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.

Thanks BishooWishoo and chemenger

I was once out for a very posh dinner in a naice dress much more expensive than I normally wear, and a waitress slipped and poured a jug of cream into my lap.

I reassured her it was fine, and fled to the bathroom to clean up as best as I could.

What's the point in 'kicking off' if it's an accident?

I guess if the waitress had been callous about it rather than apologetic I might have viewed in differently, and told them I was unimpressed with the attitude (and not tip/review them badly if no amends were made).

I don't understand people who get angry and shout about this kind of thing. What's the point?

kick off why? what would it achieve besides getting someone fired for a mistake

I had an entire tray of drinks dropped on me and behaved the way the woman did. I was soaked but the waitress was almost in tears and couldn't apologise enough.

They cleared the mess, replaced the drinks and helped me dry off as much as possible. They offered to pay for any dry cleaning. Cut 50% off the bill & then sent us another voucher the following week.

It was an accident. No-one got hurt and they couldn't have been nicer afterwards. If I'd kicked off it would have achieved nothing and made me look like an arse

I once had a waiter accidentally knock a glass which span on the table and kind of whipped the glass's liquid right across my face and top. I did what she did and they comped us a bottle of wine.

Whatever else would you do? It's not like he did it on purpose.

And yes, I've also been that waiter, entire jug of ice water all down a little old lady's back mortifying, I also sobbed

TBH it depends what I had planned for the rest of the day/evening.

If I'd nipped out for a quick dinner in a local restaurant because I didn't fancy cooking, I wouldn't be too bothered as I could go straight home and change. If it was a meal before a full evening out, or the theatre or something, I would be really annoyed.

Wouldn't care about my phone though, it's waterproof
Either way I wouldn't shout at the poor waiter, but it would influence how grumpy I was and how much of a discount I'd be happy with.

I was standing with my DIL at her wedding, she was in her wedding dress. The waiter came over to offer a canapé, he slipped dropped a couple off the plate and one "bounced" up and got red sauce down DIL dress. I thought the waiter was going to collapse, he was white with shock, shaking like a leaf, profusely apologising...... my DIL to her credit took it all in her stride and was actually calming him down.

It was an accident and these things happen.

I had hot soup spilled over my shoulder at a formal lunch thing a number of years back. The poor waitress was about 16, I wasn’t much older, poor girl was distraught, obviously her first silver service type event. Her manager was straight over, took my details, arranged dry cleaning etc. For me, that was the end of it, no damage done. My manager’s wife, who was also there, other side of the table, kicked off, demanding she should also have her clothes cleaned and compensation etc. I have never worked out, given that she wasn’t affected, why she thought she was entitled to anything. Other than being a Hyacinth Bouquet type (age, appearance and style!) who wanted it to be all about her.

It's happened twice to me.

Once on a date with my now DH.
Waiter dropped a pint of beer all over me (literally, it went over my head). I went home, got changed and came back. Nothing comes between me and curry. (And my house was literally around the corner). I didn't get so much as an apology. We never returned and advised everyone we knew not to go either.

Then this weekend, a pint of strongbow dark fruits was dropped or something on the table behind me, all over the back of my silk dress, bag, boots and phone etc which were inside my open bag .... Accidents happen. It was busy. I just wiped me and my belongings down and returned to my conversation.

I was more pissed off at the family on the table next to hours who conducted their entire conversation at the top of their voices and refused to exert any kind of control over their children. Which struck me as absurd considering the nature of the venue.

Accidents happen in life. It's swings and roundabouts.

Earlier today I topped half a cup of coffee over my colleagues tablet and keyboard, in return they dropped a box of water on my foot. Shit happens.

The world's a nicer place when we accept their isn't always need to "kick off".

Happened to DH when we were out for a pre-theatre meal - whole tray of drinks, probably about six pints, almost thrown at him as the waiter tripped. We were pretty annoyed actually because he was absolutely dripping wet, stank of beer, and we were on our way to the theatre so couldn’t go home to change. And they weren’t terribly apologetic (had to request the manager several times before he came over, manager then seemed to think it was a load of fuss about nothing and didn’t want to commit to paying the dry cleaning bill, etc). But we didn’t “kick off”, just said our evening (and DH’s clothes) had been ruined, and what was their solution (“they wouldn’t charge us for those drinks” - I should bloody hope not as they weren’t our drinks, and they had ended up on the floor). Got a commitment to pay for the dry cleaning, which of course they never honoured, left and never went back.

Depends whole on the situation - if the waiter laughed it off in a really meh who cares sort of way i would be really angry!

I would probably scream, just out of shock, because I'm pretty jumpy, but then I'd be calm about it. I wouldn't yell at the waiter, it's an accident, they happen. My phone is waterproof, so I 'm not worried about that.

Why kick off? Nobody was hurt. Nobody died. I've had a pint of Guinness over me in similar circumstances and it wouldn't cross my mind to cause a fuss and further embarass someone who is no doubt already mortified.

This happened to us at a really nice Chinese place (so very expensive meal). The waiter tripped over a child someone had let run to the toilet, and the beer poured over my uncle and his plate. The plate was empty as all the food was on the lazy Suzy in the middle and we hadn't started eating yet. We all just found it funny, and he had to get dried off and get a fresh plate and then said, quite happily "I'm back in the race" and started filling his new plate.

As long as no one is stabbed with glass and nothing is broken then what else can you do but laugh it off. We did get our meal free though and it was a large group in an expensive resteraunts so was quite a big saving!

Accidents happen, if the phone tablet was not working, I would expect a repair.
Years ago in a busy bar a young lounge boy tripped, I was drenched in beer.
I didnt kick off then, an accident is an accident as long as no one was hurt, I wouldn't like tp get them into trouble.
I work in customer service, some customers love to complain, Any slip up, you here I want to speak to your supervisor, most are trying to get a freebie or discount.

(We left a tip which would have been about half the cost of the meal and paid for all our drinks before anyone says we took advantage).

We employed someone who dropped a drink all over someone on his trial shift. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? But he went back over to the bloke, apologised profusely, offered to get it dry cleaned (resort) and just delay with it so well the man was so happy all evening even though his white shirt was soaked! I know for an absolute fact of I’d done that on a trial shift at 16 years old I’d have ran for the hills!

The meal should definitely be free or some sort of compensation.
When I said about people looking for a freebie complaining, I do not mean people who have been genuinely put out.
In my job the customers nearly always know the script, if you make an error they complain for a free one, it is hard to explain without outing myself, but it is petty

It happened to us a few weeks ago. Dh kicked off as I was drenched in beer down one side.

It’s a good job I wear a bra cos it was instant wet t shirt competition. We got a free meal but I won’t go back. I like uneventful meals out where I don’t get a beer tsunami coming towards me.

I don't think you understand how accidents work...

WFTisgoingoninmyhead

Hapless just means unfortunate. The OP wasn't being rude!

morningstress why would you give them a crap review? I’m not sure they make a habit of spilling alcohol on customers so why would it warrant a mention in the review unless it was to say how well they dealt with things?

Well it's just an accident 🤷‍♀️ I've been a waitress and I was lucky enough not to have any major ones but a fellow waitress one evening dropped an entire lamb shank in someone's lap and was mortified.

I wouldn't kick off unless they laughed about it to be honest - I get more upset at sulky staff slamming food in front of me.

As long as they were apologetic then I would say 'not to worry'. A bit of a discount would be appreciated. If the phone or tablet was broken I would want to speak to the manager I think as I'm presuming it could be claimed on their insurance but even if the glass caught me etc I would still just think it was one of those things.

Having had a career in hospitality and hospitals management, I'd laugh it off/ just ask for help cleaning it up.

Mistakes happen, glasses get cold, wet and slippery. The waiter/waitress was probation absolutely mortified.

It happens, it's no big deal, no use crying over spilt milk.