My posts have become very popular with the team at work. They get very excited when they make the evening news. They also like to share the wealth. Twice tonight someone came up to tell me the insanity that was their table.

And by the end of the night I had a yellow pad sheet full of notes.

I just needed to choose tonight’s topic.

When what to my wondering eye should appear?

I should say…who?

Remember everyone’s favorite post from last week about the two girls and the gent who stayed for five hours after promising to leave?

Yes.

Not the girls.

But the gent. We’ll call him Stan.

He arrived for his 6:15 reservation with his brothers. He didn’t have on his hat but it was definitely him.

I didn’t know till later but for both of his last visits he was difficult.

He starts off the same.

They didn’t like the stools they were assigned to. After last week there is no way they’re getting moved. Stool 1,2,3 by the men’s room.

Perfect.

In the following hour he goes out twice to smoke. Only it wasn’t cigarettes. He came back in with a more skunky smell.

He also refuses to order. It’s now 7:30. We’ve sat all but two tables and he tells the bartender he’s going to wait another hour since we don’t close till 8:30.

David, the bartender lets me know this. I tell him to let them know they have till 7:45. Then it will be too late.

It was soon after that the last table comes in. Two attractive men, two outrageously stunning women. I’m waiting for their table to be bussed so I can seat them.

When guess who should appear? Stan.

He see’s the girls.

And if I directed what happened next in a play you’d say this is ridiculous.

He appears in the doorway.

Sees the girls.

He locks his gaze on the taller of the two girls. He never looks away. He takes about 90 seconds longer than he needs to, never looking away even as he exits to smoke again.

About three minutes later he returns.

The whole thing is repeated. Creepily so.

He goes back in.

The table waiting is seated.

About 30 minutes later I notice that Stan isn’t at the bar and I see him coming from the dining room.

Hmmm.

Mental note to watch him.

A few minutes later. He’s gone again.

A few minutes later he appears from the dining room again.

Hmmm.

A server comes looking for me to give me his checkout.

He lets me know that Stan is hanging out at the wait stand.

Talking to the female staff.

I head over to the wait stand and find out he’s talking to them but seems innocent enough.

In my opinion, 45 year old men don’t hang out at wait stands if they are innocent enough.

That changes in about 30 minutes.

He singles out one server and is having a hard time getting her subtle hints to leave her alone.

By now it’s approaching 9:00. Stan is still here. We are waiting on a table to leave.

The server comes over to give me her checkout and I invite her to sit down with me. There are now four of us at the table.

As soon as the server sits down, guess who is at the table.

Stan.

He is having trouble talking.

She asks if she can help him.

He asks if he can get a ____. He couldn’t finish and begins to mime a box with his hands.

The server looks at him and dryly says, do you need a to to go box?

We all snicker.

He finally gets out that he wants a slip of paper. I fetch him one.

It’s clear he wants her number but is being blocked by six staff members.

He’s not happy that he’s talking to me and not the server.

He’s really unhappy when she, without a word excuses herself.

Now it’s me and two servers and two bartenders looking at him like what do you want now?

He stutters.

He fumbles.

He’s lost.

Finally he walks away.

The whole thing was creepy.

He leaves.

Finally.

One of our servers leaves immediately and phones to let us know he’s still in the parking lot.

I go out but don’t see him. Only employee cars out there.

We all finish up.

I make the remaining staff exit together.

So here’s the thing.

Stan’s first visit. Normal.

Second visit he stayed for five hours and tried to pick up a woman at the bar.

Tonight he’s creepy. Rapey.

BUT.

He never really crossed the line.

It’s like when you know an employee is stealing.

You can’t fire them until you catch them.

I feel like I can’t ban him until he crosses a line. But it also scares me that he’ll get handsy or cross a big line.

That being said.

I know who he is. I know his first and last name. I know to watch him. I know to alert the staff to his behavior.

Hopefully things will never come to a more serious situation.

Hopefully.