How do you handle super annoying guests ?

There are rude guests, there are annoying guests, there are loud guests, there are impolite guests, etc etc etc.

So, the big questions is, How do you handle super annoying guests ?
Well, you're in the Service industry, you're in the Restaurant business.
There is only one way to handle them.
A Big Sincere smile and treat them well.
Customers are not always right, but We always have to treat them with respect.

So a Sincere smile always help :)
Besides, there are also super nice guests, super honest guests, super nice guests with super cute kids.
In whatever things you do, there are always ups and downs, just take it lightly with a big sincere smile :)

Honest guests - Dishonest guests

Sometimes guests/customers order stuff and sometimes waiters forgot to give the cashier the order papers, so some food/drinks don't get charged.

You know how waiters wear that apron thingy that has a front pocket to put the pen, order booklet and order papers ?
So after writing down an order and tending to 3 other tables, he forgot about that one particular order in the pocket.
or they just realized it and handed me the order paper 10 minutes after the guest has paid and left the premises.

Sometimes guests even Lie, yes they just simply lie, they ordered a soft drink and when charged, they simply refused to pay and said they didn't order the drink. So we had to find the waiter that tended to them and confirmed the order, only then, the guests would unwillingly pay the bill.

So.......when it comes to paying at the cashier,
There are different types of guests :
1. They don't care
yup... they don't care about what's written on the bill, they don't even look at it.
They ask for how much and paid. No questions asked.

2. Dishonest guest.
They know every single item that they ordered, but if it's not listed on the bill, it's not their fault, so they keep quiet and paid only what's listed on the bill.
Hey... it's not entirely their fault is it, it's the Restaurant's job to keep an eye on everything that's ordered.
But it's kinda dishonest, don't you think ? Sometimes waiters can't keep track of everyone, what if a quest took a pack of peanuts from the snack shelf and didn't tell the waiter? or their kid grabbed a pack of candy while not even the mom noticed ? I think some honesty from the guests is needed :)
I'm not gonna lie, I honestly have been one of those "Dishonest guest", and kept quiet about an uncharged glass of fruit juice, paid the bill and then quickly left before they realized and charge me for it. But I know better now ;)

3. Honest guest.
They don't know every single item that they ordered, (big family) and paid the bill.
But then they came back and said "We forgot to pay for 1 Iced tea, luckily we haven't left yet, we were getting on the car and my aunt asked me whether I've paid for that additional Iced tea that she ordered last"
Wow right ???? Such an Honest guest, it's not about the price of 1 Iced tea, it's about principle.
I so admire that in people.
We even had a guest returning after 30 minutes, she was on the way home and she came back because she forgot to pay for 1 dish. Amazing honesty isn't it ?
Bless those people, not because of the money they paid, but their honesty and their kindness really warms my heart :)

Angry customer at the cashier

Remember the post about "the Restaurant charge me for something I didn't order" ?
Well.....
this post is about the customer's kid ordering drinks without the mom knowing, so we got some yelling from the mommy.

So.......... mommy and daddy and 3 kids came.
They ate, they drank, they had fun at the outdoor terrace cafe.
Mommy then came to the cashier to pay.
(they sat outside, so I couldn't see what's on their table, I only have order papers that's given by the waiters)
So I printed out the bill.
Mommy checked the bill.
Then she started talking in loud voices, more like yelling at me, so other guests at the Restaurant can hear her.
"I didn't order this stuff, what's this ? 3 strawberry juices ? We didnt' order this"
So I showed her the order paper showing my waiters handwriting "Table 12 - 3 strawberry juice to go"
then she said "No, we didn't ordered this"
(yes still shouting)
so I called the waiter and the waiter said that her kids had ordered the drinks.
So she called her kids and in came one kid drinking strawberry juice in a cup.
(the kids were running around in the playground)
So she asked him "Did you and the others ordered 3 strawberry juice?"
then the kid said "yeah we did, we already asked daddy and daddy told us to go ask the waiter"
and She then she kept quiet and paid the bill.

So........... problem solved.........
She didn't say sorry at all for yelling at me and making everyone in the Restaurant stared at us , she kept frowning at me the whole time she was paying and she even rechecked the bill one more time.
Oh well....................
Thank you Ma'am, please come again *big smile*

Where is my food ? Why is that table already getting their food ?

Wow.... Don't you just hate it that the table next to you already got their orders even though you came first ????
Yup.... you came first, sat down, ordered food, waited and then other customers came, sat at a table next to you and 10 minutes later, their orders arrived.... Hey !!! Where's your order ?
Have you been neglected ?
Is the Restaurant giving the other table a special treatment ?
Well.... unless the next table is the Royal family or someone with super "power", there's no special treatment whatsoever.

Again.... mistakes could happen, we are merely human, your order might get slipped underneath the stack, and we're very so-so-sorry-truly, but but but but...........................
most of the time..... their food happens to be a simple quick dish compared to yours.

Here's the case
- 1 pm - Customer A arrived and ordered fried chicken and french fries
- 1.02 pm - You arrived and ordered steak
- 1.05 pm - Customer C arrived and ordered french fries

- 1 pm - The Kitchen starts frying fried chicken and french fries for Customer A
- 1.02 pm - Kitchen starts preparing your steak.
- 1.05 pm - Kitchen throws in more fries for Customer C

So when Customer C, who arrived after you ordered, got their french fries first, he's not getting a special treatment, they simply ordered the same dish as Customer A, so people in the kitchen just threw in more fries in the pan and it's done before your steak is done.
Yup... steak take more time to cook and prepared with side dish and garnish, etc.

So the next time a table next to you is getting their food first, kindly ask the waiter about your order ;)

I know it can sometimes be annoying, especially when you're hungry, and you don't care what and when they order, you just want your food... right now.
Believe me, I have a dad who goes "crazy" angry when this happens, then he starts frowning and starts asking every waiter that passes by every 2 seconds.
But sometimes it's just how it is...... You can't hold off a food that can be prepared quickly until someone else's more complicated and time consuming dish is ready.
So... please do understand.... :)

There's no Price on the Menu

Don't you just hate that ?
You go into a Restaurant and you can't find the price on the menu.
So you have to "embarass" yourself and ask for the price
or you're too proud to ask and just order anyway, but you ordered the cheapest looking dish available and wondered about the price during the whole meal.
or you're super rich and don't care about the price anyway... so you just sit there, ordered and totally enjoyed that meal :) Don't we all love to be that person :D

I always want to know the price before ordering anything.
I can't afford to order a Lobster and then find out that it cost 250$ and not able to pay for it.
So in my Restaurant, I always put the price on the menu.
which is sometimes annoying when we have to change the price of 2 stuff there.
But.... I figure if I wanted to know the price beforehand, then my customers should have the same priviledge.

Although sometimes I notice that at some super popular Restaurants that are a bit pricey, the price isn't printed on the menu and the customers seems fine with it and ordered just about anything.
But hey.............. I'm still putting the price on my menu :)
and it also stops customers from "harrassing" the waiters by asking the price of every single item in the menu.

The Restaurant charge me for something I didn't order

Yeah... so that happens to all of us.
Some Restaurants charge you with stuff you don't order and they do it on purpose to gain extra cash, unbelievable right !!
but for some, my Resto included, it's just pure mistake.
Or the food on your table is not what you ordered, but you take it in anyway, and confused when you're charged your initial order, for example, you order fried chicken, but got fried fish instead, but you don't mind so you accept it, but you wonder why you're still charged fried chicken.

So here's what happens in my Resto.
Full house, crowded Restaurant, everyone is running around.
You have like 10-15 waiters taking orders from 30 different tables, then handing the order paper to the cashier and the food checker and the kitchen/chefs.
So yes they might make a mistake.

So....
1. Waiters make mistakes in taking order..... purely unintentional.
There's been a lot of times when waiters write the wrong tables with the wrong orders, especially the new ones or partimers.
They even write down Hot Ice tea or Chocolate milkshake without ice, etc.

2. Chefs/foodchecker back in the kitchen miss-read the order or got the orders mixed up, that happens.

3. Waiters send the food to the wrong table....
so some table got an extra dish (sometimes they just keep quiet and not pay for it but some customer honestly do let you know) and the customer at the right table got pissed coz they have't got their order which is now being eaten by another table.

4. Customers change their order, they let the waiter now, but the waiter forgot to tell the cashier and only told the kitchen.

5. Customers' kids order drinks/ice cream without letting the parents know and when they receive the bill, they got angry coz they are charged 3 scoops of ice cream. Then the cashier has got to verify with the waiters and bartenders and then go back to the customers and explain to them, then they ask their kids, and found out that their kids had actually in fact ordered 3 scoops of ice cream and paid the bill.

So yeah... mistakes happen..... and it's purely unintentional.
So the next time you're at a restaurant and you're charged an extra dish, please do kindly verify it first before giving the waiters/cashiers the third degree and accusing them of being sleazy, coz while Restaurants try their best to service the customers, we're a bunch of people and sometimes we make mistake and we do apologize for it, but please understand that it's a pure honest unintentional mistake :)

Some Tricks and Techniques to not pay in a Restaurant

This is some of the Tricks "naughty" customer use in my Restaurant to avoid paying or to pay less.
Please don't use this tricks on anyone !! :P

Situation : Peak hour in a Restaurant / Full house / Busy busy busy

1. They lie
They know that you don't know where they sat, and you're too busy to check, so they claim from a Table with less food and pay for that one instead of their real table with more food.
I know it sounds like the cashier is really stupid, but when you have a full house, you don't have time to double-check on everything. people are lining up to pay, waiters are constantly handing you new order sheets, phones are ringing, etc. So it happens.

2. They keep on changing tables / moving to another table.
They sit on Table 1 and then they order something.
then they move to Table 2 and told the waiters cos it's more comfortable bla bla and they order something else. So after they've finished eating.
They quietly move to the outside area , not telling the waiters and they order more drinks.
After they're done, they come inside to the cashier and said that they were from Table 12 from outside.
Cashier suspects nothing and they leave after paying.
Waiters thought that they've paid for everything because they were obviously at the cashier and they have a receipt with them.

3. They Pretend to pay
This is a similar trick.
Customer would order food and sit where the cashier can't see them (outside area) and when they're done, One of them comes to the cashier and buys 1 drink and pays for it directly.
Again, cashier doesn't suspect anything and they leave after that one guy paid for that 1 drink.
Waiters also thought that they've paid because that one guy went straight to the cashier.

4. They just leave.
Sometimes when you have a mad house, waiters are running around like crazy, orders keep coming in, etc. They actually just leave.
They just get up and leave the table !!!
Some got caught and they made up excuses and said stuff like "we were going to the bathroom first" or "we had to put our kids to the car first" bla bla bla.
Yeah right, 8 people in a table and all of them had go to the bathroom at the same time while in fact they were walking away from the bathroom and towards the car ?
or 5 adults have to take 1 kid to the car before someone goes to the cashier and pays ?

Yepp... those are some of the Tricks and Techniques that are used to escape pay.
I will post more as I remember more of their tricks.

It may be quite fun and exhilirating to be able to run away from a Restaurant without paying, if you're a pennyless brat !!!!
But come on , It's not fun on the Restaurant owner's side.
Yes you might think the Restaurant's always crowded, and they're rich already and they don't mind a few misses every once in a while.
But you've got to understand that Restaurant owners also have bills to pay and they're not cheap :
- Electrical bills,
- Taxes,
- Water bills,
- Gas,
- Food supplies,
- Maintenance
(you have no idea how often pipes leaks, Air conditioner break, Doors broken, cuttlery missing, plates/bowls broken, Kitchen equipments broken, Furnitures need replacing, etc)
- Rents (if still renting) or Mortgage (if owned)
- Advertising.
- Insurance
- Phone bills
- Employees salaries
- etc etc

But then again, from time to time, you're surprised by the very kind customers.
They've paid for their bills and started walking to their car and returned and apologized because they forgot to pay for one drink that wasn't even printed on the bill, then they explained that they ordered that drink last so it wasn't already included in the bill.
Some have even left for 30 mins and they returned, even though they're already halfway home and told you that they haven't paid for that bowl of soup.
Amazing isn't it ?
Yes that doesn't happen very often, but it still shows that there are still honest and polite people out there and it makes you appreciate them even more :)
Thank you guys :)