We were busy tonight. Busiest Friday night in weeks. Busier than during Prelude. Lots of big parties. Not a lot of two tops. Lots of threes and fours. I ran around tonight like I did in August. Seating. Busing. Helping where I could.

Around 8:30 I was approached by a server. She asked me to visit table 22. They were upset about their steak. The gentleman had told her he could have saved money and just cooked one at home that would have been better.

I approach them and say, hello how are you?

The man says he’s unhappy with his steak because it’s tough.

His wife says he’s just being an asshole.

But I kind of misunderstood and was confused as to who she was calling an asshole.

We sorted that out.

Bottom line is he thinks his steak is tough. I offer to get him a new one. I offer him dessert. I ask what will make him happy.

They assure me they are fine. I say, that it’s my job to make things better. I say all the things.

This opens the wife up to let me know what she thinks about the whole experience.

So she shared that she doesn’t like the music. It’s too upbeat. A little discoey. Not background music like it should be. She’s not wrong.

Our music is a statement. It’s sets a mood. It is NOT background music. I love the energy it creates. I don’t say this.

We chat. I ask them if they’ll come back. They are wishy washy.

I leave.

At this point I could have just comped the offending steak. Or bought them dessert. But I want them to come back. I want them to know that their experience is not the norm.

So I went back to the table and gave them a gift card. 50 bucks to use next time they come back. They insisted I didn’t need to do this. I assured them if they had been jerks I wouldn’t have. But I want them to come back and have a different experience.

They are very gracious.

But it opens up the wife to tell about the music again.

Then she complains about the table. They are seated at a high top.

Time for true confession.

They had reserved a regular table. She’d actually called today and tried to move her reservation earlier. We couldn’t do it because of how busy we were. They were booked at a semi round booth. Romantic.

Unfortunately, the table prior to them ordered a 3” thick porterhouse. It took an hour to cook. They were still eating when my upset guests arrived 15 minutes early for their reservation. They were still eating when they were sat 10 minutes late. I made the executive decision to seat them at a high top. The table prior to them finished about 45 minutes after they were seated at the wrong table.

I explain all of this to them. I apologize and explain what happened. They were appreciative to know why we seated them at the wrong table. The man comments about not rushing someone out who spent $150 dollars on steak. I don’t correct him that the steak was almost $250. I say you’re right. But we don’t rush anyone out. If you want to drink wine till midnight so be it. I might turn up the bad music but I won’t rush you out.

When it was all said and done they left happy. They tipped well. They’ll be back.

It felt great to turn someone’s night around.

PS. I have to wonder if their experience would have been different if they’d been sat at table 12 to begin with.