Epic Mental Meltdown in Restaurant

Duster

Duster

Member
Location
Deep South, US
My husband and I went to a fast food chicken restaurant to get a bite to eat last night. It was one of those places where you order at a counter and they bring your food to the table. We were deciding what to order when a woman in her 40s came into the restaurant. She threw some food on the checkout counter, started yelling and cursing. She was treated rudely at the drive thru window and now she wanted her money back. The order girls were as shocked as the customers by the outburst and didn't know what to do. The woman kept yelling, stomping her feet and banging on the counter. She let out a blood curdling scream and jumped up and down. I've never seen anyone over 6 years old throw such a temper tantrum in public before. I suggested we order and find a seat away from the lunatic, before bullets started flying. She went on for 10 minutes before the manager gave her her money back.

I've got a feeling that whatever was going on with this woman wasn't really about being treated rudely. I suspect something else was going on and the incident was just a trigger to make her go off the deep end.

Are you noticing people around you losing their mental stability?
 

Lc jones said:
Probably looking for a lawsuit.
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Thats no joke @Lc jones ....I worked in fast food years ago and an employee took me to court cuz I touched her shoulder while kindly asking her to perform one of her duties....(her claiming I assaulted her)....turns out the judge made it very clear she was trying to soak me and the company for money and her sister, who was in the courtroom just got outta jail for pulling a similar stunt with related drug charges.....and the best course of action with these disgruntled customers is to apologize and give them their damn money back, amen.
 
There was a guy Tuesday afternoon ahead of me at the pharmacy counter who was presenting a sheaf of papers to the clerk.

She politely told him several times "sir, we can't help you with this." A manager was called, who told him the same thing.

He became very agitated and was yelling. I then noticed that he was wearing a bulky ankle monitoring bracelet. I walked to a different part of the store until he left.
 
jujube said:
There was a guy Tuesday afternoon ahead of me at the pharmacy counter who was presenting a sheaf of papers to the clerk.

She politely told him several times "sir, we can't help you with this." A manager was called, who told him the same thing.

He became very agitated and was yelling. I then noticed that he was wearing a bulky ankle monitoring bracelet. I walked to a different part of the store until he left.
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Smart move @jujube.....he was probably on house arrest and might have been carrying an illegal weapon, meaning he could've went postal!
 
PopsnTuff said:
Thats no joke @Lc jones ....I worked in fast food years ago and an employee took me to court cuz I touched her shoulder while kindly asking her to perform one of her duties....(her claiming I assaulted her)....turns out the judge made it very clear she was trying to soak me and the company for money and her sister, who was in the courtroom just got outta jail for pulling a similar stunt with related drug charges.....and the best course of action with these disgruntled customers is to apologize and give them their damn money back, amen.
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Sorry to hear about that hassle...hopefully justice has triumphed and their lives are now miserable...
 
Duster said:
My husband and I went to a fast food chicken restaurant to get a bite to eat last night. It was one of those places where you order at a counter and they bring your food to the table. We were deciding what to order when a woman in her 40s came into the restaurant. She threw some food on the checkout counter, started yelling and cursing. She was treated rudely at the drive thru window and now she wanted her money back. The order girls were as shocked as the customers by the outburst and didn't know what to do. The woman kept yelling, stomping her feet and banging on the counter. She let out a blood curdling scream and jumped up and down. I've never seen anyone over 6 years old throw such a temper tantrum in public before. I suggested we order and find a seat away from the lunatic, before bullets started flying. She went on for 10 minutes before the manager gave her her money back.

I've got a feeling that whatever was going on with this woman wasn't really about being treated rudely. I suspect something else was going on and the incident was just a trigger to make her go off the deep end.

Are you noticing people around you losing their mental stability?
Click to expand...
Yes, people are more stressed out & some are more likely to act out like that. The woman in your experience likely was doing more than "acting out;" she probably had some sort of mental illness - like "Asperger's Syndrome;" a form of autism that involves exaggerated emotional responses.
I have a suggestion that may keep you safer in the future: "Finding a seat away from a lunatic" won't help much - especially if bullets start flying. I'd find a seat at a different restaurant....immediately.
 
While getting a rain check at a customer service desk for a sold-out item, the woman in front of me began verbally reviling the clerk for not allowing a cash refund without a receipt. The alternatives given by the worker were quite reasonable; merchandise exchange, or a store credit. Still, the woman rained vile obscenities on the poor worker, who was only stating store policy. Inexcusable behavior in public is sadly becoming more common, together with a general decline in civility...
 
Most of us who've worked with the public have had similar experiences. I agree with @win231, above. This person likely has mental issues and is more easily and profoundly triggered by perceived slights or challenging interactions.

A wiser manager would have quickly assessed the situation and immediately refunded her money. His priority should have been to calm the situation and get her out of his restaurant as quickly as possible.

Arguing with mentally unstable people is an absolute no-win situation.
 
Duster, you could have been describing my ex sister-in-law. I don't know why, but when her son would order things in a restaurant, she would yell and scream, because the waitress got his order wrong. The waitress didn't. The two pulled that stunt all the time. She had a bunch of things that ticked her off in restaurants. It was a set up for her to swear-"F" this, "F" that, to carry on, yell, be abusive.. Why????????? it got to the point that I would not go into a restaurant with her.
 
And just to remind folks, any and all of these folks are allowed to purchase any weapon of their choice and carry it with them "for self defense" or what ever other purpose comes to their mind.
Years back, we didn't have to consider this possibility. The hunters in our family rarely carried their long guns when going shopping, few owned handguns, and the ones that did, didn't carry them to the grocery or pharmacy when doing errands.
 
A very good 40+ year friend of mine did similar....in a Ruby Tuesday's . To my surprise , he agreed to go to a doctor about it. Doc said it was a sign of early onset Alzheimer's . My friend has it full blown now....So damn sad for a guy that was , what he was.

His wife told me that on the way home from the restaurant , he took his gun out and asked her to put it in her purse.......She said she thinks he realized that something was indeed wrong, and perhaps didn't trust himself. {Her thought, he never said} He hasn't carried since. He's a retired police officer.
 
Thankfully I haven't witnessed anything like that but I would have left the restaurant. You never know when some angry, crazy person will start shooting and perhaps be so off the hook as to target everyone in the place. It's happened too much lately.
 

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