To Med School and Beyond

One evening a couple in their late thirties or early fourties came to eat with their daughter who was about eight years old. The man had a bottled bear with his meal and when he was about finished with the first he asked for another. When I brought his second beer he poured it into his glass and immediately asked for a third.
I told him, "Sir, I'll be happy to bring you a third beer, but I will have to wait a few minutes because I can't serve two drinks to the same guest. It's against company policy."
He said, "Why's that?"
"Well, sir we want to be able to judge how people are being affected by the alcohol." I replied.
"Why?" He questioned.
"We want to make sure that nobody gets drunk."
His tone immediately changed and he fumed, "You shouldn't have said that in front of my daughter."
I replied, "Sir, I was not implying that you were drunk, I was only saying that we don't want anybody to get drunk."
Continuing to fume he replied, "You shouldn't have said that in front of my daughter."
I gave up and just smiled and replied, "Sir, I'm sorry."
For the rest of the night whenever I walked past his table he would glare at me until I passed from his view. The next time I returned to the table I brought their entrees. The man still had about 3/4 of his beer left. After I gave them their food, I asked, "Is there any sauces or anything else that I could get for you?"
He seethed, "Another beer."
I said ok, but I waited until he was almost finished with the beer that he was drinking and then politely brought him the beer. When I return with the beer his wife and daughter had gone to the bathroom so I took the opportunity to try to apologize without his daughter present.
I implored him, "Sir, I never meant to imply that you were drunk. I was just explaining that I could not serve you another beer, yet."
He continued to rage, "You shouldn't have said that in front of my daughter."
I conceded, "I'm sorry, sir."
I never mentioned the incident again, and of course at the end of the end night he stiffed me. He also went to a manager and ranted, "Some stupid, little prick wouldn't give me another beer." The manager spoke with him and then came to me and asked if I had cut a customer off. I explained the situation to him and he told me that I had done the right thing and that he would back me in that situation any time.
While the husband was complaining to management his wife apoligized to me, and after they had all left a nearby guest told me that if things had gotten out of hand he would have had my back. Other customers told me that they were sorry and didn't think that I had done anything wrong, and when I bussed the table I found that his wife had hidden a five dollar bill under the bread basket.

I am beginning a blog series entitled Table Tales. These posts will be stories servers have about different customers. The stories may be funny, frustrating, but mostly outrageous. If you are or ever were a server and have a story about some customers send and email to tabletales@hotmail.com and I will review the story and post it on the blog. To be fair, if you have a story about a server you may send those as well. When you send the email please include the name of the author at the end. Have fun!

I have recently learned a lesson on generosity. My wife and I are currently living from a very tight budget. I work as a server and she is studying and doing a little bit of child care. What we have learned though is that no matter how little we may have there are always people that have less. One way that you can help others is to buy Christmas gifts for angel tree children through the Salvation Army. These children's names and needs can often be found at malls or sometimes at Wal-Mart. Another way to help others is to support a child from another country. World Hope can provide a child that you can support and you can build a long term relationship with the child. Your $25 a month will supply a child with education, food, clothing and healthcare. What is $25 to any of us. That is a dinner for two at a nice restaurant. A pair of jeans cost more than $25. A link to World hope is located in the left column. A free way to help starving people is through The Hunger Site. This site allows you to click once a day and provide a cup of food to starving people the sponsors of the site provide the food as payment for advertisement. During a season of giving consider giving to someone that has little or nothing.

This was originally a comment on another blog, but I posted it here as well because the comment was a few days late and I wanted him to see it.

I thank you for the prayer on your post on December 10th and for including me in it. Thank you for you many prayers for you students over the many years that you taught at SWU. Thank you for the prayers you have said for my sake. Thank you for the continued prayers over hopefully many more years to come. Please pray for me and my wife as we have some difficult decisions in the near future. She had a job interview last Friday; please pray for her in this process of trying to find a position. She is also taking her boards in Jan and is very nervous because she feels that she is not currently able to adequately prepare while she works her current jobs outside of the medical field.

I have always admired you, Dr. LaBar. You have been an example of intelligence, curiosity, faithfulness, patience, prayerfulness, practicality, and humility. You have taught me not to think to highly of myself, not to believe that I know and understand everything, to seek the other point of view, and to continually STUDY the Word. Thank you for your contributions in my life.