We’ve all been there – a late-night flight, an empty stomach, and the desperate search for an open restaurant. But what happens when your midnight munchies collide with a waitress’s desire to close up and go home? In this tale of hunger and frustration, our weary traveler finds himself at odds with a waitress who’s less than thrilled about his late arrival. Let’s dive into this delicious drama… ️
A Late Arrival
The Empty Restaurant ️
A Frustrated Waitress
The Order
The Rising Tension
The Confrontation ️
The Complaint ♀️
The Response
The Sarcastic Remark
The Departure ♂️
The Afterthoughts ♂️
A Late Night Diner Dilemma: Who’s the Real Culprit? ️
So, who’s really in the wrong here? Our late-night diner who just wanted to satisfy his hunger, or the frustrated waitress who felt her cleaning time was being encroached upon? Maybe it’s a bit of both. After all, he could have chosen a different place to eat, and she could have communicated the situation better. But one thing’s for sure, this late-night dining experience was anything but appetizing. Now, let’s see what the internet thinks about this tasty tangle…
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Ordering late at a restaurant: NTA but a**hole move not tipping.
“NTA at all. You checked closing time, came early, finished meal.”
ESH. Waitress was rude, customer confronted her, no tip given.
No tip needed when ‘open’ means open
“Torn between YTA and ESH but leaning more towards YTA. Because 1) initially she never actually said anything rude, she just wasn’t as warm and welcoming as you’d like coming into a restaurant so late at night when everyone is ready to go home and be done for the day. Sure, not the BEST service but she never SAID anything rude. 2) you then PUSHED her to tell you what was wrong and PUNISHED her for being honest. You could have just eaten, paid, and left and just let it be. But you had to be an a**hole instead.”
YTA – Badgered her, called her rude. Customers were annoyed too
YTA for not listening, NTA agrees, drama ensues
NTA: Boss doesn’t like her cleaning with customers
Pressuring someone for an answer and then getting upset? YTA
“YTA. Stop pestering her and then complain about her response? “
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“YTA I can’t believe that I’m in the minority here, apparently everyone else is comfortable treating people in the service industry like emotionless robots rather than people. You got off a late flight and rather than go get takeout you decided you wanted to go to a sit-down location. This particular location was not 24-hour and was expected to close in 45 min. NO OTHER CUSTOMERS WERE THERE and you still went inside. I’ve never worked in the service industry, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that by this point the restaurant had probably started already getting ready to close. This means the grill, counters, utensils, floors, tables were all probably cleaned or in the process of getting clean. You sat down and expected them to use all of these just cleaned things, forcing them to go through the process all over again. This wouldn’t be as bad had you taken your food to go, yes they still have to reclean, but they don’t have to stay late. You are there until 10 min before close, FORCING ALL OF THEM TO STAY LATE. Then, if that’s not bad enough, you pester a waitress who has (in your opinion) the audacity to be upset that she has to stay late because of your selfish ass. When she finally tells you the truth, you get angry and punish her (and everyone else she works with because they share tips) by not tipping. Holy s**t you’re an AH.
I’m trying to think of a relatable situation so that you can understand this. It would be like everyone getting to leave work at 2pm because there was a long staff meeting that whole morning and the company has a policy where these are early days. Then, someone who you barely deal with schedules a high importance meeting with you from 2-5pm. You have to stick around at work to attend this, and you find out it all could have been sent out in an email. Your boss tells you a new assignment from this meeting needs to be completed before tomorrow, so you now have to stay after the meeting is over for another 1-2 hours. You’re the AH who scheduled the meeting. Sure, it’s your job and you need to attend and do the assignment. However, knowing that everyone was getting out early, it would’ve been a lot more humane for that person to schedule that meeting for the next day.”
“Right! I don’t think most people understand that if you’re closing a restaurant, you don’t just get to clock out and go home when it’s closing time. If a customer leaves 10 minutes before closing, you’re probably leaving 20-30 minutes after closing, and often you don’t get paid more than a few cents for that extra time. So what everyone else is basically saying is that a server’s time is worth nothing. Them getting to go home and live their lives off the clock is less important than some dude–who could have gone anywhere else–eating a sit-down meal.
YTA. 100% Eat fast food from now on.”
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Commenter calls out OP for their rude behavior. ♂️
Awkward late night diner situation, NTA!
YTA for not tipping and expecting special treatment.
“YTA. Complained when she finally told you? Could have apologized.”
YTA for ‘no tip, OBVIOUSLY’. Don’t punish honesty.
Late-night diner drama: Customer defends themselves against staff excuses.
YTA for dining in late, should’ve gotten take-away
YTA – Entitled customer frustrates exhausted server, no tip given
Customer upset about late-night diner visit, jokes didn’t help
ESH. She was rude, but why didn’t he tip?
