Grown man reported me to corporate because I wouldn’t get on the floor to clean up his mess for him.
Busy friday night at a large chain. Walked past a table (that wasn’t mine) where an older man (probably late 30s) with his friend gestured to call me over. Walk up to the table, and he points to a cup of ranch he just dropped on the floor, without saying anything. Offer to grab him some napkins, he nods and says thank you. Alright, no problem.
Come back with a stack of napkins and a rag. I say “There you go, sir!” and set them on the table, and begin to turn to walk away (I had about 5-6 active tables at this point). He says “excuse me!” I turn around, and he’s holding the napkins towards me while continuing to point to the spilled cup of ranch.
“Aren’t you gonna clean it up?”
Now, I like to think I’m quite friendly and have good customer service skills. However, getting on my hands and knees to wipe ranch out of a carpet, while the grown ass man that spilled it is sitting and watching me (not even receiving the tip from said grown man) is about where I draw the line. Already stressed and busy, I just say “No, sorry, I have a ton of other stuff to do right now. You spilled it, you can clean it up.” And quickly walked away. 201
(About two minutes later, I walked by and see he made the poor girl who actually was his server clean it up herself. He actually waited until she came back to see if she would clean it up for him instead).
Think nothing of it, until about the next night when I get called into my manager’s office. Apparently, that guy called corporate with a formal complaint. His report was very vague and completely untrue. To paraphrase: He claimed that he “asked multiple people” before he got helped. (Not true, he called me over directly after I watched him spill it). Said that the server who helped him (me) “rolled her eyes” when he asked for napkins. (also not true) and was “belligerent” when I came back to give him the napkins. (Never mentioned in the report that he was wanted me to clean the mess he made).
Luckily our GM is pretty cool and believed my side of the story, she just gave me a verbal warning so she could tell corporate she solved the dispute.
I swear some people get a huge power trip when they’re receiving some kind of customer service. My job is to bring you food quickly and make sure you have a good meal. Servers are not your mother or personal servants, and trying to get someone in trouble because you’re too lazy to clean up your own damn cup of ranch dressing is such trashy behavior. 156