Had a table last night that, from the first moment, looked like they were gonna be trouble. No smiles or even an acknowledgement when I greeted them and went through my usual spiel. They had left their stroller at the end of the table, aka my point of approach. So, I ask the guy of they would mind parking their stroller so it wasn't in the aisle way and creating a potential hazard. (someone had pulled the fire alarm again that day, so I didn't want it in the way if some asshat did it again.) He just looked at me and said "I've never heard that before" in this super cold tone. Uh, ok. So, I retreat to get their drinks, and ask my AGM to ask them to move the stroller. It was honestly in a really awkward spot where you're leaning over the person's shoulder to talk to them, essentially. He goes out to do it, and then tells me never mind, because the guy has raised hell in the bar earlier.

Apparently the bartender "tricked" him into buying the souvenir glass we sell. The deal is, you get the large (20 oz) beer for $10.99, and you get all refills for the price of the small 16 Oz, for $6.49. Honestly not a bad deal, and it's a pretty nice glass. She explained this all to him, and he agreed, then flipped out, because he thought he told her he didn't want to keep it. Dunno. I take their order and read it back to them. Two entrees, three kids meals, two with apple sauce, one with fries, plus an extra applesauce for the baby. Got it.

I get their table's orders in, and check on them when they get their appetizer, then a few minutes before their food came out. The guy has been walking around with one of his kids, who is absolutely terrified, mind you. He's been crying the whole time and the guy keeps taking him up to the animatronics and getting mad when the kid cries.

So, I tell the woman that their food will be out in just a couple of minutes, and she looks at me, and in the same tone her husband used earlier, said "Oh, in a few minutes? Keep in mind that at this point they've been seated for maybe half an hour, and it took ten minutes for all of them to be back from the bathroom so I can get their order. The ticket time is totally on track.

I go to the kitchen, just in time to see its coming out. I help run it, and double check everything. The guy informs me that one of the kids was missing their applesauce. Ok, guess the kitchen forgot to bring out the extra one. I run back and get it, and then he tells me that they're missing a side of kid's fries. I flip back through my order pad, and read the kid's order back to him. You guys only ordered one side of kid's fries, and somehow all four of your kids have applesauce when only three of them wanted it to begin with. You already got one free side.So, I tell him I only had one side of kid's fries. He draws himself up and glares at me, then barks "Are you questioning me?" Later found out that both of them were military. (No, that's not against all military personnel, it just explained his tone.)

The words "Yeah, I am," were on the tip of my tongue, but then I remembered that this guy has already raised hell, and our GM is on the floor and probably wouldn't like he snapping back, so I just smiled and say "let me get those fries," and go to do that. I go up to the AGM, hand him the fries, and tell him he needs to drop them off, and I was 101% done with that table, because I was not in the mood for that guy's crazy attitude -- and that I had a resignation letter I would quite happily hand over if they didn't get someone else to finish off the table. I've dealt with plenty of crazy/rude tables, but this is literally the first one that left me that shaken. Managers transfer it to a coworker of mine that is pretty unflappable for the most part, and I focus my energy on my other three tables which had watched that go down, and were all sporting the "WTF" face.

Within ten minutes, the server comes up to me, and goes "fuck you for that table, that guy is literally Satan." See, I skipped out on it for a reason. Ultimately the family leaves, but with one final parting shot.

He left the other server zero tip, and wrote on the receipt that he only saw me twice, once when I took their order, and once when I "questioned" him--keep in mind he was walking around most of the time with the kids. Thus, he wanted the sales to go onto mine, because I ruined a family experience and it wasn't Denny's.

The other server, manager, and I were all like "the fuck?" and I ended up just giving the server ten bucks to cover the lack of tip, since the manager was like "fuck him, we're not transferring it--he's just looking to justify not tipping."

The kids were all sweethearts, despite their parents. Really adorable and they honestly enjoyed themselves, just too bad about their parents.