How A Group Can Close a Diner

by WTWizard 15 Replies latest jw experiences

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    I can remember when I was a Witless, we would go to a particular diner frequently. This place closed at 10:00 PM, so obviously they did not like having 40 or 50 of us coming after the Circus Meeting. That was what they did, week after week, showing up at precisely 9:50 PM. Of course, they would expect the wait staff to be cheerful about that. And they would show up there en masse at lunch, and expect the service to be extra quick during lunch hour, so they could meet the group on time.

    Of course, this would lead to problems. There is no way the cook is going to have 40 checks ready in 10 minutes, and yet that is what the witlesses demanded so they could be back to the group for afternoon field circus on time. Nor did they like getting hammered ten minutes before closing every week, especially after a slow period. So the Witlesses would expect the service to meet their unreasonable standards.

    When service was not up to this standard, they left tiny tips or no tip at all. They also complained frequently that the service was too slow (waiting 20 minutes for a group of 15 Witlesses to be seated 10 minutes into lunch hour was their idea of too slow). They also hated the grumpiness of the staff when we showed up every week just before closing, and usually left little or no tip. And they would bad-mouth the place for slow service, complaining about how slow and grumpy they were. I can hardly blame the establishment, since I used to work at one of those places and most people did not like staying late for a bunch of stiffs. Besides, those diners have to make their labor, and if it's slow, they have to cut hours. And then the Witlesses show up, throwing them off and making everyone stay late and costing the management extra work and eating into their profits.

    It was a matter of time before the staff started fighting back. Many of the Witlesses were black (though not all of them, nor even most of them). The waitstaff often called them nxxxxxs (a racial slur). They also started being rude to the Witlesses that were making them so much trouble. (This was expected, since their practices were ruining their normal business by displacing regular customers and disrupting their labor calculations and other plans for the night staff). Ultimately, the Witlesses responded by boycotting them.

    But now, the damage was done. The Witlesses had clogged the system so many times, slowing service for regular customers and displacing them. Many would not go back to that diner for slow service (obviously, if the Witlesses were demanding a table and to get their food 10 minutes later during the middle of lunch hour, other customers were being short-serviced). By this time, the congregation just about made it a disfellowshipping offense for anyone to go into that establishment to order food. Within a year, they were closed--no one wanted to eat there, and of course the staff was grumpy about having a bunch of Witlesses coming in there every week and forcing them to stay late, plus derailing management from calculating labor (and leaving pxxx poor tips).

  • compound complex
    compound complex

    Greetings, WTWizard:

    I can relate as I help with the late night, heavy-duty cleaning of restaurants. There's always someone coming in 10 minutes before closing time. A group of JWs came into one of our restaurants and I tried nonchalantly to engage them in conversation, but to no avail. Alas, I'm only a lowly janitor!

    BTW - that JW behavior that you cited is just another example of their perceived notion of entitlement.

    CoCo

  • vitty
    vitty

    I dont know how you can blame the JWs for closing the restaurant. If they were regularly turning up on a Tuesday or Thursday evening, then why didnt the owner have the restaurant stay open later on those evenings. The staff would know that they would be working late and the kitchen would be prepared. If for some reason no one turned up he could then close early.

    As for lunch time he could have just refused the large gang entrance.............eating places often have signs "No coach parties" If he allowed his staff to become hostile or rude to his customers then he deserved to close down.

  • blondie
    blondie

    I was an exception. I had a job where many of my customers were restaurants and diners. I always tipped appropriately and was aware of the life of wait staff having had roommates in the field. I would never go with rude jws. There were quite a few like me, considerate. It only takes one or two to sour the perception of the group. The local jws were surprised at the service I got when I went in, like a visiting queen. I pointed out that these people were some of the same people we called on from door to door and it was good to give a good impression. But if all a jw felt the goal was to get 1 hour on the slip each month and not leave a favorable impression with the person, I guess they could be rude and inconsiderate. I corrected several jws who were rude and never went with them again. I even apologized to the staff and made up the tip out of my own money.

    My experience was that jws that have been wait staff were better behaved. 40 or 50 people to a diner ten minutes before closing on a regular basis meant that the percentage of dolts in that congregation were extremely high.

    Blondie

  • sacrebleu
    sacrebleu

    I used to work at a restaurant and the local pentacostals were just as bad. We had one young man finally interested in the Bible and then they came in, let their children run amuk, were rude and ignorant, stayed way too long, left a HUGE mess and no tip. He wasn't interested after that, saying that if that's how Christians behaved, he didn't want to be one.

    I think a lot of people who have never worked in restaurants need a wake-up call there.

    My mom raised us on tips and taught us that if we can't be considerate and can't afford to tip, we don't need to go out.

    sacrebleu

  • ronin1
    ronin1

    We used to go to restaurants in groups after field service or after assemblies, etc.

    We never acted rude and as a group always left an appropriate tip- 10-15% or even more gratuity if it was not already included in the overall price.

    Anyone going to a restaurant should always leave a tip. Restaurant workers do not get paid much and they rely on tips to supplement their income.

    Only in extreme cases of a rude waiter or waitress, should one not leave a tip. And then if the service was so bad, you should talk to the manager in charge.

    I always reflected that if one of my family members were working at a restaurant I would want them to receive a tip.......so why wouldn't I leave a tip when I am served at a restaurant.

    Ronin1

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    I wonder what would have happened had the management or staff put on Michael Jackson's record "Bad". The Witlesses have a morbid fear of that record because of Michael's disassociation.

  • primitivegenius
    primitivegenius

    manager should have found out innocently when their meetings let out................. then closed the resturant 5 minutes before that time on meeting nights

    problem solved....... cept for lunch of course

  • okiesooner1966
    okiesooner1966

    We used to go to this all you can eat chicken place after the apostower study, thier was this one family that kept taking all the skin off the chicken, I mean everyone in the family. Finally they got busted for stuffing extra chicken in thier purses and taking it home. They were asked to never come back, typical witness tring to take advantage of a good situation.

  • Satanus
    Satanus

    Management could have adapted and capitalised on these regular jw migrations, seems to me. Bring in the extra staff for just those times.

    S

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