Thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
If you follow me on Instagram, you may recognize this quote from a past photo I posted. Why were these words echoing in my head for days, pushing me to write this post?
A while ago, my husband and I, having received a 20% off coupon for a restaurant, decided to skip cooking and take a date for supper. Shortly upon arriving to the restaurant, we’d asked for a couple of waters and began to look over the menu. We had just purchased new phones and were in the middle of transferring the data from our old ones, so we had ditched our phones at home. Let me tell you something about leaving your phone home. You notice things. Not that we would have been oblivious to our surroundings otherwise, but we were kind of wrapped up in observing the people around us, what they had chosen to eat for supper, and whatever else we may have ignored if we had been staring at our screens researching sprinkler timers or school textbooks.
“Ma’am… we’ve been waiting an awful long time for our food, ” we heard the older gentleman behind us say. A polite enough complaint: he wasn’t rude about it; he was just pointing it out in the hopes that she would check back with the kitchen to see what was the hold up. She brought out their food shortly thereafter, and it seemed as though the issue had been rectified.
Oh, no. You see, sometimes where there is a polite husband, there is a rude, ungrateful wife. The woman began to point out to her husband everything that she found wrong with her food. The next time the waitress happened by, the woman let her have it. The waitress, clearly new to the job and not accustomed to dealing with this type of situation, retrieved her manager immediately. The woman did not hold back: the potatoes were hard (they were crispy, deep fried potatoes); “we waited 45 minutes for our food” (the manager checked ticket times; none were over 17 minutes); “I can tell this was microwaved” (the manager had asked the chefs; they all swore they hadn’t used a microwave). And to top it all off, she cycled all of her complaints on repeat, pulling a different one out again each time the manager countered. Finally, the manager offered to take the meal off the ticket. Again, it seemed as though the issue had been rectified.
The waitress delivered our food less than 15 minutes after ordering. The hash browns were perfectly done, the pesto smelled great, and the scent was delightful. I commented loudly, “mmm, this looks so good! Look, pesto and avocado: two of my favorite foods!” I took my first bite and exclaimed, “yumm! That’s really good. Wanna try it?” I talked loudly to my husband, wanting the woman behind us to realize that it’s okay to be a happy person and to be content with the food you are served. While my husband wanted to turn around and punch the offending customers, we tried our best to ignore them and instead, enjoyed our food and responded extra politely to our waitress when she checked up on us.
The waitress delivered the check to the older couple, and again, got an earful. Since nothing the waitress said would make the woman happy, the waitress finally grabbed the manager again. The couple was escorted to the cashier’s till, from which they departed very soon after, apparently without paying a dime.
“I’m sure they aren’t going to tip her either,” my husband grumbled, “which isn’t fair to her. It’s not even her fault if there are issues with the food.”
He was absolutely correct. Having been a waitress before, I know the unfairness of the business: since the server is the face the customers see, the server is, by default, the “reason” behind every part of the restaurant experience. Before we paid, we asked the manager to bring our server out. We gave her a handful of money, saying “this isn’t part of your tip. This is just for having to deal with rude people.” The look on her face was worth spending the extra cash. She looked as if she was about to cry. If I had been in her situation, I told her, I would have been in tears in the back of the restaurant. We proceeded to leave a tip upon paying and left, happy that we had been able to boost her spirits at the end of what had clearly been a difficult day.
Why did we give our waitress $14 on a $23 bill?
We’ve all been there. We’ve all had super junky days. What happens when everyone has yelled at you to work harder at your job, and one coworker passes by saying, “hey, I think you’re doing a great job today.” What about when you feel bloated, sick, or grumpy, and someone compliments your new shirt or your hair?
We could see that our server was having the worst of days. We could tell by her expression that dealing with the nightmare customers was pushing her limits. We wanted her to know that it’s not all bad. We wanted to be kind.
I’ve never been one who is good about making it a point to say something nice to someone. Every once in a while, though, I get a little reminder. This time, it was seeing this girl in my position. I could see my past self in her, being griped at by customers and having to keep a smile on her face despite wanting to run away from the last hour of her shift.
Let’s all keep an eye out for these ones.
We can create so many positive experiences if we remember to watch for those who are struggling and pay them a kind word.
It only takes a second or two to make a difference.
Until next time,
Just Me 
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