The Rudest Behaviors Ever! Anderson Investigates...
Monday, April 30, 2012 5:18PM
Rule number one: If you are experiencing bad restaurant service, never mess with a waiter until you’ve gotten your food, says former waiter and best-selling author Steve Dublanica who wrote “Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter (P.S.)”
Even though you’re angry, Steve says to never deal with the waiter -- deal with the manager.
“If you have encountered rude service, says Steve, “vote with your feet... don’t go back there.”
“Anderson” and Yahoo! Shine teamed up to ask our online audiences the rudest behavior they continually encounter. Yahoo! Shine Facebook friends were quick to respond with passionate rude rants.
Shannon P. said on Facebook, “Being MOWED down at clothing rack by a rude/entitled shopper who has abs NO concept of personal space!” Amanda S. posted, “When you’re in line at the store and the person is so close to you that you can feel him breathin on your neck!!”
While responses varied, one of the top rants was rude cell phone behavior.
In a poll asking, “What rude behavior bothers you most?” 56% of respondents said parents who do not supervise their children are most annoying. Ten percent said rude waiters, 8% said pet owners who do not clean up after their dogs and 7% said tardiness.
One of the top rude behaviors came in at 19% -- people who talk too loudly on their cell phones.
Anderson Cooper says his number on pet peeve is rudeness. Arrogant people being rude to other people, cutting in line, talking loudly on their cell phones and being rude to waiters, makes him very angry.
As part of Tuesday’s episode, “Anderson Investigates Rudeness,” we decided to do a series of hidden camera investigations to see how people react when someone is being rude to then. We hired an actor to be rude all day and the results were amazing.
Would you approach someone being rude in public? Surprisingly, not many people did...
Amy Alkon, syndicated advice columnist and author of “I See Rude People,” says that “when someone is on a cell phone in a public place, they are hijacking your thoughts, they’re stealing your time and your peace of mind.”
Anderson agreed, saying, “That’s the thing that annoys me is that they are stealing my time, and my brainpower is focused on them -- when it should be focused on the inane things that I think about through the day or whatever I want to think about.”
Do you silently sit there and fume while someone is rude? Amy says it amplifies things. “You’re eating you that way and it can have very negative effects on your health. So it’s really important to not do that, to not brew. But to say something before you brew so much that you explode.”
Amy suggests that if you absolutely have to get on your cell phone in a public place, a person must take their conversation outside, or whisper, with hand over mouth.
Where do you encounter the rudest people? On Yahoo Shine, 32% said they encounter the most rudeness at retail store. Tying for the second rudest places were grocery stores and airport/airplanes. Rounding out the list was 14% at restaurants/coffee shops and 4% at the gym.
Have you experienced a rude waiter? Take a look at what happened when we set up our actor, Mac, to pose as an extremely obnoxious and rude waiter.
Even though you’re angry, Steve says to never deal with the waiter -- deal with the manager.
“If you have encountered rude service, says Steve, “vote with your feet... don’t go back there.”
“Anderson” and Yahoo! Shine teamed up to ask our online audiences the rudest behavior they continually encounter. Yahoo! Shine Facebook friends were quick to respond with passionate rude rants.
Shannon P. said on Facebook, “Being MOWED down at clothing rack by a rude/entitled shopper who has abs NO concept of personal space!” Amanda S. posted, “When you’re in line at the store and the person is so close to you that you can feel him breathin on your neck!!”
While responses varied, one of the top rants was rude cell phone behavior.
In a poll asking, “What rude behavior bothers you most?” 56% of respondents said parents who do not supervise their children are most annoying. Ten percent said rude waiters, 8% said pet owners who do not clean up after their dogs and 7% said tardiness.
One of the top rude behaviors came in at 19% -- people who talk too loudly on their cell phones.
Anderson Cooper says his number on pet peeve is rudeness. Arrogant people being rude to other people, cutting in line, talking loudly on their cell phones and being rude to waiters, makes him very angry.
As part of Tuesday’s episode, “Anderson Investigates Rudeness,” we decided to do a series of hidden camera investigations to see how people react when someone is being rude to then. We hired an actor to be rude all day and the results were amazing.
Would you approach someone being rude in public? Surprisingly, not many people did...
Amy Alkon, syndicated advice columnist and author of “I See Rude People,” says that “when someone is on a cell phone in a public place, they are hijacking your thoughts, they’re stealing your time and your peace of mind.”
Anderson agreed, saying, “That’s the thing that annoys me is that they are stealing my time, and my brainpower is focused on them -- when it should be focused on the inane things that I think about through the day or whatever I want to think about.”
Do you silently sit there and fume while someone is rude? Amy says it amplifies things. “You’re eating you that way and it can have very negative effects on your health. So it’s really important to not do that, to not brew. But to say something before you brew so much that you explode.”
Amy suggests that if you absolutely have to get on your cell phone in a public place, a person must take their conversation outside, or whisper, with hand over mouth.
Where do you encounter the rudest people? On Yahoo Shine, 32% said they encounter the most rudeness at retail store. Tying for the second rudest places were grocery stores and airport/airplanes. Rounding out the list was 14% at restaurants/coffee shops and 4% at the gym.
Have you experienced a rude waiter? Take a look at what happened when we set up our actor, Mac, to pose as an extremely obnoxious and rude waiter.
Filed Under: As Seen On The Show
Comments
Wow, Springs1, you are that nightmare customer that waiters must hate to have. Really,...39 things that irk you out when going out to eat? Dude, you seriously need to just order delivery or eat at home. Your expectations are ridiculous and you are one of those people who confuse waiters as people who are your servants and not people who provide a service. Lighten up, you are WAY too touchy on some of the smallest details. And no, I have never been a waiter but I can bet you have a sh** fit everytime you go out to eat. I can also imagine you're that douch* that complains so much that someone 1. loses their job and/or 2. gets their meals for free...
Dear Spring1...you are THE saddest person i could ever imagine, you say these things with such passion that it sickens me how important restaurant behavior is in your life....you must be a person who blames the world and servers for being fat instead of your fat mouth....i assume your fat because of your extenssive knowledge of restaurants, no healthy human being is that meticulous about restaurants.
Ive been a server for a very long time now.... I would be more than happy to see people not bashing on servers. You seriously need to get rid of the whole idea that servers take revenge on there food. It doesn't happen anymore... Unless your at some cheep establishment. In that case you should not have been going there in the first place. Dining guests almost do whatever they want now in restaurants and get away with it. Especially in this economy...
Waiters are usually teenagers or young adults. What do you expect? Unless it is a super fancy place.
(Sigh) First world problems. "I've never experienced anything like this in my life."
I live in Costa Rica where the tip is included in the bill and that's not a good thing. After you make the initial order, your lucky to see the server again without flagging the server down, which isn't always easy. Bad service is better than no service at all. You better make sure you have everything you need when the sever drops off your food. Complaining to management won't help either.
What I find incredibly rude is when I meet a "friend" for lunch, and they answer and take calls on their cell phone. That's when I get rude and interrupt the conversation.
Springs1 - you are an *******. I can't believe you took the time to write out that long long list. You must be a miserable person.
Springs 1, how can you stand to go out anywhere with that list and not be disappointed?
Service is a 2 way street and is often a reflection of your own behavior. Yes, waiters can be rude occasionally, however I guarantee if you show an ounce of compassion you will get improved service. Waiters are juggling multiple tasks simultaneously and can sometimes be distracted, we are human after all. It also helps if you have likes and dislikes like springs 1 to let your server know ahead of time. This gives them a chance to get things right.
The rudest waiter I ever encountered was picking up the plastic tray with the cash on it and taking it to the adjacent table to ours and counting it in front of us before heading to the register. How tacky!
Why report on rude waiters when 99% of the time it is the customer that is rude?
My husband and I had a waitress at Chili’s. She wrote down my order, but SHE brought out my food with the most OBVIOUS things WRONG. I ordered “Grilled Baby Back Ribs with honey bbq sauce on them with substituting the bowl of cinnamon apples that the ribs came with it for extra fries, 2 sides of honey bbq sauce, 1 side of ranch, and 1 side of mayo. SHE came out with the BIG BOWL of cinnamon apples on the plate with only my side of ranch as well as NO extra fries and has the audacity to ask me when she brought out our food “So what did you order” when she WROTE IT DOWN. That was just showing how VERY LAZY she was NOT to REREAD the order. Aren’t we PAYING the server to *REREAD THE ORDER AS THEY WROTE IT DOWN TO GET IT AS OBVIOUSLY CORRECT AS FAR AS WHAT IS IN THEIR CONTROL TO NOTICE?*** She probably STUPIDLY threw the paper away. The manager told me she put in the order correctly. WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO TO PUT IN THE ORDER CORRECTLY IF THE FOOD IS OBVIOUSLY WRONG? The ticket being correct doesn’t matter if my food is OBVIOUSLY wrong, I STILL have my food wrong. It’s like whose fault is it for making my food wrong is NOT the issue; it’s that the food is WRONG that’s the issue. Bringing it to me like that makes the server look like a complete IDIOT when that BIG BOWL of cinnamon apples was on the plate since she took my order. If another server takes my food to me, that’s an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT situation, but when it’s the SAME SERVER that takes the order there should be some *EFFORT* to make sure my food is taken to the customer correctly as far as OBVIOUS mistakes go. It’s like NO EFFORT on her part to make sure I had EXACTLY what I ordered. It makes me mad that they can’t REREAD the order BEFORE they take it to me and compare it to the food for obvious mistakes. At about 15 minutes(9:18p.m.,ordered at about 9:02p.m. )waiting for my margarita she asks if I had been brought it, which I told her no, but I couldn’t help myself because of the lack of apologies and just showing she could care less, I told her about all my complaints, because I was really getting SICK of her horrible service without ANY *APOLOGIES.* I had to ask for utensils TWICE before our food came out. I told her about that I had to ask for utensils twice and she replied “That’s the hostess’s job” right to my face. I ended up reporting her to corporate and she got fired, most probably for SASSY me back with the “It’s the Hostess’s job” remark. Yes, we STIFFED the waitress, DESERVEDLY SO. She could have gone to check on my margarita after the 10 minute mark(9:12p.m.), NOT almost 15 minutes which is what she did. My husband and I were WELL finished our meals even with the mistakes she made by the time my margarita arrived. I NEVER got ONE apology from her, NOT ONE. I had reported this situation to the manager due to the fact that I had waited for a half an hour for. Turns out they were out of shakers that the Presidente’ margarita came in, so there was a mix up. The bartender made my margarita in the wrong glass. The bartender never told the server about the situation nor did she find out about it within a reasonable amount of time, therefore, I ended up getting my margarita from the manager after waiting literally a half an hour for it(9:02p.m.-9:35p.m.) way after me and my husband were done eating. Someone else apparently ended up getting the margarita that was mine. The waitress NEVER ONCE apologized for all those mistakes. That was one of the RUDEST waitresses I’ve EVER encountered. If she would have said she was sorry at least once even, I probably wouldn’t have been so pissed off. Some servers are really UNCARING and MEAN. She could have apologized, went to check on my margarita sooner, could have compared the written order to the food BEFORE bringing out such obvious mistakes, not had asked me to repeat my order at the time of our food arriving all due because she was too lazy to do it herself, could have apologized for utensils, and could have apologized for any of the mistakes should made.
This story is one of the few times when I lost my cool, because she was just so RUDE. I don’t normally do that, but she made me so mad with her lack of apologies, lack of admitting fault, lack of effort, and lack of caring. The not apologizing honestly is what made me lose it.
This is one where a COMPLETE STIFF is deserved.
SO WHAT I GOT SERVED? The waitress wasn’t nice, didn’t care, was rude, acted as if something wasn’t her job when it was once we had been greeted to get utensils, etc.
The main parts that were rude were the no apologies for each mistake, her telling me "It's the hostess's job", and asked me "So what did you order?"
No server that writes down your order should ask you what you ordered. THAT'S LAZY!!
No server should tell you that something is someone else's job when utensils once we are seated are the SERVER'S JOB, because we aren't going to get up to get our own(Even though I have at times), not our job to.
Every mistake should get apologized for if that person wants our money. The nicer you are, the nicer the tip most likely will be(You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar).
Springs1 - very good, thorough list.
Talking loudly in public is always rude to me. It doesn't matter on cell phone or in a face to face meeting whatsoever.
While in a meeting, a participant keeps on playing with his smart phone, texting continuosly is quite rude to me.
However giving tips to waiters is solely customer choice. Personally, if I don't like the service, I don't give tips. Food is important but it is service that changes an attitude of a customer and that brings tips to a restaurant.
sure I wiped my hands wanna ask my mgr? don't be stupid tip well compliment them vigorously ahead of time.