Server Shares Why A Party Of 50 Came In 10 Minutes Before Closing, Begged Her To Stay Open, But Refused To Leave A Tip
"We're paying to be here so we can do whatever we want!"
Krakenimages.com / Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock A waitress on social media told her story about a group of customers who are every restaurant server’s worst nightmare. The customers insisted that the restaurant adjust their hours for them, allow them to sit wherever they pleased and order a copious amount of drinks. E
ven after the woman and restaurant staff did everything in their power to accommodate the customers’ unreasonable demands, they still decided to leave without providing a tip.
A group of about 50 customers entered the restaurant just 10 minutes before they were supposed to close for the day.
Waitress and TikTok user Syd (@poorandhungry) reenacted the interaction with the customers she admits she “still has nightmares about,” in a video viewed over 400,000 times.
According to Syd, just eight minutes before the restaurant closed, a group of around 50 stormed in. While the waitress warned them that they were just about ready to close, one of the customers claimed that they were a wedding party and that he was the father of the bride.
“We’ll pay you any amount of money to stay open longer so we can get a couple rounds of drinks,” he told the waitress.
While Syd congratulated the group, she informed them that there was no amount of money in the world that would make the restaurant risk losing its liquor license. Instead, she promised to serve them what they could in the next seven minutes before they had to close up.
The father of the bride claimed that he would be “talking to the manager” of the restaurant and attempted to negotiate with them to stay open later. As soon as his wish was fulfilled, the man and his party began rearranging all of the tables in the restaurant so that they could all sit together. Again, Syd reminded them of the restaurant’s closing time.
“Like I said, we’re paying to be here, we can do whatever we want," the man responded. "And if I didn’t say this already, I’m the father of the bride.”
While the waitress understood that the man just wanted to continue the celebrations, she did remind him of the fact that the restaurant was not his wedding venue. Syd also stated that the restaurant could only serve wine and beer since they were too close to closing time.
Ignoring her, the man hollered at the bartender to whip up 48 tequila shots for his party.
“Can you make those in four and a half minutes?” Syd sarcastically wondered.
Even after everything the restaurant did to accommodate the party, they left without leaving a tip.
Eventually, after they invaded the restaurant and had their drinks, the man and his party went on their way. He handed the waitress his credit card to charge, and when she gave him his receipt to sign and leave a tip, he threw it away.
“Why would I tip you to do 15 minutes worth of work? It’s just your job,” the man argued when the waitress confronted him about the matter.
Syd informed him that due to the size of his party and the time at which they came in, the staff had to scramble to accommodate them, including removing dozens of already cleaned glasses for their drinks, and now spending an extra 45 minutes at the restaurant to clean up after them. At that point, a tip is pretty much a requirement rather than just a thoughtful gesture.
Photo: baranq / Shutterstock
The man argued that since he lives in another state and would never go to the restaurant or see the staff ever again, there really was no reason for him to provide a tip. And with that, he and the rest of his obnoxious party went about their merry way.
The waitress’ story is one that many other restaurant servers are all too familiar with.
“It’s ALWAYS the last-minute people who don’t tip,” one TikTok user commented. “We need to add some type of inconvenience fee.”
“As a server, I would actually quit... good lord,” another wrote.
While we may believe that a restaurant closes at a certain time and that it is acceptable to enter and order food and drinks up until the very last minute, there are multiple factors that we are missing that must be considered.
Most restaurant staff start their closing duties about an hour before the posted closing time. There are dishes to wash, floors to sweep, tables to be reorganized, and of course, the process of shutting down the entire kitchen can take a while.
Just like those of you who work 9 to 5 jobs and want to bolt the second the clock hits 5 p.m., restaurant staff also hopes to get home by closing time. That will not happen if customers walk through the door just five minutes before they are supposed to clock out. Now, the kitchen has to break out their already clean cooking appliances, cook several meals (and sometimes even desserts), and re-clean all of the items while servers have to wipe down tables, set the tables and arrange the chairs back in place — all the while they were already supposed to be home.
While there is no law that prohibits you from sitting down in a restaurant just minutes before they close, it is often considered rude and inconsiderate by most restaurant staff members.
“From everyone in the restaurant industry, please don’t come in so late. We just want to go home,” Gabby Jiminez, who works as a waitress at a local Filipino restaurant, shared in a blog post on Reveille.
So, when is it appropriate to go into a restaurant? While every restaurant’s policy and estimated cooking times for food vary, most restaurant staff consider any time before half an hour fair game.
And if you do decide to eat at a restaurant close to closing time, don’t forget to leave a generous tip.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.