For many restaurant workers, serving difficult customers is a regular occurrence they must learn to deal with.
But customer attitude has been put firmly under the spotlight in the wake of talk show host James Corden being temporarily banned from New York restaurant Balthazar after he was deemed rude to staff.
With the hospitality industry recovering from pandemic lockdowns and many restaurants now struggling with the cost of living, difficult customers is another issue to add to the list.
Indeed, many establishments face a barrage of unrealistic expectations from customers that is causing them to incur unnecessary costs.
It seems that to some customers, human error is no longer acceptable.
‘Called my restaurant manager an ignorant swine’
One venue that is no stranger to high expectations is Broughty Ferry’s Tayberry on Brook Street.
Owner and chef Adam Newth understands that pleasing every diner that walks through the door is impossible.
Adam explains: “You won’t make everyone happy, and you have to be real about it sometimes.
“But sometimes that flips over and they take it out on house staff.
“I once had someone call my restaurant manager an ignorant swine.
“It makes me feel awful because my staff work really hard to try and constantly improve the place.”
Adam says incidents can trickle down through the restaurant from one staff member to the entire team.
“We could have had 50 guests that loved it but the 51st ruined everyone’s night, including the staff and chef,” he adds.
Although Adam holds himself and his staff to the highest level of service, he urges guests to be as understanding as possible in the current climate, otherwise restaurants could go to the wall.
Assistant manager in tears
Owner and chef Jamie Scott from The Newport Restaurant has had his fair share of angry customers through the door. Their number has only increased post-pandemic.
He says: “Before Covid we would have one or two standout difficult customers a year.
“Since returning after Covid we have noticed a more entitled feeling about some specific clientele.
“So much so that in the last seven years, it is the first time I have had to eject a couple of customers.”
Jamie recalls an incident that reduced his assistant manager to tears. The customer responsible then proceeded to proclaim his innocence.
“Although his defence was that he didn’t shout or swear, you don’t need to do those things to make someone feel upset,” Jamie says.
For Jamie, his staff and team are as important as his customers, and although it meant losing money, he had the customer tossed out to avoid any further trouble.
Customers have lost all patience
Samuel Bowman, general manager at Vandal & Co in Dundee, also believes customer expectations have spiked.
He says: “Being bad is no longer an option, with people’s expectations starting to rise even prior to the pandemic.
“Post-Covid people have completely lost their patience.
“Many are forgetting that there was almost a three-year gap of employment for a lot of people.”
Many under-20s have had limited amounts of social experience, especially in customer service.
As a result Samuel is spending eight to twelve weeks training staff. But all of his efforts can be wiped out by one short-tempered customer shattering the young person’s confidence.
He explains: “You can give someone training that gets them into a confident position.
“But people forget that their attitude and tone towards an 18-year-old trainee waiter can shatter their confidence and make them not want to work in an environment like this.”
Samuel worries that this lack of patience is putting young people off entering the industry.
Conversation