Mother's Day

[Rainman]

Lol, after reading customersruinmylife's most recent SC smackdown, it brought some downright awful memories of past Mother's Days to the forefront of my mind. All my dear friends here on SC in the service industry know of the pure chaos that Mother's Day brings to restaraunts nationwide. Here's one of a few.

Mother's Day, 2005.

I was working at a popular steakhouse that had just recently opened here in MI, so people were already eating there alot. We filled the restaraunt and went on a wait with JUST the people who had been waiting at the door, forget all the ones that came after. Our wait time got up to two freaking hours and folks were like "Ok!" I guess on MD they expect that and people were being surprisingly cool.

And then there's THIS asshole. . .

SC comes in with his family, instantly gets pissed off about the wait (what did you expect on mother's day?) and starts bitching to me that he needs a table NOW, he had told his wife and kids there would be a table ready when they got there! After realizing he is not making some horrid joke, I apologize and tell him the wait again. He continues bitching to me while his family stands behind him. His wife asks if the table is ready yet and he tells her to go get the kids a soda from the bar. She does, and then he tries a real bone-head move.

SC: Tell you what son, I got a $20 here with your name on it if you "find" my "reservation."

So much fail, my steakhouse didn't even DO reservations, so if I had tried, SOMEONE in that waiting crowd would have seen that as a red flag. He tried so hard to be slick but his "whisper" was just loud enough for about a dozen people to hear him. I didn't even have a chance to tell him no again, as all those people just started to tear him apart! He comes back with calling them all idiots and "only a fool would wait two hours for a meal." In about 2 minutes they just shamed him and his whole family out of the restaraunt. Wifey was clearly pissed because she slapped him in the back of the head and said "Yeah, nice reservation made weeks in advance, jerk!" His kids were laughing at him too

I felt bad for his wife I guess, seeing as how her husband clearly didn't make any sort of plan to make the day nice for her. I didn't feel bad for him though, what a toolbag. If you are going to try and bribe someone to skip a line, make sure you do it DISCREETLY, or better yet, how about planning ahead and not having to try bribery at all?

Now I know there has to be more/better Mother's Day stories out there, let's hear em!

[Kristev]

I'm sorry for the family, but not a bit for him.

[downforit2008]

Just another jerk out there promising his wife that she'd have the Mother's Day of her dreams! What did he expect, that the restaurant would be empty and available to only the likes of him?

[Draper Mel]

I've always thought, especially in recent years, that it would be impossible to walk into a restaurant on Mother's Day and get a table. Make a reservation or make dinner at home, it's that simple.

[anyanka2]

Most of the local restaurants that do Mother's Day events sell out in advance. My sister works at one that does a banquet and is dreading it this year. We never took Mom out to eat that day. Instead, my dad and us would cook all the meals and do all the cleanup for her. My sister and I can count on one hand the number of times my dad makes an appearance behind a stove a year. Some years, the results were interesting, but I think she appreciated having that day off from doing all the cooking. To her credit, she never complained about the food and our cleanup efforts. She claimed that and the goofy cards we get her are great mother's day gifts.

[blas]

Mother's Day is one of the WORST days (esp in the morning and lunch times) for restaurants to be in the weeds deep with long waits to even get a table.

I worked a few, both at the Norwegian restaurant and at the truck stop. I would rather have had dysentary.

[EricKei]

"Yeah, nice reservation made weeks in advance, jerk!"

A week? Try a year or better...At least, according to hearsay regarding Mom's day at Galatoire's down here. They're legendary for their MD spread, and afaik it's like getting a hotel room along the parade route at Mardi Gras...You need to have it reserved and (probably) at least mostly paid for a year in advance. Walk-ups are politely shown the door.

[Caractacus_Potts]

SC: Tell you what son, I got a $20 here with your name on it if you "find" my "reservation."

I actually saw this done successfully once. Not on a holiday but at a high end restaurant on a busy Saturday with a wait. Nicely dressed middle aged couple comes in and the guy talks to the host for a minute. When the guy went to shake the hosts hand I saw a hundred dollar bill in his palm.

The couple was seated immediately and to be honest I didn't really have a problem with it. I remember thinking some lucky server is going to get a juicy tip off a two top.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I worked a few, both at the Norwegian restaurant and at the truck stop. I would rather have had dysentary.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Back on topic.

Back at the garden centre, the front bit used to do for Mother's Day these giant bouquets of flowers. These were limited in number, due to the simple fact that flowers have a short shelf life, and whenever they sold out, the angry clamour of SCs could even be heard in the pet store where I was. XD

"How dare you run out! I neeeed to get one for my mother! Go and make me one this minute!"

Totally ignoring the fact that the bouquets arrived at the garden centre as they were, and weren't actually grown and picked on the premises. XD And of course, the SCs who threw the bitchfits turned up on the day, in the afternoon at a time when one could assume that the bouquets would have sold out. Anyone with sense would have come the day before. But of course, with SCs, if it makes sense, it's not allowed. XD

[PepperElf]

yep. their lack of planning is everyone else's fault.

at least the sc's wife knew who REALLY was to blame.

[MoonCat]

I've walked into the local supermarket on Mother's Day, or Valentine's Day, or Easter, and there's always some goofball at the flower dept, trying to pick out something from the 3 or 4 stems left over at 5:00 pm.

[IamEmancipated]

When I was working at a certain chicken restaurant, Mother's Day was called "Armageddon" and everyone was required (mandatory!) to be there or be fired. Which was oodles of fun for the folks who weren't used to a heavy workload (ie, the dayshift workers).

My favorite MD tale was when the store owner came in (the only day of the year she came in was on MD) and was ordering us around. She didn't know how much capacity the biscuit ovens had. She didn't remember my actual name and was referring to me as (rhymes with gory) instead of my similar actual name. I forgave her that, since she didn't see me often---but that year it was even more fun because we did have a worker named that. So both of us turn around to answer her call. Confusion ensues.

Oh, and someone set the biscuit oven on fire by putting a tray in without setting the timer (I don't recall who it was). Then there was the wonderful times when we actually RAN OUT of chicken at 6 when we closed at 10.

I had another job at the same chain of restaurants, in a different state. Our 7 months pregnant cashier was sent flying out the back door in tears because of a rude customer who refused to take her "guff" which was basically her trying to take his order after he changed his mind three times. First he wants a 10 pc, then a 12 pc, then a 10 pc again and got angry at her for having to call over the manager to fix the register after she rang him up for those three items, indivually (had to be cleared with a manager's key). The manager, after the third one and the cashier's escape, told the man politely to either make up his mind or leave.

Though there have been other incidents on MD, those are the ones I'll remember for a while. MD is not a fun time to be a chicken slinger.

[Lurandah]

Well, I've been a Mom for 12 years now and there is an agreement hubby and I made. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day... we skip. I mean, yes, we go out somewhere nice, many days later once the craziness of the day is gone.