When you go on a date at a fancy restaurant, cozy cafe, or, heck, even your local fast food joint, you can easily forget that there’s always someone around in the background—your server. Now, odds are that most people working in the food service industry don’t eavesdrop on purpose. However, when a date goes frightfully wrong, they can’t help but notice what’s going on at one of their tables.
We’re featuring some of the stories about the most awkward and weird date fails, as witnessed by servers and shared on these two r/AskReddit threads here and here. Scroll down for some of the most cringe, dramatic, and weird romantic encounters that waiters couldn’t look away from even if they wanted to.
However, one note of friendly advice for you, Pandas: the stories here might give you some a case of some serious secondhand embarrassment.
Bored Panda was interested to learn more about dating, whether restaurant dates are a good idea, and what to do if you see that you’re not clicking with someone, so we reached out to certified relationship and self-love coach Alex Scot. Scroll down for our full interview with her, Pandas.
This post may include affiliate links.
Tl;Dr- wife in disguise busts cheating husband and sets him up for prison
Former bartender- A couple is having a flirty date at a table close to my bar. Two drink rounds in, (Him- mojitos, her- mango cosmos) and they are having a great time. Laughs, kisses, crazy flirting.
Lady comes in and sits at the bar, she seems off. She stares at the bar menu for a good 5-10. The menu is upside down. I figure out she is watching the couple behind her through the bar mirror. So I go over to greet her.
As soon as I get close, I see she is wearing a wig. A bad one. She takes her sunglasses down and I see she has been crying. Now I'm intrigued. She's not getting a drink until I get her story.
Turns out the couple behind her is her husband and his mistress. For the next hour I have to give her a play by play of her husband's date, so awkward. She is devastated but keeps wanting details.
Then she hands me 40$ and wants me to buy them a round. Wth? 22$ tip for me so ok, I send the drinks to the table with my compliments, they wave thanks. Later on she does it again, asks me to send a round. I did it, knowing the couple would be drunk at this point.
The couple finishes up and leaves. They even stop by the bar on the way out and he shakes my hand, says thank you. Right next to his wife sitting there! They leave.
Then I see the wife's plan unfold, it was epic.
She pulls out her phone, calls 911 and reports a drunk driver. She gives his car description and license plate number and says he is on the road she knew he would take home.
Brutal, but deserved. It would be his 4th dui so, prison time.
Relationship coach Alex opened up to Bored Panda that she personally isn’t a fan of “the stereotypical coffee or restaurant date” because many people feel a lot of pressure “to keep the conversation going with fewer things around to remark about.” In short, going to a cafe or restaurant might not be ideal for a first date.
“If you’re the extroverted type, these kinds of dates are easier for you to show up and be you, but for introverts or anyone who has social anxiety, this can be a triggering environment. I personally feel it's a smarter move to go on some kind of activity date,” she said.
I was serving a guy who was obviously being stood up, he had reserved in advanced and came in about 10 minutes early, he seems pretty calm but is constantly checking his watch and phone. After about 30 minutes he orders a large pizza, another 20 minutes pass and his pizza arrives and is placed in front of him, at this point I'm feeling really bad but have no idea what to do. He leaves the pizza untouched for about 15 minutes before finally having a couple slices, probably an hour and a half after he originally arrived he decides to leave, he's about to pack up his pizza when one of the other servers decides to take her break and chooses to sit with him.
I quit working there a couple months later but as far as I know they're still dating.
This one is sad. I was managing at the time and had a lady in her mid forties can me I’m dressed pretty nicely. She was not an ugly woman by any means but she wasn’t overly attractive either. She was super excited to be going on a blind date and showed up early. She sat and had a glass of wine and chatted up my bartenders servers and myself. We all really liked this woman. Super sweet and friendly and seemed to really be trying to have a nice time. Then her date shows up... he comes in about a half hour late and is talking in the phone. Sits next to the woman and continues talking. Finally he gets off the phone and goes over to the bar to get a drink (which is also strange since my server would’ve done that for him) proceeds to order a drink from the bar, drinks it, orders another drink then sits down. The woman tries to have a conversation with him but he’s constantly looking around the room like he was seeing if there was anything better for him to be doing. Finally when my waitress takes their order he asks for his food to go. His food comes out he grabs it and gets up and leaves. He tries to say something to me about how the woman was not attractive and he had to get out of there. He did it in a way that he tried to get me to agree with him and I just eye rolled him and walked away. He woman started crying and my entire female staff is over at the table trying to talk to her. I was going to basically let her hang out there all night and get whatever she wanted on the house but she was too upset and left shortly after. That guy was such a douche and she was such a sweetheart. It really angered me how he treated her
Just look at it this way...she dodged a bullet. If he had pretended to like her and it got serious, could you imagine how this moron would have treated her?
Some examples of activity dates include mini-golf, wine tasting, going to a concert, or even axe throwing. “Having an activity to do gives you an opportunity to see how this person interacts with others, how they act when something doesn't go their way, if they have the ability to laugh at themselves, and if they’re encouraging and supportive,” Alex said why this is better.
Bored Panda wanted to know what someone should do if they see that the date isn’t going well at all and if there’s really no chemistry there, at all. In relationship coach Alex’s opinion, honesty is always the best policy and we ought to be upfront about these feelings. It’s the decent thing to do.
Ok, walk into work at 5p.m. the only people in the bar were a couple on a date. A fellow bartender walks out of the restroom shaking his head in disbelief and shock. He immediately starts pointing to the guy and told me what happened. I walk into the men's restroom and before my precious eyes lays a Havana omelet (feces) on the floor and s**t smeared all over the restroom wall like a f***ing mosaic. I'm so livid and dry heaving at this point that a waitress asked if she could say something to the gentleman. I said sure, and she walked up to the table and asked the guy if he s**t himself and if he needs a doctor. The woman on the date then turns around to look at the waitress in complete confusion and asked what the waitress said. The waitress then replied "he knows what I'm talking about, he shat all over the mens." The woman on the date shoved her plate and drink into the guys lap and said " Really Vince? Again!?" He ran out so fast before we could make him clean it.
I was not a server but a kitchen manager and head cook who was called to a table one night. It was one of those "we want to meet the chef" things. I put on a new chef coat and go out to the farthest reaches of the dining room to where earlier in the night we all noticed that the people there had asked to have the lights turned down. As I'm going there one of my server friends says quietly "buckle up for that." I get to the table and greet a very well dressed college kid, probably no older than 20, who is not drinking or eating and is sweating profusely while sitting straight up in his seat like a mannequin. Then I look at his date. She was probably in her 50's or 60's, painfully thin, tan sagging skin, too much neon pink lipstick circling busted up yellow-gray teeth, she's got an empty bottle of wine in front of her and a ton of hoop bracelets. She's grinning at the guy and in a split second I could tell she was using her feet to rub the guy's crotch under the table. I exchanged some pleasantries with them for a minute and the guy asks if he can see the kitchen real quick because he used to work at the same restaurant but in a different city. I say sure, we'll be right back, etc., and as soon as we're out of earshot he says that his friends had set him up on a blind date and that woman is obviously a prostitute. He was f**king terrified, like hostage situation terrified, so I told him I'll let him out the back door through the kitchen. I haven't seen anyone power walk to their car like that in my life and with that, he fled. Funny thing was that the lady he was with paid for both of their meals and left a large tip.
A guy made a reservation saying he was going to propose. He asked for a special table and for dessert to come with a sparkler candle and, "will you marry me?" written on it. I bring out the cake, the manager follows me with two glasses of champagne, my co-workers are cheering. We set everything down and walk away. They end up having a serious, quiet discussion and it is very obvious that she is rejecting the proposal. Then three of their friends show up and sit at the table, all excited thinking their friends just got engaged. But it quickly became apparent to them that it was not the case. It's very quiet and awkward at the table. The woman who was being proposed to left, and the reject and his friends got wasted. He gave me a 20% tip too, which was nice considering how s***ty his night had been.
NEVER surprise ANYONE with a proposal. You should've talked about it, made sure you both want to marry and then you can surprise the other with how/when you propose.
“The person you are with is a human and deserves to be treated with basic human decency. It may feel awkward, but at the end of the day, honesty is the best policy,” she told Bored Panda. “So let the other person know that you’re thankful for their time, but don’t feel that you two are a match for one another and wish them all the best. If it’s too scary to do that in person or over the phone, then send it via text.”
Tinder date. Guy keeps ordering for the girl. (S**t like that is weird anyway but when you are legitimately having dinner with a stranger, why the f**k would you think that's ok?)
He ordered her drink (liquor) which she corrected to a glass of wine. Then he ordered her some soup, which she stated she didn't want. Then he ordered her meal (shrimp scampi), which she corrected to chicken marsala because she is allergic to shellfish.
She was very sweet and I'm assuming was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Until something took a turn and she poured her wine on his head and stormed out.
The one good thing about him though... he tipped the hell out of me. like almost 60% tip on an already expensive meal.
I would kill to find out what he said to make this seemingly sweet girl pour cabernet all over him.
I worked at a popular chain restaurant as my first job. On Tuesday's we would have trivia night where each table who wanted to participate could make a team name and answer the questions asked over the loud speaker. There was a table with these two people on a date but the guy constantly was on his phone. Walking passed a few times you could tell he was texting someone else while on this date. Needless to say the woman wasn't to pleased. She decided to try and have a good time anyway and joined in on trivia. When it was time to announce the team names over the speaker she chose the name "No sex for him tonight." The entire restaurant got a good laugh, but the poor guy didn't even notice he was too busy with his phone.
I once was a server at a very upscale French restaurant in NYC. One evening a middle-aged man and a young woman are sat in my section, clearly on a date. You could tell this woman was his mistress by the way they interacted with each other. They were high maintenance but pleasant enough. Right after they had received their entrees, the man looks across the way to another table and loses all the color in his face. His date noticed and turned to see what he was looking at. The mans wife was at another table, also on a date with her side piece, on the other side of the restaurant. The wife sees him and has the same expression on her face, which very quickly turns to rage. She briskly walks over to his table and starts whisper-yelling at him, pointing her finger right in his face. He starts to do the same back at her. This isn't a very big restaurant, everyone knows what's going on and the atmosphere gets icy. The mans date is just staring at her plate, absolutely mortified. The wife's date pretends nothing is happening and continues eating. Eventually, the wife storms back over to her table and wolfs down her dinner (no exaggeration, she was like rage eating). He sits down and his mistress won't speak to him for the rest of the meal. This is a fine dining restaurant and they ordered multiple courses. Having to clear, crumb, and reset their table two more times was less than fun. He left a very big tip and apologized on the way out.
Why did she get angry? She cheated on him just as much as he cheated on her.
Relationship expert Dan Bacon believes that online and traditional dating are two very different beasts. He told Bored Panda that it’s important to verify whether a person is telling the truth about who they are when you’re using dating apps, such as Tinder.
"Get to a phone call, or video call as quickly as possible, so you can actually get a feel for each other and see if you click. At the very least, send voice texts back and forth so you can determine each other’s level of interest, as well as personality type and temperament," he said that people shouldn’t just rely on the chat function in the app.
Dan pointed out to Bored Panda that communication via texting can get very confusing, even though it’s fun. Two different people can interpret emojis and words very differently. And sometimes can end up getting hurt or feeling like they were deceived.
When I worked at a drive thru coffee shop, my team and I saw this super awkward teenage couple on their first date. We were right by a high school and movie theater so it wasn’t anything unusual. However, as he got ready to back mom’s minivan out of a parking spot, the poor kid hit the gas pedal by mistake. Car goes straight into the marsh behind our parking lot. Police, fire department, and mom show up a bit later to pick up the kid. Everyone was fine, just one case of severely wounded pride.
Another one that started out awful but ended wonderful. Two teenage to early 20’s girls came in for a date. I don’t know how this happened but one poor girl was a little too excited to use the revolving door, moves faster than the door can turn, and smacks her head on the glass. Looked like it hurt. She immediately starts bawling so I rush over with a rag filled with ice. She’s got a bump on her forehead and a small cut but was ok. At one point she looked up to the ceiling and cried, “This is so embarrassing!!” My coworkers and I gave them free coffee and all the pastries they wanted to eat. Both girls ended up staying until close talking and left holding hands. I hope they are still happy.
"and that, my dear, is how I met Mama." "why couldn't she tel the story?" "Honey, I was knocked on the head by a revolving door!"
My first day at my first job as a server at a sushi restaurant (17 at the time with minimal people skills lol).
I had just checked in an older woman possibly in her early 60’s/late 50’s with a young man who couldn’t have been older than 25. Midway thru their meal I went to check up on them asking, “aw, are you taking Mom out today?”. They both turned with straight faces and the young man answered, “she’s my girl friend.”
I whispered an apology and just peeled myself away.
First date. She's doing all of the talking, but it's ok, because he's totally into it. Every time she changes the subject, he's more infatuated with her. She likes football and guns and trucks, redneck style, and he loves it. Then she starts going through the pictures on her phone.
When she finally got around to mention that the 3 kids in the pictures were hers, I swear I actually heard his d**k deflate.
"A man might send a woman a text and she then replies with a laughing emoji, with tears of laughter. He thinks he's doing well, but in reality, she is rolling her eyes and thinking that his joke was lame. He might then continue using that type of humor and cause a disconnect between himself and her," he said.
"Online dating is more superficial and based on appearances compared to real-world interactions, which is more about how both people feel when interacting with each other in person," the relationship expert noted.
"A woman who would normally accept an average, confident, good guy in real life, will often have very high standards and only accept very good looking men on Tinder, or online dating. This results in millions of average-looking men wasting their time trying to match up with women who just aren't going to give them a chance," the dating expert shared his opinion about how dating apps have changed the entire dating experience.
I once saw a guy shake his dates hand when she reached over to grab some bread.
I waited tables in a small town when I was in college. We were one of the only restaraunts in town. I had an early 20's couple come in one Saturday night and it was obvious that they were on a first date. The guy was trying to impress the girl by being a real douche to me by ordering me around and belittling me. I can handle that, just kill 'em with kindness. So every time he was condescending or s***ty to me I just gave a nice "yes sir" or "right away sir" and did my job. He was so bad that other servers noticed. When he barked at me for his check, I promptly provided it for him. As he took his wallet out of his pocket, he dropped a condom on the ground. I picked it up and put it in on the table between both of them and said "Sir, you dropped this." He denied that it was his and I said "Yes it is, I just saw it fall out of your pocket." His date was furious. She immediately asked "What's that for? What did you think was going to happen tonight. We just met!" He tried to play it off but she got up and exclaimed "Pay the bill and take me home now!" She then turned to me and said "I'm sorry" and walked away. I gave him his change right there and he said "Thanks Bro," and I told him "Any time!" I didn't get a tip, but another table next to them saw the whole thing and became some of my regulars.
Why did she get upset? I think it's great that he comes prepared! Both men and women who date should always have at least one condom on them. You never know what will happen. Doesn't have to happen on the first date at all, it's still good to have one.
Because it's quite an assumption to make that your date, who you just met, is going to sleep with you. She may well feel it calls her own morals into question!
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A match made in hell. He is a condescending douche and she has apparently (?) no problem with him being an ah to the server (cool would have been if she called him out on it), but with him being responsible when it comes to sex. Meh, too bad this didn't work out with these 2.
Seems the guy was looking for casual sex and didn’t make that interest clear up front. I can understand the woman’s annoyance. It’s fine if people want to be casual about sex, as long as they’re up front about it. Get on the same page. Any guy trying to game his way into sex under some false pretense of a sudden strong emotional connection on a first date is a douchebag.
Just cause the man had a condom in his wallet doesn't mean he was expecting to get laid. Yeah he was a douche apparently. But there are plenty of guys who have condoms in their wallet "just in case" even when they're not seeing anyone. Maybe it had nothing to do with her. Maybe it had been in his wallet for a while, again just in case. Maybe it was a "just in case" for the last person he'd been dating and he just didn't take it out when they broke up. I'd have been put off by the entire date but that wouldn't have been the deal breaker for me.
It's great that he came prepared. I would not assume it was because of me but I think it's very respectful to have a condom with you if you are single and dating. That's a sign he cares about health, his and mine IF we would decide to go that way (you never know right?). I'm sorry he was rude in every other way but not because of the condom. That would be a plus to me (would still not have sex with him because of his rude behavior though).
I'm calling bullshit on this one. Plenty of people always carry condoms. No one would freak out about it. No one would continue to suck up to someone who was being rude to them. This is a pretend story.
That was my feeling too. If a guy is carrying condoms I wouldn't assume that he had put them there specifically for me personally.
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I dunno… A lot of guys keep condoms in their wallet. If I were her I might have cracked a joke (not joke) about him not needing that tonight because we’d just met and what I’d seen of his behaviour wasn’t going to lead to date #2.
...so she was upset because he practices safe sex? And because he was mean to you, you gave him good service? Am I reading that right?
That's what she gets upset about? That he is prepared to be safe, just in case? But being a douch nozzle all evening is ok with her?
It used to be so annoying when dates came with Condoms, What happened to, NEVER ON FIRST DATES?
It was clearly a blind date. Neither were comfortable at all. Dropped off drinks, both were polite, dropped off food, asked how everything was, the guy rolled his eyes and said “well the food is great I just wish SHE would TALK more”. Girl’s face went tomato red and I dropped off the check shortly after. Poor girl
"With traditional dating, average-looking men can enjoy the position of power because almost all men are afraid to approach and talk to women in real life. When an average looking man has the confidence to approach and talk to a woman in real life, as well as the ability to flirt and create a spark during a conversation, he will find that many of the single women he meets show interest and give their phone number," he said. "In some cases, a pretty woman who would never be interested in him via online dating or Tinder, can fall in love, marry and start a family with him all from him having the courage to walk up and say hello to her in person."
The date started out kinda okay. Maybe a little awkward as first dates usually are, but they both decided at the end of the date that they weren't a good match. Woman said she would pay for her own meal, man declines and says he had every intention of paying since she humored him and gave him a chance. I'm thinking, "aw that is sweet even if they didn't work out". Woman thanks man and leaves in an uber as I am grabbing the check... man's card declines... man has to call woman to ask her to pay the entire bill because he didn't have money. Woman comes back about 10 minutes later, but man was hiding in the bathroom so he didn't have to look her in the eye. It was sad, because the woman wasnt even mad, but she seemed peeved that he would hide instead of thanking her. It was REALLY awkward.
Why is it so flubberdubbing hard to just say "Thank you, I'm sorry I messed up."? I'm with this woman- I'd be way more upset about the guy being chicken sh*t than having to pay for a meal because his card's messed up. Grow up and be a respectful human being. Don't hide in the bathroom like a turd!!
I worked at a semi casual restaurant and we would have a decent amount of blind dates. So I have a gentleman arrive for his reservation. So I seat him at table 8. Then I have a lady show up, "looking for her friend" I ask her if it's the gentleman at table 8. She thanks me and sits down with him. Well they start hitting it off great! Order drinks, apps, the whole thing. THEN, another guy comes in, says he is waiting for his friend and stands in the lobby texting on his phone. Eventually we catch on that he was also on a blind date, and was supposed to be with the girl at table 8!
The girl everntually comes up after getting a text from him, apologised then sat down with BOTH guys to enjoy the apps. Well eventually she suggests that her date was with the second guy, and that the first guy should head out. But it turns out the first guy was stood up on his blind date. Lol it was such a mess, and the first guy was royally pissed that he was being kicked away.
Hope that made sense!
To preface, I work in a restaurant where we make our own ketchup and some people just don't like it. Fine, whatever, if you're nice I'll bring you the secret Heinz ketchup as long as you don't tell anyone. Anyway, a woman is seated at my table looking super excited and tells me she's on a blind date. She orders a glass of wine and waits anxiously, how cute right? So this dude shows up on his phone, ignores my hostess, and eventually finds this beautiful woman waiting for him. He continued to talk on his phone for like, 15 minutes, and when he finally hung up I went to the table. He tried to order for her which obviously embarrassed her, and for himself ordered a well done steak and fries. When I brought it to him he asked for A1 and REAL ketchup. When I informed him we had neither he grunted and said he had ketchup packets in his truck. As soon as he walked out the door she asked for her half of the check and her food to go. I helped her leave out the side door before he could even come back. It was awkward serving him after that. He used 7 ketchup packets.
Meanwhile, online dating leads to more competition, as fewer people, it seems, have the courage to ask someone out in real life. "They end up competing with tens of thousands of other men for the same woman on online dating or Tinder," Dan said.
"Many guys spend years trying to get a match via online dating when they could get a match in real life in a matter of minutes or hours if they just had the confidence to approach and ability to flirt and create a spark," he noted that online dating shouldn’t be someone’s one and only approach when looking for love.
My wife was a server at an upscale restaurant and I'll never forget this story she told me.
It's Valentine's Day so the place is booked for the entire night and this guy shows up looking to get a table without an reservation. The hostess tells him that they are booked solid and unless there was a cancellation he wouldn't be able to get a table soon. Guy seems to accept this ok and goes to the bar to have a drink and wait for his date. Girl shows up and this guy is on his third gin and tonic and getting loud. She meets him at the bar and looks disappointed about the table. As they are discussing what to do next things go sideways as the guy drunkenly screams about "how that dumb b***h hostess lost his reservation that he made a week ago and he isn't leaving until they've got a table blah blah blah". The poor hostess is a basket case and trying not to break down as the the guys date goes as pale as a ghost. Manager obviously comes out to see what the problem is and the guy repeats his loud a***ole ish tirade against the 17 year old hostess. Luckily, the manager had a spine and told the man to immediately leave before he calls the police. He refuses so the manager calls the cops and the guy decides he has made his point and tries to run neglecting to pay for his drinks. Manager runs out gets his plate number and almost gets hit but the drunken jackass as he is trying to flee. Gets pulled over by the cops, fails a sobriety test, manager presses charges for assault and theft. This guys poor date is now comforting the hostess who by all accounts did her job and got lambasted for it.
Valentine's Day was always the absolute worst day to be working as a server for me. Everybody is out on dates and the people who aren't are extremely mad because it's so busy and there were always one or two customers who seemed like they straight up hated the day who took it out on the wait staff.
Pre prom dinner or something. Guess they had taken pictures today so not to have to do it tomorrow. Guys and girls all done up, suits, sparkly dresses.
One girl got up to use the bathroom, guess she didn’t know it was that time of month, her dress had a huge spot on the back, she had absolutely no clue. Female server runs in after her to tell her, they explain this to her date.
He Says guess there goes my night and week end and just noped the fuk out the restaurant. Left her here and with the bill.
Couple in their 50's came in, husband asked if anyone spoke mandarin, (Chinese restaurant) I brought out the owner. Turns out, they are married, the wife just arrived from China, she doesnt speak any english, the husband didnt speak any mandarin.
The owner ended up sitting with them for a half hour translating...
Well, isn't that an honest, true marriage? Certainly not a) forced or b) for a greencard. I hope it was for a greencard.
I once had a couple on a date who were regulars. They shared a bottle of wine and were having a great time. About 45mins into their meal, the table across from them was seated with a large party. On my way to check on the couple, one of the people in the large party pulls me aside and asks me what their coworker Paul is doing with that young lady. I told them that he was on a date and that they've been there a few times together. The gentleman looks at me in disbelief and says, "I just had lunch with him and his wife, Carol, earlier this week!" and proceeds to point Paul out to the rest of the group who were all familiar with Paul and Carol.
Paul was not with Carol that night
I'm a bartender. Witnessed a Tinder date at the bar top. Convo started somewhere with "I have 7 panther tattoos. I just feel I really identify with the Panther."
Somewhere after that he spotted my tattoo of some molecular structures and asked what they were. I explained and he said "I'm more of an anatomy man myself. WINK"
Heard a snippet of "All my past infidelities were never my fault. All the girls seduced me. I'm a man that just can't say no."
Then ended when he asked the woman what she would do if she broke her leg while mowing the lawn. The poor lady just looked at me and said "We're ready for the check." with the most defeated look on her face.
I once served an old friend's dad on a date with his girlfriend. I was unaware that he and my friend's mom had split up, so on my break I text her my condolences. Long story short, her parents were not split up but because I jumped to conclusions, they are now.
I started them off with some fries...they immediately started talking about how much they loved fries...20 minutes later, they're still talking about fries...they could NOT get off the subject.
Date I witnessed
Guy pulls out chair for girl, she doesn’t realize what he is doing, awkward pause
Sits down, guy clears throat and starts coughing because he cleared it to hard or something
She doesn’t know what to do, ignores him picks up the menu
Waiter comes she asks her date if he knows what’s good, he says he’ll have what she is having, hands menu to waiter, she orders seafood, awkward pause, he is allergic to seafood takes the menu back and looks for another minute, waiter says he can come back, he says no he’ll have a steak, waiter leaves
They sit staring, not quietly looking around or at their phones, staring at each other in silence until food comes which they eat in silence
My gf at the time and i were on the edge of our seats waiting for something to happen
We had a middle-aged lady come in with a gentleman. They asked for 3 menus. I went over to the table to introduce myself and ask if they were waiting for one more. The woman said no her husband is here and then the two physically at the table ordered drinks and a water.
When I came back to drop off the drinks her "date" was in the bathroom. The lady explained to me that her husband had died a few years ago and this guy (a friend) kept asking to go out. So she said yes but insisted her DEAD HUSBAND come with them. This is why they had 3 menus. She instructed me to bring her husband up as often as possible, pretend that I knew him and make sure I ask if he's having anything for dinner when I took their dinner order. She would refer to him just as if he was sitting right there. I then heard her tell this guy all night that he tries too hard and he's kind of mean.
I do not miss working in the restaurant industry.
prime steakhouse. couple arguing. all the sudden, the lady FLIPS THE WHOLE TABLE OVER food, glasses, flatware broken, big mess. she storms out. guy helps me clean up her mess- 20% tip
Used to bartend/waitress at a pub back in the day.
One evening a guy comes in and sits down at a table for two. I go ask him if he want a drink. He orders a drink and tells me that he is waiting for a girl he's meeting for a date to order food.
He waits for a bit and I served him a couple drinks. An hour passes, He's looking at his phone occasionally and drinking. He finally comes up to the bar after an hour and a half, and tells me he thinks he's been stood up.
That's rough man. He orders a couple drinks neat and pounds them back. He's starting to look and sound considerably worse for wear at this point. He ordered a couple more drinks and I told him to wait a bit. He convinced me to get them for him by telling me he was going to drink them and leave. So he downs the drink and get up to leave.
Who should walk in the door as he's turning to go, his date. She was still wearing scrubs and looked pretty disheveled. She apologized up one side and down the other for being late.
I then got to serve one of the most awkward dates ever. He was drunk, like I probably shouldn't have gave him that last drink drunk. They make some small talk and it's terribly awkward. He gets up and goes to the bathroom.
20 minutes go by and he doesn't come back. Finally one of the male servers walk up and tells her that her date is having some troubles in the bathroom. He was sitting on the toilet bawling.
We asked her to get him out of there. We called him a cab and she pretty much shoved him into it and ran.
I had a teenage couple come accompanied by a parent.
I’m not a server but I used to work as a bakery clerk (the bakery was attached to a restaurant). I had to go inside the restaurant and pass out samples and I witnessed a table where the guy was on his phone the entire time. It didn’t seem too bad until they came to the bakery afterwards and ordered cake slices. I asked them if they wanted their cake slices in the same box or separate and the woman said same box and her boyfriend interrupted saying “NO. SEPARATE BOXES”. It didn’t seem like a big deal but this woman f**king lost it. She started listing off everything he did wrong and how he’s probably cheating on her with his ex. It was absolutely glorious and I got to stand there for 10 minutes and watch it happen.
I had a couple that looked like something was up, having a long cocktail and dinner type date. I didn't think it was too extraordinary until the lady found me outside the restroom and told me that her husband asked her for a divorce. She hugged me and cried on my and talked shoulder for like 10 minutes (not a regular). That is forever in server time, so I was super happy that we weren't busy, I had no food coming up, and my friend tended to my other table. It would have been awful to blow her off. She stayed for dinner and they both got drunk.
Had a couple come to dine in, and they had the three course meal and everything. The guy had mentioned to our host that he was proposing, arranged a bottle of champagne to be delivered to the table once dessert was ordered (that's when he was planning on proposing).
Dessert is ordered, looooong awkward silence at the table. She's tearing up, grabs her purse, apologizes and leaves. Thankfully, we had all been keeping an eye on them (we wanted to see a cute "yes!" moment), and the server didn't put through the order for the champagne. We all could see it was a rejection.
Ten minutes later, his parents arrive, and tell the host that they're excited to "meet their future daughter-in-law!".
I'll never forget that poor host's face as she led them over to his table. Him alone.
Probably the one where the guy’s choice of footwear was such a turn off that the woman didn’t even sit down with him. She left before he even saw that she came in.
I was a hostess at the time so I had to go awkwardly explain to the gentleman that his date arrived and left. When he asked if she gave a reason, I had to tell him that she didn’t like his shoes.
His choice of footwear? Those strange running shoes that look like feet. The ones where each individual toe goes into a separate spot like toe socks. Luckily they were black and grey and not any sort of crazy colors. He wore them with a nice grey suit. It was... really bad looking.
Man was devastated.
Haha, I have shoes like that and they are great for walking and running, but definitely not suitable for a restaurant.
Had a table, girl showed up first and then the man. She was super quiet and so was he, until like 30 minutes in he’s screaming at her and she goes to the bathroom. My table next to them were shocked and he said “what the hell are you looking at? You think I’m gonna beat her? I’m not gonna f**king beat her!” After they said nothing to him at all.
They obviously broke up during the meal and I told 2 off duty bouncers what was happening (the girls at the table next to them didn’t say anything until the breakup couple left) and they found the girl leaving the bathroom and said they’d walk her home, not to worry about the tab, etc. So she leaves with them and the guy says nothing about the event. Nothing. Asks for their check, leaves me almost 100%. Leaves.
Then the girls next to them speak up about it to me, and they’re young college girls so I had to explain to them if they ever see this going on or it’s happening to them to let their server know or another server discreetly and we’ll make sure they get a ride/Walk home. They were totally shocked restaurant staff would do that for them. I hope they told their friends they could use that, too.
Good for u for telling those girls that u can help if they or a friend ever needs it.
Two couples were having a lovely dinner and suddenly one of the ladies screamed. Champagne glasses had been delivered to their table, one with a diamond ring in it. As you might have guessed the wrong couple got the ring and the look of horror on both the gentlemen's faces was quite a sight! I happened to be serving the other couple at the time and the only thing that sprung to mind was to drop my tray as distraction. It kinda worked as with the loud clatter all attention suddenly went to me and my colleague managed to quickly apologise for the mix up and rescue something of the situation. Still felt awful for the gents though!
Not a server but was at the next table with my husband. They are being seated and he says she is, 'kawaii' and looks like some character he's seen. Without skipping a beat she just says, "Nope." And walks off.
Work at a local restaurant. When they first opened about 3 years ago we had some guy come in with his girlfriend for dinner. All is going well they're eating drinking when suddenly this guys REAL longtime girlfriends sister comes in to eat with one of her friends and decided to stop by and introduce herself. Says I'm "whatever his name is" girlfriends sister and the girl he was on the date with flipped out threw her drink at him and storms out, he runs out after her and I'm watching from the window as she's smacking him in the head with her purse (wasn't a small one either) to the car. That's an awkward ride home right ? Too bad she didn't drive she could've left him there. Wonder if he was able to keep save the relationship of either of his girlfriends that night lol
I am a friend of a server who told me that the worst date she witnessed was one NYE with a ~50 year old man and an early 20's woman. All of the booths were filled so they were seated at a table for 2. But the woman sat in the guy's lap the whole time.* In his lap*! (WTF?) So their plates were pushed side by side awkwardly and half of the table was not used. And to top it all off they dined and dashed. Cheap horny weirdos.
In the Netherlands they would have been told to act normal or get out. No one wants to see the foreplay of some horny weirdos. Especially not when people are eating.
The couple broke up.
He dumped her toward the beginning. Girl cried while giving her order. They finished their whole meal, dessert and all.
Alright not a date but a couple brought in their very cute little daughter (probably like 6) into our restaurant and I'm outside by their table when I hear "mommy and daddy just don't love each other anymore" D: WHO THE F**K BRINGS A KID TO LUNCH TO TELL THEM ABOUT A DIVORCE. Poor kid probably hates Greek food now.
Never mind the Greek food, the girl will associate restaurants with bad messages for a long time to come.
Not a server, but I was at an outdoor restaurant/bar and it must have been their first date or something, but a couple was sitting across from eachother and the girl was endlessly texting while the guy was talking to her.
He just kept talking, laughing, and she kept saying "....yeah." "cool." "nice."
She wouldn't even look up from her phone for a straight 30 minutes.
I would have "gone to the bathroom" and never come back if i were him
I work at an ice cream parlor. A couple years ago I had a couple come in, it seemed like their first or at least one of their first dates. Kind of nervous around each other but they seemed to go together well.
They’re looking over the menu and they finally decide or whatever. They’re standing at the register, and the girl takes out her wallet to get ready to order hers. He insists he’ll pay and they spend a minute or two going back and fourth over this while I wait for them to order. They come to an agreement that he will pay! Thank goodness. It’s always awkward standing there while people argue over this and both shove their credit cards at you and expect you to choose who is responsible for the bill. They order, I go get their sundaes, ring them up, and once this guy sees the total (which was probably like $10 or less) he awkwardly stands there for a minute and says to me “Can we do them separate?” then turns to the girl and says “You still wanted to pay for your own right?”
She looks kind of like “...tf?” and slowly gets her wallet back out of her bag that she’d put away WHEN HE DECIDED HE WOULD PAY and was like “yeah sure that’s fine..”
They sat inside in mostly silence for like 15 minutes and she clearly was no longer interested lmfao. I didn’t know who to feel bad for.
I’m all for splitting the bill, I would never expect a dude to pay for me just because I’m a woman, but after the few minutes they spent debating and he insisted, and then instantly changed his mind because his date was not worth $5...that was an awkward one (especially because that couple and ME were the only people in the shop the whole time).
That being said I'll contribute. This couple clearly didn't know each other well. Example: she'd suggest an appetizer only to find out he was allergic to shrimp. They took maybe half an hour and two drinks each to decide on food. When the food arrived she excused herself to the bathroom while he patiently stared at his plate. She came back, said he can start eating because she had to answer a page. (Yes. I'm old) the busboy heard the rest because she was gone by the time I came back to the table. According to him she sat back down, burst into tears, said something about her sister getting a haircut and left.
Dude ate his meal, took hers to go and tipped well.
Not a server, but my SO and I went to a hibachi restaurant and witnessed the most cringeworthy moment.
We sit down at our table and are joined by another couple. We say hello and casually chit chat with the strangers. Just before the chef begins to cook, the woman hands her boyfriend a small gift bag. The guy opens the bag and finds a card with an ultrasound pic inside. The man is visibly upset and embarrassed, telling her that she knows he doesn’t want any kids. A hushed argument ensues and the woman disappears into the bathroom.
He then tells us that he doesn’t even like this woman and really, really doesn’t want a kid with her. We finished our meals in awkward silence and often wonder what happened to those people
This guy waited for his "fiancee" to show up only to get on his knees and propose pretty much the moment she sat down. I immediately knew from the look on her face that things were going to go down hill real quick. I was working at Olive Garden at the time so they ordered some pasta. Everyone could hear them arguing but mostly you could hear the woman repeatedly say, "YOU KNOW HOW I F**KING FEEL ABOUT HIM!" The fight continued until I heard a loud "OHHHHHH!!!" She threw an entire plate of pasta at his face. She stormed outside, he followed and eventually the cops came and arrested the woman. I assume she was arrested for aggravated assault or something.
Not a date but the end result was the guy paying for the girl's meal and drinks.
VERY chatty woman in her early 20's was at the bar and ordering more than a few drinks, probably 5 or 6 cocktails and a few beers. Did I mention this was the middle of the day? Guy sits next to her and they end up chatting, good for them. It's time for her to leave and she hands me a credit card which is of course declined. She apologizes and fishes around for another credit card. This one is declined as well. She gets a little pouty and plays the woe is me card. White Knight next to her swoops in and says not to worry, he'll pay the bill, which is around $100. I guess he was expecting to get some and take her home, but as soon as he paid and the card went through she fast walked out of the place and was never seen again.
Not a server but used to be a DJ on a dinner harbor cruise. So this forties-ish old Asian dude has some decent cash and while not getting one of the private boats is upgraded his regular dinner date to include a special table and event coordinator, dinner for one of his buddies to be a videographer and get his own special dance with his girlfriend p to start off what should be danced time for all the guests. He's also arranged to have two dozen roses waiting on the table when they arrive, plus a treasure chest filled with 75 more (for a total of 99) that will be brought out by the coordinator and another member of the serving staff at the end of the aforementioned dance. At this point he will propose. I am informed of this all ahead of time because as the DJ I need to welcome them out to the dance floor for their special dance after dinner and make sure the rest of the guests and do not interrupt. Couple shows up and the girl looks like she's probably 15 if not 20 years younger than the guy but the evening goes as planned, right up to the part where the song ends and he gets down on one knee, takes her hand, holds the ring at the tip of her finger and asked her to marry him. She just stands there. The music has stopped. The event coordinator and server a are holding the roses. The friend is filming. She just stands there giving no response
Now there's a good 60 to 80 other people in this level of the boat sitting in uncomfortable silence watching this unfold.
I can't say for sure how long it went on. Could have been 30 second, could have been 5 minutes. Every so often he would whisper to her, and eventually she let him slide the ring onto her finger, and the slunk away back to their table.
Now, here's the icing on this tragic cake of awkwardness. I was talking to a server afterwards and they told me that they had a guy at one of their tables tell them at the beginning of the night that he was gonna propose and ordered the "celebration" dessert. Well dessert time roles around a while after the above incident, and the waiter brings out the desert and says "congratulations" as she sets it on the table. The woman at the table looks confused and the man gives the quickest of head shakes. The waitress acts as if she's confused tables and just sets the dessert down and walks away. The first guys proposal went to bad, it scared the second guy off. He manage to blow two proposals in one night.
Wasn't serving at this time, but oversaw this waiting for take out at a sushi place.
Around 3ish, a guy comes in and explains to the staff that he was coming in later that night with a date, and that he wants them to come out with a roll and say "hi so and so, nice to see you again, this is on the house"
The waitress gave him the most blank look so he explained the whole thing again, emphasizing how he would actually pay for the roll now.
I should have gone back later to see how that played out.
Once had a guy call in asking if our restaurant had any quiet spaces so he could have an important conversation . I just thought he meant a business meeting ... nope. Turns out he wanted to breakup with his girlfriend of 8 years . Halfway through she started screaming and had to be escorted out. He ended up staying and meeting up with a new date about and hour later .
A pair in their mid-20s on what appeared to be a first date where the girl was clearly way out of the guy's league and he was apparently completely broke. I mean like trying to make it work on literal pocket change broke. Every time she tried to order something he was like, "no no... do you guys have anything cheaper?" At one point he had a pile of change on the table and they were counting it out together, lol. They ended up getting water and an order of french fries that they shared. She looked horrified but to her credit she stuck it out for the duration. Felt bad for the guy but at the same time I just have no idea what he was thinking. And no, for the record it was not Dave Chapelle.
Please stop with this 'out of his league' nonsense. It just promotes inequality and segregation. It's about personality, character, no one is out of someone's league. We're not India, we don't have castes or leagues.
Had this couple obviously on their first date and the poor guy was SO visibly nervous he was just sitting there with these wide deer in the head lights eyes, profusely sweating (like drenched) and I think they exchanged a total 3 words the whole date. When I took the guys' order his voice cracked making the situation that much worse. Poor guy, hope he's doing alright.
😢 poor guy. I have really bad social anxiety and can totally relate to this. I don't sweat but I get the shakes, like a nervous chihuahua. I hope he's alright too and that he's found someone that can understand.
I once served a blind date. She got up to go to the bathroom and he told me to guess how old she was - turns out about ten years older than she looked. He wasn't thrilled about it. He told me he was thinking about bailing. Ended up sticking it out. They were the last table in the restaurant and when the busser started cleaning near them he threw a fit and acted like they were getting kicked out, but he probably just wanted an excuse to leave.
He tipped pretty well IIRC.
Would this be considered a "date"?
After the club these guys brought a few girls in with them. The guys all knew each other but the girls didn't. They were chatting and getting to know each other, one of the girls leave, but girl (A) and girl (B) remain. They ordered food, everything was going well until girl A reached over and took some of girl B's fries. Girl B warns her, "don't take my fckin' fries". Girl A thinks she's joking so she laughs and takes some more. All of a sudden Girl B reaches over and decks this girl in the face and yells, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO TAKE MY FCKIN' FRIES BTCH!". Girl A starts fighting back and the guys are trying to register what happened. Eventually, my manager and the guys pull them apart and they leave. Girl B walks out the diner with the group of guys, but girl A decides to stay and call her friend to come get her. Guess the "date" wasn't successful; fries can cockblock too.
TL;DR Guys bring in dates after the club. Two girls fight over french fries, date is over.
TL;DR made me chuckle. Seriously, though, who takes food off of a strangers' plate? Physically fighting over fries is insane, don't get me wrong, but I would be pretty p*ssed if a person I just met took my food unless they are young enough to be my kid.
So the host told me that he just sat a party of 4 in my section. I approach the table and its two guys and two girls. Looked like a double date and I get started. Toward the end of the night one of the girls gets up to use the restroom and the other girl at the table leans in and whispers to me saying that its the other girls' birthday and asks if I could bring out a cake with a candle.
This happens all the time so I put the order in, didn't really think anything of it. A few minutes later the cake is ready and the food runner brought it to the wait-station, but the girl is nowhere to be found. So I leave it there for what seemed like ages until I spot her hastily walking out from the bathroom back to her table. I gather all the crowd I can, the other servers, a bartender, the food-runner, and even the cook who made the cake for good measure. This is her special day so let's make this a night to remember right?
We light the candle and get to the table and the birthday girl is in tears. Like straight up balling. Like her dog just died, boyfriend broke up with her, and she was diagnosed with cancer all at the same time crying.
This never happened to me before and I have other tables no time for this s**t so "Happy birthday to you, hap....." But I was the only one singing. The crowd of employees, the table, the entire restaurant, all dead silent during my aria. Should I have stopped? Not sure, all I know is that I didn't stop. I sang the whole damn song by myself and when it came to the "happy birthday dear (insert name here)" I didn't know crying lady's name so I just kind of mumbled "happy birthday dear hmmmhmmhmm" At the end of the song I just placed the cake down and walked back to grab the their check even though they hadn't asked for it.
But what happened in the bathroom? The girl's friend didn't seem to know of anything that happened before she went to the bathroom, so it didn't happen at the table. And this is the only awkward story so far where it was the server who was the awkward one, I can relate dude
The young couple were on a date, and when it came time for the bill his card got rejected...and then her card got rejected. She stayed as he went across the street to the bank. It still declined. He called his mom to wire in money. It didn't work. The mother ended up coming to pay for both of their meals. They were both old enough to legally order and drink alcohol.
Being old enough to legally order and drink alcohol doesn't mean that they are wise enough to manage their finances.
A few years ago now on Valentine's Day...
Two couples booked in, both with same surname: "Perry". One of the guys asks if we can bring champagne out to them (with conveniently submerged ring) just after the meal so he could propose. After one waiter asked the young waitress for the champagne to the Perry table with a wink, she proceeded to take the glasses to the other table (who had just arrived, so this made no sense as to why she'd done this), massive mix-up ensues. I was working on the bar so was far enough away to find it privately hilarious.
I waited tables during college. The most awkward date I've seen unfold at that time was a lady in her mid-30's who got stood up. Like an hour in, she was still waiting and drinking her 3rd glass of wine. It was really sad to see her come to the realization that her date stood her up. But by that time, she had 3 glasses of wine in her and she ordered food and just talked with random wait staff from time to time and I'm fairly certain ended up convincing one of the waiter who was getting off his shift to go home with her.
I work at a bar and there was a couple that would come in fairly often. One day they were sitting at the end of the bar and I had just taken their order when I overhear him say something to the effect of "I just feel like we're just going through the motions, you know?"
He dumped her while they were waiting for their food. So after a few awkward minutes of talking and her crying, he asks if we can make the food to go. The whole thing made the entire bar pretty uncomfortable.
A guy made a reservation and asked for a private table because he was going to break up with his girlfriend over dinner. Before they even arrived, our entire restaurant staff knew that they were going to break up. She orders an appetizer, bar drink and one of our pricier meals. He gets a side salad and water. Probably why he wanted to break up with her. Anyway, they left without breaking up. Guess he chickened out.
Probably why he wanted to break up with her? Because he offers to take her to dinner and she orders (gasp) food?
Watching an older gentleman on a blind date get knocked out of his chair when he started having a heart attack. He had a built in defibrillator and I guess that's what caused him to get knocked out of his seat.
This guy has been coming in regularly for first dates. He's in again. Customers order at the bar, so he comes up and asks for two spaghettis. Fair enough.
I bring 'em over and put them down. The girl says: "Oh, I wanted the vegetarian spaghetti...".
After an awkward interaction, she proceeded to eat it anyway. At the end comes the bill. I ask: "together?" He says: "No, split."
I'll never forget the look on her face.
It would have been nice for him to pay for a meal he ordered that she didn't want.
I was a bartender at a burger joint. A creepy Teva-wearing older gentleman who was a regular brought in what appeared to be a younger escort. Per our operating procedures, I asked her what temperature she wanted her burger cooked. The regular then interjected and said “meeedium raaaare” while staring into her eyes and licking his lips. I will never forget
That one guy came up to me and wanted to make a reservation exactly 20 years in the future. Unfortunately I couldn’t handle his request at all and messed up with it completely.
I can see the sudden outbursts, and that it can come out of nowhere. Started dating a woman once. Two weeks in and out of the blue she announces that I have to take the week off work and go with her to visit friends in a city 12 hours away. When I said I couldn't on such short notice, a water glass exploded on the wall by my head. Y'know, It is these subtle indicators that tell you it is time to move on.
Had a friend that went on a first date with a guy. He invited her to the beach for a stroll and some lunch. When she showed up, he had his 3 kids with him...ON A FIRST DATE. She was gracious enough to go through the day with them without complaining. They went one more time and she got a bad feeling about him. When she refused to go out with him again, he went stalker on her leaving notes on her car and dropping by her business unannounced. Luckily, his work transferred him out of state and she never saw him again.
A bunch of these seemed made up. But other than that, it's amazing what people are willing to do in public places.
Sadly Jo from what I see of people I don't that too many are made up.
Load More Replies... I can see the sudden outbursts, and that it can come out of nowhere. Started dating a woman once. Two weeks in and out of the blue she announces that I have to take the week off work and go with her to visit friends in a city 12 hours away. When I said I couldn't on such short notice, a water glass exploded on the wall by my head. Y'know, It is these subtle indicators that tell you it is time to move on.
Had a friend that went on a first date with a guy. He invited her to the beach for a stroll and some lunch. When she showed up, he had his 3 kids with him...ON A FIRST DATE. She was gracious enough to go through the day with them without complaining. They went one more time and she got a bad feeling about him. When she refused to go out with him again, he went stalker on her leaving notes on her car and dropping by her business unannounced. Luckily, his work transferred him out of state and she never saw him again.
A bunch of these seemed made up. But other than that, it's amazing what people are willing to do in public places.
Sadly Jo from what I see of people I don't that too many are made up.
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