Servers will lie and make you wait if you piss them off, research confirms

Angry server with birthday cupcake
Andy Kryza
Andy Kryza

In an expansion of our own personal analysis, two professors recently surveyed 438 food service employees about how they handle "counterproductive" (read: obnoxious) customers at their restaurants. Unsurprisingly, the most popular means of coping involved gossiping and lying, but those aren't the only ways waiters react. If you berate the staff for serving you a pink steak when you "asked for medium", your server might...

  • Make fun of you to someone else (79%)
  • Lie (78%)
  • Make you wait longer (65%)
  • Ignore you (61%)
  • Act rude (52%)
  • Argue (43%)
  • Refuse a reasonable request (25%)
  • Confront you about tips (19%)
  • Insult you (14%)
  • Increase tip without your permission (11%)
  • Mess with your food (6%)
  • Threaten you (5%)

Mostly harmless stuff until you get to the bottom of the list, but be kind to the waitstaff, guys. They're already putting up with evil bosses and nefarious pizza thieves.

Kristin Hunt is a food/drink staff writer for Thrillist, and never wants to meet the customer who was rude enough to receive threats. Follow her at @kristin_hunt.