‘These people baffle me’: Server asks customers to leave five minutes before restaurant's closing time, they reluctantly comply, only for server to get reprimanded for their actions

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Feb 3, 2025 7:00 AM EST

Various restaurants have different policies when it comes to their closing time. Let us explain–say closing time is at 11 PM; Some restaurants will close and clean up the place at 10 PM and refuse customers coming in during that last hour; Other restaurants will wait until it is 11 PM sharp to close and will accept any customer who comes in by then; Then you have the restaurants that take the middle approach, where they subtly start closing up at 10 PM, praying no other customer arrives, but if they do, they will serve them until they eventually leave. 

Dealing with customers who come in at the very last minute is something every server dreads, since it is never a pleasant experience. For some reason, those customers love to take their time, have no respect for the people who serve them, and never leave without putting up a fight.

At least, that is what the server in the story below felt like they had to deal with when a whole family arrived at 10:15 PM and stayed seated until they were eventually asked to leave.

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  • "He stormed off before I could get a word in"
    via Enes Evren

  • "Family Man Gets Mad That We're Closing"

    First time posting. You know this is gonna be a fun story when this involves customers and closing. This happened a while ago, so I don't entirely remember all
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • the details, but I remember all of the important details. So, to start us off, understand that the pizza place I work at (which will go unnamed, but some people may be able to
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • guess) is usually open from 10:30 AM to 10:00 PM Sunday through Thursday, but is open until 11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday. I can't remember exactly which day it was, but it was
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • either Friday or Saturday, since we were still accepting customers even past 10. I'm in the back, cleaning dishes. I've actually had a fairly good day this day, and most of the dishes are taken care of.
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • Around 10:15 or so, someone opens the front door and asks if we're open (dumbest question in the world - it's written on the door itself). Of course, we have to say that yes, we are, and we say that we close at 11.
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • The moment we respond in the affirmative, this guy, and like three or four generations of his family come strolling in. A young-ish couple, an older couple, and a really old lady in a wheelchair. I think there
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • were more people in their group, but I can't remember. The really old lady and the young couple, specifically the guy who came in and asked, are the ones to keep in mind, though.
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • They order their food and sit down at a table. Great. They wanna eat in. That's gonna keep us here longer than we would've otherwise. They get their food. After... about 15-ish
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • minutes, they've more-or-less finished eating. Rather than leave, though, they choose to sit around the table and continue whatever conversation they've been having, leaving their giant.
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • piles of trash and plates on the table without us being able to do anything about it. I'm still in the back this entire time, by the way, taking out trash and cleaning the floor.
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • Around this time, though, my shift manager (who I will henceforth refer to as just "manager") comes in the back and complains to me about this group, and how they're basically just sitting on a mess
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • and won't let us clean it. Irritating, but not a whole lot we can do about it. "The customer is always right" and all that Ethat we're told. Cut forward to about 10:55 PM. Think they've moved? Ha,
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • nope. They're still there, still yammering away, and there's still a giant mess on the tables. I'm more or less done with the back at this point, and the manager comes to the back and asks me to tell them that
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • we're about to close and that they need to get ready to leave. She would, but she's been told by higher-ups that managers shouldn't be doing that sort of thing (for some reason). I agree, since, you
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • know, I'm about done anyways. So I go out there. "Excuse me, but we're about to close." One of them shoots me a dirty look and says, "Yeah, I know."
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • SNACKS&SIDES SAUCE 41
    via Lacheev

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "Alright. Take care." I don't think much of this exchange, but as they're all finally putting their sh away, the young guy approaches me. He looks at the manager and says, "You? You're okay."
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • And to me? "Hey, man. My grandma's in a wheelchair, she eat slow! You don't have to be a d² k about it!" And then he storms off before I, or my manager, can get a word in.
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • Uh, what? They came in less than an hour before closing, with a wheelchair-bound elderly lady, and continued to hang around talking even after they were finished eating, all the way to
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • us locking the door, and they have the gall to get mad at me for telling them we were about to close!? What!? Kind of petty, I know, but the sheer audacity of these people just baffles me. Anyone else have to deal with a h les like this?
    via ChaosDestruction100

  • While this server was positive that they did nothing wrong in this interaction, people in the comments down below had to disagree. Keep scrolling to read what they had to say about the server asking customers to leave five minutes before the actual closing time…

  • jejdhdijen This seems crazy that you're unable to remove empty plates from the table. Everytime I've eaten food in a restaurant, the server has been able to take plates from the table.
    via jejdhdijen
  • Chaos Destruction 100 OP We're a fast-casual place, where the idea is that you take your plates to a designated spot to then be collected. You know, you come in, make an order, food is made quickly, and then you put your plates in a bin on the way out.
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • creomaga What does being in a wheelchair have to do with eating slow?
    via creomaga
  • PresentationLimp890 Customer is always right, but only in the matter of taste.
    via PresentationLimp890
  • Jazigrrl At my restaurant people are allowed to linger up to an hour after close.
    via Jazigrrl
  • Chaos Destruction 100 OP Interesting. Different places, different methods, I suppose. Though if your scheduling accounts for it, it probably wouldn't be as infuriating as it can sometimes be with other places.
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • SaintBellyache If they come in at 10:15 and you're open til 11 why get upset? Go work for a place that closes earlier. And unless you have to pull drinks for license reasons giving a warning
    via SaintBellyache
  • about closing times before you're closed is a dk move. Maybe try to encourage business in that last hour and make more money in the long run instead of being a dock and ping off people
    via SaintBellyache
  • bdog1321 Not allowing you to clear the table is weird. You were in the wrong for saying that before close though
    via bdog1321
  • Sneaker_Pump Um, you were open until 11. It appears they left at 11. What's the issue?
    via Sneaker_Pump
  • Chaos Destruction 100 OP It's probably worth explaining that how our restaurant operates is that we begin cleaning the store and preparing for closing about two hours before we actually close. The idea being that we shouldn't
    via ChaosDestruction100
  • have to be in the store for very long after we lock up for the night. So people showing up at this time and sticking around actually can cause us some serious problems.
    via ChaosDestruction100

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