Dishing the dirt on bad manners
Ben Caldwell looks at one of society's great evils: rudeness in restaurants
People are the absolute worst. If I were to list all my grievances, other people would stick out as the number one issue. People say mean things to you. People overtake you. People stick two fingers out the window. People run a red light at 60 miles per hour. You get my point.
Of course, you can’t blame people for things that are out of your own or their control - that would be impolite, and being impolite is on the list. But there is one thing that trumps all else, and just like the former president, it’s loud, obnoxious, and just downright disrespectful.
Imagine for a moment that you’re with your friend Terry. Terry has just invited you to dinner at a very fancy restaurant. Terry has booked a table and is sitting happily. The waiting staff come over. Terry proceeds to verbally abuse the waiting staff for seven minutes, starting from when he came three years previously, and they forgot the peppercorn sauce on his steak. Terry then gets fed up and leaves the restaurant. We have all met someone like Terry- if you haven’t - well then, either you’re very lucky, or maybe you are Terry yourself.
With the way some people act to restaurant staff, you’d think they had just told them their mother died in a car accident caused by someone going 60 miles per hour whilst running a red light. But sometimes, it’s just for the silliest of reasons and often not even the fault of the customer or the waiter.
Overhearing conversations in a busy restaurant is the best way for viewing this revolting behaviour first hand. I remember a young waiter anxiously taking an order from this table on their first day, where there was a pompous, oily, fat man trying to order the entire menu. Imagine Homer Simpson if he were the 2010 Mayor of London. Unluckily, this restaurant also had a lot of food shortages - being a Thursday evening. I didn’t think I’d ever hear coarser language than I have in a school playground, until I saw Homer discovering that he couldn’t order his haddock and chips and mushy peas. He was spluttering the oh-so-common phrase “The customer is always right”, arguing with a poor teenager who was just trying to make a little bit of money. He threatened to call the manager, before impolitely raising his voice and claiming he’d never offer patronage again - thinking this might magically make his prized food appear. This was, unfortunately for him, not the case - and off he went, plodding to his car and driving off into the sunset.
This is but one example of many, and I’m sure if you ever met anyone who’s worked in the silver service industry, they would tell you worse stories. But the burning question is: why do they do it?
Let's not forget that they’re in charge of transporting your food – and if they felt so inclined to empty their mouth of saliva onto the plate, you would be none the wiser.
A study from 2016 showed that 4% of people were rude to waitihg staff in order to boost their own ego – people who find it fun and entertaining to belittle someone they see as inferior to them. You wouldn’t do that would you? The other 96% were a mix of external factors and internal factors, such as a bad day at work or genuine frustration at the establishment - both of which are out of control of the waiter.
Waiting staff are just as ‘professional’, normal, and human as you are, and they deserve the same respect. There is no reason ever to be rude to them. If you’ve had the worst day ever, consider firstly that they might have as well, and secondly that it’s not their fault if you have. If you’ve found yourself frustrated at the rules of the restaurant, it’s not their fault. If you have got a speeding ticket for going 60 miles per hour through a red light, well that’s on you. So, I tell you this, from the bottom of my heart; don’t be like Terry - and if you see someone being a Terry, speak out against it. Especially if that Terry is your friend. If not you, who else? And if you are a Terry, remember who’s managing your food.
There is no excuse to be rude to waiters.
Ben Caldwell, Year 12