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About 10 years ago, I was working in a bar. It was a very busy sports bar. It was in an odd part of town. It bordered right on the bad side of town and the uppity side of town and was surrounded by various colleges, tech schools, and other forms of higher education. We would get an interesting mix of folks.
One evening, when we were busy as usual. I had the cocktail section plus a smaller section in the restaurant area but they were pretty close together. The cocktail section was full and when one table would get up another would sit down immediately. I had some that sat all night and others that were in and out.
I had just gotten triple sat, plus you are expected to wait on the people at the Golden Tee machine, plus all the jerks that grab your arm as you run by for their drink order because they think grabbing the waitress would be quicker than going to the bar....those who have waited tables know what the heck I'm talking about - I was BUSY!
One of my cocktail tops (as we called them) cleared. Two people walked in and I am not one to stereotype people nor am I racist - but, basically, they were crackheads. Period. They seemed nice enough at first and I always give people a chance.
He ordered an E & J & Coke. Okay, she didn't know what she wanted. I told her I'd be back since I was swamped and couldn't sit there while she squinted at the bottles on the bar trying to decide what was what and what did she want....so I head off.
I return to the table with his drink and I put it in front of him and say that it would be $4.25. He picks up the ketchup off the table and starts to put it in his drink. I'm just staring at this thinking "WTF?" while he is doing this, he hands me $3. I look down at the money and was just about to say "this isn't enough" and I only got out "This is.....
She says, "I'll have the same thing. Give him his money back and we'll pay all together."
I try to hand him his $3 bucks back and tell her he had not given me enough when she sees that I am only handing him $3.
HER: There's only 3 bucks there!
ME: I know, he hadn't....
HER: You said it was $4.25. Where's the rest of his money?
Mind you my, once he put the money in my hand, my hands never left their view. I never reached into my apron or my book. My hand, with the $3 rested on the table in view the entire time (which was inside 1 min from when he handed it to me to when she started her tyrade)
ME: He only gave me $3
HER: You said it was $4.25
ME: He didn't give me $4.25
HER: WHERE'S THE REST OF HIS MONEY?
ME: THIS IS WHAT HE GAVE ME!
At this point, she slapped me.
To this day, I still do not know what it was that kept me from beating the ever living crap out of her or AT LEAST hitting her back! I spun around and went right to the manager who was behind the bar at the time and yelled
"GET THEM THE &%^# OUT OF HERE. THE *#^%! JUST SLAPPED ME!"
My manager came out from behind the bar and got the other manager. By this time, the couple had made it out the front door. Unfortunately, for them, we were located on the street where two cops always walked a beat and the two of them happened to be hanging out at the store next to us.
Manager grabbed the cops. Woman was arrested for assault. The best thing about that was it was the Friday night of a holiday weekend. She was definitely sitting in jail the entire weekend plus Monday!
I had witnesses who filled out reports as to what they saw so I didnt even have to go to court.
The other sucky part of this story is, while this was all going on, I still managed to run my station. I had to. I worked for a place where, even though it was not legal to do so, if someone walked their check - you had to pay for it. While this was going on, another couple from another table got up and I caught them walking out the door without paying....but I got them back in to pay it!
I think that, by far, that was my worse experience. As I said, I still don't know what made me not hit her because God knows I freakin' wanted to!
One evening, when we were busy as usual. I had the cocktail section plus a smaller section in the restaurant area but they were pretty close together. The cocktail section was full and when one table would get up another would sit down immediately. I had some that sat all night and others that were in and out.
I had just gotten triple sat, plus you are expected to wait on the people at the Golden Tee machine, plus all the jerks that grab your arm as you run by for their drink order because they think grabbing the waitress would be quicker than going to the bar....those who have waited tables know what the heck I'm talking about - I was BUSY!
One of my cocktail tops (as we called them) cleared. Two people walked in and I am not one to stereotype people nor am I racist - but, basically, they were crackheads. Period. They seemed nice enough at first and I always give people a chance.
He ordered an E & J & Coke. Okay, she didn't know what she wanted. I told her I'd be back since I was swamped and couldn't sit there while she squinted at the bottles on the bar trying to decide what was what and what did she want....so I head off.
I return to the table with his drink and I put it in front of him and say that it would be $4.25. He picks up the ketchup off the table and starts to put it in his drink. I'm just staring at this thinking "WTF?" while he is doing this, he hands me $3. I look down at the money and was just about to say "this isn't enough" and I only got out "This is.....
She says, "I'll have the same thing. Give him his money back and we'll pay all together."
I try to hand him his $3 bucks back and tell her he had not given me enough when she sees that I am only handing him $3.
HER: There's only 3 bucks there!
ME: I know, he hadn't....
HER: You said it was $4.25. Where's the rest of his money?
Mind you my, once he put the money in my hand, my hands never left their view. I never reached into my apron or my book. My hand, with the $3 rested on the table in view the entire time (which was inside 1 min from when he handed it to me to when she started her tyrade)
ME: He only gave me $3
HER: You said it was $4.25
ME: He didn't give me $4.25
HER: WHERE'S THE REST OF HIS MONEY?
ME: THIS IS WHAT HE GAVE ME!
At this point, she slapped me.
To this day, I still do not know what it was that kept me from beating the ever living crap out of her or AT LEAST hitting her back! I spun around and went right to the manager who was behind the bar at the time and yelled"GET THEM THE &%^# OUT OF HERE. THE *#^%! JUST SLAPPED ME!"
My manager came out from behind the bar and got the other manager. By this time, the couple had made it out the front door. Unfortunately, for them, we were located on the street where two cops always walked a beat and the two of them happened to be hanging out at the store next to us.
Manager grabbed the cops. Woman was arrested for assault. The best thing about that was it was the Friday night of a holiday weekend. She was definitely sitting in jail the entire weekend plus Monday!
I had witnesses who filled out reports as to what they saw so I didnt even have to go to court.
The other sucky part of this story is, while this was all going on, I still managed to run my station. I had to. I worked for a place where, even though it was not legal to do so, if someone walked their check - you had to pay for it. While this was going on, another couple from another table got up and I caught them walking out the door without paying....but I got them back in to pay it!
I think that, by far, that was my worse experience. As I said, I still don't know what made me not hit her because God knows I freakin' wanted to!
Great story, glad to hear it turned out well.
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