"I'm inclined to take their story with a pinch of salt" - I'm not.
"and I urge you to trust me on this" - er, rather not if you don't mind.
Not because I doubt your vast experience in these matters but the fact that the restaurant owner volunteered to re-imburse £280 rather indicates a man on his back foot! Also, that the offensive remark was put on the Bill in the first place leads me to suspect that the waiter was a bog standard (I use the word 'bog' advisedly) pig-ignorant Brit yob whose idea of good service was learnt in an army cookhouse.
To somewhat paraphrase your comment "In my experience, when reasonable people in busy restaurants have to wait to be fed, [they'll wait even longer for] an honest apology and some free coffee [that's if they don't die of old age first!]"
Thank God young Poles and Czechs serve in most London restaurants, at least they have good manners.
Thanks for that, David.
You know, every time I start to stray into thinking that you're nothing but an intolerant, bitter crank, you come along and remind me that you are, in fact, a humourless, intolerant, bitter crank.
Keep up the good work, won't you.
for my part I just can't believe that there's no charge for sucking his dick OR being called fuck face. There are many who would pay dearly for either and a damn sight more for both! clearly the waiter hasn't learned good business skills!
Naturally I leap to the conclusion that the "SMDFF" function is used so frequently at this restaurant, that there is a key assigned to it on the till.
They weren't charged for it, so whats the problem?
It always seems strange when a customer is willing to insult the people who are preparing or serving the meal he or she is about to eat. You would almost think that restaurants are more about displaying one's status and one's power to dominate social inferiors, than about eating uncontaminated food.
I'm inclined to take their story with a pinch of pacific sea-salt lightly smoked over alderwood.
Fixed.
Haven't you ever seen a till like that, Herr Doktor?
On the one I used to use, SMDFF" was right next to Those shoes make your ankles look fat and Don't you think you've had enough, fatass?
I used to work in catering too. Methinks your assessment of the general public is far too generous. People who treat waiters and waitresses like dirt, and there's not a few of them, should be executed in my view. Btw, aren't so many head chefs utter, utter wanks of the highest order? Many of them should be killed too. I mean, the attitude might be appropriate if they were finishing a great symphony or something - but it's only roast beef, for fuck's sake.
David, having been a waiter for about, oh, three weeks(as well as working in kitchens for about 8 years),I can honestly say that you, the paying customer, are nothing more than a non-descript face that chews food in their prescence. Never be rude to them, more often than not, your complaint about slow service is not even remotely their fault. I bet you've had your fair share of 'Chefs Special Sauce' in yr time, eh? 
Ok, it made me laugh, but then, that's me..... I've always wanted to open a restaurant where the staff were free to insult the customers, just to see how long it would last. I would hire that guy in a minute.
Has anyone else seen I Spit in Your Gravy, about a restaurant worker who is traumatised by a table of blow-hards and goes into vengeful vigilante mode?
Maybe I imagined it.
Chum Duff is just confused, as last time he went out for a Chinese meal he wound up with cream of sumyonggai all over his jowls.
Ba-boom-ching. I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your server (or else you might get a rude receipt).
As for the offended customers, I see from the BBC report that one says "I'd like a written apology from the restaurant and I'd also like some compensation".
Compensation? Really? Couldn't she just throw the receipt away and make a mental note to never go to that restaurant again?
I'd like a written apology from the restaurant and I'd also like some compensation
With an entree of grovelling ingratiation. And we want it right away; we have tickets to the play later on.
...aren't so many head chefs utter, utter wanks of the highest order?
I can only think of one I've ever known who I didn't suspect was also a dangerous lunatic into the bargain...
However, much of the Great British Public seems to take great pleasure in watching one of these gentlemen bully and humilate other people on a regular basis. Makes you proud to be human, and I don't think.
Hands up, who actually wants to go to this restaurant now? No publicity is bad publicity and all that. I call scam.
"I've always wanted to open a restaurant where the staff were free to insult the customer"
Sir, with the dollar at a humiliating low (thank you George "Fuck Face" Bush) you should visit Boston. Many of our fine dining establishments are just as you suggest. Insults are even official policy at some. I imagine the training sessions for new workers resemble some kind of newish group therapy scheme.
But was it spotted?
I used to work in a cafe where it was quite de rigeur to mock the Japanese tourists, well within their earshot.
Of course, we weren't being rude - far from it. We were simply standing up for British humour and striking a blow against the stifling fascistic beast that is Political Correctness. Any fool can add obscenities such as to a chit, but pulling the corners of one's eyes upwards and exclaiming "Ah-sole, I wudd like da roast dog" is the true expression of native English wit.
In Down and Out In Paris And London, the Hungarian waiter tips boiling soup down a customer's neck, then walks out without waiting to be fired.
I throw it in for debate.
You didn't reproduce the entire bill. There was also a service charge of ten percent. Do you think it's possible that waiters who don't have to worry about the tip are more willing to insult the customers? If you can't deal with people who object to lousy service, Mr. Fawlty, why open a hotel?
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