Then to close the night I had a table come in, clearly looking a bit shady. The two men ordered two expensive dinners, and then an extra "big ass" lobster tail to boot. $83 worth of food. 10 minutes after close, the first guy gets up and goes to the bathroom. Never comes back. I'm keeping my eyes on the second one. I've seen this play out way to many times in my career, and I'm not about to let this guy walk on his check. I cleaned every table in the area 3 or 4 times. He kept trying to get me to run to the kitchen for things, but I was onto his game. I was going to wait him out. He boxed up his food, and sat there, with one arm in his jacket and one on his food box for 15 minutes. Then he picked at his salad. Then he pretended to be on his cell phone (the guy with him earlier had 2 cell phones that never stopped ringing). I actually saw him dial and then whisper into the phone. I know the other guy was waiting in the parking lot. He fidgeted. Picked some more at his salad. I closed out all my other checks. He was getting nervous. The more jumpy he got, the more I stayed in his section. I kept cleaning tables between him and the door, and I could see him glancing at me from time to time. He'd ask for a box for something, not realizing I had them stored in his section. He would ask for a new drink, and I'd get it from the beverage station where I could see him, and he could see me. I would close out other table's checks without turning my back to him. The game was on, and I wasn't about to loose. After an hour of messing around with his salad, rearranging his food in his to-go container, after 2 extra glasses of ice, and at least 5 faked phone calls I could see he resigned himself to paying.
People trying to walk on a check get really nervous, and this guy was sweating bullets. He was looking like a greyhound on meth he wanted to run so bad. 3 times I saw his pal pull up to the front door in his hoopty with spinners. The doors were long locked, and I knew I was going to out wait him. Eventually he pulled out some cash, $85. He kept his eyes down, he was ashamed, I could tell, and he knew I was watching him. The check was $83.12 and the prick wanted change. So I worked the last hour for free, because you know he wasn't asking for change back so he could add money for a tip. The guy got great service, especially before I caught on that he was going to try to skip the check. I did special requests for him, and even saved him some money by knowing how to get him what he wanted in a way cheaper than he had in mind when ordering.Stereotypes exist for a reason. It's too bad the good people of this guy's race get categorized because of his trashy ass. There's nothing more that I would like than to erase racism, but this guy is setting the cause back 40 years. Before I waited tables, I was aware of stereotypes, but I didn't have much of an understanding for why they existed. Oh to be so naive again.
Related Tags: Red Lobster, Seafood, Restaurant, Seafood Restaurant, Food Service, Service Industry, Management, Leadership, Bad Customer, Customer Service, Bad Tips, Rims, Spinners, Punk, Band, Punk Band, Tatoo, Piercing, Hoopty
2 comments:
The last walk out that I witnessed were two white guys who were either coked out or on meth. They weren't my table, but I did see the second guy run out the door. A fellow co-worker "Hank" had asked me to watch them with him, but it was mid evening rush so it was hard to keep an eye on them and work. They were also seated at the table closest to the doors, which in our store (Roseville, MN) is about 6 paces from the parking lot. I was watching them, and so was Hank. The first guy went to the parking lot, and the second guy (facing us) picked at his meal and looked very nervous and twitchy. Hank had his back turned taking an order at a table 15 feet away, and I glanced down to put some ice in a glass (while still facing the guy), and by the time I looked up I could see his leg exiting the first of our two enterance doors. I took off after them (as did Hank when he saw me head for the door) but to no avail. I couldn't just run through the dining room and lobby (there were lots of guests). The first guy must've had the car running around the side of the building, and they were out the lot and a half block away before we made it outside. With all the cars coming and going that time of night it was impossible to tell which vehicle it was. I don't think Hank got written up, but I did have to fill some stuff on the forms where we track this kind of thing. Our store has gotten better by not seating the booths closest to the doors late at night.
I did have a table of two young girls (a pair of sisters, probably 15 and 8) last week who didn't have enough to pay for thier meals. It was one of those cases where it was clear by the young woman's embarassment/distress that this was genuine. We comped part of a meal, and charged a bit back on to get it to the amount of money she had with her. Not much else you can do with a young person in that situation.
Nice blog btw.
Big Chris
Back in my waitressing days, we had an elderly couple that came in a few times a month and walked out without paying.
After a few months of their stealing meals I finally asked my boss why he continued to let them come in and eat, leave without paying. I could not fathom it as my boss was so damn tight he'd scrape mold off of strawberries in order to be able to serve them for a few more days.
He knew they were stealing. They knew they were stealing. And yet it continued month after month after month.
It seems the tightwad had a soft spot for the couple. He knew they only came in at the end of the month after all their social security benefits had run out. They had some health issues that ate up a huge chunk of money as medicaid did not cover them.
The boss wanted them to have a meal when they needed it. He knew they would not have done it just because they could.
Very different situation from yours, though.
I hated being stiffed too. Or worse the smart ass college kids who put the "tip" (read a quarter and other small change) into a half filled glass. Better to not tip than to be a prick about it.
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