The problem isn’t the hostess not being able to find a walk-in customer a table, but the customer not taking the time to make a reservation.
Dear angry customers:
I know I should get over it and get on with my life. I can’t.
I’ve been working as a hostess in a restaurant for about eight months. I’ve had my share of angry customers, but a recent encounter was the last straw.
Let me give you the context: Saturday, a UFC night, a national MMA show. A customer came in at 9:30 p.m. — the show started at 10 — and wanted a table for eight. I told him in a respectful tone that unfortunately, we had no tables available. He didn’t take it very well.
“Are you stupid or what? I see at least five open tables. Can you just do your f—ing job and get me and my friends a place to sit? I bet my 10-year-old could do better than you.”
I’ve never felt so humiliated. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I had too much ego to let them spill.
Some might say, “Well, you chose this job; why are you complaining?” I did not choose to have adults scream at me in front of the whole restaurant. Everyone looks at you like you are in the wrong, waiting to see if you are going to cry or not.
When you have these kinds of people coming in every day, it can get on your nerves. Yes, there were some free tables, but if you — my dear client — would have taken the time to ask me, maybe you would have understood that they were booked for people who had made reservations.
I have worked in the customer service industry since I was 15. I have dealt with a bundle of grown people yelling at me and forgetting that I was a literal child. Many of these people are probably someone’s parents, and that’s how they treat part-time workers who could be the same age as their daughter.
Like, are you OK? Were you raised correctly? Do you have any manners?
I am not the owner. We are not the managers. We are teenagers trying to do what we are told while also looking out for you, our dear customers.
Hostesses are under a lot of pressure. Choosing the right table for clients; giving waitresses enough customers without overwhelming them; needing to always be nice — if we aren’t, clients may be mean to waitresses and not give tips. We need to clean the tables so there will always be some available. We need to accommodate as many walk-ins as possible while leaving space for the reservations, as if it were a game of Tetris. No matter how hard we try, there will always be someone complaining.
Being part of the restaurant industry is exhausting enough without having angry customers making it worse.
If only you could understand the distress we feel during those moments, not knowing how ugly the situation will get. It is scary being yelled at by a 6-foot-tall angry man; we don’t know if he’ll go further than yelling, and we start thinking up scenarios. What if he follows me after my shift? What if he makes a complaint about me and I get fired? These situations are more common than many people think.
Knowing all that, maybe next time you’ll stop and think before treating us so poorly. How hard can it be to say, “Oh that’s OK, we’ll look elsewhere, thank you”? The problem isn’t me not being able to find you a table, but you not taking the time to make a reservation.
I think the first step in the right direction for customers is being more aware of what you say to workers and how it can affect them negatively. I hope you can understand how I and others feel.
Jade Séguin is a student at CEGEP Édouard-Montpetit and works part time as a restaurant hostess. She lives on the South Shore.