They’ve Been Nice Ever Since
My mom used to run restaurants. My stepfather used to be a chef in high-end restaurants, and is the kind of guy who expects to be treated better than he is currently being treated, regardless of whatever that treatment is. They are not fun to go out to eat with. The “most embarrassing experience” is actually their most embarrassing experience: one where I embarrassed them.
My wife and I pride ourselves on being a “relief” table when we go out to eat. Both of us have been servers, and there’s always the counterpoint to the difficult table. That’s us. Barring horrible service or bad food, we are super easy customers, tip well, and try to have a good time with our server. Furthermore, we just treat people nicely.
So, you can imagine our disdain when my parents act like they’re freaking royalty at a dinner service. One day, my wife and I went out to dinner with them. They were being particularly tough. My mom was acting like she was Gordon Ramsay, analyzing the business, critiquing everything down to the amount of bubbles in her seltzer (“looks like it’s time to change the CO2”).
My stepdad was getting more and more heated over stupid things like the amount of ice in his drink and how the waitress didn’t top off his water (that he was barely sipping on) fast enough. It came to a head when my stepfather ordered a steak medium well, it came back medium well, and for some reason, he changed his mind and said he wanted it medium rare while it was cooking. They jumped really quickly to demanding free stuff.
I’m an adult, and this may be the first time they realized this. I interrupted them in front of the server and said something like, “really? This is what you’re doing. That’s what you ordered…” I turned to the server and said, “We do not need anything comped.” I then pulled out my wallet and handed her my card and said, “This is for the bill. We’ll happily wrap up with what we have here. I’m very sorry for their behavior, you’re doing great.” Then came the line that stung them so deeply, they still bring it up years later.
“I was taught to treat people nicely, a lesson that seems to have been forgotten. Thank you.” They turned red, the server walked away, I looked down, cut my steak, and didn’t say a word. They were so flabbergasted that the meal was virtually silent except me asking my stepfather how his steak was a few minutes later. I signed the check, gave a big tip, and we walked out and said goodbyes. They’ve been nicer to servers each time that we’ve gone out since.
Story credit: Reddit / n8spear