During college and occasionally after college I worked as a waiter at The Olive Garden. If you have worked as a server or in customer service you will enjoy this story and will be able to relate. Your patience is tested daily by unhappy and rude customers and it’s our job to take it with a smile, because “the customer is always right.” On this particular day I decided to challenge that “saying”, because the customer was not right and he caught me on a day where my patience was lacking.
I was working the lunch shift and it is common to serve unlimited soup and salads all day. It was a normal day with a steady flow of customers when my disgruntled customer came in and sat down. Due to his receding hairline, I would guess he was in his mid-40’s. He was dressed in a shirt and tie and I assumed he was on a lunch break.
I introduced myself with my normal greeting. “Hello my name is Jared. Welcome to The Olive Garden, can I start you out with something to drink.”
Without acknowledging my presence or making eye contact he says, “I’ll take a tea and I am ready to order.”
“Ok. What can I get you?”
“Just get me the soup and salad and I will have the minestrone soup.”
I was getting irritated by his attitude and demeanor, but that is a typical grumpy customer that servers deal with every day. They don’t want to talk so you just serve them and move on with your day.
I went back to the kitchen to get his soup and salad ready. The bowls at the Olive Garden can hold up to 8 plates full of salads (see the picture above for a visual). It is a large bowl and the only option to bring the salad out in. When you get one person ordering the unlimited salad you fill the large bowl up around a quarter full. It is typically enough for two plates of salad.
I returned to his table with the minestrone soup and the salad. I set the soup down and then the salad and I asked him, “would you like any cheese on your soup or salad?”
I noticed when I sat the food down he was upset and he had a confused look on his face.
He said abruptly, “Are you kidding me?”
Confused I respond, “does that mean you don’t want cheese on your salad?”
With anger in his voice, he responded, “No, you have to be kidding me. I ordered the unlimited salad and this is all you bring me. Is this a joke?”
I looked down at the large bowl that was filled a quarter full and had enough salad for two plates. It does look empty, so I explained to him our rules for serving a single salad.
Politely I said, “No, sir. We are only allowed to fill the bowl up that much to prevent waste. It is unlimited and I will bring you back another salad whenever you would like. I promise I will bring you as many salads as you would like”
This must not have been a suitable response for him because he continued on his rant and it was obvious his irritation was escalating quickly.
After a disgusted laugh he picked up the bowl he said, “that is all you are supposed to bring? This is barely enough for one plate! No wonder you are just a server, you can’t even get an order right.”
Offended I reply, “actually sir that is your order. You have a minestrone soup and a salad. Again I will bring you more salad when you are ready.”
Instantly, he handed me the salad bowl back.
“I’m ready to have a bowl with enough salad to fill a plate.”
In disbelief, I smile and say, “No problem sir.”
What I did next probably shows my maturity level when I was 21, but still to this day I do not regret it. This customer was being unreasonable and extremely rude. While I wanted to dump the salad on his head, I knew that would get me fired and I needed money, so I reverted to being a smart ass.
I headed back to the kitchen fuming. My Italian attitude kicked into full effect. I kept replaying what he said in my head. “Is this a joke, you are just a server.” Then I thought about his demeanor when he handed the bowl back to me. All of this contributed to one of the cleverest stunts I pulled as a waiter.
He wanted more salad in his bowl, so I would give him more salad. I grabbed two large salad bowls and filled each one to the brim. Not only did I fill the salad to the top of the bowl, but I loaded it up with extra tomatoes, onions, olives, croutons, and dressing. The whole time I was doing this I was laughing my ass off. I had a pretty good idea that I would get in trouble for this, but it would be worth getting written up. I easily made enough salad for 16 people.
Walking back to the table with the two large bowls full of salad on my tray, I had an evil grin on my face. I could not stop smiling and anticipated what would happen when I fulfilled his request of “putting more salad in the bowl.”
As I approached the table I noticed he still had a sourpuss face on while eating his soup. As I approached the table I placed the two overload bowls on the tray stand. Then I grabbed the first overloaded salad bowl and set it down to the right of his soup. Followed by instantly grabbing the second salad and set it down to the left of his soup.
With a sincere tone and a smile I said, “Here you go sir. I broke the rules a little for you and filled up two bowls. I hope this will meet your expectations of unlimited salad?”
I could tell this infuriated him. If he was a cartoon character smoke would be coming out of his ear. His face began to get red and the vain in his forehead began to throb. I wasn’t sure if he was going to stand up and punch me in the face or start screaming.
He sat there speechless and I could tell he was thinking of what he would say. We looked at each other in awkward silence for 10 seconds, but it felt like an hour.
As we continued to stare at each other, I finally broke the silence by saying, “would you like cheese on your salads?”
I emphasized SALADS.
He immediately responded, “I want to talk to your manager now?”
With an innocent look I sarcastically said, “Is there a problem sir? You wanted more salad and I brought you more salad. I was just trying to accomplish your request.”
Furious he said, “You know exactly what you were doing! I want to speak to your manager right now!”
My point was made, I didn’t need to argue anymore with this man. I just walked away with a smile and said, “will do.”
Was this childish and immature to do… probably. Now that I am 30 would I do that again… maybe? However, I don’t regret it and there is a lesson to learn. People will treat you the way you allow them to. If you let people disrespect you, you will be disrespected. If you let people take advantage of you, you will be taken advantage of.
This holds true for your friendships, relationships, and people you encounter. You decide how you want people to treat you. If you hold your standards high and make clear expectations of how you will allow people to treat you, two things will happen. The first is, they will treat you that way. The second is, they won’t be in your life because you don’t put up with anything less then you deserve. At that moment I refused to be disrespected by this customer and wanted to make a statement. You choose how people treat you!
Still to this day I wonder if I brought him enough salad. He never did say…
***I did get written up for this and was asked to leave for the day, but I could tell my manager thought it was funny. I worked there another year on the weekends while finishing up school****
