How to deal with difficult customers?

Servers/waiters: How do you deal with bad customers?

• I mean I had a good day going so far yesterday up until I had a couple bad customers in a row. One who had PMS breath and blew up at me over an easily fixable mistake. Another who had an attitude from the beginning and got mad at me when I never had said a word to her when I began to help her. But of course I bet one of the two are going to call and complain. So what type of customers do you deal with and how do you forget about it and get on with your day? How do you not let it ruin your day. Are there any tips?

• Answer:

  it isn't worth losing your job over. people need to get over themselves, and sometimes in the service industry we just have to suck it up. i have had people throw food at me, storm out of the restaurant, for no good reason. one time--this was 15 yrs. ago, i found out after the fact that the guy (who was upset that his steak was undercooked-an easy fix) and stormed out of the restaurant, cussing me up one side and down the other--his wife had just left him the night before when he found out he was terminal. his friends let him walk out of the restaurant and when he was out of earshot, they gave me the story. you never, never know why people act the way they do. I just go back to that time, and think that maybe the guy that's being an a$$ just can't cope and needed to release on a stranger.