On any given day a restaurant has more emotions than a high school prom.
Whether it's the young couple on a first date analyzing each other's every comment or action, or the elderly couple celebrating their 50 years of blissful life together, we see all ends of the spectrum.
From the kitchen I've witnessed marriage proposals (and rejections... awkward), families celebrating and mourning and all types of personalities. I've always appreciated the fact that people can share their strongest emotions while dining.
On Sunday (Mother's Day) I witnessed an event that unfortunately we encounter in the service industry.
I'm sharing it with you not because I want to receive pity or sympathy, but because it was a real eye opener for me on how we as humans can treat a total stranger.
Mother's Day brunch is always busy.
It's one of the holidays during the year where you just grit your teeth, roll with the punches and remember that you put a few beers in the fridge to erase the pain at the end of it all.
This year, brunch was going smoothly.
Too smoothly to be exact. Food was going out quickly and diners were happy, which always means that the culinary gods were about to throw a big smelly pile on us all.
I had just put the finishing touches on a large party when one of our servers entered the kitchen.
She had tears in her eyes as she told us about a table that had just verbally berated her while paying their bill.
The server described how she had done a quality check (this is when a server visits a table to see how the food is and if more drinks are needed) five times in 30 minutes and the head of the table was furious that their coffees had not been topped up.
The fact that a server was reduced to tears over a simple cup of coffee is something that gnaws at me, and these encounters are one of the few things I dislike about my career.
Servers have a tough job. They deal with all types of attitudes and do it with a smile glued to their face.
This girl did her job and paid keen attention to her table enough she was incredibly busy.
Please, diners, I am begging you when a server asks if everything is okay, tell them honestly.
Restaurants strive to have the best food and service, and it makes it difficult for our team when we hear about issues after the meal or worse... the Facebook/Trip Advisor/Zomato review.
And let's be frank here - no one deserves to cry over coffee.
We are humans too.
We miss our mothers while working their special day, and it still hurts to be yelled at in a room full of people.
I'm not asking you to tolerate poor service and bad attitudes, but merely put yourselves in the server's shoes.
