It's now your fault they don't know about it
I learned a similar lesson in a simpler form when waiting tables.<p>Some people will run you ragged, asking for more napkins, then when you return with them, more ketchup, then when you return with that, there’s an issue with the food, then so on and so on.<p>If you don’t check yourself, you will actually leave your other tables without any of their basics, or their food will get cold waiting in the window, because you’ve developed tunnel vision to please this one needy table.<p>Sometimes things really do stack up, but there are strategies to avoid or deal with that. These strategies will fail with the Truly Needy table. And then they won’t tip well, or at all.<p>I learned it’s better to deprioritize that table and pay the normal amount of attention to everyone else. Better for those all to tip at a standard rate and give them a good experience than to let one group drag down the whole floor.<p>That super needy table didn’t need half the things they asked for anyways. Those napkins are sitting there unused when they leave. The glass of water they asked you to fill at halfway is still almost full. Life goes on.