As I’m sure you know in your life, demanding an answer by simply doubling down rarely solves what you want.

In this story see how impatience is met with a solid and steadfast answer of the same emotional energy.

“I need an answer RIGHT NOW”

So a couple of years ago I took over a restaurant in the centre of the capital city of our country with a couple of friends. We are 3 associates and one chef cook.

This restaurant was mainly a tourist trap for the past decennia and was also known to cater to big groups from either companies (business dinners) and tourist agencies where they would just serve some decent slop in an historical setting for a fixed menu price.

A simple vision of reinvigorating this restaurant had begun.

Our concept was to bring this establishment back to the locals, the neighbourhood and lovers of traditional food and drinks. So we tried a soft opening and limited ourselves to 30 customers per evening.

But the previous owner hadn’t even communicated towards his customers that the restaurant would be taken over, nor had he closed the online reservation system (to which we didn’t have any access) so we got constantly flooded with requests for big groups (between 20 to even 50 persons).

And this is where the problems begin.

As we just started we tried to please most people and cater to what was possible. One day I got a phone call from some white collar already quite condescending on the telephone as I probably am just a lowly server on the phone, with a request to come with over 20 persons in two days time.

Here’s where they started to get overwhelmed.

I told him politely over the phone that I couldn’t make the decision to take this reservation on my own but that he could send us an email with the request and we’d talk it over with the chef cook and my associates to see if we could cater them. He didn’t like this one bit and told me he couldn’t wait that long for an answer.

I immediately assumed he probably forgot to make a reservation for such a big group on time and that he failed his responsibility but now tries to push it off on me.

Like I always say “Sounds like a you problem, not a me problem” but instead I ensured him he would get an answer on his email on the day itself.

And then real demands began…

“No, this is not acceptable, I need an answer RIGHT NOW!”

My patience was running out with this unrespectful fat neck so I politely answered:

“So to my understanding you need an answer immediately?”

-“Yes!” (With a clear sound of superiority and thinking he had won)

“Okay sir, if you need an answer immediately it will be very simple. That answer will be no.”

Sounds of crickets for a couple of seconds

-“So to what email address can I send the request?”

We got his request by email and he got an answer within 2 minutes.

“We’re sorry but we can’t accept your request to cater your group. Kind regards, name restaurant”

Ha! Serves him right.

Let’s see what redditors had to say in the comments.

Many enjoy how kind and cold their reply was on the phone.

This person shared they don’t like to be harassed.

This person gave a nod to the nice use of word play.

Patience is a virtue!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.