I have worked as a host in an upscale burger restaurant for three years. I enjoy my job, which consists of greeting and seating customers, taking to-go orders, and helping out the restaurant in various other ways. If you have ever worked in the food industry or even the service industry, then you know what kind of people you are bound to interact with. I could talk for hours about the weird requests and complaints from customers I have had to serve because it is never-ending. The same goes for the people I work with. I have the most interesting coworkers, who always have some story or something to gossip about. Being a host comes in handy because I am interacting with every single person and getting the scoop around the restaurant. Here are some of the funniest, most annoying, and weirdest stories that I have from working in a restaurant.
I refused to sit someone because I thought they were banned from the restaurant.
A few years ago, a party of around ten came in to eat lunch. It was two families; six kids and four adults. I greeted them and took them to their table. A couple of minutes later, the server who had them comes up and tells me that I just sat him with the worst table. Apparently, the dad of one of the families was being very demanding and ordering something that we don't have. The server informed him that we can't do that, but the man started yelling that he has had it done before. He finally settled down and understood that no, we can not add something on to your burger when we do not have that ingredient. It is so obvious when people have not worked in the food industry. However, he then continued to be rude to the server in other ways. He ended up making the server cry in the middle of the shift and the manager had to take over. The man started yelling and cursing at the manager, which ended up in the family being banned from the restaurant. I didn't even know we could ban people. Flash forward a few weeks later and a family comes in. I look up and it is one of the families from that day. They ask if they could have a table for five and I am just silent. In my head, I am thinking, "Aren't they banned from the restaurant?" I start freaking out and run to my manager and tell her the situation. She looks at them, laughs, and tells me that the other family was banned. I was so embarrassed and apologized to them.
This man asked my opinion about the book he was writing.
I was walking by a table one day when this old man stopped me. He was sitting alone in a booth and he had a notebook in front of him. He smiles at me and asked me my age. I told him my age and he thought it about it for a moment before he spoke again. I am not sure why he wanted to know my age, but the next question was even more absurd. He told me he was writing a book and he wanted to know if "Eggy" was a good name for a girl. He legit said "Eggy". I literally had to quickly say yes, because I was trying to fight my giggles. To this day, I wonder if that man ever published that book.
The pandemic brings out the worst in people.
This is actually my friend's story who works at the same restaurant. In the beginning of the summer, we were doing curbside. However, now it is back to normal where you just pick your to-go order up at the bar. Some people don't think this applies to them though. My friend was hosting on a pretty busy night. There was a 20 minute wait to be seated and the phone was off the hook. It was also pouring outside. She gets a call from a lady saying that she is waiting outside for her order. She explains to her that we are no longer doing curbside, but the lady refuses to go inside because it looks crowded. She asks my friend if she could go out in the pouring rain with her order. My friend repeats again that curbside is not an option. The lady does not understand why she can not get special treatment. My friend explains to her that if we do it once, then we have to do it every time. The lady still does not understand why she just can't have her order brought out to her. She yells at my friend to get the manager. Guess what? The manager ended up taking the food out to her car.
Honestly, I think everyone should work in the food or service industry at least once. It is an experience, let me tell you.
