The Customer Habit Restaurant Servers Hate Most

Even though the service industry says "the customer is always right," customers can sometimes be the actual worst. Whether they're trying to use expired coupons, letting their kids trash the restaurant, or making inappropriate comments to the staff, some customers really make servers' lives miserable.

This isn't to say that all incidents of frustrating customers are necessarily intentional. Someone unfamiliar with the menu is very different from someone throwing a spoon at the server (via Ranker). (We never thought we would need to say this, but please: Don't throw a spoon at your server. Or anything else, for that matter.)

According to Delish, some of the simplest offenses can over time be just as upsetting to servers. Your server doesn't want to be called "sweetie" or "honey." Use your manners and say please and thank you. The serving staff doesn't decide the prices, so don't get on their case for your fancy drink being so expensive. Perhaps the worst thing you can do? Treating a server like they are less than human.

In a busy restaurant, it can be difficult to get your server's attention. The Daily Meal says many customers resort to clapping or snapping their fingers to get a server's attention. That might work on your dog, but your server isn't a dog. They are a human being, just like you.

One Redditor compared a customer waving to get a server's attention to a child pestering their mom while she's on the phone. Another wondered about the sense in upsetting your server — someone who is, after all, handling your food. (Sneeze-muffin, anyone?)

So how can you get your server's attention without being demeaning? Chefs Feed recommends making eye contact with your server as the most polite way to grab their attention. If your server isn't out on the floor, you can politely ask another server to get them. In the simplest of terms, just remember that your server is only human, and treat them the way you would like to be treated.