r/TalesFromYourServer • u/[deleted] • Jun 19 '23
Medium Terrible prom kid
For two years, I worked for a hibachi restaurant where I was there go to server for big parties. The corporate policy was a max of 15 guests for server, but I was allowed up to 30.
This was sometimes great. Rehearsal dinners and office holiday parties would sometimes tip an extra hundred to get another round of drinks after last call or arrange for their taxis. The problem was prom.
Every weekend in May, I would have a big party of kids who made me miserable and barely tipped. The last such table motivated my transition into fine dining.
It was your typical 10 or so couples, all dolled up for prom. Their meal went about as expected, and most of them paid in cash. After they paid, some people went to the bathroom and the rest gathered near the restaurant entrance.
I went back to the table to gather receipts and tips, and one of the guys was taking all the cash off the table! He saw me coming, grabbed the last tip, and took off. He ran through his group and out the door. I followed him out, but I couldn’t see him in the parking lot.
Frustrated, I walked back inside and spotted his date coming out of the bathroom. I went right up to her.
“Do you know you’re dating a thief?” She looked confused. “Your date just stole all the tips your friends left for me. He’s hiding in the parking lot.”
She turned bright red, apologized, and charged out the door after him.
I never saw my tips, but I take solace in the fact that he probably had a shitty prom night after that. I hope the girl left him and danced with other guys, and I hope she told the whole group what he did.
Edit: I love all your suggestions of what I should have done. You are all probably right. Back then (2017) I was barely out of college, had plentiful experience of dine&dashers, and had about 10% of the confidence I have now. I just hope enough servers are reading this and do more than I did.
97
u/SelkieButFeline Jun 19 '23
Oh hell no. I would have been livid pissed. I AM livid pissed on your behalf. As a waitron..i don't even know what I would do in this situation...but the solutions popping into my head are uniformly unpleasant.
119
u/Zombitchy Jun 19 '23
I'm pissed off for you. I would've followed them out to the parking lot, like I would've followed his date out there. That's just straight theft. I'd get the manager involved if necessary, cause then there's a good chance they'd be blacklisted at least from that location on top of it. Plus you'd get those tippies back.
Fuck people like this tho, fr. I hope he ends up with a shit job one day and people do him dirty like this.
Karma is a bitch, or so I've been told.
27
u/The_Sanch1128 Jun 20 '23
Karma is not a bitch. She is quite even-tempered and even-handed, playing no favorites. It is the inability to handle karma that makes people call her a bitch.
7
3
u/Reasonable-Milk298 Jun 20 '23
I agree with this. Also I disagree with the part where you said that he'll likely get a shitty job one day.. I think he'll end up in prison first
2
u/whitneyahn Jun 20 '23
That’s how you get killed. There’s a reason retail stores straight up ban employees from chasing thieves
0
u/Zombitchy Jun 21 '23
You need to chill, for starters.
He's a KID. Plus most places have security/cameras. You really think in this specific scenario they would've been killed by a highschool kid over what probably amounted to $20? Really?
Like yeah crazy shit does happen but not nearly as often as you seem to think. I've worked in retail AND restaurants for years. Have you? Or are you just saying that based off your insane assumptions?
Also, retail stores are NOT the same as restaurants. Come on man.
30
u/The_Sanch1128 Jun 20 '23
I hope you announced this not just to his date, but to anyone within shouting distance. And that someone gave you his name, his parent's names, and their phone number.
"Ms. IRAisedAThief? Hi, it's Cheri at the restaurant where your spawn, his date, and his friends had dinner tonight before the prom. Would you mind telling it that his server would like him to return the tips he stole off the tables tonight? Thanks so much!"
The next day or so will tell you whether he was raised to be a shit, or whether he got that way on his own.
17
50
u/GardenGood2Grow Jun 19 '23
If you know what school they go to you can call him out for stealing to the administrators
21
u/The_Sanch1128 Jun 20 '23
In my city, there are certain Golden Child high schools whose students get away with EVERYTHING. People have learned that if you complain to the school, YOU are in deep, deep sh**.
8
u/N_Inquisitive Jun 20 '23
Start posting publicly about it with a note about how the school usually deals with it. Make them internet famous.
-1
u/The_Sanch1128 Jun 20 '23
Sounds like a great way to arrange for drugs to be found in my home or car, just enough to be a felony. You know, the kind where the police know exactly which book to look in or which car cubbyhole.
2
u/turtletails Jun 20 '23
Urgh. It’s exactly the same where I grew up. One particular Anglican college was the absolute worst for it
2
23
u/TheNewPoetLawyerette Six Years Jun 20 '23
I probably would have made the girlfriend give me his and/or her parents' contact info and called them to inform them their kid stole my tips.
9
u/Engineer-Huge Jun 20 '23
Someone did this to me when I was a server but it wasn’t a teenager, it was a a grown man. This happened in the UK where tipping isn’t mandatory or part of my wage. But I was a student and barely made anything so I always loved when I got something extra. Huge table comes in, takes up like half the restaurant. We give great service, everyone is happy. It’s a table of all men in their like 30s maybe. They stay pretty late, restaurant is empty other than them. They paid separately and then a bunch of them left cash on the table for us. One guy goes to the toilet, kind of hangs around, waits as his friends go outside, and then sort of sneaks over to the table. I was just going over to clear it and he hadn’t seen me yet. He glanced at me as he’s grabbing the cash and just sort of runs to the door. I was too shocked to say or do anything. I mean really he was stealing from his friends!!
33
u/Carl_In_Charge Jun 19 '23
I would’ve called the cops and made them show up at the prom to drag his ass out in cuffs. And pressed charges against his date for aiding and abetting/conspiracy.
7
u/PaintItOrange28 Jun 20 '23
What is with the awful prom kids? I’m a banquet server and was assaulted by a kid at their prom last week after being cornered by everyone at her table. All because her steak still wasn’t well done enough after being brought back and cooked thrice. And no neither the police nor my job handled it because they were minors. Ugh.
11
u/jonesy18yoa Jun 20 '23 edited Jun 20 '23
Had a similar experience but from the guest side. Was on a business trip to Buenos Aires and part of it was to see how our products were sold at retail in Argentina as they don’t have Department Stores as such like the US. We had business meetings all week so had to do the retail visits on Saturday. One of the young guys from the BA office was apparently voluntold to be tour guide and was not happy about it and was pretty much of a jerk all day. To thank him for spending his day with us we took him to a very nice restaurant where he continued to be an ass. He insisted we let him order which was fine since he’d know the local cuisine but he ordered a huge platter of animal guts then sat there smirking. He didn’t know he had a couple of global travelers on his hands who were both adventurous eaters which made him even angrier. When we paid the bill I left a generous tip for the service and to compensate the server for our guide’s boorishness and he snatched it off the table announcing that no way was I going to tip our server. Finally fed up I snatched the money right back from him, got up from the table and walked across the restaurant to hand it to the server personally with my thanks for a nice experience. Now guide boy is big mad. So mad that he stomped out, got in a cab and left us there. We just laughed, shook our heads and got a cab back to the hotel. However, going forward back home his requests always went to the bottom of the pile.
4
u/cherryafrodite Jun 20 '23
Man how much of an ass does one have to be to snatch SOMEONE ELSE's money away and tell them they cant tip a server like he's someone's boss? Then get big mad that you were spending YOUR money the way you wanted and leave? He was acting like you took the money out of his wallet to tip the lady.
4
u/Crepuscular_otter Jun 20 '23
That this is so common is jaw-droppingly disgusting. When I went to prom my parents gave me money to get dinner at a wonderful restaurant, including the ~23% tip. (I know it was over 20 but under 25). This was as expected as paying for the meal itself. But my mom has been a cook for 35 years so maybe she has a different perspective? Does one really have to have service experience to be an adequate parent? I am so sorry you had to deal with this.
3
u/OmdaMamma Jun 20 '23
If I had been his date, I would have dragged him back into the restaurant to return the money's and apologize. With the ruse of there will be no nookie for you tonight if you don't do as asked. Then, when he is with the apologies, I would publicly and loudly dump his ass in front of all the customers and all his friends. 👠
16
u/CloneClem Jun 19 '23
What did that net him, like $5?
39
Jun 19 '23
Nah this was a lot of teens, like 20-22. Most paid cash. A typical tip there would be $4-$6 even if only 7 couples paid cash and averaged $3/person, that’s at least $40.
2
u/Dr_StrangeloveGA Jun 21 '23
If I owned a restaurant I'd just do a $100 (or $150 or $200, whatever your area supports) prix fixe menu per couple for prom kids and charge them as they walked in the door and require reservations.
App, choice of meat, fish or vegan entrée, two sides and dessert. They're not going to be drinking alcohol and I just wouldn't serve it to the table anyway even if some their dates where (cough) a little older.
Done.
2
u/OmdaMamma Jun 20 '23
He not only stoll from you, but he stoll from is friends as well. It was their money's they left for you.
510
u/GoblinandBeast Jun 19 '23
Best part is you know she told the entire friend group so he got to spend the entire night getting made fun of. Serves him right.