Jack*ss of the day award

[Palsgraf]

In 150 words or less.

My nomination goes to:

Customer orders a hot tea from his waitress (fortunately not me). When he asks for honey with it, she explains that we don't have an honey at the restaurant.

"Let me tell you a story," he says. "When I was at Disney, they told me they didn't have any honey for my hot tea. So they went to the store and got some honey for me."

Thinking he was just joking around, the waitress laughed and said smiling, "Well, I'm a little too busy right now to run to the store for you."

But he wasn't joking. He was angry. And her laughing & refusal to go fetch him some honey certainly didn't help.

"I just wanted to tell you that story," he said angrily, as if it was a lesson she needed to learn if she wanted to become a 'good' waitress.

[Jester]

1. Technically speaking, Disney IS a Mickey Mouse organization.

2. No, they really didn't go to the local store to get that for you. Disney is a HUGE COMPLEX, and it would take a good ole time to leave the premises and go to a store to get you some honey. Disney is good with their customers. They aren't idiots.

3. YOU, sir, are an idiot if you expect me to believe that.

[MiloMorai]

"Then you should be ordering tea at Disneyland then shouldn't you?"

[Emrld]

Some places do have the ability to go above and beyond to do things like go to a store.
At a place like Disney - due to all the different areas somewhere on compound they had honey for cooking with. Granted they most likely didn't leave Disney itself- they basically did leave that area to go to another to get the honey.
I agree, this man came across as rather pompus. So I don't excuse the behavior . . .but I can follow the logic.
He had someone he most likely saw as beneth him laugh at him in his face. . . of course he got mad.
What if it was another food based establishment . . not Disney? Would you still feel that he was asking too much? Just curious.

[Jester]

What if it was another food based establishment . . not Disney? Would you still feel that he was asking too much? Just curious.

I think he was asking too much, period. The fact that he mentioned Disney just made me laugh at him.

Okay, let's put Disney aside for the moment. Let's say I am the server, and that Mr. Honey is in my section in my restaurant. He orders his tea, asks for honey. If we don't have it in the service station, and the kitchen doesn't have it either (yes, I would check with the kitchen), then he expects me to leave my station, ignore my other customers, leave the establishment, and go to a store to buy his honey?

From my two current places of employment, the closest grocery store (convenience stores may or may not have honey, grocery stores are pretty much guaranteed to) is 4 blocks or 5 blocks, depending on which establishment I am working at that day.

Does anyone REALLY think this is a reasonable request?

If this were a coffee or tea shop, perhaps. But a normal everyday restaurant? They may not normally stock honey. They may have no demand for it, either from customers or in any of their recipes. They may have run out. Restaurants DO run out of things, every single day. I have actually worked at a restaurant that served burgers and fries that ran out of ketchup that day. For that, maybe, the management should have gone to the store. For honey for one man's tea?

I got two words for Mr. Honey, and they AREN'T "Happy Birthday."

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I got two words for Mr. Honey, and they AREN'T "Happy Birthday."

Do they rhyme with "Duck Shoe"?

[Soulstealer]

Do they rhyme with "Duck Shoe"?

It could be 'get out'.

[Bright_Star]

IF he wanted honey that bad then he could have gone to the store himself.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

It could be 'get out'.

My way's more fun.

May result in instant termination, but more satisfying.

[BookstoreEscapee]

What if it was another food based establishment . . not Disney? Would you still feel that he was asking too much? Just curious.

From the OP, "she explains that we don't have any honey at the restaurant" sounds to me like the restaurant doesn't normally have honey. So no I would not expect an employee to go out and buy something for one customer that they don't even stock normally. Saying that such and such restaurant did it for him doesn't change the fact that this restaurant doesn't even stock honey in the first place. Something like ketchup at a burger joint I can understand sending someone out to pick some up because they normally would have ketchup and running out is bound to cause more problems than one guy wanting something they don't normally have.

If that makes sense...

[theredbaron47]

From the OP, "she explains that we don't have any honey at the restaurant" sounds to me like the restaurant doesn't normally have honey. So no I would not expect an employee to go out and buy something for one customer that they don't even stock normally. Saying that such and such restaurant did it for him doesn't change the fact that this restaurant doesn't even stock honey in the first place. Something like ketchup at a burger joint I can understand sending someone out to pick some up because they normally would have ketchup and running out is bound to cause more problems than one guy wanting something they don't normally have.

If that makes sense...

That makes perfect sense.

1. The man did not have to come off as pompous as he did about it.
2. What I would have gathered from the OP's answer to his request for honey would have been that the restaurant does not normally stock honey, therefore not needing it. I would *not* expect the store to run out and buy a bottle of honey, just for me.

That was rather inappropriate of the man.

[bainsidhe]

I agree, his expectations were too high. I'm sure he would have been equally insulted if she asked him for a couple bucks to buy said honey. I assume he expected the cashier or restaurant to buy honey while he pays only the price for tea. From his "let me tell you a story", I would expect he isn't much of a tipper, unless it is of the verbal variety.

I know I'm making assumptions here, but I'd only expect such service at either a) a fine dining establishment or b) a place where I am spending a LOT of money and people will therefore trip over themselves to kiss my ass. Sorry, but your $2.00 tea was barely worth the time to listen to the "story".

Was the server apologetic? It was simply a mistake of a foot in mouth and no rudeness intended. I hope management supported her and realized it would be a damn silly thing to get written up for.

[mattm04]

We have a restaurant (burger/BBQ/steakhouse type place) in the same plaza as our store. Sometimes they will run out of something important, like ketchup or chips or the soda machine breaks a couple employees will run over and buy some from our store. These are items that are normally stocked, not something a custoemr wants but they don't have, two completely different situations.

[MMATM]

Back at Bagel Hell I used to have to run next door to the supermarket (in the same plaza) to grab little things. Oftentimes they'd have me get ingredients for soups or the like, but the owners were very against changing their menu unless it was their personal idea. Occasionally, though, the cooler managers and I would go to extremes to help people out.

Bagel Hell, despite serving sandwiches, did not serve yellow mustard. Dijon or honey only. So, one day, I ran next door and bought a big bottle of cheap, store-brand yellow mustard with my leftover tip money (this gesture earned me back way more in tips than the couple bucks I spent, since there was quite a crowd when I got back) and served it for the rest of the day (closing shift). Gestures like that were actually frowned upon by the owners (they threw the rest of the yellow away the next day instead of just serving it until it ran out, and so they had to deal with a lot of customers who were angry at them but simply loved me and the other employees from the yellow mustard day). Luckily they never found out who it was that bought the mustard, so they didn't get into it with me.

Another time I ran next door to get a jar of marshmallow fluff because some lady's kids wanted a peanut butter and fluff sandwich, and we only had the PB. The lady asked how much I'd spent on it (it was also out of pocket) and when I wouldn't tell her, she went next door and checked before returning to drop double that amount (there was only myself and the manager working, so I broke even on it) into the tip jar. That is, after she tipped her change from the sandwiches.

The point of all that is that oftentimes people respond with kindness when we go above and beyond. Judging by the OP, though, that particular jackass wouldn't have even tipped, beyond his verbal "tip".

[/threadjack] Sorry.

[Palsgraf]

Our restaurant now stocks honey ...