The waitress continued to apologize: "Iâm sorry, I really didnât mean it. I donât know why I slipped. Iâm truly sorry, let me wipe it for you."
The waitress said as she put down the heavy water jug in her hands and intended to take out tissues to wipe the boyâs clothes.
"Stop right there!"
An aggressive-looking middle-aged woman reached out and slapped the waitressâs hand, angrily saying, "Do you think someone like you can casually touch my sonâs clothes? I see you have no idea of your own status!"
The waitress was a bit dazed. Spilling soup on a customer was her fault, and what she was doing was just the normal procedure. As service staff, they undergo systematic training on how to handle various unexpected situations.
Generally speaking, handling the situation like this would typically result in the customerâs understanding.
But today, she obviously encountered a tough case. This customer was a bit difficult to deal with.
"Iâm sorry, I was wrong." The waitress immediately apologized again. Regardless of anything, it was her fault, and she needed to apologize first so as not to further anger the customer.
However, the middle-aged woman didnât accept this, snorting, "Sorry? How much is a âsorryâ worth, do you know how much my sonâs clothes cost? Itâs a brand-new designer outfit! Youâve ruined it in an instant, and now you think a simple sorry will make it go away?"
The waitress said, "Auntie, Iâm really sorry, I didnât mean to. How would you like to handle this?"
The middle-aged woman pointed at the waitressâs nose: "What kind of attitude is this?"
The waitress was stunned. What kind of attitude did she have? She thought she was being polite, so why did this lady find it problematic?
"Auntie, I..."
The waitress tried to say something to calm her down.
But the middle-aged woman interrupted her, saying, "Youâve stained my sonâs new clothes with soup and scalded him. Your apology isnât sincere enough; Iâll teach you how to properly apologize!"
The waitress said, "Auntie, you can tell me."
The middle-aged woman said, "Get on your knees and apologize to us. Iâm not afraid to tell you the truth; you are a lower-class person, and we are upper-class. You made a mistake, so kneeling to apologize is fitting! Besides that, you also have to compensate us for the losses, including the clothes and the medical expenses for the burns, which comes to ten thousand yuan!"
What?
The waitress turned pale.
These demands from the middle-aged woman were too harsh!
Kneel and apologize, pay ten thousand yuan!
"Auntie, I can apologize to you, even kneel to apologize, but about the ten thousand yuan compensation, this..." The waitress said anxiously.
The middle-aged woman interrupted her, "What about this, those are my terms. If you meet our demands, Iâll forgive you, otherwise, youâre unwilling, right? A lowly creature like you, how dare you offend us? You deserve it, a lesson you must learn!"
The middle-aged womanâs harsh words and demands made everyone speechless.
Originally, everyone saw the mistake and thought the waitress should apologize, which was fair.
But now, seeing how the middle-aged woman harassed the waitress, everyone instinctively sided with the waitress, thinking this woman was being unreasonable.
The waitress was wrong, and shouldnât have done it, but her mistake didnât warrant such a severe punishment. An apology should suffice.
Honestly, itâs not a big deal at all!
But the middle-aged woman was overreacting, insulting and degrading the waitress, demanding a kneeling apology and hefty compensation. It was too much. Initially, their family of four were the victims, but due to the middle-aged womanâs actions, no one sympathized with them anymore. Instead, they seemed unreasonable.
"Auntie, I just started here and I donât have that much money to compensate you." The waitressâs eyes turned red. If she could, sheâd be willing to pay, but she absolutely couldnât afford the ten thousand yuan.
She had just come to Yun City for work and was lucky enough to land this waitress job. She was quite content with it, the pay was decent, and her colleagues were nice.
She received the Companyâs training and was diligent at work, running around all day, always serving with a smile. Customers generally liked her.
She never expected something like this to happen today.
Having just arrived in Yun City and rented a new place, she had little savings left. She had planned to stretch the few hundred yuan she had to last until her next paycheck, so she could live more comfortably.
But now, facing a demand for ten thousand yuan compensation, equivalent to three months of her wages, paying that would mean working for free for three months because of a small mistake.
Working for free was one thing, but how would she manage day-to-day expenses after that? She was already on a tight budget and would practically be penniless.
So no matter what, she couldnât bear such a compensation cost.
Yet, the middle-aged woman was relentless, becoming more aggressive when the girl said she couldnât afford it: "What, you canât afford it? I donât give a damn whether you can or not. You need to pay up, and right now, because I canât wait. My son needs a new outfit and a hospital checkup. Figure it out yourself!"
The girl was on the brink of tears, "Auntie, I really canât afford it. I donât even have much cash now. I only have two hundred yuan in my WeChat wallet. If you donât believe me, I can show it to you."
The middle-aged woman said, "I donât want to see it. I donât care how much money you have. You owe me ten thousand yuan, hand it over immediately, you little wretch!"
The waitress didnât know what to do. She realized there was no negotiating with this middle-aged woman, who was fixated on money.
Just then, the waitressâs superior, the restaurant manager, a man in a suit, walked over briskly, trying to soothe the middle-aged womanâs emotions and defuse the situation.
"Madam, please calm down. Iâm the manager here, and Iâm hoping we can resolve this," the manager said. "Our waitress was indeed at fault for staining your clothes. She has apologized, so how about we cover todayâs bill as a gesture of apology? Would that work for you?"
The manager adopted a humble attitude, hoping the other party would calm down and accept his suggestion, allowing the waitress to avoid a disaster.
"No way! Who do you think you are to negotiate with me?" the middle-aged woman arrogantly dismissed him. "Iâm demanding she kneels and pays ten thousand yuan, not a penny less!"
The middle-aged womanâs words drew glances from the crowd, who were increasingly annoyed with her, but dealing with a shrew like her was tricky. Though people were displeased, no one dared to provoke her.
"Ha, your son got scalded by the soup, serves him right, itâs his own fault. Why are you blaming the waitress?"
A voice chimed in at this moment.
Lin Fan!