Staying past business hours in restaurants.

[UglyMonsterFace]

I'm a server. One thing I notice with guests is that they seem to think that as long as they get in before we close, they can stay for as long as they want. I work in a restaurant that closes from 3 - 5pm, in between lunch and dinner. I had guests that came in at 1:30ish pm today. They stayed past closing (3pm) and were finishing up their wine. I dropped their bill off around 3:30 and instead of paying it, they had a friend come in while we were closed and they ordered another bottle of wine. We aren't allowed to ever make the guest feel like they are unwanted, so I'm not able to say no to them. Anyway, they drink their bottle of wine slowly - they still haven't finished it by 5pm. At this point we reopen for dinner. But they decide to invite another person to come and they order appetisers. So they stayed all the way past our business hours (knowingly) and then stayed till dinner time. They didn't pay til 6:30 so I was stuck 3 and a half hours past the time I should've gotten off. I want to know from the perspective of a diner WHY people think that it's okay to stay inside a restaurant when you know they are closed?

This is extremely common and frustrating, since servers have to babysit tables until they leave. Please, I just want to understand the mentality! Lol

 

[Believe]

That's so gross. People are so inconsiderate. I honestly think people like that live off the mentality of "I work hard for my money, why shouldn't you have to?" and it kindave turns into a domino effect of people treating others poorly because their life at their own job is hell and feel entitled to do the same to others since they had to endure it :/

 

[Oldcatlady]

Wow that is honestly so rude. It’s common courtesy to leave when the store closes... and that’s just unfair to you working three extra hours.

If they already know the restaurant was closing and reopening, maybe they thought it was fine to stay there till the next closing time?? Idk what they’re thinking of lol. Wouldn’t everyone else have left for a long time after 3pm

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

Wow that is honestly so rude. It’s common courtesy to leave when the store closes... and that’s just unfair to you working three extra hours.

If they already know the restaurant was closing and reopening, maybe they thought it was fine to stay there till the next closing time?? Idk what they’re thinking of lol. Wouldn’t everyone else have left for a long time after 3pm

Yep, they were the only ones left in the restaurant. I mean, it could totally be that they knew we'd reopen and so decided to stay. But towards the end when they finally paid, they asked me in a laughing way if I'll be off now since they were paying so it indicated that they knew that they were the only reason why I had to stay late. So the least they could've done is just pay the bill first so I could leave, and the bartender that was doing the set up could've taken over even though we weren't open (at least the bartender is there anyways).

 

[RedTropicalPeachyFish]

That must've been so annoying.

I know people of different ethnicity have different "common courtesy" at times, even those who have the same nationality as you have.
I was born and have been living in mainland Japan most part of my life. But there was a time I used to live in Okinawa island. And in there, the a-okay thing was quite different from that in mainland. For example, say, your friend is going to marry someone. You got invitation to their bridal ceremony. In mainland Japan, you arriving there late couldn't be the thing! Unless you were in quite unusual situation out of your control. BUT in Okinawa islands, people arrive there late for a couple hours and more like nothing with no reason. They'd say "Oh I thought I'd leave home after eating home dinner, just that's it." which is unbelievable behavior in mainland Japan - you'd be seen rude weirdo if you did this.
So, some people have quite different common sense sometimes, depending on their ethnicity/where they are from.

And, if that wasn't the case, then it's just that some people are jerk. There's no reason or mindset there. They are jerk and act as jerk. You can't change them but at least you can change/improve your skill to how you interact with them so for you be able to make the situation better for you there. ( I'm saying this because I actually know a friend who's amazingly skillful at it. lol )

 

[LadyDestani]

That is exceedingly rude and I can't imagine why some people think it's okay to inconvenience others for no reason. As a customer, I have never stayed past closing anywhere and would feel very uncomfortable doing so.

I've never worked at a restaurant, but I had similar experiences working in retail as a teenager. People would come in 5-10 minutes before closing and spend the next hour browsing the aisles. We did make announcements over the intercoms that the store was closing/closed, but like you, we weren't allowed to personally ask them to leave. Once I remember our supervisor was locking the doors as it was already a few minutes past closing time. This lady came rushing up to the doors and begged to be let in. The supervisor told her we were closed, but she pleaded that she just needed one thing and would only take a minute. Out of kindness, he let her in and I had to keep my register open because everyone else was already counting their money for the night. This woman took over half an hour wandering the store, browsing the clothing and jewelry, before finally buying a pack of batteries that she could have picked up as soon as she came in. I was still in high school and had to get up early for school the next day. Plus, I had homework to complete that night because I went into work almost right after school let out. I was so mad at her.

I never had to stay quite as long as you, but I definitely sympathize. I just don't understand some people. I hope they at least tipped you well.

 

[LambdaDelta]

I kind of make it a point not to get anything at a restaurant anytime around an hour before it closes, but the very few times I have (not counting pick-up/delivery) I also make it a point to get done with everything asap and leave

honestly, people like that make me wish employees could tell off customers without it potentially affecting their job

 

[2kimi2furious]

That's rude as hell. People try to pull that where I work, but luckily we can kick them out of the library after hours. But it's INFURIATING. I don't know anywhere where this is acceptable behavior. Older people really seem not to care about how rude they are.

 

[Tessie]

Did they at least leave a really generous tip?


I've done this before tbh...usually when traveling/vacationing and after spending a whole entire day exploring a new city I'm starving and it's super late and I go into the restaurant near closing time.
But I always ensure a really generous tip because I know they stayed open a little later for us. I also do try eating a bit fast.

 

[Stella-Io]

I wish I could answer your question. Unfortunately people are just entitled ********. Here restaurants don't close between lunch and dinner, but still, it's rude.

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

Did they at least leave a really generous tip?


I've done this before tbh...usually when traveling/vacationing and after spending a whole entire day exploring a new city I'm starving and it's super late and I go into the restaurant near closing time.
But I always ensure a really generous tip because I know they stayed open a little later for us. I also do try eating a bit fast.

They left a 20% which is good at least.. better than the one time a guest stayed from lunch, through close, and into dinner time, and didn't leave till 10:30pm. Bill was 300 and left a 0 dollar tip because they "made a mistake on the machine" and didn't choose to correct it. They giggled about it. Meanwhile, I stayed 7 and a half hours past my scheduled shift, and it cost me 15 dollars out of my pocket because I had to tip out for their table. Was not very happy at all, getting paid under minimum wage for that long just for one table, only for it to cost me money too.

I also had one dinner shift where we close at 10pm. The big group stayed til 1 am and kept bringing friends in while we were closed and they kept moving tables cuz they needed bigger and bigger tables, meaning I had to clean 3 different tables for the1 group. But it was so late by the time they left that I wouldve had to pay for a taxi if it weren't for my bus driving boyfriend. I had to catch the late bus he was driving and then catch a ride with him after his shift.

I dont think people think about how the servers or workers need to leave too...

- - - Post Merge - - -

I wish I could answer your question. Unfortunately people are just entitled ********. Here restaurants don't close between lunch and dinner, but still, it's rude.

See the thing with our location is we have 2 buildings, the lounge and the dining room. The dining room is what closes in between while the lounge is closed through lunch and opens for happy hour at 3 and closes a bit later than the dining room for dinner. So the worst part is those guys couldve just transferred to the other building (literally 15 steps away on the same level) instead of making me stay over 3 hours later but they didn't want to -_-

 

[Wildtown]

i bet its extremely annoying, i think ive done it once before but we were only late by 5 min...

 

[Dim]

They answer is simple: They know it?s not okay, but they take advantage of the rule that ?the customer is always right? and do it anyway just to piss people off because they?re obnoxious *******s. Did they really make you stay an extra three hours and half hours? Over a bottle of wine and a few appetizers? I would have spat in their food! That?s just too cruel! -__-

 

[DJStarstryker]

I've never been a server at a restaurant, but I'm not really surprised. In high school I worked for McDonalds during one summer. This was before McDonalds had as many 24 hour restaurants as they do now. I was a closer most of the time. We closed both the lobby and the drive thru at 11pm. The lobby wasn't a problem generally. But the drive thru.... Ugh.

Sometimes it was quick to clean, but sometimes it took maybe 2 hours, especially if there was a health inspector coming in the next day or two. It was annoying how often somebody would come late at night and start banging on the drive thru window demanding to be served. We'd always politely explain we were closed. Some would get it and leave. But others, typically the drunk or high ones, would get so angry. "Why are your lights still on?" "We have to clean the restaurant so it's ready for tomorrow morning." "Oh... well, I want some chicken nuggets." "We're closed." "I don't care. You have some, right?" "None are made. We're closed. Even if we were open, it would take time to make them and..." "I want my nuggets! Make them for me right now or I'll call your corporate office and tell them you refused a customer."

This happened way too often. Oh, and I'm not just making stuff about about chicken nuggets. Apparently that's the McD's food of choice for the drunk and high. LOL!

Anyway, I don't eat out much. When I do, I'm only in there around an hour. A large chunk of that time is waiting for the kitchen to prepare my meal too, not me actually eating it. So I don't think the servers are annoyed by me in that aspect. They probably just wish I was a spendier person who bought alcohol or appetizers or desserts.

 

[Buttonsy]

I am so sorry you had to deal with that, I always make sure to leave restaurants by closing time so I have no idea why someone would think that was okay.

 

[dizzy bone]

My family runs a restaurant and we experience this almost twice a week. We have a lot of regulars who stay late just drinking after the kitchen closes. It?s annoying but we always have to put on a smile and accommodate them because sadly alcohol, especially wine, brings in the cash :I The only good thing is that we live upstairs from the shop so at least we can just close up and go upstairs but it?s still annoying waiting on people when clearly it?s an inappropriate hour. It must suck for people who actually have to commute home after a customer decides to stay longer.

 

[Tao]

People are just scum, simple as that...It's why I don't work in customer service anymore (that and I would just be straight to the point with crappy customers).


I was looking for a place to eat last night. Took ages to find somewhere because pretty much everywhere at the time was closing in like 30 minutes and I didn't think that would be long enough without rushing myself.


I know some places do it but I still find it quite rare: I don't know why places like this don't put their closing times as like 30-60 minutes before they actually close. Assuming a customer isn't intentionally an arse and they are instead just a complete moron, making them think you close sooner than you do will make it less of a problem when old man Jefferson and his coffin dodging wife come in 2 minutes before closing and demand a steak.

 

[Valzed]

My family & I stayed past closing hours one time in a diner but we only stayed because the owners asked us to. We had gone in way before closing and ordered dinner. While our dinner was being prepared a new cook they had caught part of the kitchen on fire. It was a small fire and they were able to put it out themselves but when the fire started the new cook panicked and called the fire department who showed up just as the fire was being put out. The fire department insisted on doing an inspection of the kitchen so the whole kitchen staff had to stop cooking. We offered to leave but the fire department said it wouldn't be long. By the time the fire department gave the all clear and the cooks were cleared to start cooking again it was 30 minutes before closing. We again offered to leave but the owners insisted we stay and enjoy our meal. We did ask them to please cancel the appetizer we had ordered to share and they did agree to do that. When are food arrived we ate as quickly as we could without choking and didn't order dessert or anything else. We also left a really generous tip.

It seems like these people were just rude jerks. They knew what they were doing & just didn't care that they were making you stay. I don't know why people think it's acceptable to do things like that.