We’ve all had that experience: a nice night out to celebrate a special event was ruined by a bad experience. The letter Amelia wrote about her recent meal at a restaurant brings up important issues about how to properly tip, deal with rude customers, and handle disagreements.
“To celebrate my husband’s big promotion, my husband and I (30F) went to a nice restaurant last night. Except for the waitress’s rude behavior at the end, everything was going well until the very end.
I left a $10 tip on top of the $85 bill when the check came. The waitress laughed out loud as she took the money and said, “Ten bucks?” Now, this isn’t the 1950s, you know.”
I was shocked. It was such a condescending and rude tone from her. My husband’s eyes got really big in shock.
“Excuse me?” I said, getting angry right away. “I think 10 bucks on a $85 bill is more than fair.”
There was a big roll of the eyes from the waitress. “Cheat, these days it’s normal to leave a 20% tip. Do you not know how to figure that out?”
I couldn’t believe how rude she was. That $10 tip was more than 11%, which is a good tip by any measure. I didn’t like how entitled she seemed.
“You know what,” I yelled, losing it. “With that kind of nasty attitude, you don’t deserve a tip at all!”
The $10 bill was on the table, but I quickly grabbed it back. The waitress’s mouth opened wide, and she began yelling insults at me, calling me names, and making a big deal out of it. Some people in the restaurant turned to look at the noise. My husband felt bad about himself.
Finally, the manager had to step in and remove the crazy waitress, who was still yelling at me. We had to leave without leaving a tip in the end.
I know I probably overreacted, but her smug and condescending attitude really annoyed me. A customer didn’t deserve anything extra after being treated so badly. Some people are very angry with me because they think I should have just ignored it instead of making a scene. “What do you think?”
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