I’m a server. The restaurant was dead, so there was no host that afternoon. I ordered food and sat at the booth next to the host stand to eat. The table also had the silverware basket for rolling them once I finished eating. We don’t have a break room; it’s a small place, so we eat at this specific booth or at the very back booth. It was also way too hot to eat outside that day.
An older couple walks in, and we make eye contact. They must’ve been there a minute, and I hadn’t noticed right away, but they were staring at me while I was shoving food in my face, which is how they chose to get my attention instead of saying something. I got up and wiped my hands and face.
Me: “Hi! What can I do for you?”
Customer: “We’d like a table for two.”
Me: “Of course! I’ll seat you.”
I go and grab the menus and setups from behind the host stand. They’re already walking to sit themselves instead of waiting for me, which is the usual. They stop in front of the front booth, and I think that maybe they actually decided to wait for me.
Then the wife picks up my plate and stares at me.
She asks, but it’s less a question and more a demand:
Customer: “Can you clean up this table? We want to sit here.”
Again, they watched me sitting there eating, so they knew that was my food. The table also still had the silverware basket and napkin bands on it.
The dining room is also completely empty; they could have literally any other table.
I just looked at her for a long minute, hoping she was just joking, but she was serious.
Me: “…No? I will not? I’m sitting there; that’s my food. Now, please put my food down. Do not touch it.”
She got pi**y about it and nearly slammed the plate back on the table. All huffy, she sat at the next booth over and stared at me angrily the rest of the time they were there and while I served them.
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