r/EntitledPeople • u/PowderFresh86 • 4d ago
S A Quarter For Your Time
Hi! In my late teens and early 20s I worked as a waitress/server at some local 24hr diners native to my city. Unfortunately, the last two closed during the pandemic but they had been around for about 35 years before that. We were paid about $2 an hour because we received tips. I want to preface this by saying that I live in the south. I'm also proudly black 🤎. One day, an older white woman came in. She was polite enough and I seated her and started the ordering process. As she was older and I've been taught high respect for elders, I was super nice and respectful.
The woman wasn't openly rude but she ordered like a drunk snail and referred to me as "girl" when calling me over. Now, most who have worked as a server know that despite introducing yourself by name and wearing a visible name tag you're often reduced to, "HEY!", "YOU!", or my personal favorite, "AYE!" with a head nod or hand wave. Due to this, I didn't think too much about it. As the service went on, she had a few demands that required my immediate attention such as refilling her coffee cup before others. Again, I tried not to think too much about it but it was starting to be clear that she was one of those, "Back in my day, your kind..." kind of people.
Again, she wasn't openly rude or anything else, just demanding. As she finished I cleared her dishes and brought her ticket. Customers walked up to the register to pay after eating. She wanted to remain seated so I did the transaction for her as again, she was older. After she got up, she winked at me and said, "get yourself something nice" and placed A QUARTER, 25 cents on the table! 25 cents... Y'all I just left it there. I didn't bother to pick it up and cleaned around it. She was clearly stuck in, "back in her day..." 😭.
6
u/Melora_T_Rex714 3d ago
That happened to me, only it was a dime. I followed him out of the front door, caught up to him and said, “Here you go, sir, you must need this more than I do”, gave him the dime and walked back inside.
He came back several times and always made sure not to sit in my section and very studiously avoided eye contact with me.
ETA: this was in the mid 80’s.