Ten rudest things customers do to make servers wish you'd never come to their restaurants

HeHeHeHe...Im a server and make more than you.

This has to be the most inane, asinine, and downright stupid article and comment chain to ever have appeared on the Westword online. We all have jobs. They all have quirks. What makes a servers' problems any different than that of anyone else doing a job for someone? 

Everyone just shut up, go back to work, and be cool. Fuck. 

 guest "arrogant and rude." You are VERY, VERY WRONG!! I am actually *NICER* than the servers because I still tell them "THANK YOU" even though they don't say they are sorry most of the time when they make mistakes. I do ask nicely for things "Can I get another coke" even saying "Thank you." "whom they deem "beneath" them." They are beneath us A LOT of times because we are more KNOWLEDGEABLE about the MENU and the JOB than MOST SERVERS ARE!!  When you have to point out things on the menu and it's your FIRST TIME THERE, it's sad, it really is that *YOU* KNOW MORE THAN THE SERVERS, EVEN MANAGERS EVEN!! IT'S PATHETIC AND SAD, IT REALLY IS!! "This article was spot on." It's not spot on, because nobody has to talk to the server like they are a friend. We are there to be SERVED with what we want *OUR* money to be spent on, which that is OUR TIME, NOT the server's time to decide on how it should be.

 "because you are an annoyingly picky person" Anyone who says this is **********LAZY*********** AND **********UNCARING***********!! "This is personally insulting to most of us and makes us not like you anyway. Your the same kind of diner who grabs the salt and pepper shaker off the table before tasting the food and douses it with both. Most of the time your food is prepared to be flavored just right. By ordering sauce on the side not only are you messing with this balance and perfect flavor of the food, but you are also not allowing us to present the food in the way it was intended, something we pride ourselves on." First off, nobody's taste is the same. Secondly, if it's not your money, you have **********ZERO*********** say so in what the customer wants for *THEIR MONEY*, not only for the food, but for the tip they are paying as well for the service. "If you want to make your food the way you like it cook at home!" Sorry, but my money makes me *****************ENTITLED************ to the food the way ************I**************************** like it. TOUGH SHIT if you are too LAZY ASS to serve it that way. "i have to stop and double check the ticket, then double check while the salad is made, then double check to make sure the server took the right one." AWWW, POOR YOU, you actually had to do some ***********WORK************! WHAT A LAZY ASS, LAZY ASS, LAZY ASS, UNCARING ASSHOLE!! Seriously, FUCK YOU!! WE RULE THE SHOW, NOT YOU!! FUCK YOU!! I don't order it on the side and none on the food, I order **********ALWAYS******** ******************EXTRA CONDIMENTS*****************, so I have MANY SIDES of ranch, mayo, mustard, honey mustard, etc. "Can you see how this would be annoying?" NO, because I am not ************LAZY************* like you are.  I want to not be bored on the job and I like having something to do. I am not like you. "So for all you customers who order sauce in the side, please stop! " WHY, so you can be LAZY on the job and so you can get it *YOUR* WAY when you aren't paying us? FUCK YOU!! "You slow down the kitchen, other customers satisfaction, and are a largely hated part of the dining community." SO WHAT? No customers are tipping basing on other customers, meaning, NO OTHER CUSTOMERS CARE ABOUT *OUR* DINING EXPERIENCES, WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT THEIRS? YOU ARE FUCKING LAZY, YOU REALLY ARE!! "We are more than happy to bring you a sample" That's more work, WHY? I like to have *EXTRA* condiments. I get it on the food and on the side. Like I order 3 or 4 sides of ranch with a side salad. I order ranch with bread even. Why would you rather not give the customer want *THEY* want, huh?

" 1. Refusing to say "Please" and "Thank You" should result in a mandatory sentence to repeat preschool." Refusing to say you are sorry when a mess up happens creates a lower tip in most situations.

" 10. When a server comes to greet your table, don't -- I repeat, don't -- interrupt her midway through her preamble to demand a diet Coke or vodka on the rocks. Worse, if she asks what kind of day you're having -- as in "How are you?"-- and you respond by demanding a menu, free bread or water, no ice, then I hope she gets your name and number and prank-calls you at 2 a.m. I've seen guests behave in this fashion a dozen times over the course of the last month, and it's beyond rude." Actually, it's beyond rude to ********PURPOSELY *******DELAY********* SOMEONE FROM ORDERING AND BEING CONTROLLING ON HOW *******WE****** WANT TO SPEND **********OUR MONEY****************(remember *WE* PAY FOR THE SERVICE, NOT YOU*). In all honesty, it's the ********SERVER********* that is being VERY RUDE FIRST, don't you understand that the *LONGER* you take to get our order, the *LONGER* we have to WAIT because of ****************YOU********************? Also, there's no "DEMANDING" anything. This is a **************JOB***************, so STFU and just take our orders. We don't need to tell you how we are doing. It's none of your business honestly. What if  *************YOU************* just waited an ***********HOUR*********** for a table how would **********YOU************* feel getting delayed on purpose MORE, huh? We don't have to respond, because you aren't paying us ANYTHING. ************WE RULE THE SHOW, NOT YOU***********!! WHEN YOU PAY US, *THEN*  YOU CAN TELL US HOW TO RUN THINGS, UNDERSTAND? Why do servers care about this so much? WHY don't you see that it turns and burns the tables ****************FASTER************ if you SHUT YOUR MOUTHS AND TAKE OUR ORDERS? It's ***********OUR MONEY************, so it's up to *******US********* on HOW we spend our time, NOT YOU CONTROL FREAK!! YOU HAVE CONTROL ISSUES, YOU REALLY DO!! It's our money.  It's not YOU tipping us.  WHY can't realize that *YOU* are BEING RUDE FIRST BY PURPOSELY ***********************DELAYING**************** US FROM PLACING OUR ORDERS, HUH? I REALLY DON'T GET THAT, I REALLY, REALLY DON'T?

The sad fact that you're not willing to face is that there an operative word here: "server" (or "waiter" or "hostess").    That implies service, that YOU as the server is providing to ME as the customer. Is it arrogant to state that fact?   If you really don't believe in that model, then you probably shouldn't be a thirty year old trying to convince yourself that your hourly wage job is really some kind of "profession" that you can proudly tell your parents about.  Have fun trying to pick me out of the crowd, because like most customers I am actually a pleasant, undemanding person who enjoys a night out without my children and tips my servers 20 percent no matter how bitchy they are.   

You have no idea what you are talking about and you are exactly the type of uneducated, judgmental, arrogant customers who we as servers dread. Maybe you have continually gotten bad service from servers who "don't care" because your shitty attitude and arrogant behavior frustrates your server. And despite how you probably feel, just because I am your server doesn't make me sub-human, and if you treat me like shit, I will treat your food, your experience, and you personally just as badly.

Ahhh, the cardinal rule of thumb is, DON'T FUCK WITH PEOPLE WHO HANDLE YOUR FOOD DUMBASS!!!

Thank you SO much Lori for writing this article!!! From all of us that work in the service industry & LOVE our jobs, it's nice to have someone stand up for us & not just lump us all together with their angry words on yelp. :) cheers!

You try handling the job. I think people are clueless about the finesse and multitasking skills it takes to wait tables in a busy restaurant. It should be part of high school education. Of course there will be people who don't give a rat's ass about their job - those exist in every industry......but that doesn't give people the immediate right to be rude and dismissive. I try to practice politeness and attentiveness anytime I'm dealing with any sort of service industry employee, even in the Taco Bell drive thru. 

I've worked in the restaurant industry for going on 13 years.....here and in Brooklyn and I just want to say thank you for writing this list!!! I read Sean Kenyon's response, in fact our boss at work passed out copies and I agree with him, servers and bartenders SHOULD NEVER make a guest feel like we are doing them a favor BUT  a little consideration towards us goes a long, long way! It blows my mind how rude customers can be towards their server - not acknowledging us when we say hello or check on them, never saying please or thank you.......this stuff happens more often than not. I want to scream at customers when I return shortly after their entrees have been delivered to see if everything is okay or if they need anything else and they ignore me. It's my job to do so - if you don't want to be bothered, stay home.

"you now get to treat us like hired help" S-E-R-V-I-C-E  I-N-D-U-S-T-R-Y

Whose the dick for calling his customer's vacuous bimbos and emotionally castrated pricks?  It just shows how much respect that denver chef has for his customers.  His chest-beating about the enjoyment he gets throwing customers out of this restaurant tells me all I need to know about how angry he is being in this business.  Why bother, if you really hate it that much?      

Stay at home if you can't get it together to do your job; I'm not paying you to bitch and moan about your personal problems.      Wait staff is getting paid to notice who's at their tables and whether they've been served or not.  90% of the time, when a table has been sitting unserved for twenty minutes the waiter damn well knows he fucked up.  He just needs to acknowledge and move on.  Don't expect a pleasant response when you try to cover up your mess by completely ignoring it.   Case it point I was at one the finer Italian restaurants in town a week ago, and there was a half and hour between the time our salad plates were taken away and when the second course was served.   The waitress chose to ignore it, when it was apparent to everyone that we were waiting for a very long time.  It would have been nice for her just to say, "Hey I'm sorry the kitchen is a bit late on your pastas, but I'll get them out to you as soon as they come up."  It's busy, we know, we just like some acknowlegment that there is a problem so we don't have to wonder whether you're actually trying to solve it or not.

And you've become the troll.....

You should prrobably sit your grouchy ass at home if you think pursed lips is the best way to convey emotion. The waiter isn't clueless but they also aren't beneath you. How do you know they aren't busy? or dealing with regulars? or having family problems? My niece passed away recently and I had to work the next day. I probably wasn't on the ball that night. Get over yourself and show a little understanding.

I love this post. So many denver diners are too used to the "pleasentries" of chain restaurant dining. I do believe that they truely dont know what it is like to get a quality meal made with fresh quality ingredients and prepared in house from start to finish. As for the post about the calorie watching on sauce on side. Bull shit. You are just so used to being a pain in the ass that you see no wrong in it. Order your calorie watching SOS at Chili's or Applebees where you belong. If you are going to a quality restaurant that actually has trained chefs on hand, then allow them to do what they do best, which is provide a great dinner/lunch/brunch for you. Especially now that 50% of the Denver population has every alergy thinkable that chefs are forced to deal with. Just stay at home and yelp about the pet store or metro transportation that didnt satisfy you. Dont make up an alergy for yourself like a 5 year old because you dont like it, or are not up to the challenge of actually trying something new.

Yes, it is a business transaction, but that doesn't mean that you need to be an ill mannered prick.  If you don't like that, then feel free to dine at all the shitty chain restaurants you can (TGI Fridays, Cheesecake Factory, Chilis, etc) where they probably will put up with your behavior, while happily overcharging you for some crapass dish involving too much cheese and butter in order to smother the poor quality ingredients lurking underneath.  Enjoy, dick.

Actually, there IS specific dining etiquette.  The fact that you and at least 17 other people don't know that is evidence that blogs like this one are, in fact, quite needed.

You are a fucking moron.  Now go troll elsewhere.  

 Was this a real steakhouse, like Elways, and not something like Lone Star? You should have called for the manager immediately.

Denver has the worst servers (and management) in any city I have ever encountered.  THE WORST customers too.  Podunk.  

Amazing! I have been a server/bartender fur over 13 years abs I couldn't agree more! You nailed it...

The bottom line is if the customer modifies something, maybe even excessively, then the establishment shouldn't have to stand behind that dish as being something great or good. If you modify the dish, you are on your own, there is a reason it is on the menu that way, never send something back or complain about a dish after you've stripped of one of it's main ingredients, ie, "I ordered this without gorgonzola and now it just doesn't taste like anything...." well, duh, that's why it had gorgonzola on it. If you can't eat the blue cheese, talk to your server and they can usually find you another dish that you can eat and that will taste great....

If I ask you if you would like anything else, don't answer with the clever response, "I'd like a million dollars." Context is important, that sort of question is for the shady investment bank of your choosing.....

After reading the article and all the comments I don't think I ever want to eat out again.  Customers suck.  Servers have it so rough.  The guys in the back of the house sound like complete assholes.  Where did it all go wrong?

That's outrageous. I would have walked out.

Bingo !

About No. 1, I agree that it's rude to ignore the waiter's pleasantries, but you sometime have to take that in context.  Sometimes when you bring them up short, you're really telling the waiter:  We have been sitting here twenty minutes and had to ask someone else to get us the menus because you forgot about us while you were chatting and laughing it up with the table of ladies  while completely ignoring the rest of your customers."  

"The words 'too fucking busy' shouldn't be in a waitresses vocabulary."  - Mr. Pink, Reservoir Dogs I'm all for being cordial, polite, nice and understanding. I treat waitstaff with respect, but I'm not out to make a lifelong friend. The alpha and omega of your job description as a server is in the name. You are a SERVER. You are here to SERVE me and my needs. If you don't like waiting tables, quit. And if you want sympathy, try Hallmark.