...at the one (Thai) restaurant where I work now, this (older) (balding) (taupe-colored) (chronically un-self aware) and also (a bit chatty) (South Asian) man with (big) (wide) eyes and a longer turkey-neck with a prominent Adam's apple, and a (plumper) (darker) (quieter) (hyperaware) (South Asian) wife wrapped in a sari and a head-scarf and with elaborate henna designs all over her hands, and a (medium-size) (medium skin-tone) (presumably daughter?) (mid-30s) (South Asian) woman, who appeared to be a mix of their genes and who just sat and didn't do much, except keep quiet in order to keep the peace:
1) They come into the restaurant just before 9pm, and the man dislikes the table that we sat them at, and he asks to sit at the next table over, in the middle of the restaurant between the aisles of high traffic what with people coming in and out to pick up to-go orders, and yes, that's okay, and they go sit there.
2) The man asks right away if it's possible to do "no fish sauce, no oyster" sauce with everything, and to make sure that that is done with everything that they order.
3) As they strategize the meal, I endorse the man's idea of an appetizer and two entrees for three people of normal appetite, especially since they can always order an extra rice with the curry, and if they want an extra noodle dish or fried rice like they're talking about, that comes out of the kitchen very quickly, if the other 2 main dishes come out and they realize that they probably want more food, though in that case they also have the option of ordering a little dessert, too, if they find that they're still hungry, after getting an appetizer and 2 main dishes.
4) As they're deciding on the meal, I nudge them to order curry right away if they know that they want curry, since it's getting late and curry takes longer to prepare, so they (nicely) do that, and the wife seems to nod appreciatively at my raising this whole aspect to everything.
5) The (daughter?) wants to order both the tofu and the larger mixed vegetable mix in the pad see you for the $2 extra surcharge, but the man says no, just vegetable, they already have tofu ordered in the curry, and the daughter seems a bit crestfallen, but says nothing and just follows his diktat.
6) When they add in a pad kee mao to go, I ask them if they want utensils with that, and the man asks if they have to pay for them, and I say no, and then he says yes, they want plastic utensils with that.
7) As I resume my end-of-shift tasks and am sweeping around the restaurant, the man calls over to me and asks me how they would specify "no fish sauce, no oyster sauce" on a to-go order placed online, and I explain that if he's using something like GrubHub or Doordash, then that's something on their end and we really have no idea how the interface works since that's a separate business, but he can also just call and place the order through us or through our website, and that's easier for us to help with unless he wants to pay for delivery over the phone, and also it helps the restaurant from being price-gouged by the third-party contractors who take like $5-7 off of every entree ordered, at which the man very straightforwardly and very affably is like, "But they sent me a coupon for five dollars in the mail!", and then I'm like, yes, but then they get you hooked and you keep ordering from them by default, and then that price-gouging drives up prices at the restaurant, just like the credit card swipe fees do, and it's just like this look of non-response on his face, whereas the daughter seems mildly interested in this information, and the wife just looks on, knowingly.
7) As they're mostly through their curry, the man asks for another rice -- "And make sure it's hot!" -- to which I reply that it should be hot, we keep it all made fresh in a rice warmer -- and then he also asks if they can have more sauce, to which I reply that unfortunately that's not possible, since they always make every curry fresh to order including mixing the sauce, and something like that would have had to be specified right at the time of ordering, and we can do that for them in the future if they want, but in that case, they'd rebalance the portion size so it's less vegetables and more sauce, overall.
8) As I'm finishing up my end-of-task sweeping, the man calls out to me, "Long night, hey?".
9) As we're closing the restaurant and everyone is mopping, they're lingering at the table, and the man interrupts my (newer) (tall) (Thai) coworker to get their picture taken at the table, and she removes the to-go order from their table to set it aside on another table to make the picture nicer, and then she hands back the phone, and then they want a picture taken against the backdrop of a wall, so they get up and she takes that picture for them, and then she starts mopping again, at which point they linger a little more, as the man asks the daughter to take a picture of him and his wife, this time with an angle towards the front of the restaurant and the big tall windows there.
10) As we are finishing our final tasks and they are outside, they try the door to come inside again, only to find it locked since we had locked it like we always do at quarter-to-ten, but then, after they try it just that once, that's it, no knocking or anything like that.
11) As we all leave out the front, the three are standing there on the sidewalk right outside the restaurant door, and we all say good night, and the man comments that they're waiting for the taxi (Uber?), and as we leave, he calls out to us and asks if it's safe to be standing outside on the sidewalk like that, at that time of night, and we assure him that it is, as we leave.
. . .
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