To ask how you'd HONESTLY react if a waiter spilt beer all over you and your phone

[EnlightenmentwasaPassingPhase]

Was in a pizza and pasta chain restaurant the other day. The hapless waiter dropped a glass of bear on a table with a family at it. The glass smashed and one of the diners (woman with young kids) got absolutely drenched. Whilst she didn't exactly laugh it off, she calmly wiped herself down with napkins, dried her phone and her kid's tablet, then sat down and waited for her meal without a face on.

Hopefully, the meal was on the house but I was impressed with the way she handled it. I was with my SiL who said "by God I would've kicked off BIG time"

And she would indeed. Once she'd finished creating a scene in the restaurant, she would have been on Twitter, FB and TripAdvisor.

I'm of the accidents happen brigade. I'd try not to make the waiter feel any worse.

And, yes, it's happened. Full pint of beer all over me by new and nervous waiter.
After my initial open mouthed shock at the unexpected drenching, I was consoling him!

With my current state of mind, I'd probably go nuts.

But in a "normal" frame of mind I would just say oh well nevermind

No point in kicking off. The only thing you can do is mop the beer from your clothes as best as you can.

I would check my phone and tablet were working and, if not, I would expect rhe chain to pay for replacements. If my clothing was washable that would be fine but if dry clean only I would expect restaurant to pay the cleaning bill.

"Hapless Waiter" How pleasant you are

@WTFisgoingoninmyhead
hapless, according to my dictionary, means unlucky.

by God I would've kicked off BIG time
Your SIL needs to calm the fuck down. Assuming it wasn't thrown over her deliberately why would anybody 'kick off' about an accident, appalling behaviour.

I also had hot coffee spilled on me by an air steward. I was pissed off about that though, as he quite clearly couldn't have given a shit. Pointed to the loo where I could change (into what? I had nothing apart from a thin cardigan) and left me to it. I had to peek out of the door in my bra to find someone who could get me some cooling gel to apply. The stewardess who helped at that point took a photo of my shoulder and was clearly only concerned at ticking the boxes in case I sued. When I eventually returned to my seat, the steward was way down the aisle and when he passed by later, didn't even ask me how I was (fortunately not scarred for life).
I'm not a complainer, but I did consider lodging something on that occasion, purely because of his attitude.

In Bella Italian a few years ago a waiter tripped over behind me and ended up emptying a tray of drinks down my back and side. I was totally drenched.
I shrieked at first with shock then just started laughing. Poor bloke was mortified and massively apologetic.
I just sort of shrugged it off to be honest, because it was a very genuine accident.
DH and I ate free I believe, but we were part of a huge party so everyone else payed. Someone we were with said I should kick up more fuss, but I just felt sorry for the guy that did it and didn't want to make his day worse.

Maybe op and her SIL will reflect on this for the next time

Don't know why you're lumping me with SIL - I'm the one saying I was impressed with the calm way the woman handled it.

I've had similar - a waiter tripped and basically threw a mango lassi over myself and dining partner and our phones! Poor lad was nearly crying, we just laughed, mopped ourselves up and told him it was fine.

We still say today "Remember that time we got ballistic lassi missiled...?"

What would be the point of getting aggressive?

Hapless does mean unlucky, I'm not sure what is going on in the head of
@WTFisgoingoninmyhead. Unless she meant you were being overly pleasant?

A waiter spilt a glass of red wine on my white skirt a few years ago, in Italy. He was not apologetic at all.just shrugged his shoulders.

I am not a ‘kicking off’ type of person, but I was annoyed the waiter didn’t apologise. I asked to speak to the manager.

He was better, told me to bring my skirt back the next day & they would wash it. I did, & it was like new!

I can’t recall if they knocked any money off, as this was probably 15years ago.

Don't know why you're lumping me with SIL - I'm the one saying I was impressed with the calm way the woman handled it.

Being impressed by normal behaviour does suggest you would have reacted differently, though?

I wouldn't have kicked off, though I would have been annoyed. Accidents happen.

I think I know your SIL!

I got a drink thrown over me at the weekend by a friend who was aiming for a man she'd got into a needless spat with over something entirely trivial. She'd already had a go at a waitress over one meal (out of a table of 30) being slightly delayed.

I'll be back in September with spectacular tales of how her wedding goes, I'm sure.

Kudos to the woman for keeping her calm, and also for setting a good example for her kids

That's what I thought, too @Tinkerbelleisnotafairy

My SIL isn't a particularly nice person (the meal was very much a duty visit on all sides!) but I think quite a lot of people would have made a bigger fuss than the woman did.

@TedAndLola, I'd just assume it meant OP thought it could have gone either way. I'm impressed by good manners, doesn't mean I have bad manners myself. More that I've seen a lot of people with bad manners!

Being impressed by normal behaviour does suggest you would have reacted differently, though?

No, you're overthinking a concise OP. I would have been like pp and asked for a straw to slurp the beer up with

We went to a new Chinese restaurant not long after it had opened. The waiter had a tray of about 12 drinks. He was doing various tables. We were the first table he came to and as he lifted our drinks off he spilt the whole tray in my lap. I felt so sorry for him. I didn't complain as he was so upset. I was worried he would lose his job.

I've had coffee spilt all down the back of a white summer dress. Fortuntately I wasn't scalded. I think they did offer to clean it, but it's machine washable anyway. No lasting harm done so no point in being upset after the initial expression of surprise.

I hate coffee anyway including the smell of it. At least it was the end of the meal and a warm summer evening so that also minimised discomfort.

The world is a better place for stoic people with a sense of humour, and a less pleasant place for those on a mission to "kick off".

After the initial shock I think I would have been fairly calm - it's not as though he did it on person. I really try not to get in a tizz about things I can't do anything about, save it for the big stuff.

I've had a red wine spilled all over me before in a light coloured dress. I was annoyed of course and ended up nipping down the road to H&M for a change of clothes but I didn't 'kick off'. The waitress was obviously mortified and I've worked those kind of jobs before, accidents happen.
Meal was free and a voucher for next time, no harm done really.

I'd have been shocked but I can't imagine 'kicking off' at a waiter, unless they laughed at me/ignored the spill/otherwise behaved unprofessionally.

It happened to me, the waiter spilled a beer over me. I went to clean up, we were taken to a a new table and the meal was free. I also was offered a dry-cleaning voucher for my clothes. It was an accident, they apologised and did everything they could to make things ok.

No point in getting angry, accidents happen. And as the saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. If you remain calm, people are more likely to want to help you than if you snarl at them.

OP It sounds like your SIL would just love this to happen to her. Free meal etc, centre of attention. She sounds like she would milk the situation for everything she could get. It wouldn't matter how well the place dealt with the situation, she'd still leave a scathing review. Ugh I hate people like that.

I'd feel a bit pissed off but I wouldn't make a scene because I have a very long fuse. If the waiter apologised and made sure everything was all right (phone working, etc) what's the point of being temperamental? Accidents happen to the best of us.