To anyone who's ever worked on the food industry/a restaurant, what's the worst kind of client you can think of?

>work in a restaurant as a waitor
>some middle aged guy orders steak, his wife orders chiken
>ask how he wants the beef done, confirms medium
>bring the dishes, lady starts yelling and spitting all over
>" is your service always this bad? you never asked me if I wanted medium"

>about 30 years old woman wants to order steak
>ask how she wants it
>"how do you mean?"
>"well done, medium...?"
>"like... what?"
>"would you like to have your steak cooked throughly or left rare in the middle or?"
>"like, you mean, like, mild or like extra spicy?"

>"what does the chef recommend?/what's your best shit?"
>tell them everything about the food and wines they ask about
>"okay well not even hungry really would just like a beer"

Just plain fucking stupid customers annoy the shit out of me

Here's the thing that you have to realize:

Many employers (not just in the food industry, but elsewhere) do not schedule people assuming they're going to need to close down. For example, I work in retail, and we are frequently scheduled until 9:15 PM on days where we close at 9. That'd be great, but anyone that leaves before the closing manager says it's okay to leave gets fired, and it usually takes 30-45 minutes to clean the store up after little shits have destroyed it. I'd love nothing more than to be able to lock the doors at 8:30, but it's not a choice I get to make.

So it's a combination of employees wanting to go home when they're scheduled to, and employers who don't give a fuck.

I'm not saying being open doesn't mean being open, but I think people should try to understand the situation others are in.

Friends/family of the owner.

Smug faces.
Louder than others.
Order of the menu.
>Yeah,can you ask Stan to make me...
Consistently there.
Sometimes don't tip
>Boss escorts them out and settles the tab later.
They know your boss so they're your boss too.
>Bossman is not here ? guess i have to keep an eye on you guys harharhar *proceed to pass over the bar and stuff himself on peanuts.

I didn't stay long. Boss was a fucking retard.

>"what does the chef recommend?/what's your best shit?"
If you don't have a particular dish in your mind for when people ask these questions, you're really terrible at your job.

I used to work in a used bookstore. I always had a dozen titles in my back pocket for whenever some moron asks me to recommend a book but doesn't know what they'd like to read and hasn't read anything in his life he wasn't forced to. And I had many thousands of items to choose from. You have what's on your fucking menu.

If we could abolish that stupid "customer is always right" philosophy, customer service would be tolerable.

Can't.

Do that, and some other business doesn't, then people only shop at the other place because they feel they're being respected there.

Bumperino

...

... I can't ask what is good at the restaurant?

Career substituters.

"I want the pear pizza, but I'm allergic to cilantro and I don't like pears. Can I get it with basil and apples instead?"

What the server should have said:
"Unfortunately, we legitimately cannot make these substitutions for lack of apples and basil that isn't in sauces. Perhaps you'd like to try one of the other whacky pizza inventions our self-righteous chef thought up while inhaling his own anal vapour?"

... no... she came in and asked... The chef lost his shit and stayed on edge all night. Night ruined.

Certain dietary restrictions - sure... check the menu, your gluten free option should be on there. If you don't like salmon, try the trout. If you want to make your own menu item, stay home and cook.

How about nuts? I've got a nut allergy (all nuts), and I've pretty much stopped going to restaurants in the last couple years cause of this "i'm ALLERGIC to onions"/cilantro/pears/whateverthefuck, the last few times i've gone they've treated me like I was some sort of asshole for asking them to check to see what kind of oil they were cooking with, or if there was any sort of cross-contamination.
I know it's a hassle and I mostly cook for myself, but I legitimately cannot go out anymore because of faggots that pretend they're allergic to shit when they really just don't like it. I've had my food spat in before, and had an allergic reaction from it. Fucking ridiculous. It pisses me off but I mean, how often does this shit really happen? Are they really THAT bad? Does every restaurant just assume it's a fake allergy after a certain point? I'm legitimately curious.

Everything is good. The only acceptable answer.

Personal preferences of the server are acceptable. The chef SHOULD like everything equally. Any "chef recommendations" should be based on (already known) inventory surpluses and high-profit items. If the customer is seriously asking the server to ask the chef what he thinks is the best and expect to get a non-business answer, they're already living in a fantasy world - another lie won't hurt.

People who ignore the three different signs and notes on the menu that clearly state, "Because our items take several hours to smoke, we only have a limited supply. What we have is what we have, so don't be surprised if we're out."
Then they throw a bitch fit when we don't have something, and our spineless kitchen manager tries to appease them by pulling things too early or raining free shit on them.
Basically, spoiled bitches who don't take "we're out" as an answer.

Fake allergies are rife, especially lately.

I have no problems taking precautions and making substitutions for allergies. Some things cannot be helped though - if we stock peanuts, there's always a risk of cross-contamination regardless of precautions taken. If you want a nut free marzipan, I probably can't help you. If you build your meal from the base ingredients up and we aren't the least bit prepared for it, it's probably going to cause some serious problems and if it's busy enough, the entire kitchen staff will start bitching, because that (and cracking) is what kitchen staff does under stress.

Nah, I never did that, and basic cross-contamination is surprisingly less of an issue than you might think in cooked food, it's just been a total pain cause I got eye rolls the last few times I went to restaurants and asked them to check what oil they fried stuff in. This should be basic information for the wait staff, i'd imagine, but... Well, yeah.

I'm happy after suing the place that had the chef who spit in my food though. I don't think i'll need to work for another 5 years and it gave me some time to learn how to cook for myself.

It absolutely should - my job at this point is basically liaison between kitchen and wait staff, making sure training and execution are consistently on par... not quite health and safety, not quite manager, and not quite above jumping on line, on the floor, or behind the bar if we're fucked.

Good on ya for winning the lawsuit - even joking about that shit on my line is an instant suspension. It's written in big, bold letters next to the clock.

I've only ever worked as a dishdog/prep guy in the kitchen, but it always annoyed me when I would have to wait for customers to leave when it was like an hour past closing so I could wash their shit.

she was trying to figure out where you were getting your food from..

probably a Sysco saleslady

>Customer service in general seems to bring out the worst in people.
Fucking this. So god damn true.

>customers coming in during normal hours of operation
>somehow they are in the wrong

jesus christ, do your fucking jobs.

it is that awful, you are like a person showing Up for a three legged race who has only one and acts like it is everyone elses fault. most prepared food you dont legally have to have nutrition info for, and sometimes the giant freezer boxes dont have the full label. so a costumer is allergic to soy or something. you have to go back, find out what went into the meal, head back to the freezer, heft giant boxes of frozen food down to the three or four boxes of what you used. then you have to read past the half worn tiny print. now if it is lunch rush every second you spend attending to this activity means that you are not waiting on a costumer, cooking or being useful in general and the whole kitchen resents the hold up. also you are in the way as a worker squinting. then, as common allergens are in a lot of things you head back and the person who just dosent get it will inevitably send you on a quest to do it again for another dish. at some point you dont care, everyone is sad, unserved and annoyed because everyone shutdown for you special snowflake. yes there will be bodily fluids in your stuff. now you start to know why.

>"The customer is always" right meme

I want to fuck her

If the customer comes in and orders something when the restaurant is open and gets shitty service because the staff wants to go home, then yeah they are right.

Ye

>probably a Sysco saleslady
I have to order from Sysco.... this doesn't phase me.

It seems like common courtesy to not come into ANY sort of business right before close.

Stop trying to be contrarian.

hey fuck you buddy. People do this all the time where I work and we give them good service but that doesn't mean we have to be happy about assholes doing this.

and fuck assholes who want to have food made for them. Do it yourself.

had a woman say she can't eat anything with onions or garlic in because she's pregnant

>but I think people should try to understand the situation others are in.
There are so many inconsiderate assholes though. And they're all hungry.

when you're a new saleman & cold calling, you don't have time to chitchat.. you need to find some excuse to discover what the cooks are using and progress from there.

my guess anyway -- that she was a saleslady for the same company and was prospecting different territory and she learned that you were using her companies products, and shuffled off to the next grind/restaurant/location.

>They know your boss so they're your boss too.

Holy shit I hate this

geesh, this is the *worst* you have had? god damn. how hard is it to say "Yes ma'am, I'll talk to the chef and pass along your request"

do you hate tips?

Fuck off

this sentence is well constructed to enrage. kudos for the nuance and application.

Women are the worst, and especially women with beta men that they feel the need to dominate by complaining about their "mans" order. I want to brain them both whenever I encounter them. However, the worst of all are the black women, as they seem to take particular joy in treating the staff like absolute shit.

Allergenic items should be common knowledge for all staff. Such knowledge saves repeat bullshit runs. If you are new to the kitchen, you have an excuse - ask an experienced staff member.

The menu is the product. If you don't care enough to know what you're selling or making, why bother?

>I've had my food spat in before, and had an allergic reaction from it.

Seriously? Did someone eat a few peanuts and then hock a loogie into your food or something?

that's the plan soon. First 48h off in months. I'm going to go develop brain damage.

Wait why is this not okay? I've done this to customers and they were totally able to figure out what they wanted. Usually it ends up being a matter of, they see something on the menu, are unsure of if it'll be good or not, they get a confirmation which causes them to try it at least.

And just because I think something is good, doesn't mean they will. Everyone will form their own opinion once they eat the food.

top fucking kek, are you my manager by chance? Where is my raise, Phillip?

Yeah but when all your food is ordered from Sysco you don't get the same product every time.

brings another thing to mind...

"What's popular?"

Are you looking for a side of social confirmation with your meal? I'd rather be asked "What's good here?" at least then I can answer with "The company." or something equally likely to get me hated.

I get why it's being asked; it's just an irritating way of going about it.

>the company
that's douchey and I would never say that especially where I work, jesus fuck. That's simply untrue.

Also everything where I work is good except our bullshit of a Reuben sandwich. I like making it though so I will recommend it.

So basically, your employer treats you like dirt but you're angry at the customer instead, for coming into a restaurant to get food.

Yeah because the customer refuses to understand the Manager is actually at fault and not the employee they're throwing a fit at.

Consistency is key.

We stopped working with Sysco because of this, ultimately, but our second-to-last sales/contact would always let us know if we were getting a substitution or if a product would be changing.

Fuck your raise, Derek!

No idea who Phillip is. He sounds like he needs a day off if you work for him.

Places like that don't stay in business very long, I've seen that shit too many times, and they always end up closing. (And going through staff like crazy, because no one wants to work there).

The owner of my place keeps a personally loaded comp card. His comps come out of his pocket.

If he's not using it during a given week, he offers it up - half the meal comes out of the person's tips, and Marco covers the rest.

He's a good guy.

yea but you've got pansy mofo with more and more obscure allergies, because carering snowflake culture grows rampant,. soon enough someone is going to come in and say that they cant have anything carried on a wood floored truck at any point because they are sensitive to the chemicals used to cure truck flooring wood specifically. then to save the hassle some major manufacturer is going to have legal idiot warning at the end of their ingredients, may have been transported in wooden floored trucks.

Don't work in a Restaraunt but I do work in the service industry (Hotel). The two worst kinds of people are:

1. Upper Middle class assholes paying bottom dollar who expect to be treated like royalty and waited on hand and foot at a venue that is CLEARLY not geared towards their type of clientele, and again I want to emphasize they're paying BOTTOM dollar and usually are getting shit on sale.

2. Lower Middle Class and Upper Lower class assholes who try to scam you by faking outrage, injury, and indignation. The fuckers who manage to "step on a staple" or "find a bug" and then neither can be provided for proof, or be seen again by the eyes of god and men.

Other than that I get along with just about everyone. I try to keep in mind that I have no idea where people are coming from - they could be having a really, really bad fucking day/week/month/year/life before they speak to me, and while that doesn't excuse them being rude, it means I can be sympathetic and cut them some slack. It's only when people are PERSISTENTLY rude despite being helped given what they want that it starts to irritate me.

Pro-Tip: If you want some kind of special service, a bend in the rules, or just something out of the ordinary be nice to the staff and they'll usually be happy to do whatever.

>If you don't care enough to know what you're selling or making, why bother?

Possibly because they make minimum wage/less than minimum wage and their positions are regarded as highly disposable. If managers didn't treat employees like garbage, you'd get much more effort/care out of them. Conversely, if employees weren't lazy niggers all the damn time, Managers wouldn't treat them like garbage. It's a vicious circle.

Shorten operating hours then. Open means open.

And still nothing will be done about that - it's unavoidable.

Sometimes all you can do is warn people.

yup...

It's amazing what you get when you move away from the slave/driver paradigm.

Better profit/loss ratios, that allow for higher pay for one.

That's code for "what's turning over quickly" so I can order something relatively fresh instead of that one menu item that's prepped once per week and just sits around

>He sounds like he needs a day off if you work for him.
Nah, he really does. But I got a promotion and do way more work now for the same damn amount.

Also god I wish we used anyone but sysco. They're always fucking late and have given us unnecessary items on more than one occasion that we had to return.
Owner won't listen to me or the other guys. Infuriating.

>when you have to clean a grill because some jack ass is claiming to be allergic to salt

however reasonable is it the disruption and irritation it causes results in a percentage of the time, someone spit in your food. so if you have allergies know this. none in a high test job has time for that.

Waited and bartended at a sushi restaurant located in the world's most stereotypical Rich White People town. Yuppie money and old oil baron money converged to create a well-to-do city of holier-than-thou filthy rich Baptists.

Everyone was an asshole. The picture of shitty rich people. I thought it was a Disney meme or something, the whole rich people being cartoonishly shitty, but it's real. It's so real.

The worst was when they'd bring their small children. You have money, assholes, don't bring your 5 year old to the fucking sushi joint. They don't even want fish. They'd end up asking for a cup of white rice, which would always end up in a fantastic nightmare mess all over the floor.

The one and only time I had fun working there was when a party bus of visiting rugby players from the UK showed up just before close. That shit was a party for all involved.

Only plus side was that rich assholes tip handsomely. Still not worth having to deal with their awful asses.

Nothing sits for more than 24h. Some restaurants will do 48 for certain items, but obviously everything has to be within health and safety standards. The checks are random.

They're asking what's good. If everybody likes it it must be good.

It's probably just my inner hipster screaming "THEY'RE YOUR TASTEBUDS! DON'T BASE YOUR DECISION ON POPULARITY YOU FUCKING SHEEP!"

Sounds like shitty biz man. I hope it turns around in your favour.

the issue is that niggers read a Yahoo! click bait link on some obscure fucking disorder that affected some Fuck rod in a 4th world shit hole and suddenly the reason they are to fucking lazy to mow the lawn when they get home from work is a life threatening allergy to moth farts within 100 miles of their food. Since apparently you convinced a jury of your pears your story was at most 49% bullshit I want to congratulate you. Your bodies failure to exist in its natural setting when exposed to food stuffs normal to your species is what Darling would point out as a great reason for you not to reproduce My advice? Buy a fucking epi pen and wear a rubber. You have done a great job so far of ducking god's plan but I wouldn't push it.

I had a friend that used to work in a restaurant where multiple people asked for chicken parm without the chicken. they just wanted the breading part with the sauce and cheese.

obviously they couldn't do that.

when you have a company-wide meeting because this one woman is known for using her genuinely allergic to everything kid as a cash cow in the locality and you hand out pictures of the person and child so as to have the manager take care of them..." no mam, im afraid there is the possibility of cross contamination on everything here"

guys the child even looked frail what a pathetic stain that woman.

Fuck you keyboard, i said peers not pears.

mozzarella sticks lol

but, yeah, obviously prep time is a factor. If they're not on the menu, they're not prepped, and obviously not an option.

Pears are notoriously difficult to convince of anything.

how many times can you sue, get just reimbursement for medical bills most of the time.... but more like 2% of the time and put your child's life on the line....
I suppose flicking a peanut at the kid would have killed it as surely, but not made her any profit margin.

Apparently the predictive keyboard just shit all over...

my local butcher closes at 7. I show up at 650 sometimes and they usually have a few people in there. they pretty much expect to close down around 715 it seems, but that's a neighborhood butcher where they know a lot of the customers' names, not a restaurant. I don't feel like I'm imposing when I show up right around their close. I just don't ask them to cut me something special, I usually grab a couple steaks already in their case.

dude, it's a pregnant lady. there's so much misinformation and lack of knowledge out there, you can't really blame her for being extra careful.

No. Fuck pears.

see that's fine
you're in and out in like 3 minutes, maybe longer if you shoot the shit with people you know

not like in a restaurant where you sit, have wait for food to be cooked for you, have the staff wait for you to finish eating, etc.

>have the staff wait for you to finish eating,
This. You can't hold the staff hostage cause you want to eat out. Go home you've been there for 30 minutes.

the big eight allergens should at least be understood. the rest are fairly unlikely to be an actual anaphylactic allergy (besides maybe drupes) it's not as big of a deal.

people who say "I'm allergic to garlic" because they don't like it can fuck off back to their home kitchen.

fuck I can't actually imagine being allergic to garlic

apparently it's a real thing
that would suck so hard

It just seems so rediculous to order that. it's like asking for a hamburger without the patty.

just ask for the pasta or whatever side, they'll probably sell someone that if theyre with a group that are ordering regular things.

generally it's a sulfide/sulfite allergy

could you imagine a world without wine, garlic, and 50% of the species of antibiotics?

I think I'd just suck it up and put up with allergy symptoms if they weren't that bad.

If they were potentially lethal, tell my mom I died doing what I loved.

Allergics are a hassle really. Worked in a sushi place, and we had a woman who was allergic to both fish and soy. So after cleaning the entire kitchen and making sure everything was fine we served her. But after that she returned twice every week and we had to repeat the process each time.

it's probably more inconvenient than a wheat or soybean allergy.

People that are impatient and belligerent.

Had a customer a few weeks ago in my coffee shop that ordered a no foam latte. Simple enough drink but I had three others, a couple of them that took a little more effort, ahead of his.

Fast forward to getting to his drink, and just as I'm about to start he bitches at me. I give the usual non combative replies (including how I like to ensure quality). I hand him the coffee which has spilled because I'm arthritic, and he complains about that too.

He eventually called management but they had my back due to multiple witnesses.

So yeah, if you want coffee on the quick, go to Starbucks or get drip, don't yell at me when I offer to remake the drink and refund you, cunt.

why would someone with a fish allergy eat sushi that isn't from guy fieri's restaurant?

It's only come up twice, but the owner and chef have done "specials" for people with severe allergies who were smart enough to call ahead and reserve for their groups. That's not a huge deal at that point - the prep's done, the staff is educated... Someone has to give up half a prep-station and someone else has to give up a burner for an hour. We've been weeded worse than that before.

>has fish allergy
>regularly visits sushi restaurant
???
What would she even eat? Bullshit avocado rolls? Inarizushi?
Mankind is a mystery.

maybe one of guy fieri's "gringo roll" specialties?

ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=40&threadid=79563

We made up some vegetable gunkans, shellfish nigiri and stuff (no inari though because those were marinated in soy). I honestly don't know why she kept coming back.

why don't you make her a roll with pulled pork and french fries on it?