I usually kept my cool but occasionally lost it. One time comes to mind. A young guy bought a pizza to go from my sit-down restaurant and it took too long for him. He started screaming and I literally threw his money back at him and screamed, “I don’t need your money! Get the out of my restaurant you <expletive.>”
Outstanding!!
In 6 years, I’ve only had 2 people ever take me to the edge.
We had a lady come in on a summer holiday to order some of our bulk sides (Slaw, Potato Salad, Etc.) our ticket numbers are already in the 3-digit range at 2:00 PM, there is a line out the door, we are running about 20 minutes wait time from the door to getting your food. She starts screaming that she has ice-cream in her car and it is melting, I suggest that she bring it in so we can get it in our freezer while she waits.
Apparently that made too much sense and her brain short circuited, so she starts dropping F-Bombs. I interrupt her by suggesting that maybe the ice cream should have been the last stop on a 90 degree day, or she can get it in our freezer, or call ahead so it is ready and waiting for her. (I am on the line preparing orders during this conversation, open kitchen restaurant) then she starts barking about she had to park on the road, about 1 block away because our lot is full and people are parking on the road, so I look out the window at the lake, and see an open spot at the dock and suggest she come by boat next time. I did not hear much after that from the sound of clapping and cheering in the dining room. She did come back later that summer with her family and apologize for her tirade.
The other guy was in group of about 12 people, they ordered from 2 different registers, and were about 4 ticket numbers apart. One ticket had just sandwiches, the other had pizzas, nobody was told this group was all dining together, so the tickets came up in order, and he freaked when his order was not up at the same time as the ticket 3 ahead of his and starts barking at one of my line cooks in a vicious manner.
I step in by asking 3-4 times what his ticket number is, then seeing we are building it as he is screaming, he calms down a bit. They go outside to sit by the lake, But, they decided cross a little border fence with a 'Private Property" sign on it to go sit at a table on my next door neighbors property at the motel, and the kids are screwing around in the boats on his pier. So I wander out asking how everything is, and gently explain that I will need to move them over to our property. This friggin guy went ballistic! He was trying to chest bump me & screaming at me I would just side step every advance while I was reaching for my phone to dial the boys in brown (Sheriff’s Dept) The other part of the group he was with are regulars, like here several times a week when they are up here at their vacation home. Luckily they stepped in, grabbed him to restrain him and led him off to the car. For a guy to be this angry, there had to be some brain chemical imbalance going on.
You know how you can look at someone and immediately know you’re in for a rough ride with them, yeah, he had that look about him. I thought it was sunburn at first, but maybe he was just flushed from such high blood pressure.
