'He took it too far': Petty Family Leave Restaurant a Bad Review in an Attempt to Get an Extra Discount

Author image for Sienna Varady
Sienna Varady
Jan 10, 2024 5:00 PM EST

As we often say, being a customer service representative has perks as well as drawbacks. But what happens when hierarchy enters the picture? If we're being really honest here, that means you will most likely be forced to work every holiday, birthday, and significant occasion up until a new hire steps in to take your place.

The following story tells an account of a distressed server who had to work on Christmas Eve. Since OP was a new employee at the time, she was forced to give up her Christmas Eve and work a shift due to the unwritten laws of good customer service. However, things became worse when an entitled family came in and demanded to be served. The father of the family made it his goal to criticize OP periodically throughout the night. But rather than caving into the father's constant stream of insults, OP remained firm in her determination to continue providing them with the best possible service.

After a hard night, the family departs (thanks to the manager, who kindly gave them an extensive list of discounts), but the story doesn't finish there. After a few months, the restaurant manager receives a letter… So, if you are curious to discover what was written in the letter, what actually happened throughout the night, and how OP handled this nightmare of a family, check out the story below! And when you're done, check out the story of the girl who forced her roommate to vacate the apartment so she could throw a party!

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  • 01
    was shaking from nerves dealing with this guy..."
    via Canva
  • 02
    Big Fish Server Ruins Family Christmas
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 03
    This is a long one. I could probably shorten it, but I still feel all the anxiety, rage, nervousness, and sadness I felt then, every time I think about this event. Maybe posting this will be a kind of therapy, who knows. Anyways...
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 04
    About twenty years ago, I took a job waitressing at a nice-ish local seafood restaurant (not a chain restaurant, but not quite upscale) while going to college. Being the newest (and youngest) waitress on staff, I was stuck working all the
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 05
    terrible shifts, including Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve that year. On Christmas Eve, I had the table from h 1. It was an 8 top: mom, dad, an ancient grandma in a wheel chair, maybe an aunt and uncle, and a
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 06
    couple of older kids. My only interaction was with the dad the entire time. He started out by ordering a bottle of wine for the table. I retrieved the glasses and wine, and presented the bottle to him. Before I could start opening the bottle, the dad inspected every
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 07
    single wine glass and started berating me loudly about how the glasses smelled like cigarette smoke and he demanded clean glasses. I took the glasses, ran them through the bar glass carousel washer, and brought them back. This wasn't good enough; he claimed he could
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 08
    still see the smoke and now he saw water spots on the glasses. They needed to be hand washed. When I could finally produce wine glasses clean enough for him, I opened the bottle of wine at the table. Or, at least I tried to. I was shaking from nerves dealing with
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 09
    this guy, and completely mangled the cork right in front of the whole table. I removed the cork and presented it to him, which he ripped out of my hand and threw it on the floor. He demanded a new bottle, so I had my manager bring him a new one and open it for him. Of course
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 10
    everything was perfect when the manager was there. I was able to placate them with baskets of warm bread and an appetizer for the table, and everything seemed to be going fine after they ordered and while they waited for their food. Their food
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 11
    came out quickly and I handed out their meals. In a hurry, I grabbed the second to last plate of food off the tray, not paying attention to where the last plate was positioned. This caused the plate of food to flip the tray off the stand and shatter on the floor. As I was cleaning up the mess,
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 12
    the dad yelled at me, telling me I was useless, etc. I was practically in tears. Thankfully, the meal I dropped was the fried seafood platter, which was the easiest thing to re-fire, you just toss a bunch of seafood in the deep
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 13
    fryer and throw it on a plate. The replacement meal was brought out within minutes. I checked in with the table, everyone was enjoying their meal. I thought I could finally take a deep breath and relax. When I asked if they wanted coffee or dessert after their meal, the dad demanded
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 14
    to speak to the manager. The manager talked to them, and came back telling me all the complaints the man had about me specifically. He said he knew the guy was full of s t, but had to give him discounts anyways because he complained. I took the discounted receipt to the
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 15
    man and he made me stand next to him while he read through the bill line by line and loudly complaining that he needed to make sure he was compensated for putting up with such horrible service. They paid and left, and I spent the rest of my
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 16
    Christmas Eve so emotionally drained, I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. About three weeks later, my manager received a letter from the guy. In big, bold red letters at the top of the page, he wrote, "BIG FISH SERVER RUINS FAMILY CHRISTMAS"
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 17
    In the two page letter, he proceeded to complain about every single thing I supposedly did wrong. Some of it was true, like having to wash the bar glasses and breaking the wine cork. But other things were just blatant lies, like apparently I had been belligerent to his wheelchair-bound
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 18
    mother, or I was sw ring at the people at the table. According to him, I was some f -mouthed diner waitress who threw their food at them. The manager laughed and posted the letter in the kitchen for everyone to see. He apologized to me, letting
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 19
    me know that he wouldn't write me up for such an outrageous complaint, but he did have to send the guy some gift certificates since he wrote the letter. I couldn't believe my manager was rewarding his horrible behavior and obvious lies,
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 20
    but they always did that and called it customer service. If I wrote a letter about the customer, it would say, "AS OLE CUSTOMER RUINED BIG FISH SERVER'S CHRISTMAS." I never saw the guy again, but if he used those certificates, I hoped he choked on whatever he ate.
    via u/AdrasteiaNyx
  • 21
    ineedvitaminsea · 26 days ago The minute he threw the cork I would turn over the table make the manager take it. Your manager should have never given them a discount. That's why they act this way, they know they complain and throw a tantrum and get rewarded from their behavior.
    via u/ineedvitaminsea
  • 22
    messeis 26 days ago Exactly, after that moment this table was not going to get any better.
    via u/messeis
  • 23
    belaxi · 25 days ago "I have to give them gift cards because they wrote a letter" Actually you don't. And you shouldn't.
    via u/belaxi
  • 24
    magiccitybhm. 26 days ago The manager should never have given discounts if he knew you had done nothing wrong. That's spineless. I would never have stood there while he read the bill. The j k got his
    via u/magiccitybhm
  • 25
    discounts; there's no reason to continue embarassing and harassing you. I would have gotten the manager again, and in many places I've worked, the manager would have told the man never to return again.
    via u/magiccitybhm
  • 26
    This guy came in looking for problems (and ultimately discounts). He won. The more that places cave to j ks like this, the more they continue.
    via u/magiccitybhm
  • 27
    AHOY foxylady315 26 days ago · Too bad it was 20 years ago. If it were recent I'd be getting the guy's address and making his life a living hl.
    via u/foxylady315
  • 28
    Cakeriel 25 days ago And manager rewarding customer even if they didn't believe letter is why this happens.
    via u/Cakeriel

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customer service Like a Boss christmas boss letters expectations vs reality tales-from-the-workplace karen-customer reddit story restaurant petty family Reddit tales from your server karen holidays
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