It’s no secret that this last year and a half has been tough on the restaurant industry. What has been almost even more difficult, has been reopening. The biggest reason behind this has been extremely rude, impatient, and down-right mean patrons who’ve been coming out to eat. After some particularly verbally abusive customers brought their staff to tears, this restaurant opted to close for a “day of kindness” for their servers. This act has garnered attention all over the world. (1)
Restaurant Closes For Day Of Kindness For Its Employees
Cape Cod restaurant in Brewster, Massachusetts, decided they were fed up with overly rude customers. After customers frustrated post-pandemic wait times brought the staff to tears with their nasty insults, owner Brandi Felt Castellano and head chef Regina took it upon themselves to send them a message. They closed the restaurant for a “day of kindness” for their staff.
Verbal Abuse And Threats
Servers and restaurant workers have been off work for the better part of the year. Many of them are young, and working at the restaurant is their summer job while in school. Since reopening after the pandemic, Brandi and Regina noticed an influx of rude, impatient patrons who were increasingly disrespectful to their employees.
Finally, one day, customers were so bad that many of the staff reached their breaking point. One customer even told an employee that he hoped that they would get hit by a car on their way home from work that night. The customers brought several of the employees to tears, getting mad at them for many things that were simply out of their control.
“Patrons have crossed the line from being just like rude or upset to verbally abusive,” Castellano said. “They told one of our workers that ’I hope you get hit by a car when you leave work today’.”
Employee Wellbeing Over Money
Despite having been closed for much of the last year and a half, they decided enough was enough. They are an employees first, money second establishment. They closed their doors for a day to give their staff time to decompress after such a trying service.
“It just makes them like not wanting to come to work, the young ones crying or going home and crying,” she said. “These are people who are showing up every day for work and they are human beings and that’s what everyone needs just to be nice to everybody, everywhere.”
National Attention And Beyond
The restaurant’s Facebook post quickly spread around the country and to other parts of the world. Other restaurant owners and workers said that they have also experienced this increase in rude and just plain mean customers. Reasons include menu changes due to ingredient availability and longer wait times due to lack of staff. Darren Cardosa spoke about this on his blog about restaurant work-life called The Bitchy Waiter. (2)
“We’ve all seen these viral videos of servers being assaulted or yelled at by customers who are upset about masks or how long they had to wait for their table,” he said. “The Bitchy Waiter” where he posts about the reality of restaurant life, earlier this month. “There is this sense in the whole country right now that there’s a lot of anger and frustration, and it seems like a lot of customers feel like it’s OK to take that out on their server.”
Many of the people commenting on and sharing on the Cape Cod Restaurant’s post asked about donating to the staff. They respond by giving suggestions on how patrons can give back to servers and to those less fortunate.
“Chef, I and the entire staff have been humbled and overwhelmed by the out pouring of love and support.
Many people have asked to donate to the staff, either money or lunches or food. We love this idea and would like to spread the love, we would be honored if you bought lunch for anyone who deals with the public, your favorite restaurant, store, doctor, vet or pharmacy. And if you fill the need to donate money please visit our favorite non profit Family Table Collaborative which provides food to families with food insecurities.
Thank you and keep spreading the kindness!!” they wrote on Facebook.
Let’s all take this as a reminder that no matter what, you should always treat people with kindness and respect. This is especially true for customer service people.
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Sources
- “‘I hope you get hit by a car’: After customers berate staff, Cape restaurant shuts for ‘Day of Kindness’.” WHDH. Kimberly Bookman. July 13, 2021.
- “Cape Cod restaurant shuts down for ‘day of kindness’ after customers’ bad behavior.” Today. Kerry Breen. July 15, 2021.