Double D

Wed June 11, 2003 08:28 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - What happens when a waiter gets one complaint too many?
Police in Corona, California, say a waiter at a Sizzler restaurant there went to the home of a family who complained about his service and cooked up a special order on their lawn -- eggs, flour, maple syrup and toilet paper.

Jonathan Voeltner, 20, was arrested on Saturday, suspected of vandalism and contributing to the delinquency of minors -- his 17-year-old girlfriend and two younger brothers -- who helped him deliver the midnight snack, police said.

All four were released pending a July 24 court appearance. Sizzler has fired Voeltner, a corporate spokeswoman said.

Voeltner apparently became incensed on Friday evening when Darlene Keller complained to a manager that he refused to swap the potatoes that came with her meal for vegetables.

Keller subsequently got the cauliflower and broccoli she requested, while Voeltner laid plans for a special recipe of his own, said Corona police Sgt. Jerry Rodriguez.

"He had his girlfriend, a minor, follow the family home when they left the restaurant to get their address," Rodriguez said. "When he got off work she picked him up with his 17- and 10-year-old brothers."

The foursome went to a nearby grocery store and picked up the ingredients for their revenge recipe, Rodriguez said.

After throwing eggs against the house, festooning the trees with toilet paper and sprinkling the lawn with flour and maple syrup, they rang the doorbell several times at about 1 a.m. and waited to see Keller's reaction, Rodriguez said.

Upon seeing the mess, Keller called police, who arrived a short time later and arrested the girlfriend and younger boys. "The server came out of the bushes and (Keller) recognized him," Rodriguez said. "She said, 'That's my waiter!'"

Sizzler spokeswoman Susan Hernandez said the chain "deeply regrets" the incident and has offered the Kellers a free meal and a landscaper to repair any damage to their home.
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Well at least he didn't spit in her food.....

spectre

Okay, so he was too lazy to swap the veggies, but he had the time to do this. What a shithead.

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YourNeverThere

strange, people get way to pissed off at things, just let it go, go do something else, or just dont get caught

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gonadman

Wouldn't it have been easier to wipe his ass with her veggies?

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gibber71

Kind of thought Sizzler went the same road as Ponderosa. No wonder he's pissed off.

SecretMethod70

This is the second story in so many days I've read about a food service worker getting angry over a simple customer request.

Don't work in a service industry if you're not willing to serve the interests of people. Geez.

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Bill O'Rights

This is something that I've noticed within the past few years myself. People get so angry over the slightest little irritation. "Fill In The Blank" Rage is becoming so commonplace that we tend to shrug it off. Why are people letting themselves get so worked up in the first place? My wife came up with an interesting theory a few months back. People no longer have time to "decompress", to just simply relax and be with your own thoughts. We have cell phones, Fed-Ex, fax machines, lap tops, pagers, call waiting, call forwarding and the list goes on. We are constantly on the go go go. It builds up. In this case, however, we have a 20 year old, that was simply never taught how to focus and channel his frustration or anger in a more acceptable manner. Said moron, simply got caught lashing out. Or...I could be fulla beans too.

I do commend Sizzler for picking up the tab for the damages though. Wasn't their fault. Good P.R. for them. Or, does it set a bad precedent whereby an employer is held accountable for an employees actions on or off duty.

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Daval

hmm.. a little anger management may be in order - coupled with a little psychotherapy.

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joshibahn

I had a friend who worked at Sizzlers when he was a teenager, he said he would put pubic hairs in salads and dip his balls into the fried shrimp batter. the moron got fired after trying to steal a keg.

So if you were in Coos Bay, Oregon in the early 90's and ate at the Sizzlers, you got his ballsweat in ya....

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SecretMethod70

note to self: never eat at a restaurant again.

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Double D

I think your wife is entirely right. I'm sure someone is doing a study on it right now. I'd be curious to know if rage-type incidents are more common (proportionaly) in rural vs. suburban/urban areas?

Lebell

Remember the thread, "Is Ignorance Bliss?"


Here is definitely is.

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rev_skarekroe

Hey baby, didn't I see you at the Sizzler last night? sk

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Cubby

I'd have to agree with the posts above. Incredible that the waiter had time and the inclination to do the damage over one incident (or even one client). More incredible was the fact that he stayed until the police came...

Kudos to Sizzler for picking up the tab on the landscaping though. They didn't need to but I think that it was a good thing for them to do. And no I don't think it sets a precedent. If this person would have done worse damage (like burn down the house) I don't think Sizzler would have paid to have the house re-built. They would have simply fired the employee and the customers could have gone after the employee for damages. In this case though, the damage was small enough that Sizzler's response was appropriate (IMO).

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rockzilla

I try never to eat at chain restaurants for many of the reasons stated above. The kitchen staff is almost always minimum-wage earning students who don't care about quality in the least and the service staff generally ranges from okay, to nightmarishly incompetent, although I've had more great servers than great meals at chain restaurants. What baffles me most is that switching potatoes for vegetables results in no extra work for the waiter, and if he had just smiled and said "no problem" he probably would have gotten a nice tip.
In this particular incident, of course the restaurant is going to try to clean up the mess as best as possible, A free meal and landscaping is chump change compared to the potential loss of business due to bad publicity, which will be inevitable no matter how hard the restaurant tries to fix things up.
Anyways, the point is, chain restaurants care very little about the quality of staff they hire as long as they can pay them as little as possible and keep the profit margin nice and high. If you want better, bodily fluid-free food, go to a small, family run restaurant that understands that their success directly depends on it's ability to make your meal as enjoyable as possible and is willing to pay well enough to attract competent staff.
And, I probably don't have to say this to anyone here, but be nice to your server, they see your food before you do.

World's King

These people were eating at Sizzler and they expected a better meal...


That makes me lose a little more faith in humanity.

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Stiltzkin

Just finished reading this on my own at "oddly enough" section of Yahoo news. Seems like "oddly enough" is a hotbed for stealing articles and posting them on the TFP. Oh well. They should've elaborated more, maybe a bit of the guy's side of the story. They make it seem like the lady who had her house vandalized was the worst victim, but was she really? The article is pretty one-sided.

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rockzilla

I thought of that myself, having dealt with more than my fair share of idiot customers, and occasionally fantasized about elaboate means of revenge, but nobody deserves to have their house vandalized for wanting vegetables instead of potatoes. Regardless of wether the woman was difficult or not, you'd have to be an awfully big asshole to merit any kind of vengeance from your server, let alone anything that causes property damage.

LittleOralAnnie

This is totally disgusting but oh so funny!

I worked in food service for awhile and even though I've had some really idiot customers, I've never thought of or would try to pull off something as stupid and silly as what this guy did. With him being a younger kid, I can see how he probably thought it was just an innocent harmless prank. Still, that is no excuse for what he did and he should be the one paying for the damage, not Sizzler.