OMG the behavior I saw in Denny's this weekend!

[Lorelei Lee]

Over the weekend my boyfriend and I decided to have breakfast out. We wound up at Denny's, it's in the neighborhood. We had to wait about 20 minutes or so for a table -- the place is usually busy.

While we were waiting, I noticed two women, also waiting for a table, apparently a mother and daughter. Daughter must have been in her early 20's. Mother was grumbling about having to wait for a table.

Ultimately they were seated at a table near ours, mom still grumbling.

At some point after they ordered, and while they were waiting for their food, mom must have said something to daughter about her cell phone, because daughter responded (loud enough for all of us around her to hear) "I can multitask, I do that at work. And I'm NOT TEXTING. I'm trying to fix the phone, it keeps freezing up on me."


Shortly after that the waiter brings our food and apologizes, somehow they've run out of breakfast sausage so he served us extra bacon instead. Not a big deal, right?

The waiter served the two ladies while daughter was in the ladies room. Daughter comes back to the table, moans and groans about how it took so long for the food to arrive, looks down at her plate and says "This isn't even my breakfast. I ordered sausage and they gave me bacon."

Mom explains that there is no sausage.

Daughter has a hissy fit about how she can get bacon at home and how she doesn't want this meal if there isn't any sausage. She grabs her car keys and storms out.

Mom gets up, says something about waiting 40 minutes for food she didn't get a chance to eat, and follows her daughter out of the restaurant.

They didn't pay for the meals (the busboy had to toss the uneaten good, what a waste) or the three cups of coffee each of them drank, they didn't tip the poor waitress who had to deal with them . They didn't even complain to the manager to try to make it right.

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[phorsenuf]

Over the weekend my boyfriend and I decided to have breakfast out. We wound up at Denny's, it's in the neighborhood. We had to wait about 20 minutes or so for a table -- the place is usually busy.

While we were waiting, I noticed two women, also waiting for a table, apparently a mother and daughter. Daughter must have been in her early 20's. Mother was grumbling about having to wait for a table.

Ultimately they were seated at a table near ours, mom still grumbling.

At some point after they ordered, and while they were waiting for their food, mom must have said something to daughter about her cell phone, because daughter responded (loud enough for all of us around her to hear) "I can multitask, I do that at work. And I'm NOT TEXTING. I'm trying to fix the phone, it keeps freezing up on me."


Shortly after that the waiter brings our food and apologizes, somehow they've run out of breakfast sausage so he served us extra bacon instead. Not a big deal, right?

The waiter served the two ladies while daughter was in the ladies room. Daughter comes back to the table, moans and groans about how it took so long for the food to arrive, looks down at her plate and says "This isn't even my breakfast. I ordered sausage and they gave me bacon."

Mom explains that there is no sausage.

Daughter has a hissy fit about how she can get bacon at home and how she doesn't want this meal if there isn't any sausage. She grabs her car keys and storms out.

Mom gets up, says something about waiting 40 minutes for food she didn't get a chance to eat, and follows her daughter out of the restaurant.

They didn't pay for the meals (the busboy had to toss the uneaten good, what a waste) or the three cups of coffee each of them drank, they didn't tip the poor waitress who had to deal with them . They didn't even complain to the manager to try to make it right.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DISBoards

Holy crap, you posted all that from your phone? I could never type that all out.

 

[Uncle Remus]

Holy crap, you posted all that from your phone? I could never type that all out.

 

[Handbag Lady]

"Your" family must have been related to the family we were seated next to at Coco's near Disneyland on Saturday. Three kids, two parents. One kid yelling the whole time. One kid tips over a glass of chocolate milk and yells for the waitress to clean it up for him.

The one daughter FINALLY starts eating (clearly she's the timid one, there is hope for her) and her two brothers just start picking on her and teasing her and the mom just laughs and half-way says, "She finally eating, leave her alone," as she laughs at her son's joke about how ugly her daughter looked that day.

Egads. They were two tables away from us and we heard every single word. "Ma'am, I need MORE WATER!" This was the dad three times.

 

[Tozzie]

Over the weekend my boyfriend and I decided to have breakfast out. We wound up at Denny's, it's in the neighborhood. We had to wait about 20 minutes or so for a table -- the place is usually busy.

While we were waiting, I noticed two women, also waiting for a table, apparently a mother and daughter. Daughter must have been in her early 20's. Mother was grumbling about having to wait for a table.

Ultimately they were seated at a table near ours, mom still grumbling.

At some point after they ordered, and while they were waiting for their food, mom must have said something to daughter about her cell phone, because daughter responded (loud enough for all of us around her to hear) "I can multitask, I do that at work. And I'm NOT TEXTING. I'm trying to fix the phone, it keeps freezing up on me."


Shortly after that the waiter brings our food and apologizes, somehow they've run out of breakfast sausage so he served us extra bacon instead. Not a big deal, right?

The waiter served the two ladies while daughter was in the ladies room. Daughter comes back to the table, moans and groans about how it took so long for the food to arrive, looks down at her plate and says "This isn't even my breakfast. I ordered sausage and they gave me bacon."

Mom explains that there is no sausage.

Daughter has a hissy fit about how she can get bacon at home and how she doesn't want this meal if there isn't any sausage. She grabs her car keys and storms out.

Mom gets up, says something about waiting 40 minutes for food she didn't get a chance to eat, and follows her daughter out of the restaurant.

They didn't pay for the meals (the busboy had to toss the uneaten good, what a waste) or the three cups of coffee each of them drank, they didn't tip the poor waitress who had to deal with them . They didn't even complain to the manager to try to make it right.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DISBoards

While I think the behavior was horrible, I don't have a problem with them leaving, not in the manner they did but leaving none the less, the waiter was wrong for assuming they would want bacon and he should have asked before he just brought it out. To me that is a problem, a big deal yes and no, don't serve me food I didn't order without asking me.

 

[Tigger1966]

unfortunately there are some people that you just can't please. I actually know someone who threw a fit like this just because they didn't cut his club sandwich the way he thought it should be cut.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

While I think the behavior was horrible, I don't have a problem with them leaving, not in the manner they did but leaving none the less, the waiter was wrong for assuming they would want bacon and he should have asked before he just brought it out. To me that is a problem, a big deal yes and no, don't serve me food I didn't order without asking me.

Here's the problem I have with what you said.

I didn't think it was a dealbreaker to get extra bacon in lieu of the sausage. For me it wasn't an issue at all, and apparently it wasn't an issue for the mother.

I don't really think it was an issue for the daughter, either, just another excuse for behavior that was already bratty and obnoxious. However, taking her complaint at face value -- i.e, bacon was not an acceptable substitute -- the proper course of action would have been to discuss it with the manager and have him "make it right".

We had something similar happen at an Italian restaurant about a year ago. My daughter ordered shrimp scampi. About ten minutes after the order was placed, the waiter returned to our table and advised that there was no shrimp, the chef's supply order had not been delivered that day. My daughter ordered something else. Boyfriend said something to the manager along the lines of "the waiter should have known there was no shrimp and should not have taken an order for a shrimp dish." The manager said the service we got was not up to the restaurant's high standards, and gave us a gift card and told us he hoped our next visit would be better.

Granted a chain like Denny's doesn't have the same standards as a fine Italian restaurant, but the basics are the same -- serve the customer good food in a pleasant atmosphere and be responsive to the customer's needs. Had the women addressed their disappointment to the manager and allowed him to try to rectify the situation, everyone would have benefitted.

 

[Tozzie]

Here's the problem I have with what you said.

I didn't think it was a dealbreaker to get extra bacon in lieu of the sausage. For me it wasn't an issue at all, and apparently it wasn't an issue for the mother.

I don't really think it was an issue for the daughter, either, just another excuse for behavior that was already bratty and obnoxious. However, taking her complaint at face value -- i.e, bacon was not an acceptable substitute -- the proper course of action would have been to discuss it with the manager and have him "make it right".

We had something similar happen at an Italian restaurant about a year ago. My daughter ordered shrimp scampi. About ten minutes after the order was placed, the waiter returned to our table and advised that there was no shrimp, the chef's supply order had not been delivered that day. My daughter ordered something else. Boyfriend said something to the manager along the lines of "the waiter should have known there was no shrimp and should not have taken an order for a shrimp dish." The manager said the service we got was not up to the restaurant's high standards, and gave us a gift card and told us he hoped our next visit would be better.

Granted a chain like Denny's doesn't have the same standards as a fine Italian restaurant, but the basics are the same -- serve the customer good food in a pleasant atmosphere and be responsive to the customer's needs. Had the women addressed their disappointment to the manager and allowed him to try to rectify the situation, everyone would have benefitted.

Just because it isnt' a deal breaker for you doens't mean that everyone would be or should be happy with getting food they didn't order. The difference with what happened in the Italian Restaurant is the waiter didn't just subsitute food, he actually asked. The basics, in my opinion, are serve the customer the good food that they actually ordered, not what the restaurant wanted to subsitute. If the waiter made a mistake that is one thing, but the fact he knowingly served food that wasn't ordered is not a mistake and unacceptable/ Depending on the circumstances I mght have left as well but I would have paid for the coffee, as for a tip, that would be a hard one as the waiter didn't, IMO, provide quality service so I don't know if I would have tipped, and I usually tip more than 20%. It seems that you are somehow saying that because of the behavior of the daughter (which I can't figure out what they did that the waiter had to deal with unless you left out the part where they tortured the waitress) that excuses the way the restauarant handled it.

As for the Italian restaurant I wouldn't have said anything to the manager either, restaurants run out of things, it happens, they tell you and you can order something else, no harm no foul.

 

[Bob NC]

When I go to a restaurant one of my expectations is to be served what I ordered. This is kind of the whole reason for going to a restaurant and placing an order, right?

Frequently when stopping for breakfast I don't have all the time in the world. If I have to wait my regular time to get my order then it's not what I ordered, I'm probably not real happy about that.

At that point, what are your options? If they had come back right after you ordered and said, "Hey, we're out of sausage", then you can make a decision about a substitute and the extra wait is minimal. Once they have delivered your meal and you discover that now you have to order a substitute for the bacon you never wanted you have effectively doubled your wait time to get your food.

I have no problem with the folks leaving without paying. What are the chances they would have stopped at this place just for coffee? Probably zero?

 

[sam_gordon]

Here's the problem I have with what you said.

I didn't think it was a dealbreaker to get extra bacon in lieu of the sausage. For me it wasn't an issue at all, and apparently it wasn't an issue for the mother.

I don't really think it was an issue for the daughter, either, just another excuse for behavior that was already bratty and obnoxious. However, taking her complaint at face value -- i.e, bacon was not an acceptable substitute -- the proper course of action would have been to discuss it with the manager and have him "make it right".

We had something similar happen at an Italian restaurant about a year ago. My daughter ordered shrimp scampi. About ten minutes after the order was placed, the waiter returned to our table and advised that there was no shrimp, the chef's supply order had not been delivered that day. My daughter ordered something else. Boyfriend said something to the manager along the lines of "the waiter should have known there was no shrimp and should not have taken an order for a shrimp dish." The manager said the service we got was not up to the restaurant's high standards, and gave us a gift card and told us he hoped our next visit would be better.

Granted a chain like Denny's doesn't have the same standards as a fine Italian restaurant, but the basics are the same -- serve the customer good food in a pleasant atmosphere and be responsive to the customer's needs. Had the women addressed their disappointment to the manager and allowed him to try to rectify the situation, everyone would have benefitted.

I agree with Tozzie. The waiter messed up by automatically substituting bacon. Just because it's not a big deal to you doesn't mean it's not a big deal to the daughter. Maybe she doesn't like the smell of sausage.

I'm guessing they didn't have enough time to discuss with the manager, order new food and wait for it. Although I wouldn't have done it, I think they were justified in walking out.

I don't understand what the phone comment has to do with anything though.

 

[Aaeolien]

I agree with Tozzie. The waiter messed up by automatically substituting bacon. Just because it's not a big deal to you doesn't mean it's not a big deal to the daughter. Maybe she doesn't like the smell of sausage.

I'm guessing they didn't have enough time to discuss with the manager, order new food and wait for it. Although I wouldn't have done it, I think they were justified in walking out.

I don't understand what the phone comment has to do with anything though.

Sam if she doesn't like the smell of sausage then she is golden because she got extra bacon. lol

Wackiness in all respects, the fact that she didn't get asked what she would like instead of sausage and the fact that some folks don't understand how to act in public.

 

[mhsjax]

While I think the behavior was horrible, I don't have a problem with them leaving, not in the manner they did but leaving none the less, the waiter was wrong for assuming they would want bacon and he should have asked before he just brought it out. To me that is a problem, a big deal yes and no, don't serve me food I didn't order without asking me.

I agree. That would have made my mad. I wouldn't have acted like the daughter though. I don't like sausage, I don't like the taste and if I am to be honest, it doesn't like me either. I always order bacon, never sausage. The waiter should have asked if this was ok to do.

 

[sam_gordon]

Sam if she doesn't like the smell of sausage then she is golden because she got extra bacon. lol

Wackiness in all respects, the fact that she didn't get asked what she would like instead of sausage and the fact that some folks don't understand how to act in public.

Whoops. I'm not fully awake yet.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I agree that the waiter should have asked first.

 

[Heidict]

The waiter should have asked and not just assumed they they would be thrilled to have extra bacon, when they didn't want bacon in the first place. Sure, most people would have probably been okay with it, but there are always going to be those who aren't.

I had something similar happen. A couple of years ago, I ran out of the house without breakfast, so swung through the McDonalds drive-thru off the highway and ordered a sausage biscuit. Thankfully, I checked the bag as soon as it was given to me because instead of a sausage biscuit, there was a sausage egg mcmuffin.

I told the girl at the window and her excuse was that they were out, so she gave me that instead. I didn't want egg, I didn't want cheese (heck, how did she know I could even eat cheese or eggs?) and I didn't want an english muffin. I wanted what I ordered and if they were out or unable to make it, then tell me. Don't just throw "something" in the bag in hopes that i would just drive off and not realize it till it was too late for me to come back. Really aggravated me and to top it off, the girl at the window was put out by it. She acted like she was doing me a favor by giving me a more expensive sandwich then what I ordered and couldn't understand why I wasn't happy about it.

So, I can understand where the daughter in the OP's story is coming from and the waiter should have asked first before just assuming. The daughter though, she sounds like a brat and her stomping out of the restaurant like a child who didn't get their way is beyond ridiculous. If I was the mother, I would have enjoyed my breakfast and let her sit outside the restaurant, stewing. Of course, only if I had the car keys though!!

 

[Lorelei Lee]

The waiter should have asked and not just assumed they they would be thrilled to have extra bacon, when they didn't want bacon in the first place. Sure, most people would have probably been okay with it, but there are always going to be those who aren't.

I had something similar happen. A couple of years ago, I ran out of the house without breakfast, so swung through the McDonalds drive-thru off the highway and ordered a sausage biscuit. Thankfully, I checked the bag as soon as it was given to me because instead of a sausage biscuit, there was a sausage egg mcmuffin.

I told the girl at the window and her excuse was that they were out, so she gave me that instead. I didn't want egg, I didn't want cheese (heck, how did she know I could even eat cheese or eggs?) and I didn't want an english muffin. I wanted what I ordered and if they were out or unable to make it, then tell me. Don't just throw "something" in the bag in hopes that i would just drive off and not realize it till it was too late for me to come back. Really aggravated me and to top it off, the girl at the window was put out by it. She acted like she was doing me a favor by giving me a more expensive sandwich then what I ordered and couldn't understand why I wasn't happy about it.

So, I can understand where the daughter in the OP's story is coming from and the waiter should have asked first before just assuming. The daughter though, she sounds like a brat and her stomping out of the restaurant like a child who didn't get their way is beyond ridiculous. If I was the mother, I would have enjoyed my breakfast and let her sit outside the restaurant, stewing. Of course, only if I had the car keys though!!

You make an interesting point. The server should have asked before assuming that a second serving of bacon was an acceptable substitute for the sausage. But from what the girl said, there was nothing wrong with the rest of the food on her plate. It was different from your McDonald's experience, it was "you gave me everything I ordered except the sausage. You didn't give me the sausage, so I am not eating any of it."

And there was nothing wrong with the mother's food.


From the moment that the entire restaurant heard her being bratty to her mother about her cell phone comment (a little loud, don't you think?) it was clear the girl was looking to cause a scene.

I agree, I would have stayed, eaten my breakfast and discussed the server's assumption with the manager.

 

[U2_rocks!]

I'm not very familiar with Denny's menu - what other meat options are there besides bacon and breakfast sausage? If there are others then yes, the waiter should have asked so that there wouldn't have to be a further wait while he went and rustled up the right thing. If there aren't, what's the big deal about getting bacon? It's meat, just like sausage - if you don't want it, leave it. Or if you would have ordered just eggs at a lower price, tell the waiter and have him adjust the bill.

No matter what, I see no reason for the daughter to storm out like she did. Neither do I see a reason for the mother to just walk out and leave the food with no word to anyone. I can't imagine any circumstance in which I would behave like that.

 

[Bob NC]

You make an interesting point. The server should have asked before assuming that a second serving of bacon was an acceptable substitute for the sausage. But from what the girl said, there was nothing wrong with the rest of the food on her plate. It was different from your McDonald's experience, it was "you gave me everything I ordered except the sausage. You didn't give me the sausage, so I am not eating any of it."

I'm not very familiar with Denny's menu - what other meat options are there besides bacon and breakfast sausage? If there are others then yes, the waiter should have asked so that there wouldn't have to be a further wait while he went and rustled up the right thing. If there aren't, what's the big deal about getting bacon? It's meat, just like sausage - if you don't want it, leave it. Or if you would have ordered just eggs at a lower price, tell the waiter and have him adjust the bill.

Maybe I'm out of the loop, but do people really go into restaurants, place an order then not really care what they are served?

If I order a hamburger and they bring me a lamb chop should I just accept it because , after all it IS meat and I ordered meat?

For me, if I order sausage and eggs, I want sausage and eggs for my meal. I don't want eggs then sausage 20 minutes later, for dessert, or eggs and a double order of bacon.

Have our expectations of restaurants fallen so much that we don't really care what or when they serve us?

 

[Tink888]

Would I have stormed out? No. Would bacon instead of sausage been a deal breaker for me? No.

But, I'm with the others that when you are at a restaurant and order food, you should get what you ordered. If the restaurant can't provide that, the server needs to address with the guest before bringing out the food, not after, and it should NEVER be assumed as to what will be an acceptable replacement to a guest without checking first. So while the girl could have handled the situation better, Denny's failed as well in providing some very basic customer service to it's patron and really, they had the bigger responsibility to behave well in this situation.

 

[Tuffcookie]

How do we know the waitress didn't tell the mom they were out of sausage and ask if could she substitute with bacon instead? The daughter was in the restroom. I'm thinking the waitress did ask the mom and she okayed it without the daughter being there.

TC