Opinion: Dear angry customers, restaurant staff do not deserve abuse

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Dear angry customers:

I know I have to get over it and move on with my life. I can’t.

I have been working as a hostess in a restaurant for about eight months now. 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 PM (the show started at 10 PM) and wanted a table for eight people. I respectfully told him that unfortunately we had no tables available. He didn’t take it very well.

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‘Are you stupid or something? I see at least five open tables. Can you just do your job and get me and my friends a seat? 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 flow.

Some might say, “Well, you chose this job; why are you complaining?” I didn’t choose to have adults yelling at me in front of the entire restaurant. Everyone looks at you like you’re wrong, waiting to see if you’ll cry or not.

If these types of people come around every day, it can get on your nerves. Yes, there were some free tables, but if you – my dear customer – had taken the time to ask me, you might have understood that they were reserved for people who had reserved.

I have been working in customer service since I was fifteen. I’ve had to deal with a group of adults yelling at me and forgetting that I was literally a child. Many of these people are probably someone’s parents, and this is how they treat part-time workers who may be the same age as their daughter.

So, are you doing? Were you raised correctly? Do you have manners?

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I’m not the owner. We are not the administrators. We are teenagers trying to do what we are told while also taking care of you, our lovely customers.

Hostesses are under a lot of pressure. Choosing the right table for customers; giving waitresses enough customers without overwhelming them; always have to be nice; if we don’t, customers may be mean to waitresses and not tip. We have to clean the tables so that there are always some available. We need to accommodate as many walk-ins as possible while still leaving room for the reservations, as if it were a game of Tetris. No matter how hard we try, there will always be someone who complains.

Being part of the restaurant industry is exhausting enough without angry customers making it worse.

If only you could understand the suffering we feel in those moments, without knowing how ugly the situation will become. It’s scary to be yelled at by a six-foot-tall angry man; we don’t know if he’ll go beyond shouting, and we start making up scenarios. What if he follows me after my shift? What if he complains about me and I get fired? These situations are more common than many people think.

Knowing all that, maybe next time you’ll think twice before treating us so badly. How hard can it be to say, “Oh, that’s okay, we’ll look elsewhere, thank you”? The problem is not that I can’t find a table for you, but that you don’t take the time to make a reservation.

I think the first step in the right direction for customers is to be more aware of what you say to employees and how it can negatively impact them. I hope you understand how I and others feel.

Jade Séguin studies at CEGEP Édouard-Montpetit and works part-time as a restaurant hostess. She lives on the South Coast.

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