Christmas Day Restaurant Hellspawn Destroy Decorations and Get Told

Restaurant_Slave gets a Christmas Day Big Ass Retail Balls Award for confronting out of control Hellspawn destroying decorations...

Well hello RHU'ers, it's been a while, been collecting a few stories to share with all of you!

First off let me start by saying working Christmas Day is a nightmare... The only reason I work it is because we get our hourly rate tripled and get paid the same day. Not many bad things happened this Christmas day luckily, the same inane questions of "why are you working Christmas day you should be with your family!" Um... you've come for a meal? Duh....

We did have one case of a woman complaining about her turkey being overcooked, the vegetables being undercooked, the food not tasting nice etc... There was nothing wrong with her food, and she was the only customer to complain out of 120 turkey dinners that had been sent out.... Bit of a moaning old woman then...

A couple of weeks before Christmas day we had a wedding.... Now I hate serving weddings as well because there are so many little things you have to remember to do... For those of you that have ever done a Silver Service you'll know what a ballache serving a Wedding party of 70 is...

Now the adults themselves were fine but the hellspawn.... 

Fuck me sideways I could have happily bitchslapped the lot of them with a tray. For 6 HOURS myself and the other members of staff put up with the hellspawn running around, screaming, disturbing our other customers, making a mess of the restaurant, running around on bar stools, the cushioned benches in the bar and the bar tables...

But not a single parent told them to stop. I asked nicely several times for them to stop running around because it was dangerous and they could get hurt etc... This carried on until midnight... why midnight you ask?

The wedding party had booked a DJ til 1 am. By the time half 12 came, the hellspawn hyped up on cocacola and whatever alcohol they'd gotten from their absolutely plastered parents had started to destroy our christmas decorations.

I completely lost my temper at that point. I'd put up with running, screaming, mild destruction for 6 hours, but no little hellspawn shit was destroying christmas decorations and ruining it for other customers.

I pretty much shouted "OI!, STOP IT!"

They looked at me, and the ringleader of this little band of shits gave me what can only be described as a "yeah right, fuck you" grin...

So I told their parents, even in their alcohol fuelled state, they finally noticed the little brats were doing something really disrespectful and sorted it out... You'd think I had done the right thing?

Nope. I got bollocked by my manager for trying to stop hellspawn from destroying our christmas decorations...

Sometimes I wonder why I put up with the shit I get from customers, my bosses and manager...

--Restaurant_Slave

 

Comments

[Franken-catererer]

Your boss sounds a bit harsh for balling you out when the custys hadn't taken offence but it's hard to sympathise with you over the kids - it doesn't sound like until later on and the decorations they were damaging anything, just running around in high spirits. Kids do that at weddings as they meet new kids, show off and get overexcited. They also have the chance to eat cake and drink sugary drinks away from the supervision of the parents. it doesn't help but it is why kids love weddings - did you never go to them as a kid?

I know it's not that much fun for those working there but that's what happens at weddings - why on earth would the parents yell at their kids to sit quietly at a wedding?

If your bosses booked other people to have dinner at the restaurant at the same time as a wedding was going on then that's terrible and you are justified in feeling both bad for them and upset at your manager but don't take it out on little kids who are just having fun.

As for you shouting at them, that is where I lose all sympathy for you. I'd bet they were overtired by half ten and as I am sure you know, overtired kids are prone to misbehave so you dealt with it by shouting at them? You sound like a kid yourself, who does that?

If the kids were damaging things then you should have asked your boss to speak to the parents - if he chose not to and a kid damages something or is hurt then it's his responsibility and the parents - not yours.

These kids weren't being unreasonable, they were acting as kids do. if you don;t want to work in that environment then tell your boss and miss out on the paycheck. I'll be willing to bet you got a nice extra bit of money for working that shift and so maybe you could have earned it by acting like a grown up and dealing with the problem in a mature way.

This isn't a retail situation where kids can misbehave and damage goods or upset other people, this is a wedding! At weddings that is what kids are supposed to do and if I had seen you yelling at someone else's kids without even trying to speak tot he parents or your boss first? I would have fired your ass right there and then.

Finally - the parents noticed that their kids were doing something dangerous/destructive and came over and sorted it out - yet you still moan about it? Maybe if you had told them before raising your voice to a non-related minor.

BTW - I have worked catering at dozens of weddings, silver service and all and dealt with overexcited kids hundreds of times. If you distract them and point them in another direction then kids will almost always run off and do something else ("Hey kids why not see if you can all pick up Uncle Tony together") and it'll be a much happier occasion.

[Michael Chandra]

Kids that are told not to run around because it's dangerous, that start tearing stuff down, cannot be excused with kids being kids. They know enough by that age to know it's not nice.

And if you consider tearing things down kids just having fun, I pray to god no retail employee will ever run into your Hellspawn. You make it sound as if you're the kind of parent that'd never berate a kid for misbehaving, causing it to turn into a spoiled brat that knows exactly how much it's allowed to do wrong. If you can't control your kids, stay home.

[L]

I agree with Michael. Her first reaction was to stop the kids from doing something wrong and potentially dangerous to themselves and others, then she got the parents to control them. I've had to do that to. Was she supposed to watch while (for example) a kid pulled an Xmas tree down on his head, or stop him from doing it? I do like the idea of giving the kids something distracting to do from Franken, but that was not her responsibility; it was their parents before the kids got out of hand. This also makes me wonder, if the parents were all plastered, who the heck drove home? The kids might have been naughty, but not enough to warrant being killed by drunk driving parents.

[Restaurant_Slave]

I wasn't expecting to be berated for stopping kids wrecking things. Yes I shouted but only the once. Also should mention our tables and bar stools are CAST IRON. Pretty damaging should a kid get hurt by them. Yes I should have waited to tell my manager but she was nowhere in sight at the time.
Thanks Michael and l, l I should note their parents booked taxis to get home, so as far as I know the kids are still alive.

[Spritzy]

I think you handled it ok. You started off with cautious reminders to behave, since the parents were RIGHT THERE and obviously ignoring the kids, it's apparent that they weren't going to do anything.
And all you did was yell "Oi! Stop it!" it's not like you chewed them out for several minutes or used swear words or anything, and by the kid's reaction of "yeah right" it's easy to tell that the parents let them get away with whatever they want. If they'd been taught to be polite and respectful of other people's environment, even if they were over-excited and hopped up on sugar, the single shout to behave would have given them a "Oh crap! We're being bad! Sorry!" moment.Too bad the restaurant didn't have crayons and coloring pages or something like that...that may have helped occupy the kids for at least some of the time.
And I think it was unfair of the parents to make the kids attend such a formal affair and be expected to be left to their own devices till way past midnight (which is prolly WAY past their bedtimes) Unless the kids were a part of the weding party, they should have been left with a sitter or a family member who wasn't going to the dinner. And if they were a part of the wedding, it would have been wise for the parents to have someone come pick up the kids at a reasonable hour to take them home for a big ol sleepover together.

[Drug Store Diva]

That was more bad parenting than bad customer service. The children should have been supervised by their parents, not the restaurant. It was the parents responsibility to keep them occupied and well behaved, not the restaurant. When they started getting destructive, it was well within Restaurant-Slave's rights to say something, before one of them got injured and the restaurant sued.

[Raven]

Frankencaterer, you must have terrible luck in your area. I've been to several weddings. Children do not under normal circumstances get as destructive as the OP described. She was well within her rights to call the kids out on it, and her manager should have backed her. When kids act up that much, that's liability and a lawsuit waiting to happen. If you allow kids to act out, and they get hurt, you could well be held partially responsible.

[Theresa Fish]

I make wedding cakes and mints and do decorating and take decorations down. I take my kids to some of the family weddings I volunteer to work. If my kids misbehave I haul their butts outside and read them the riot act. It only takes once. If they don't take me seriously they sit on a chair in the corner until they get themselves under control. My children are not angels. My oldest son has adhd and is manic-depressive. the worst behaved children I have seen were 'normal' kids. The little boogers stuck their fingers in a wedding cake I made and scraped icing off it. The parents were too busy drinking and socializing to control their kids. I will never never never make another cake for this family member.

[Sales Agent Guy]

The few times I call out kids (note that I'm not calling them hellspawn because they're not acting out, they're just being curious,) is when they sit on the spot that's lower than the counter where the first register holds bags. I gently tell them they can't sit there.

I rarely see hellspawn at my store, but if I ever do, I can assure you you'll hear about it!

For now, congrats on the Retail Balls Award!

[Humor_Me]

Having raised 3 children, but being the last on my ex's side to get married, I didn't have to deal with this at my wedding. I was a member of my cousin's wedding which was a big, formal affair with my oldest staying home with a sitter (she was under a year), but the youngest child being about 4 that was at the wedding. When it got to be late in the evening, the parents said their good-byes and then TOOK THE KIDS HOME.

I understand that you want to visit with relatives you only see at funerals and weddings, but that doesn't mean that you get to lose the responsibility of a parent when you do. You need to still take responsibility of them like you would in any restaurant whether it be McD's or the best 5-star. The wait-staff is NOT responsible for your child. If you aren't standing up to your responsibility (or don't plan to because you plan on drinking), then make other arrangements before-hand to have the child picked up and taken home.

[?]

@Franken-catererer

When I was around 5 I went to my uncle's wedding. I had a lot of fun with my cousins and sisters sitting at our table talking, eating and playing games. We didn't get in the way of the servers and there was always an adult at our table, it was mainly my parents or my cousin's parents, the people who are responsible for us not the servers.

We weren't confined to the table we did walk off and play and we were always supervised. Other adults would pass by and play with us or say hi. We were respectable to the employees, we said please and thank you. We didn't go off to touch nor destroy the decorations we knew we should not touch them.

We had fun while being respectable to the staff, business and family because our parents raised us well and they care about us. Like in Humor_Me's story when it got late we went home because my parents (and my cousin's parents) are responsible like that.

Now Restaurant_Slave should have told the parents first when the entitled brats were running around and would't stop. Point is she shouldn't have to do it, its not her job, its the responsibility of the parents. They should keep tabs on where they are and what they are doing but of course parents these days expect the world to raise their kids.

As for Restaurant_Slave shouting them to stop is reasonable. She didn't cuss and they didn't stop when she asked nicely. By their reaction to the shout its obvious that they are brats, whose parent let them do as they please. Once they get hurt, well time to sue the business for not watching their children.
Well mannered children would have stopped being a pain when she told them politely to stop running, that they could get hurt. Heck, well mannered children wouldn't be a pain.

Restaurant_Slave sorry that you got chewed out by the boss, you're dammed if you call their attention and you're dammed if you don't.

[NC Tony]

That's when you tell your boss "Fine, next time I'll just let the kids destroy the decorations and possibly hurt themselves. But don't blame me when the parents sue us for not watching their kids."

I remember at my cousin's wedding several years ago, the younger kids (including my son who was around 2 at the time) when they showed signs of being tired (or overtired in the case of the toddlers) the parents excused themselves, and took the little ones home (or to a hotel, in my case).

[Aunty]

I'd bitchslap my niece and nephew if they pulled these kinds of shenanigans. Immediately followed with a bitchslap to my sister for allowing it. Kids will be kids, but actively destroying things is the behavior of a little shit.

@Theresa: I first read that as "boogers stuck ON their fingers" and retched.

[The Last Archimedean]

I've worked in a restaurant.

I have two kids.

I would never let my kids get to that point. Restaurant Slave did exactly the right thing, and those parents should be bitch-slapped upside the head for letting their brats get out of control.