Social Question About Waitress Weirdness

[Sarah G]

A co-worker, whom I greatly respect did something I cannot fathom. So I thought I would bounce it off some folks here and see if I am way off base here or if she might have been to quick to avoid a socially awkward situation.

We were eating at a new resturaunt, and we had a large going away party for a different co-worker. The waitress was very friendly, but a bit disorganized. She brought out the wrong meal for several of us (wrong table), forgot my straw for my soda, forgot seperate plates for the appetizer, and several times stuck her elbow in my face while she talked to the person beside me. And I wasnt the only one who experienced this kind of thing.

The most dramatic case of waitress blundering though was the following converstation that I am editing slightly for brevity (and because I cant rremember all of the exact words anyway).

Waitress to co-waorker: I split your bill with seat 6 so it would be more even for you.

Co-worker: You what?

Waitress: I split your bill between you two since you are each paying for the two workers leaving your company just to make it fair.

Co-worker: But the other person is also paying for her husbands meal, so it shouldnt be even bill.

Waitress: Oh, I see, well the meals all average out to $7 anyway.

Co-worker: I dont care. Please, correct the bill and bill me for what I said I ordered.

Waitress: OK, well, I'll be right back, sweety.

(waitress goes away for a few minutes then returns)

Waitress: Sorry ma'am, but I cant change your bill.

Co-worker: You cant what?

Waitress: I cant change your bill. The computer has it recorded the way I put it in and only the manager can change that, but he is in a meeting.

Co-worker: I dont understand.

Waitress (sits down in chair next to co-worker): See hon, (holds the ticket out for co-worker to see along with her) I have this and this and this on your ticket and I cant take it off because the computer has these items on your ticket.

Co-worker (exasperated): OK, fine, whatever. Here is my card.....

When my co-worker told me about it with another co-worker verifying the account, I was stunned at the waitresses behavior (though my own experience with her made me think it all within the realm of plausibility) but also that my co-worker actually paid for the items she didnt order.

There is no way in hell I would have paid for that stuff, period, nada, zero, null chance at that whatsoever.

When I said this, everyone looked at me like I was being unreasonable.

Would you have paid that ticket?

Long story short...... pay the damn bill and don't leave a tip.

No, they'd rather come here, make a thread and whine about the fucking thing all day and night.

 

[alan1]

The guy was overcharged if he was paying 1/2 of a bill for 3 people.

And was that what she really was doing? Who the hell knows.

Like I said, it's a common scam. And retards fall for it all the time.

She may or may not be incompetent, but that sort of incompetence combined with dishonesty (and it's dishonest to just go ahead and decide how to divide up a check without first checking with the customers) is usually just a cover up. Chances are she's incompetent because she's dishonest.

The total bill wasn't overcharged according to the OP. It was just split incorrectly.
Incompetence and thievery do not go hand in hand.

No, they don't.

Manipulating checks and overcharging patrons, while preventing them access to the management, however, is highly suspect.

Again, if one person paid half the bill for 3, that particular person was overcharged.

This isn't rocket science.

And my guess is the patron being scammed didn't carefully go over the checks or even check with the other two to figure out the math precisely.

Scammers and thieves count on the naivete of their marks. It's one thing they can predict with a certain degree of certainty...that people will not see through their pretense.

It isn't brain surgery either.
Nor rocket surgery or brain science.

The total bill wasn't overcharged according to the OP. It was just split incorrectly.
Incompetence and thievery do not go hand in hand.

 

[jillian]

$7??? Pay it in full w/ 25% gratuity then STFU & GTFO!!!

Hahah, no frigging way.

You were a service person too once?

The $7 was for the added meals, while the primary customers order was regular cost. I got the feeling from hearing it that she just didnt want to sort through the numbers.

so what? eventually stuff like that comes out in the wash, anyway.

seriously. do people really fuss over things like that?

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

A co-worker, whom I greatly respect did something I cannot fathom. So I thought I would bounce it off some folks here and see if I am way off base here or if she might have been to quick to avoid a socially awkward situation.

We were eating at a new resturaunt, and we had a large going away party for a different co-worker. The waitress was very friendly, but a bit disorganized. She brought out the wrong meal for several of us (wrong table), forgot my straw for my soda, forgot seperate plates for the appetizer, and several times stuck her elbow in my face while she talked to the person beside me. And I wasnt the only one who experienced this kind of thing.

The most dramatic case of waitress blundering though was the following converstation that I am editing slightly for brevity (and because I cant rremember all of the exact words anyway).

Waitress to co-waorker: I split your bill with seat 6 so it would be more even for you.

Co-worker: You what?

Waitress: I split your bill between you two since you are each paying for the two workers leaving your company just to make it fair.

Co-worker: But the other person is also paying for her husbands meal, so it shouldnt be even bill.

Waitress: Oh, I see, well the meals all average out to $7 anyway.

Co-worker: I dont care. Please, correct the bill and bill me for what I said I ordered.

Waitress: OK, well, I'll be right back, sweety.

(waitress goes away for a few minutes then returns)

Waitress: Sorry ma'am, but I cant change your bill.

Co-worker: You cant what?

Waitress: I cant change your bill. The computer has it recorded the way I put it in and only the manager can change that, but he is in a meeting.

Co-worker: I dont understand.

Waitress (sits down in chair next to co-worker): See hon, (holds the ticket out for co-worker to see along with her) I have this and this and this on your ticket and I cant take it off because the computer has these items on your ticket.

Co-worker (exasperated): OK, fine, whatever. Here is my card.....

When my co-worker told me about it with another co-worker verifying the account, I was stunned at the waitresses behavior (though my own experience with her made me think it all within the realm of plausibility) but also that my co-worker actually paid for the items she didnt order.

There is no way in hell I would have paid for that stuff, period, nada, zero, null chance at that whatsoever.

When I said this, everyone looked at me like I was being unreasonable.

Would you have paid that ticket?

Sounds like the waitress was probably new an inexperienced.

My answer is, dude seriously? You can't split a restaurant bill in your head? Whiny bitch! The table owes the money. if the table walks out and there isn't enough money to cover the bill, a crime has been committed. If you've absolutely got to get it split for accounting purposes go to the manager. If you're friendly but assertive in the poor service of the waitress you'll probably wind up getting part of the bill comped, and no crime will be committed.

 

[koshergrl]

Young and inexperienced waitresses usually don't have the cajones to call people "hun" and to conduct magic tricks with the bill.

 

[Samson]

It's really not that much money. I would have just paid the bill and since the waitress seemed incompetent she would get a small tip. I'd politely tell the waitress I was dissatisfied with her. If the other people want to settle up with me later, fine, if not, that's fine also.
I would call the restaurant later and tell the manager what happened. The manager needs to know if his/her wait staff is incompetent so that he can take appropriate action to correct the situation.

Hey Scout,

I hope you get your Merit Badge for Preventing Restaurant Incompetence.

That would be, Preventing Future Restaurant Incompetence

Equally Impressive.

 

[koshergrl]

" These scammers will actually help and sometimes force customers to make certain decisions to help facilitate their scamming, often times without them even knowing.
Create Opportunities to Work Your Favorite Angles

1. Convince successive guests to order the same items, thus giving yourself the opportunity to re-use checks. This is an easy sell, they just make these items up as tonight’s special and offer them a low price.
2. Convince guests to order the items that you can get your hands on without a ticket and which cannot easily be tracked by the restaurant."

ExpandMyWealth.com » Blog Archive » How Waiters and Bartenders can Make Money Scamming People

There's a sucker born every minute.

 

[Sunshine]

A co-worker, whom I greatly respect did something I cannot fathom. So I thought I would bounce it off some folks here and see if I am way off base here or if she might have been to quick to avoid a socially awkward situation.

We were eating at a new resturaunt, and we had a large going away party for a different co-worker. The waitress was very friendly, but a bit disorganized. She brought out the wrong meal for several of us (wrong table), forgot my straw for my soda, forgot seperate plates for the appetizer, and several times stuck her elbow in my face while she talked to the person beside me. And I wasnt the only one who experienced this kind of thing.

The most dramatic case of waitress blundering though was the following converstation that I am editing slightly for brevity (and because I cant rremember all of the exact words anyway).

Waitress to co-waorker: I split your bill with seat 6 so it would be more even for you.

Co-worker: You what?

Waitress: I split your bill between you two since you are each paying for the two workers leaving your company just to make it fair.

Co-worker: But the other person is also paying for her husbands meal, so it shouldnt be even bill.

Waitress: Oh, I see, well the meals all average out to $7 anyway.

Co-worker: I dont care. Please, correct the bill and bill me for what I said I ordered.

Waitress: OK, well, I'll be right back, sweety.

(waitress goes away for a few minutes then returns)

Waitress: Sorry ma'am, but I cant change your bill.

Co-worker: You cant what?

Waitress: I cant change your bill. The computer has it recorded the way I put it in and only the manager can change that, but he is in a meeting.

Co-worker: I dont understand.

Waitress (sits down in chair next to co-worker): See hon, (holds the ticket out for co-worker to see along with her) I have this and this and this on your ticket and I cant take it off because the computer has these items on your ticket.

Co-worker (exasperated): OK, fine, whatever. Here is my card.....

When my co-worker told me about it with another co-worker verifying the account, I was stunned at the waitresses behavior (though my own experience with her made me think it all within the realm of plausibility) but also that my co-worker actually paid for the items she didnt order.

There is no way in hell I would have paid for that stuff, period, nada, zero, null chance at that whatsoever.

When I said this, everyone looked at me like I was being unreasonable.

Would you have paid that ticket?

I doubt she was working her way through medical school. The two parties could have just paid the even bill, then divvied up the rest one person to another. It is just simple math, even thought she didn't get that.

 

[Sunshine]

Seriously? Or is it 'to long, didn't read'?

The co-workers keep changing.

OK, I was trying to keep it relatively anonymous for obvious reasons.

There were two co-workers (A and B lets say) leaving the company. Two other co-workers (C & D)were going to pay for one of their meals each (C->A and D-> B). But co-worker D also brought her husband along, call him E.

So C should have paid for the tickets of A and C, while D should have paid for the meals for B, E and D.

Co-worker C was the co-worker who had the dialogue with the waitress and also the one who got hammered by splitting the bill among all five A through E.

Hope that helps.

So D hands C $7. What's so hard about that? It doesn't sound like your coworkers have much more going for them than the waitress does.

 

[PredFan]

A co-worker, whom I greatly respect did something I cannot fathom. So I thought I would bounce it off some folks here and see if I am way off base here or if she might have been to quick to avoid a socially awkward situation.

We were eating at a new resturaunt, and we had a large going away party for a different co-worker. The waitress was very friendly, but a bit disorganized. She brought out the wrong meal for several of us (wrong table), forgot my straw for my soda, forgot seperate plates for the appetizer, and several times stuck her elbow in my face while she talked to the person beside me. And I wasnt the only one who experienced this kind of thing.

The most dramatic case of waitress blundering though was the following converstation that I am editing slightly for brevity (and because I cant rremember all of the exact words anyway).

Waitress to co-waorker: I split your bill with seat 6 so it would be more even for you.

Co-worker: You what?

Waitress: I split your bill between you two since you are each paying for the two workers leaving your company just to make it fair.

Co-worker: But the other person is also paying for her husbands meal, so it shouldnt be even bill.

Waitress: Oh, I see, well the meals all average out to $7 anyway.

Co-worker: I dont care. Please, correct the bill and bill me for what I said I ordered.

Waitress: OK, well, I'll be right back, sweety.

(waitress goes away for a few minutes then returns)

Waitress: Sorry ma'am, but I cant change your bill.

Co-worker: You cant what?

Waitress: I cant change your bill. The computer has it recorded the way I put it in and only the manager can change that, but he is in a meeting.

Co-worker: I dont understand.

Waitress (sits down in chair next to co-worker): See hon, (holds the ticket out for co-worker to see along with her) I have this and this and this on your ticket and I cant take it off because the computer has these items on your ticket.

Co-worker (exasperated): OK, fine, whatever. Here is my card.....

When my co-worker told me about it with another co-worker verifying the account, I was stunned at the waitresses behavior (though my own experience with her made me think it all within the realm of plausibility) but also that my co-worker actually paid for the items she didnt order.

There is no way in hell I would have paid for that stuff, period, nada, zero, null chance at that whatsoever.

When I said this, everyone looked at me like I was being unreasonable.

Would you have paid that ticket?

$7? This whole thing is petty on your part. Happy New Year, cheapskate. I feel sorry for the waitress.

Lol, I cant help but wonder if you really read the OP.

1. It was not $7. That was just a guesstimate by the waitress.

2. I was not involved. I had a $10.75 meal and gave the waitress a $2.25 tip. I normally tip about 50% if I like the service, 20% if it was utterly forgetable, and 10% if I did not like it.

3. All I did was say that there was no way I would have paid the bill as my co-worker did. (And yes, she is also a liberal, but at least she was being liberal with her OWN MONEY).

50% Tip?????

Service is never THAT good.

 

[PredFan]

I travel for a living and I eat most of my meals at restaurants with a coworker. It's important to let your server know before you order how you want the bill(s) handled. It's easy for the server to put everything on one bill and that's what you'll get 9 times out of 10 if you don't specify.

In this case, I'd pay the small bill just to be done with it and leave an 'appropriate' tip. I worked as a cook in college and I saw how important tips are to a server. A light tip sends a huge message and drives a steep learning curve for the server.

I disagree. I also work as a waiter for a time. If someone leaves a small tip, it leaves you guessing as to wether your service was bad or the person was simply a cheap ass. Retired people and the elderly often leave small tips no matter how good the service was.

If the service sucked, i leave a penny or two. That sends a much greater message.

 

[koshergrl]

Split check scams are extremely common:

"Scams with Split Checks: When you’ve got a group at a table with split checks that are ordering multiples of the same items, your attention should be peaked. Say two people at the table order the same item that the server has access to on their own. Your server could potentially ring in only one appetizer, and split it to the second guests seat, print off a bill for that guest, then transfer the item back to the original bill for the first guest. This can be repeated across tables, seats and days."

6 Common Server Scams & How to Prevent Them | ChrisEnnest

I'm telling you,when a waitress starts to manipulate checks and "accidentally" overcharges and then tells you she can't do anything about it, there's a scam.

 

[PredFan]

" These scammers will actually help and sometimes force customers to make certain decisions to help facilitate their scamming, often times without them even knowing.
Create Opportunities to Work Your Favorite Angles

1. Convince successive guests to order the same items, thus giving yourself the opportunity to re-use checks. This is an easy sell, they just make these items up as tonight’s special and offer them a low price.
2. Convince guests to order the items that you can get your hands on without a ticket and which cannot easily be tracked by the restaurant."

ExpandMyWealth.com » Blog Archive » How Waiters and Bartenders can Make Money Scamming People

There's a sucker born every minute.

You just pwned them!

 

[koshergrl]

Pshaw, she's just aan incompetent/ inexperienced waitress who shuffles tickets and calls her marks..I mean PATRONS... "hun".

pfft, lol.

These servers also target new establishments. They don't last long in any one place, they move around...a LOT. And the count on the confusion and inexperience of a newly opened place/staff to line their pockets.

 

[derk]

Pshaw, she's just aan incompetent/ inexperienced waitress who shuffles tickets and calls her marks..I mean PATRONS... "hun".

pfft, lol.

These servers also target new establishments. They don't last long in any one place, they move around...a LOT. And the count on the confusion and inexperience of a newly opened place/staff to line their pockets.

You know allot about that shit! What is it you do for a living?

 

[koshergrl]

I worked a pretty busy establishment for 2 years straight...I tended bar, cooked, waited tables and closed. I worked another couple of years cocktailing.

And I learned A LOT from my ex sister in law, who worked for decades as a server. And bounced around from establishment to establishment, never staying long in one place. The longest was 2 years at the place I was also at for 2 years; and eventually she was canned for .. you guessed it, messing with the till.

 

[MikeK]

I can't say how I would react to such a situation because it would depend entirely on my mood at the time. If I'd had a bad day that waitress would have had her ass singed. But for something like you've described I would not have caused her problems with her boss or hurt her tip-wise. Because that's hard work.

 

[koshergrl]

Yeah, the best thing is just to insist that you pay only your bill, and if she steadfastly refuses THEN you get the management.

I'm not big on making a stink in a restaurant. Usually if you're sharp enough, you don't get targeted in the first place. You keep track of your ticket and just refuse to fall for the "oh hun, see I did this..then that, and this here...I COULD get the manager but you'd have to wait, here why don't we do this instead..." That's pure scam.

 

[Sunshine]

Split check scams are extremely common:

"Scams with Split Checks: When you’ve got a group at a table with split checks that are ordering multiples of the same items, your attention should be peaked. Say two people at the table order the same item that the server has access to on their own. Your server could potentially ring in only one appetizer, and split it to the second guests seat, print off a bill for that guest, then transfer the item back to the original bill for the first guest. This can be repeated across tables, seats and days."

6 Common Server Scams & How to Prevent Them | ChrisEnnest

I'm telling you,when a waitress starts to manipulate checks and "accidentally" overcharges and then tells you she can't do anything about it, there's a scam.

These sound to scam the establishment and not the customer.

 

[JimBowie1958]

The co-workers keep changing.

OK, I was trying to keep it relatively anonymous for obvious reasons.

There were two co-workers (A and B lets say) leaving the company. Two other co-workers (C & D)were going to pay for one of their meals each (C->A and D-> B). But co-worker D also brought her husband along, call him E.

So C should have paid for the tickets of A and C, while D should have paid for the meals for B, E and D.

Co-worker C was the co-worker who had the dialogue with the waitress and also the one who got hammered by splitting the bill among all five A through E.

Hope that helps.

So D hands C $7. What's so hard about that? It doesn't sound like your coworkers have much more going for them than the waitress does.

????

Sunshine, that is WHAT THEY ENDED UP DOING!

Do people actually read the OP anymore?