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Some days are so stressful that a plate of pancakes for dinner sounds like the perfect way to relax. That is, until your waitress treats your fiancee’s neurological disorder like it’s the plague and then proceeds to openly mock her and call her a “junkie.”
Consumerist reader Dan’s fiancee has Huntington’s disease, which can cause her to experience muscle tremors and spasms. Add to that, she is pregnant. As a result, Dan tells Consumerist his fiancee is “sick and sore constantly, so just the fact that she even had an appetite at all, and was willing to go out in public during a bad day, was a bit of a surprise.”
Dan says that when he and his fiancee go out to dinner, it’s not all that uncommon to meet restaurant servers who aren’t terribly patient with someone who drops or spills things a lot, but says they have also had some very kind and patient servers.
“At IHOP we definitely did not meet one of those patient and kind servers.” he writes.
As the waitress took their order, Dan says she refused to even look at his fiancee. “When my fiancee tried to ask her a question about an item which she couldn’t find on the menu, the server held her hand in front my fiancee’s face to quiet her,” he writes, “So close that she actually touched her nose.”
And then, while other tables served by the same waitress got cheery and prompt service, their food grew cold on the counter.
Dan says their repeated requests for a straw — to help prevent his fiancee from spilling her glass of milk — went ignored, his fiancee ended up spilling milk on herself.
“The server yelled at my fiancee before disappearing into the kitchen,” he says. “It was nearly closing so the bathrooms had been locked, and napkins could only do so much. So my fiancee sat there for a half hour covered in milk, hormonal and embarrassed, and at that point crying.”
At this point, Dan went to look for a manager:
I walked around and didn’t see anyone, so I approached the kitchen door which has a glass partition on one side, around which I could see and hear our server, but apparently she couldn’t see me.
She was mimicking my fiancee’s tremors and laughing, and asked the other server if he could bring “the disgusting junkie” the bill, among some other interesting phrases.
I decided not to get angry and walked out from behind the partition and asked her if she would please send us the manager.
She said, “No, no, I’m printing your bill now.”
So I told her that I required the manager and she said “fine, whatever” and went into the kitchen, so I went back to the table.
When the manager came I explained the situation and how incredibly upset I was… I explained what I’d seen and heard and couldn’t believe she’d just made assumptions like that. The manager told me he couldn’t do anything because “he is just the night manager,” and that if we were unhappy we should take the survey on the back of the receipt.
Not knowing what else to do, Dan and his fiancee paid their bill and left.
At home, they filled out the online complaint form on the IHOP website, which to their surprise resulted in a call two days later.
“It was customer service wanting more information and apologizing,” he says, “then a call later that day from the daytime manager who said he was as upset and disgusted as we were, but it didn’t seem all that genuine.”
The manager offered them a free meal, but Dan pointed out he had no intention of ever going back to that particular IHOP.
The manager said he would send them a gift certificate that could be used at the IHOP of their choosing.
“That was March 26th,” writes Dan. “It’s June 13th. We have received no call, no gift certificate, nothing. I don’t know if I’m more angry with how we were treated, or how they pretended to be sorry and then blew us off. I’ve tried sending more emails to them, but all I get is an automated response thanking me my feedback and that someone will get back to me soon.”
We’re going to try to reach out to IHOP to find out what’s going on, but the “night manager” during the original incident should probably have offered to comp their meal. At the very least, that manager could have attempted to contact someone who actually has authority to make such decisions.
If I were in charge of a chain restaurant and heard that an employee openly made fun of a customer with Huntingtons disease, I would probably want to take more action before that customer tells the internet.
Lucky the bitch waitress didn’t get knocked on her ass……
I would have pulled this waitress to the side and explained the situation.
Also, places like IHOP are not known for being tactful and thoughtful.
I am sorry to hear you were treated this way. But, the reality is, there are brainless and heartless people out there. Even if your fiancee didn’t this condition, you still would have been treated like crap.
Why even deem the “night manager” a manager at all if they have no authority of their employees? IHOP fail all around.
I wouldn’t have paid any bill at all. I also probably wouldn’t have stayed and ordered food after that witch stuck her hand in front of my sick wife’s face. There’s are bounds of reason and that waitress pole vaulted over them that when she did that. If I had to chase the waitress down to get her bill and overhear her trashing my spouse? I’d have stiffed her with the bill and not felt a twinge of guilt about it.
The waitress called her a junkie and that isn’t true. So slander. Sue her personally and the restaurant. Take her job and any future earnings. Too far? Too bad. Suing the restaurant would be required to pay the lawyer.
“IHOP Waitress Mocks My Fiancee’s Disorder, Manager Says He Can’t Do Anything About It”
Night manager can’t fire people. Most retail/restaurants today, even the store/location manager can’t – he’s got to shoot that request to HR for termination and HR/district manager makes the call.
That being said, if I were this store’s manager I’d be hammering my DM and HR to fire this food-toting timebomb before she pisses off someone of consequence….or temper, and I got shot in the crossfire.
If the IHOP employees involved happen to read this, be grateful that you, and everybody in your family, and everyone you know, has the good health which you take for granted. The waitress involved would probably berate her own stuttering child.
In NY atleast if the resteraunt is serving customers the bathrooms HAVE to be open. So the bathrooms being locked was highly illegal.
>It was nearly closing
>sat there for a half hour
“Nearly” is a half hour? How does this work?
You know, the more I think of it, the more they should have left well before any of this.
And they sure as hell shouldn’t have paid the check.
Dan’s kind of a pushover, and could probably stand to stick up better for his already-vulnerable and pregnant girlfriend. I suppose they didn’t want to be moving around a lot… but they should have left and either gone somewhere else or called it a night. Not to be a dick, but, why was she sitting there for half an hour covered in milk? GTFO and find a place where she can clean up. Even just home. It’s not like even if you sopped up as much of the milk as possible with napkins and towels (you did say “covered”), it won’t all be gone, eventually it will start to smell. A change of clothes is eventually going to be necessary. (Like I said, you said “covered in milk”, so unless that’s hyperbole for a little splotch, YMMV.) Is staying there any better? Just so you can have pancakes? Is there noplace else to get IHOP-style food?
I bet he even tipped.
They should have walked out the door before they were done ordering, considering how clearly rude and disrespectful the server was already at that point.
IHOP
http://consumerist.com/2012/06/ihop-waitress-mocks-my-sick-fiancee-manager-says-he-cant-do-anything-about-it.html
Like · · 4 · 45 minutes ago ·
formatCdrive: As a disabled person with a neurological disease, I will never step foot in an IHOP again. I hope you get cancer and die.
44 minutes ago · Like
IHOP Hi formatCdrive – The incident is completely contrary to IHOP Corporation’s standards and values. We are aggressively investigating this matter and will take whatever corrective actions are necessary. The franchise owner is reaching out personally to the guest today to convey our most sincere apologies and make things right.
13 minutes ago · Like
IHOP Hi formatCdrive- The incident is completely contrary to IHOP Corporation’s standards and values. We are aggressively investigating this matter and will take whatever corrective actions are necessary. The franchise owner is reaching out personally to the guest today to convey our most sincere apologies and make things right.
7 minutes ago · Like
formatCdrive: It’s pure discrimination against disabled people. A waitress is the representative of the company and there is no amount of apologies that your company can do to correct this. The CEO of the company needs to step down as he/she “IS” ultimately responsible for the actions of all the employees. Trying to hide behind a “franchise owner” is still no excuse. Shame on you all.
4 minutes ago · Like
IHOP
http://consumerist.com/2012/06/ihop-waitress-mocks-my-sick-fiancee-manager-says-he-cant-do-anything-about-it.html
Like · · 4 · 45 minutes ago ·
formatCdrive: As a disabled person with a neurological disease, I will never step foot in an IHOP again. I hope you get cancer and die.
44 minutes ago · Like
IHOP Hi formatCdrive – The incident is completely contrary to IHOP Corporation’s standards and values. We are aggressively investigating this matter and will take whatever corrective actions are necessary. The franchise owner is reaching out personally to the guest today to convey our most sincere apologies and make things right.
13 minutes ago · Like
IHOP Hi formatCdrive- The incident is completely contrary to IHOP Corporation’s standards and values. We are aggressively investigating this matter and will take whatever corrective actions are necessary. The franchise owner is reaching out personally to the guest today to convey our most sincere apologies and make things right.
7 minutes ago · Like
formatCdrive: It’s pure discrimination against disabled people. A waitress is the representative of the company and there is no amount of apologies that your company can do to correct this. The CEO of the company needs to step down as he/she “IS” ultimately responsible for the actions of all the employees. Trying to hide behind a “franchise owner” is still no excuse. Shame on you all.
4 minutes ago · Like
IHOP
http://consumerist.com/2012/06/ihop-waitress-mocks-my-sick-fiancee-manager-says-he-cant-do-anything-about-it.html
Like · · 4 · 45 minutes ago ·
formatCdrive: As a disabled person with a neurological disease, I will never step foot in an IHOP again. I hope you get cancer and die.
44 minutes ago · Like
IHOP Hi formatCdrive – The incident is completely contrary to IHOP Corporation’s standards and values. We are aggressively investigating this matter and will take whatever corrective actions are necessary. The franchise owner is reaching out personally to the guest today to convey our most sincere apologies and make things right.
13 minutes ago · Like
IHOP Hi formatCdrive- The incident is completely contrary to IHOP Corporation’s standards and values. We are aggressively investigating this matter and will take whatever corrective actions are necessary. The franchise owner is reaching out personally to the guest today to convey our most sincere apologies and make things right.
7 minutes ago · Like
formatCdrive: It’s pure discrimination against disabled people. A waitress is the representative of the company and there is no amount of apologies that your company can do to correct this. The CEO of the company needs to step down as he/she “IS” ultimately responsible for the actions of all the employees. Trying to hide behind a “franchise owner” is still no excuse. Shame on you all.
4 minutes ago · Like
Zero tip and don’t go back. What exactly are you expecting to get out of complaining?
That bitch of a ‘waitress’ better watch mocking the handicapp…Mistress Karma could be watching. I would be all over the media, and the Children’s Miracle Network, who help children from all walks, with all kinds of health issues, including neurological. They are awesome people, and may be interested to know that IHell, throught their actions (or lack there-of) approve of their employee’s conduct.Not good conduct for a place that does yearly fundraising for them. The ADA is another one…This little girl needs to be taken out back, and taught some manners, the old fashioned way….the way that gives one something to think about as they are applying ice to their bruises. Little girls like this one are usually a self correcting issue…because they mouth off like this, to the wrong person.
If there was nothing he could do “because he was just the night manager” then WHAT THE FUCK is he being paid for.
If he’s trying to convince everyone that he’s incompetent and unnecessary, he’s doing a pretty good job. A better job than he’s doing as a manager, even.
So, I’ve read some of the comments and the follow-up. Do we actually know that this happened? I agree everything written here is correct if this really happened. But we only have 1 side of what happened and it’s seldom 100% true. I just don’t get outraged anymore because I know that in a few months it could turn out that this is a pair of liars out to get something free or just mess with other people’s lives for fun.
That biotch needs to be fired. She stuck her hand in her face to quiet her? You should’ve stood up and called her out right there in front of everyone.