy needs to get a serving job. I always said it should be some kind of law that everyone has to work in the service industry at least 6 months so they can get a clue as to what people really have to go through!
2007-02-06 14:40:03
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answer #3
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answered by Always Hopeful 2
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Many people are rude to servers b/c they can be. Most likely, the server just wants to make an honest days work and they will not defend themselves b/c of it.
Also, many people view servers as someone lower then themselves. Just b/c they make less then minimum wage and are basically a paid servant.
Being a server is a very thankless job. Those who have never worked in the restaurant biz, have no idea how one runs or works. Food does not just appear on the table. Everyone must work in order for a restaurant to function properly. People don't get this, and don't give proper credit.
It's really a shame, in any situation, that someone would have the nerve to make another human being feel so bad about themselves.
P.S.~~U B Happy, do everyone a favor and get a serving job. Come back in a month and tell us what you think about the profession now. I worked for many years in the customer service industry, and encountered the WORST and most RUDE customers, in restaurants.
2007-02-06 12:59:20
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answer #4
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answered by Answer Girl 2007 5
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Personally I always do my very best to be gracious to people who serve me. I do this for several reasons.
1. I sincerely appreciate what they are doing for me and the people that I love in my party.
2. I have a good idea of how hard the servers work; day in and day out.
3. I have a good idea that the servers pay is not the greatest.
4. It makes me feel great to treat other people with respect, especially when they don't expect it.
5. I like to leave excellent tips. I leave 15% for terrible service, which I rarely get. I most always leave more than 20%. I leave significantly more when the meal tab is low in order to help the server.
6. I love to go back to places and have the servers remember me.
7. Most servers consistantly do a great job, or at least are always trying to. Sometimes things can go wrong no matter how hard we try, and I appreciate the sincere effort.
2007-02-06 12:36:12
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answer #5
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answered by Bullwinkle 4
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Although I work as a cashier at a fast food restaurant I can totally understand. People treat us as if we are low class idiots who have to make minimum wages by taking their crap. In reality these people are unhappy in thier lives so they take it as a treat to take it out on their servers.They dont care that we are married with kids or paying tuition to a prestigious college, they just care that at the end of the day they have the "Satisfaction" of being "better off " than us when in reality they are worse. Id rather have some asshole throw change at my cash register and not say thank you and go home to something thats totally worth it than some big house where you know that your wife is banging the butler in the basement.
2007-02-06 13:06:52
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answer #6
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answered by KittenKisses R Us 5
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In my experience, rude customers are just frustrated but than again I worked in a shabby bar type of resturant that was part of a hotel, so guests were more likely to be picky at times. Most of the time I was able to chat with guests, but even my most uptight guests (who breathed down my neck) tipped me, so it was all good.
I've also had a really bad experience with a waitress once. But I won't go into that.
2007-02-06 15:35:19
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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I had two women out for lunch and one was being rude. I smiled and went about my business and finally her friend says to lay off. The woman said "She's a waitress, that's what she's there for."
I just think how miserable their lives must be that the only power they can derive is to be rude to a server.
2007-02-06 12:29:37
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answer #8
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answered by T.I. 3
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Sometimes the only power that "little people" have (and I don't mean size) is to intimidate and downgrade those whose job it is to serve them. Rise above it if you can. These people aren't worth losing any sleep over.
2007-02-06 13:18:55
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answer #9
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answered by Lilliana 2
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whilst i became into sixteen, I labored at a ceremonial dinner room and that i became into waiting on a table of warm adult males in tuxes, for the duration of a marriage reception. They have been loud and partying, and when I went to place the boat of gravy down on the table, the guy raised his arm and it went throughout him. He jumped and stated he became into ok. Thank God he became right into a million/2 under the impression of alcohol! on the comparable place, we had a bong teach and we've been the California Raisins, and an previous woman gonged us. We had made up a grape jelly pie and we threw it at her. needless to say, she became into donning an entire white polyester healthful. i be attentive to it ruined it, yet she took it in stride! Now with my cutting-edge interest, i've got been there 20 + years, and that i dropped 4 hen strip dinners on the floor. i've got spilled water on a guy. I spilled espresso on a guy, i became into refilling his cup on the counter, and the common adult males have been busting me, and that i wasn't paying interest. yet all over lower back, I pulled the espresso clear out whilst it became into nonetheless brewing and the guy sitting on the counter at the back of me, have been given burnt. yet all over lower back I served a chili burger, and a technique or the different I in basic terms dropped the plate on the table, and it have been given on the girls shirt, yet she became into stable approximately it. yet all over lower back, a guy have been given a warm chocolate to bypass, and that i overfilled it, and he went to take a drink and it went down the front of him, in a white shirt, and thank God we are pals and that i had my Tide pen. Which did artwork. One time we've been ingesting at a Mexican eating place, and a waiter dropped an entire enormous around tray of grimy dishes on yet another shopper! We went lower back afterwards and the waiter became into nonetheless there. It happens to each physique. After something like that happens, you get scared yet after an afternoon or so, it relatively is the superb option lower back to the well-known. we are no longer appropriate. each so often we would prefer to drop issues on people! And it relatively is humorous the way it regularly happens to the superb people too. yet all of us have undesirable days. it will be extra appropriate day after today!
2016-10-01 13:17:21
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answer #10
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answered by Anonymous
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