Yes, please come in a half hour before we close and stay a half hour AFTER closing!

[Kittykat]

As some of you know, I recently returned to the hospitality industry. I'm a cashier in a restaurant/store. Friday night, I closed and we had THREE tables come in a half hour before we closed. No biggie, we figured we could get them in and out. Nope, they each stayed a full half hour after closing, and then stiffed the waitress on tip. Note to SC's, if you're going to come into a restaurant a half hour before closing, and stay an entire hour, TIP your waitress!

[bainsidhe]

What's sad is just how many employees have to stay late if a patron takes their time after close. You have the server, of course, but also the manager, possibly a busser or cashier, etc. Not to mention, you can't really give a proper cleaning while someone is still there.

We used to have a particular patron that would come in and order shortly before close, and then stay a full hour or more past closing. After eating, he'd sit around looking at ads for dating websites. He actually left some print-offs one day, where he'd written comments about each woman's "attributes". It was shortly after that that management had a conversation with him about staying after close.

[Kittykat]

Exactly, myself the cashier, the kitchen staff who had to re-clean everything and wash dishes after. The manager, and the waitress all had to stay and wait until they were done so we could leave.

[notalwaysright]

I've seen this somewhere, I can't remember where maybe Seattle or L.A., where people are out at night later? Anyway, the restaurant closed at like 11:00, but said clearly that no orders would be taken after 10:30.

[Captain Trips]

Many restaurants used to post hours as:

Kitchen closes at XX:30
Dining room closes at YY:00 (30 minutes later.)

Why not suggest that to management?

[Kittykat]

The bad part is, where I work they keep the kitchen open until closing. Which, in my opinion if you want to eat at 11 @ night and know the place closes at 11, call in a to-go order. You can eat at home and we can leave!

[eltf177]

I feel signs should be made and clearly posted. These state that if you come in X minutes or less before closing an automatic gratuity will be added to your bill as you will be forcing the staff to stay late on your behalf. This ensures that everyone gets well-remunerated for having to stay late and that a horrible patron cannot stiff the staff after pulling this stunt.

Of course, "they never saw it" and will refuse to pay!

[Evannah]

They didn't leave a tip? That pisses me off. They've inconvenienced the staff with their mentality of "We're customers, so we can do whatever we want, whenever we want and we are always right" and then just pretty much rubbed shit in the staff's faces by stiffing them. Pricks.

There's no way I'd eat out at a restaurant past 8:30. The only place we do that at is the all-you-can-eat buffet because they don't actually stop serving until 11pm.