People Who Work At Posh Restaurants Are Revealing What It's REALLY Like Waiting On The Super Rich
Recently, I asked the members of the BuzzFeed Community who've worked at super fancy restaurants what it's really like waiting on the super wealthy.
Here are 13 of their top responses:
1."There is a huge difference between people who are rich and people who are RICH. I used to work at a country club, and people who were rich were the rudest and most condescending people I have ever met. The ones who were, like, mega-wealthy, though, were always so nice and polite — and the same with their kids."
"If you took care of them, they really took care of you with tips."
2."I work at a high-end fine dining steakhouse in downtown Toronto. All the ultra-rich are VIPs, and they can order off-menu as much as they like. They get SO MUCH stuff for free."
"For the most part, though, the ultra ultra rich are pretty unassuming and usually very polite. They don't have to prove anything to anyone but *they* know *you* know who they are.
The 'new' money types that want to show off their wealth throw money around and can be exhausting and obnoxious."
3."I worked at a higher-end golf resort that had residences on sight. We catered to a few billionaires and a lot of quite wealthy people. Many of the truly wealthy people were very kind and down to earth. I remember one couple — the wife was just the sweetest person imaginable. She knew my ex and I had just moved into our first house, and she said she had some cookware that was still in good shape that we could have for free if we liked. I, of course, accepted, and let me tell you, it was like five very expensive Le Creuset pots!"
"There was a side to it, though, that seemed less glamorous. So many of them just didn't seem happy. And many, I think, could be classified as functioning alcoholics. There is something to be said for losing the ability to experience unfettered joy from the little things in life.
As much as more money would have a positive impact on my life, not once did I ever covet the level of wealth some of them had."
4."Offspring of the ultra-rich are usually nightmares. They WILL name-drop who their parents are and manage, no matter what, to ask about some highfalutin drink/food that they had in some exotic locale. Without fail."
5."I was a server at a super expensive restaurant. The best part of my job was how the customers treated me. A lot of food and wine knowledge was required to do the job. The customers really respected that. They valued my advice and, as a result, were WAY nicer to me (and tipped better). At normal places, customers would generally treat me worse. Either food and wine expertise was not something those customers wanted, or they'd think I was talking down to them if I used it."
"On the flip side, treatment by the management at my fine-dining restaurant was terrible. I don't know if it was just this place or if this is how it is in fine dining in general.
More than any restaurant I worked at in my 20 years in the business, these managers treated me like I was constantly trying to get away with something. They'd assume I had the worst possible intentions in everything I did and chew me out for it. I just wanted to be valued. It really got to me and drove me to quit."
6."I used to work banquets for a couple of different historically significant/internationally recognized sites in my hometown, and I still get happy chills remembering the times someone gave me the ol' 'dO YoU kNoW who I aMmM?!?!?' (sometimes — not always, since some of them stopped after realizing who I, in fact, aMmMm — followed by 'I'll hAve you kNoW, your BOSS is a CLOSE PERSONAL FRIEND of mine, and I'll hAve yOuR JOBBBBBB for thiSSSSS!')..."
"These words were typically spoken to me by people who have no business being at the engagement in question and were by NO means 'close' with my boss — aka my fiancé's dad, with whom I actually WAS very close, and who gave me a borderline aggressive blessing to knock people down a peg on his behalf.
This man was an OG German Konditor Chef who cooked for his own wedding, came to Canada with his boys, wife, and almost nothing else, and built what is arguably the best, most successful, and most widespread catering firm in our half of the province."
7."I worked at a private club. Not only were they all wealthy, but they were kinda your boss in a distant way. Although one member could not get you fired, there were certain wait staff that some members did not want serving them."
"The daytime manager was aware of this, as was the dining room manager. One member would always sit in a corner with a nice view of the golf course. Also, he did not want this one server serving him, and she knew it. WHY they would ever assign that server to that section is beyond me. Whoever was in the closest section would take that table, and said server would take one of theirs."
8."I was a chef at a world-renowned resort. One of our guests had severe allergies, and we went above and beyond to accommodate and make her feel special. When you're serving thousands of guests a day, spending the time to hand wash dishes and wrap them to avoid a latex reaction or opening new packages of every ingredient to avoid potential cross-contamination is an act of service and a huge time commitment. But she was never happy."
"Once, I made a dessert for her mom (multiple different allergies) to celebrate her birthday. Well, this grown woman sobbed hysterically above the servers singing happy birthday because she couldn't share her mom's dessert.
Also, she tried to get latex balloons banned for all the guests staying in her resort, but then she would go to the theme park where there were balloons aplenty.
I still go above and beyond to accommodate any/all dietary restrictions and really pride myself on these creations, but this lady was exhausting, entitled, and unappreciative."
9."I probably haven't worked with the super-rich category, but I have dealt with a lot of the fairly rich. I had one guy go on and on about a wonderful bottle of wine that retails for something like $500 a bottle. He kept telling me how great it was and how I needed to try it. Sure, if he wanted to buy it for me, that would be great, but, um, most servers aren't in a position to shell out $500 for a single bottle of wine."
"Another (delightful) couple insisted that the bill was 'far too low.' I itemized everything for them, showing them how everything added up, and they at last accepted that the bill was $200 vs. $600. They finally stopped arguing...and gave me a $150 tip.
I've also had people spend $1,000 on a case of wine and tip me $200 on it. All I did was give them a sample of wine and pack up a few bottles...but I'm not going to argue, either."
10."I worked in a small American cuisine restaurant in northern New Jersey. This was well over 20 years ago. The owner of [a large national] moving company would always be at the bar by himself or with this other man at a table. You knew who he was because he wore a gold necklace with a huge golden anchor. He was very nice and tipped very well. I didn't know until a few weeks into the job that the other man was his driver and that he ate with him because he was a lonely person."
"I don't know exactly how much the guy was worth, but I guess money doesn't matter when you're lonely."
11."My son waits on tables at a very lovely place here in the Cotswolds. He's also a gymnast. A lady dropped something, so he picked it up for her. She complimented him on the graceful way he did a sort of curtsey to get it and asked if he went to waiting school. He thanked her and said no, as he'd just knackered his knee and couldn't bend properly. Another lady (American) complimented him on his beautiful eloquence and asked him the same thing. He replied, 'No, my parents raised me to speak nicely.' The older ladies in the group went into raptures over this."
"We have really nice guests in our posh Cotswolds restaurants."
12."My boyfriend waited on the [family of a grocery store dynasty] one time and said it was a great experience. They were quite polite and tipped REALLY well."
"He also mentioned how 'normal' they were dressed. L.L.Bean flannel and tech vests at a fancy-ish joint is definitely a (classy, in my opinion) power move."
13.And finally: "Not in a restaurant, but I live in an area with multimillion-dollar homes on the water and deliver Uber Eats at night for a side hustle. They don't usually tip any better than anyone else but have no problem paying delivery fees for me to pick up an ice cream sundae and deliver it to them 1.5 miles down the road. I've been glared at by old ladies standing at their windows or on their porches as I deliver across the street."
"For the record, I'm a neatly dressed, thirty-something-year-old Caucasian woman in a newer, clean vehicle. It doesn't matter what you look like. It's just obvious you do not belong there."
Do you have any stories about waiting on the wealthy? Or any surprising or shocking experiences from working at a high-end restaurant? Let us know in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length/clarity.
