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Should you tip more if...
...the restaurant staff has to clean up your kid's puke?
Before I start this, I would first like to say that it is long (sorry)! And second, I would like to say that I haven't posted anything yet because there's no way I could make my stories as hilarious and action-packed as you all do!!!!!!! It really helps to know that I'm not alone in taking abuse from brain-dead idiots day in and day out. But anywho, I've finally mustered up the energy to write about one of my all-time worst experiences.
OK, so here goes. I work in retail now part-time while I'm in school, (THAT'S a whole 'nother story...) but back home I used to work at a local pizza restaurant that is pretty family-oriented, so I'm pretty tolerant to uptight parents, screaming kids, etc., since it was all a part of my job and I understood that. (And I really DO love kids, honestly)! But the family of four that walked in one Sunday evening was proof that one can only take so much. They seemed a bit worn-out, so granted they were kind of snotty, but whatever, they ordered a lot of food so who cares, right? So no sooner had I brought their drinks when they all rush out of their seats to greet ANOTHER family who has just walked in, totally ignoring the chick with a tray full of drinks who almost spilled them when you were rushing past me like a herd of wildebeasts. (spelling?) It was the whole loud, obnoxious, OMG I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN FOREVER EVEN THOUGH IT'S ONLY BEEN 2 DAYS kind of thing, where they have to get in everyone's way and embrace each other as if they're meeting long-lost relatives or something. (I later found out that they're next-door neighbors. Pretty close, I suppose...) So after a few minutes of me standing there waiting for them to finish, a guy finally acknowledges me and snaps: "We'd like to sit with this family. Would it be possible to push some tables together?" I gladly obliged in spite of his rudeness, since, helloooo big table=big tips. So I finally got everyone situated and that's when all the fun began.
It wasn't that busy that night; otherwise I could not have put up with all this nonsense. They may as well have been the only table in my section, they were that demanding. The 5 kids were all boys, approx. ages 5-8, and they were just doing the whole running around screaming and annoying other customers crap while the snotty parents (you know, the yuppie, designer-clothes wearing, "my kids can do no wrong" type) just sat around ignoring them and talking about their boats or whatever. But still, this was nothing new to me. I paid them the utmost attention, refilling their kids' sugary sodas AGAIN and AGAIN (even though they insisted that I didn't bring a pitcher for some reason), and OMG did i mention HOW MUCH FOOD these kids were eating?????? So at first they ordered 18 wings and some mozzarella sticks for appetizers, but they scarfed them up so fast that they had to flag me down to put in 2 MORE ORDERS of cheese sticks!!!! There's about 9 of them in an order, so don't you think 18 wings and 27 cheese sticks is enough for 5 young and very thin little boys? And then 2 large and 1 medium pizza. No joke. But I'm loving it because I should be getting a nice tip. When they finally started to wind down (NO BOX NEEDED FOR ANYTHING BECAUSE THEY ATE ALL OF IT), the kid starts screaming at me for a piece of chocolate cake. Just the thought of it made me sick, seeing all the food they ate. But I still kept a smile on my face, thinking of the money. And when I looked at the mom for approval, she had this look on her face like HOW DARE YOU NOT GIVE MY KID WHAT HE WANTS THE SECOND HE ASKS FOR IT!!!! So they order 4 pieces of chocolate cake, and I bring them a check with it, long overdue since they had been sitting for about an hour and a half. I drop it all off with a smile and go to (finally) check on another table. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, my co-worker runs up to me and says: "Colleen, some kid at one of your tables just threw up ALL OVER the restaurant!!!!!!!" I immediately rushed out to see one of the dads flagging me down and shoving some cash into my hand, telling me to "keep the change because my little boy is very sick and we have to go home right now!!!!!" This was the original family, the others stayed and ate more cake. Some friends, lol.
I go to see the damage
The kid had thrown up on the table and threw up on the carpet on the way to the bathroom, in the bathroom trashcan, and on the bathroom floor before he FINALLY made it to the toilet. My co-worker who had seen the whole thing said that he had thrown up all over his clothes, which made sense since the mom had whisked her precious angel away in his undies into their Lexus SUV, where they probably went straight home to their McMansion without even an apology or thank you to the restaurant staff who were now left with the task of cleaning up her kids puke! After the other family left, sans an apology, I was left with cleaning up the aftermath of Hurricane Ritalin (no offense to those who might use it) at their table. They had left me just a standard, 15% tip. Now, please tell me if I'm in the wrong here, but i think that if you get really good service and the server meets all your little demands (which I did) and had to clean up your kid's puke which was all over the place and had grossed out workers and customers alike, shouldn't the server get even a LITTLE extra for their troubles? 
My co-workers and managers were so cool about it; EVERYONE helped me out cleaning the bathroom and table; my manager even scrubbed the carpet clean. I tipped them all out (even though I couldn't really afford to since those families took up so much space from OTHER paying customers lol). The part that REALLY got me mad was when my co-worker told me that when Supermom was carrying her poor baby out the car, the other mom goes: "Don't worry, sweetie, we'll bring you home some chocolate cake!!!!" WTF! When I was his age, I was lucky to get a piece of cake even on my birthday. Shouldn't that be the last thing he needs....
?
So, sorry about the length of that story, but I just wanted to test my writing abilities as compared to the wonderful people on this forum. Like I said, it's cool to know that I'm not alone and even cooler that there's tons of new posts EVERY DAY!!! Well, it's kind of sad, too, seeing that in order to post new stories featuring people that just get stupider and stupider with each story, there really has to be people THAT brain-dead that you encounter every day in your workplace. Keep your posts up, guys, because this coming holiday season in retail when I'll feel like punching a hole in the wall, they're all I have to keep me sane at the end of the day!!!!!! (Did I mention I used to work at Target, too? Ooh, Lordy, I've run the gauntlet lol)....Thanks for reading, it means a lot!!!!!!
Before I start this, I would first like to say that it is long (sorry)! And second, I would like to say that I haven't posted anything yet because there's no way I could make my stories as hilarious and action-packed as you all do!!!!!!! It really helps to know that I'm not alone in taking abuse from brain-dead idiots day in and day out. But anywho, I've finally mustered up the energy to write about one of my all-time worst experiences.
OK, so here goes. I work in retail now part-time while I'm in school, (THAT'S a whole 'nother story...) but back home I used to work at a local pizza restaurant that is pretty family-oriented, so I'm pretty tolerant to uptight parents, screaming kids, etc., since it was all a part of my job and I understood that. (And I really DO love kids, honestly)! But the family of four that walked in one Sunday evening was proof that one can only take so much. They seemed a bit worn-out, so granted they were kind of snotty, but whatever, they ordered a lot of food so who cares, right? So no sooner had I brought their drinks when they all rush out of their seats to greet ANOTHER family who has just walked in, totally ignoring the chick with a tray full of drinks who almost spilled them when you were rushing past me like a herd of wildebeasts. (spelling?) It was the whole loud, obnoxious, OMG I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN FOREVER EVEN THOUGH IT'S ONLY BEEN 2 DAYS kind of thing, where they have to get in everyone's way and embrace each other as if they're meeting long-lost relatives or something. (I later found out that they're next-door neighbors. Pretty close, I suppose...) So after a few minutes of me standing there waiting for them to finish, a guy finally acknowledges me and snaps: "We'd like to sit with this family. Would it be possible to push some tables together?" I gladly obliged in spite of his rudeness, since, helloooo big table=big tips. So I finally got everyone situated and that's when all the fun began.
It wasn't that busy that night; otherwise I could not have put up with all this nonsense. They may as well have been the only table in my section, they were that demanding. The 5 kids were all boys, approx. ages 5-8, and they were just doing the whole running around screaming and annoying other customers crap while the snotty parents (you know, the yuppie, designer-clothes wearing, "my kids can do no wrong" type) just sat around ignoring them and talking about their boats or whatever. But still, this was nothing new to me. I paid them the utmost attention, refilling their kids' sugary sodas AGAIN and AGAIN (even though they insisted that I didn't bring a pitcher for some reason), and OMG did i mention HOW MUCH FOOD these kids were eating?????? So at first they ordered 18 wings and some mozzarella sticks for appetizers, but they scarfed them up so fast that they had to flag me down to put in 2 MORE ORDERS of cheese sticks!!!! There's about 9 of them in an order, so don't you think 18 wings and 27 cheese sticks is enough for 5 young and very thin little boys? And then 2 large and 1 medium pizza. No joke. But I'm loving it because I should be getting a nice tip. When they finally started to wind down (NO BOX NEEDED FOR ANYTHING BECAUSE THEY ATE ALL OF IT), the kid starts screaming at me for a piece of chocolate cake. Just the thought of it made me sick, seeing all the food they ate. But I still kept a smile on my face, thinking of the money. And when I looked at the mom for approval, she had this look on her face like HOW DARE YOU NOT GIVE MY KID WHAT HE WANTS THE SECOND HE ASKS FOR IT!!!! So they order 4 pieces of chocolate cake, and I bring them a check with it, long overdue since they had been sitting for about an hour and a half. I drop it all off with a smile and go to (finally) check on another table. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, my co-worker runs up to me and says: "Colleen, some kid at one of your tables just threw up ALL OVER the restaurant!!!!!!!" I immediately rushed out to see one of the dads flagging me down and shoving some cash into my hand, telling me to "keep the change because my little boy is very sick and we have to go home right now!!!!!" This was the original family, the others stayed and ate more cake. Some friends, lol.
I go to see the damage
The kid had thrown up on the table and threw up on the carpet on the way to the bathroom, in the bathroom trashcan, and on the bathroom floor before he FINALLY made it to the toilet. My co-worker who had seen the whole thing said that he had thrown up all over his clothes, which made sense since the mom had whisked her precious angel away in his undies into their Lexus SUV, where they probably went straight home to their McMansion without even an apology or thank you to the restaurant staff who were now left with the task of cleaning up her kids puke! After the other family left, sans an apology, I was left with cleaning up the aftermath of Hurricane Ritalin (no offense to those who might use it) at their table. They had left me just a standard, 15% tip. Now, please tell me if I'm in the wrong here, but i think that if you get really good service and the server meets all your little demands (which I did) and had to clean up your kid's puke which was all over the place and had grossed out workers and customers alike, shouldn't the server get even a LITTLE extra for their troubles? My co-workers and managers were so cool about it; EVERYONE helped me out cleaning the bathroom and table; my manager even scrubbed the carpet clean. I tipped them all out (even though I couldn't really afford to since those families took up so much space from OTHER paying customers lol). The part that REALLY got me mad was when my co-worker told me that when Supermom was carrying her poor baby out the car, the other mom goes: "Don't worry, sweetie, we'll bring you home some chocolate cake!!!!" WTF! When I was his age, I was lucky to get a piece of cake even on my birthday. Shouldn't that be the last thing he needs....
?So, sorry about the length of that story, but I just wanted to test my writing abilities as compared to the wonderful people on this forum. Like I said, it's cool to know that I'm not alone and even cooler that there's tons of new posts EVERY DAY!!! Well, it's kind of sad, too, seeing that in order to post new stories featuring people that just get stupider and stupider with each story, there really has to be people THAT brain-dead that you encounter every day in your workplace. Keep your posts up, guys, because this coming holiday season in retail when I'll feel like punching a hole in the wall, they're all I have to keep me sane at the end of the day!!!!!! (Did I mention I used to work at Target, too? Ooh, Lordy, I've run the gauntlet lol)....Thanks for reading, it means a lot!!!!!!
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