I wouldn’t say it was petty but, I worked in a restaurant full time with an absentee owner. I had seen him come in occasionally and he usually was drunk. He treated the staff abominably and staff theft was rampant. In training one of the waiters showed me how to fake order tickets. He said I needed to know this as the owner didn’t pay all hours worked. That at least I can get paid for my hours worked if I do this. He was correct about that. I quit the job before I would steal.

So this 4 top comes in and they order. I put the order in and was informed by the chef that we didn’t have enough portions for them all. I went back 2 more times to change the orders as there wasn’t enough in the kitchen. This should be an indication how bad the theft and negligence of the owner was.

One of the men in the group of two couples was angry about this and I couldn’t blame him. They stayed though and ordered a bottle of wine with the meal. This one guy then started complaining about everything he was served. Made me run for each piece of silverware that wasn’t to his liking multiple times. I tried my best but, I was an eighteen year old kid and wasn’t responsible for the inventory. I didn’t get surly or say anything. I decided to pay for another bottle of wine for them and brought it saying it’s on the house since we were low on stock. The angry man said to leave the bottle but, this restaurant has shitty service and I’m not forgiven. Gasps from his companions.

At the end of the meal, I brought the bill and the angry man said the whole meal should be complimentary. The others got angry with him and said they were paying. The other gentleman pulled out some money for a tip and angry man told him not to. He took it with him when they left. I thought “Oh well, at least those meals aren’t coming out of my pay”. A couple of minutes later, the gentleman ran in and handed me a tip large enough to pay for the “free” bottle of wine and more. He thanked me for my efforts and said I deserved more for putting up with his friend.