...the friends' food came out first.
WOOOOOOOOOOOO, CHILE, WHY!! WHYYY WHY WHYYYYY WAS THIS HAPPENING ðŸ˜
From there it went exactly how I thought it would go.
This man went from 100 to 1000 just rambling on and on with the same tired tale of how they should cancel their food and leave. How bad of a time he was having. How he just couulddnn'tttt belieeevveee that Black people were treating Black people in such a disrespectful manner. Of course the Asians get to eat!
And no. None of this was said to me!! Not to Tiffany, not to anyone who could attempt to help or remedy the situation. He was just yapping out loud on a pointless soapbox tangent, not even making an attempt to whisper. And still deciding not to actually just leave!!!!
It's a wonder how my patience even lasted this long. I was at least 30 minutes behind on drink tickets and had been sitting there listening to his whining ABOUT ME for at least an hour and a half. This nonsense with the entrees was my last straw.
Now what I wanted to say was:
Instead, I took a deep breath.
I interrupted him as gently as I could: "I'm not trying to intrude on your conversation, but I can hear what you're saying and I just want to clarify. I can understand that you're frustrated that these guests have received their meals before you, but they did order before you were ready and selected salads, which are quicker to prepare than meats and larger plates..."
He stopped me.
"Can I explain something to you?" he said.
"Please do," I responded. 🤗
He took a wad of cash out of his pocket and started waving it in my face in a poor attempt to create his own farfetched, watered-down Pretty Woman moment. Talking about how he could buy me, he could buy Tiffany, he could buy the whole bar!! As if the reason he was receiving such deliberately poor service was because I'd made the assumption that he didn't have money to pay or tip. I mean after all, he was Black!!
At this point the girlfriend was trying (sort of) to calm the guy down and diffuse the situation, but he was already being disrespectful and there was no turning back. I told the man if he wanted me to cancel his order - like he said numerous times - I would do that. That's where it all went left.
"You know what, you're a coon."
I'm a WHAT?!??!!?!?!
Tiffany heard the commotion and came right on over to back me up.
I can't recall the whole exchange, all I know is I was ~shaking~ and seeing red. This is a full grown man screaming at young ladies, demeaning them as if he has no regard or common sense. We were yelling at each other and getting animated, one of my coworkers told me the day after that it looked as if I was about to climb across the counter.
Eventually the girlfriend started cosigning and calling me a coon, too! She pushed the guy to get up so they could leave, but he *insisted* that he pay the check first. "We don't want your money!" I screamed, "pick a door and GO."
"And take the broke one with you!" added Tiffany.
Everyone's eyes were on us at this point. Another one of my co-workers (or should I say my work OPP) had the GALL and audacity to side with this wacko couple as they finally left. She apologized on my behalf and said that my behavior was unnecessary and uncalled for, but that that's just how I was. 😒
I burst out into tears and walked out, calling my mother to explain the story and calm myself down. She left the house immediately to come pick me up and I took the rest of the evening off.
It's hard to truly explain how I felt that night. I'd never been called out of my name like that or put in a position where I was expected to be professional and take the high road even though I was being fundamentally mistreated. Working at that particular restaurant, the customer was always right - like the time a customer called another of my coworkers a cunt and the GM came out to apologize to the customer.
High-stress work environments take a bigger toll than you may realize. It took me hitting that low point to snap out of wanting to continue to work my hardest somewhere my value wasn't recognized. I wish I removed myself sooner just slightly more than I wish I'd gone ahead and thrown a drink into that guy's face 😘