Feuds

Is the Customer Ever Wrong? When Moms Are Involved, Yes.

Grr.
Grr.

We’re all for restaurant patrons speaking out (politely, diplomatically) about overlooked requests or undercooked food. But when you bring mothers into the conversation, all bets are off. What happened at Trattoria di Monica recently is one of the more egregious tales we’ve heard of Customers Behaving Badly.

Grr.

Apparently Trattoria di Monica “messed up” (per Universal Hub) a customer’s order. Mildly annoying but certainly nothing out of the ordinary. The customer complained, he received free food, and all should have been well. Right? Right?

Sadly, no. As the meal drew to a close, he received the bill and noticed that he was charged for his wine. Which seems reasonable enough, really; after all, the restaurant allegedly fouled up his food order, not his beverage order. However, the customer became enraged (which makes us wonder how much wine was actually consumed) and “began yelling and said he would be satisfied with nothing less than a full apology from the waitress.”

When said apology was not forthcoming, the disgruntled diner was told by one of the owners to simply leave without paying, which he did, in a “huff.” Things get dicey from here on out: The customer apparently ran into the owner’s brother, Frank Mendoza, who was outside smoking. Said customer then “made a disparaging remark about his mother.” (We’ll leave the precise wording to your imagination.) Per Mendoza, the customer then began “poking” him with a cell phone. Mendoza walked off before doing something regrettable.

The enraged patron has since declined to press charges even though he initially spoke to a police officer about the incident; the Boston Licensing Board is now involved in the brouhaha. We think the patron has suddenly changed his tune for one reason: It subsequently came to light that Monica, the owners’ mother and the restaurant’s namesake, died at the restaurant after falling down a flight of stairs. Yeah. Next time he should probably just stick to a snippy Yelp review.

Sometimes Customers Can Be Worse Than A Pain in the Ass [UH]

Is the Customer Ever Wrong? When Moms Are Involved, Yes.