Anson Stevens-Bollen
As you might have read, we're pretty impressed with how the restaurant employees of our fair city pivoted to takeout and delivery service while barely missing a beat. That was a scary few months, but knowing comforting food was a mere phone call away helped big time. Others, however, decided it was time to get nasty with these people (who, by the way, were probably scared about continuing to work through a pandemic). We spoke with a number of workers to hear their worst stories from the past couple months. Don't be like these customers. Just don't.
Quit Yer Yelpin’
"I'm honestly shocked by how many people picked up food, went home and started typing up negative Yelp reviews, probably before the food even had a chance to cool. I don't know if they were just feeling powerless or something, but it really hurt."
Keep Walking
"In the first few weeks, we were still kind of figuring out the best ways to go about curbside pickup. We had masks and gloves and were trying to social distance as much as possible. And even when people would walk up to us and we'd kindly ask them to give us a minute or to step back, they'd still come at us, often without masks, never with gloves. Sometimes they'd get mad, too, and yell at us or, in one case, purposefully cough in our direction."
Tipping Point
"Got a job delivering food—I know, I know, people don't like the apps, I just needed the money—and people would tip one thing while ordering and then go in and change it afterwards. They'd sometimes leave a bad review, too, but I was really just knocking and then leaving the food on their porch. How can I do that badly? I get how tips generally come from service, but there was so much talk of 'in this together,' I assumed people would want to help."
Fewer Workers, Fewer Choices
"A lot of people did not really like how we had to cut down our menu to our most popular items. When I'd explain that we didn't have as many people in the kitchen or that resources were low, that didn't seem to satisfy anyone."
ID, Please
"You'd probably be surprised at how many people stopped by our curbside pickup thing and tried to snag other peoples' food. In our case, we weren't prepaid, so I don't know what scam they thought they were pulling."
Tell it to the Judge
"It almost became funny how many people told me they'd never come back because they had to wait an extra five minutes, or that they were very important people who were going to make sure no one ever came back. We've been around a long time, and that one guy and his friends boycotting us is hardly going to be the end for us."
Wishful Thinking
"I didn't make the alcohol laws, I also wish I could take beers togo, but we can't, so please don't yell at me."
