Restaurant Servers Usually Recognize Awful Customers By 8 Immediately Noticeable Behaviors
wavebreakmedia | Shutterstock We underestimate how influential rude customers are on service workers. Not only do they create more stress, but they can harm mental health and productivity.
Paying for a service comes with expectations, especially in a time where spending money on a meal is becoming a luxury. But there are still noticeable behaviors restaurant servers instantly recognize about their awful customers.
Restaurant servers recognize these behaviors in awful customers
1. They don't do small talk
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Many of the rudest customers don't see service workers as people, but as robots to fulfill their desires. They overlook all the basic parts of human connection, like eye contact and small talk, in favor of their own comfort.
Servers can tell just how much grace and empathy someone has right away because they feel dehumanized. Customers like this don't say hello to anyone. They don't use their basic manners. They may not even respond to "How are you?" from a server, instead jumping right into ordering.
2. They don't stop their conversation
Sometimes, all we really need to feel valued is a basic level of acknowledgement. Being asked a question or simply having someone acknowledge us when we walk into a room helps us feel connected. That's why being curious in conversation so quickly translates to likability.
But an awful customer almost always ignores these social behaviors around servers because they don't deem it as important. They don't look up from their phones when servers drop off plates. They may not even stop their conversation when a waiter shows up at the table.
3. They move tables without telling anyone
There's a sense of entitlement that defines the worst kind of customers in service industries. While the behaviors might seem harmless, they're also usually combined with a clearly visible sense of superiority. And it makes workers and waiters feel inferior by nature.
Bad customers move tables without telling anyone. They seat themselves despite being guided by signs. They disregard basic social etiquette and restaurant rules to protect their own convenience, even if it's making someone else's job 10 times more difficult.
4. They snap to get attention
There's something wildly old-school and incredibly distasteful about snapping or clapping to get another human being's attention. Even if they're technically waiting on you at a restaurant, there's no reason to do it.
For entitled customers who look down on people in these occupations, they're not interested in humanizing someone who only exists to meet their needs.
They're the same people who don't make small talk or who grab another worker to ask for something instead of waiting for their own server. They have little to no patience, and even less empathy for the people working in these environments.
5. They allude to servers working for a tip
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The majority of Americans view tipping culture in a negative light, but that doesn't mean there's not still an expectation for customers to tip a certain percentage. When many service workers are relying on tips for the majority of their wages, it's become commonplace for awful customers to be synonymous with the ones tipping little to nothing over and over again.
While it might give them a hefty sense of influence and power to expect exceptional service in exchange for a tip, in reality, it's a nonnegotiable. Yes, there are exceptions, but workers shouldn't have to perform fully with every customer or table to make a livable wage.
6. They linger at a table for hours
Customers who camp at tables in a busy restaurant for hours without ever ordering anything additional aren't always inherently rude. But completely overlooking how exhausted or stressed out their wait staff is, and continuing to be so blinded by your company, can be a sign of more entitlement than we realize.
Even after the restaurant closes or it's clear they're very busy, these customers linger. They take up time and space, all while treating servers like an inconvenience to their night out.
7. They ask for multiple accommodations
Changing things about a menu or asking for accommodations isn't a bad thing. Many people can't help it, often because of disabilities or food restrictions. They need the flexibility to enjoy a night out with family or a dinner with friends.
Unfortunately, the kind of rude customers who expect wait staff to change everything and accommodate their every need are often operating from entitlement, rather than necessity. They want a million exceptions and changes, without ever really offering bare minimum empathy or kindness to their own servers.
8. They complain about everything
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Complaining literally rewires the brain to be more negative, which isn't a shock to restaurant servers who have come across their fair share of cruel and rude customers. They're insufferable.
It's not because they're difficult to please, but because they're clearly committed to finding something wrong with every aspect of a meal, no matter what.
They blame waiters for a cook's mistake. They pick apart the meal or the parking situation. They gripe about the noise or the wait time. They're always looking for something, whether that's a witness to their negativity or some kind of deal for inconveniences they've pulled out of thin air.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a senior editorial strategist with a bachelor's degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
