Thanks for ruining my appetite!

[Misanthropical]

Mr. Mis and I decided to go get breakfast at our local Perkins, which is usually a pleasant experience and the only thing I have to worry about it someone blowing their nose when I'm trying to eat, but not today!

As we were waiting for our breakfast, a couple waltzed in and seated themselves behind me. I guess that whole "Wait to be seated" doesn't apply to them. Anyway, I go back to talking with Mr. Mis. Our breakfast arrives and just as I started eating a waitress from another section comes over to talk to them, loudly.

We try to ignore them, but they start talking about how the woman had burned her arm really bad and the waitress and her go about talking about being burned and how it oozed blood and pus. I turn around and give the waitress, who was an older woman and should have known better, a disgusted look since I'm trying to eat here, damn it! This caused them to get louder and more disgusting with the details.

I go to find a manager and tell her what is going on and we are leaving since I am so grossed out I'm no longer hungry. I left over half my breakfast at the table as we went up front to pay and leave.

The manager told us she can't control what the guests talk about. I told her that is true, but the waitress was just as bad when she could have tried to change the subject. The manager told me they are free to do as they please. We pay the full amount and tell her if that is how she sees it we will find another place to eat from now on and we left. I was grossed out and furious.

When I got home I wrote a letter on the web site with just the facts and added that any normal person would have been grossed out. I sent it and an hour later a district manager calls me and apologizes and said that is not how they do business and he is terribly sorry and he is sending us gift cards to come back along with his phone number. I accept that, but we won't go back to that Perkins, we will find another one to use it at because of how the manager handled it.

[Bright_Star]

Seems to me that if you didn't eat your entire breakfast cause you were grossed out then you shouldn't have paid for it. By NOT paying for your meal & the reason why not, would have forced the manager to take care of the situation right then & there.

[Slayer]

You should have spoken up earlier and not after the fact, personally.

All you had to do was tell them, "I'm sorry, but I have a really weak stomach and I'm trying to eat. Could you talk lower or could we have another seating?".

They should have controlled the volume, but the topic is fair game. If they were discussing something illegal, yeah sure, they might have stepped in. But i can't see them asking them to change topic because of burns. It's gross yes, but it's not a picnic for the burn victim either.

A mean look doesn't do much as we all know. You gotta speak up.

Sorry that you lost your appetite. I hope you took doggie bags at least.

I work in a card store so I get my share of gross and depressing stories. I just can't tell them to shut up. It's not in me to do that.

[LillFilly]

I think seeing as how the topic of conversation was inappropriate to the venue that the manager very certainly could have told them to stop or lower their voices. It's a private business. In my mall we can tell people to keep their voices down, tell them to stop swearing, or stop talking about the great sex they had last night (in detail). If it made other customers uncomfortable (and was not a violation of civil rights or one of the amendments) then it should have been taken care of. Glad the District Manager knew what to do.

[Misanthropical]

Bright_Star we figured if the manager wasn't going to see our point of view on it that she would probably have called the police if we didn't pay for my breakfast.


Slayer I spoke to the manager while it was happening. I didn't take a doggie bag since eggs and hashbrowns get gross after they have cooled off. I wasn't asking the manager to tell the couple to shut up, just to tell the waitress to try to steer the discussion else where when a disgusting topic comes up, not join in and discuss it full out details. I know burns are gross, I have badly burned myself before and it's not pleasant, but not something I would loudly discuss with a waitress in a restaurant where people are eating.

[Slayer]

It can be very difficult to steer the conversation in a different direction.

In my experience, it's more often that you have to give them what they want or else they'll keep bringing it up. Asking about the weather, for example, doesnt help steer my customers lol. The waitress was from another section? It's possible they were regulars or knew each other. Did she keep disappearing from her section to go to to them?

[Slayer]

And I'm not saying that you're not right in being upset or grossed out. That's not my intention at all.

You hav every right. We all react differently and that's ok.

They should have been able to control the volume for you. I agree 100%

I tried to add this to my previous post, but the site is lagging on my phone. I usually don't have problems. Probably the building I'm in, lol.

[MoonCat]

Seems to me the waitress should have found something else to do. I can see exchanging a couple of casual remarks, but it sounds like she stood there for an extended time. If I were the manager, I'd be a little concerned that she wasn't, y'know, working. If she'd finished up her remarks with a quick, "glad you're feeling better, enjoy your meal!" and walked away, there wouldn't have been a gross discussion.

[Misanthropical]

The waitress was there for awhile as the discussion got even more disgusting by the minute. I even remarked to Mr. Mis that I should join in with every disgusting detail having to do with my surgery, but that is not something I would do.

The waitress was completely away from her section, which I saw with my own eyes as she walked back to it laughing about the whole thing as we were leaving.

Our waitress was wonderful and we had no complaints about her and we made sure she got a full 20% tip on the full check, since none of it was her fault and we were getting excellent service from her.

[Food Lady]

As usual, I agree with Mooncat. The waitress could've said, "I'm sorry--I have some side work to get to."

[PepperElf]

sounds like it was one of her friends or something along those lines.


of course asking to be moved could also put you in the yappy server's section. which might be ... interesting... if she kept running off to chat with her friend.

[Misanthropical]

The manager said they were regulars (the burn woman was with her husband) who hadn't been in in awhile and the waitress was just finding out why. I told her that didn't mean the waitress should keep that kind of discussion going on knowing people were eating. I just got more excuses as to why the manager thought they including the waitress were in the right and we were just being unreasonable.

We were regulars too and I didn't appreciate being treated like I was making a mountain out of a molehill. I just don't want to hear revolting things while I'm trying to eat.

[PepperElf]

only other thing i can recommend is politely asking the other woman to stop it, or at least save it for later.


she may not have realized it bothered you. many people are different about what they consider to be too gross for dinner and don't realize that what they don't find gross others may find vomit-inducing.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I had a similar situation, but it was my own dinner party. We would take my mother-in-law and my wife's cousin out to dinner about once a week. Driving to dinner, the two old ladies liked to talk about all the disgusting ailments their friends had in nauseating detail. It quickly got to the point where I had to ask them to not talk about that medical stuff on the way to dinner as it made eating unpleasant. Mrs. IA agreed. And they did stop.

[MiloMorai]

Waitress could have said, "Not an appropriate subject considering where we are. So what else is new?"