So, anyone who works in a Shop, Café, Restaurant, Bar i.e. any job dealing with lots of people, will hopefully relate to this post. If you don’t, then that’s probably because you’re one of the annoying customers. I’ve been working as a waitress for four years now. Today, when a customer tried to show me how to cut a slice of cake in a way that she could have two extra crumbs, I had a ‘I hate people’ moment.

When working with people, well in my café anyway, this moment can be a regular encounter for us waiters. SO, I decided to put together a list of the different types of customers that can be extra annoying especially on an extra busy day! (Pretty sad I know).

1. The Unusual Customer Who was Sent on this Planet to Waste Your Time: This one is easy to spot in a crowd. They normally enter the place peeking through the door and having a gawk at everything around the place. They ask for twenty free samples of different teas, foods etc.. ask a million questions about everything and anything. I even had one customer ask me before how a rock got outside the Café and to tell me the rocks background story (no they were not joking)… You give this customer your full attention because they are so difficult and determined to get it. They sometimes might even interrupt you as you are talking to another customer, just to ask something silly like what your name is. They waste your time and it always happens on a busy day… Then they end up leaving spending no money at all. WHYYYYYY!

   

2. The Awkward Customer: We all know someone like this. They order an indian dish on the menu but change it around so much they end up with a chinese. They have decided what they want to eat before even looking at the menu and will not accept if you don’t serve a Duck Confit in the local pub. (Yes, I did just google fancy french dish names, but yes I did prove my point).. This customer has the chef cursing them and spitting in their mac& cheese with no cheese dish. (STAY AT HOME AND COOK YOUR OWN MEALS, WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE).
3. The Customer who is out to get you: Whether you didn’t smile as they walked in the door, or misheard the first question they asked you, or whether you did nothing at all; regardless, this customer hates you for it. As soon as they walked in that door they decided they don’t like you and they decided they must let you know. They complain, have you running in and out of the kitchen racing for them as they keep asking for more stuff you ‘forgot’, then they say nothing as you bring it all down for them. They aren’t happy and even if the moon shone from your ass (a weird image) they still wouldn’t react. They will keep their arms folded and ensure you that they ‘didn’t order that’.
4. The Impatient Customer: This customer is most annoying on an extremely busy day. From working in a Café and with people all the time I’ve learnt to appreciate waiters and their work at restaurants; being as patient as ever. Why eat out if you are in such a rush? Go to a drive thru!! Impatient is one of the worst things a customer could be; they make the waiter panic, give out to the waiter loads for something that’s out of their control and expect everything fast, and now. Their attitude resembles one of a three year old.. PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT AND ANGRY AT STAFF THEY ARE TRYING THEIR BEST (well most are) – THANKS :)).  
5. The Cheap Customer: This one tries to get anything and everything for free. They might go out, have a meal, eat all of it; yet say they didn’t like it at all hoping they can get away without paying. The hot chocolate was cold, there wasn’t that many currents in the scone, “Are you sure that was actually Carrot Cake”? “Oh I’m actually two euro short is that okay?”..  I’ve heard it all before.. The annoying thing is it works most times because THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
6. The Customer Who Wants to Be Bestfriends: These customers can be really nice, friendly and good craic or could be on the annoying list. You smile along with their jokes they tell in a language you don’t understand as they laugh to themselves whilst you are hoping they’ll leave a tip. They ask your life story when you are in the middle of doing an order and give you their full attention; annoying on a busy day, really nice on a normal day, creepy on a quiet day. They might even become a regular customer whose name you will never remember, but it’s okay because they’ll always know yours.
7. The ‘Let’s Show Up One Minute Before You Close Customer’: This one could be anyone ranging from the loveliest person to the meanest but it doesn’t matter because everyone in that place hates you. They don’t care about your food, they don’t want to serve you but they feel obliged to say yes; deep down under that smile are silent tears, as we wonder will we ever get home.

Those are the main types of annoying customers that are often totally oblivious to how much they are making the staff hate them. But these annoying customers are a minority out of a majority of really nice kind customers, of course… Hope you all enjoyed this post and can somehow relate to these encounters. If not, please forgive me it was a really busy day at work ha.

P.S. I really like dogs.

Over & Out,

Saoirse 🙂