A quick note, some of the stories that I share within this post are second-hand, particularly the ones involving the wait staff, because I do not usually stay for night-time events.

In a month working at a club, I’ve learned more about human nature than can really be put down on paper. It’s the type of thing that you can only gain through experience and for that reason I’m incredibly grateful for my job. The type of interaction that I have with club members every day speaks volumes about the diversity of attitudes and general dispositions among humans - people who feel entitled to everything; the ones who ask for things, and the ones who don’t; the ones who are constantly upset about something; the extremely friendly people; the clueless; the snobbish.

I discussed a few of my favorite moments in an earlier post, but the staff is faced daily with these laugh-or-cry scenarios. We usually laugh and we’re not indifferent to the fact that we are subservient to the members. It’s not so amusing when a member becomes so clearly rude and obnoxious that we want to “accidentally” push them into the pool. It’s not so amusing when the wait staff has to stay around until 12:30 AM for one table that won’t leave. It’s not so amusing when the members at the table see that they’ve been the only table for over an hour, but they still stay. It’s not so amusing, indeed it’s sickening to see a pregnant woman get drunk whenever she comes to the club.

Just last night, there was one table that didn’t get up until 12:15 AM after being seated at 9:45 PM. Reservations are required, but they came anyway. The last tables are usually seated at 8 or 8:30 PM, but they waltzed in at 9:45 PM. Unfortunately, the staff can’t turn them down because of some ongoing friction between members and management, but that’s a different foxhunt all together.

I’m told that at one point during the evening, one person at the table that stayed late (a guest of a member) remarked that they ought to leave because they were keeping the staff late. The member responded, “I’ll stay as late as I want. They get paid, you know.” The staff didn’t take that too well. In fact, everyone who has heard about it is quite insulted by the obnoxiousness of the comment. Several of the staff members don’t even get paid hourly!

This will come back to haunt those particular members, though. The staff really appreciates the nice families, of which we have several, so we go out of our way to make sure they have a great time. When this crowd comes through again, they’ll get the bare minimum amount of service. The staff will be courteous, but not kind. This is a good lesson to learn - people are nice to people who are nice to them.