Waiters share the Valentine’s Day disasters they’ve seen working on the busiest night of the year

Waiters have shared their biggest Valentine’s Day horror stories, after serving couples on the busiest night of the year.

A group of hospitality workers posted on Reddit about their worst experiences – which ranged from breakups and fights within couples to mishaps with mistresses.

One particularly bad tale ended when a waiter accidentally spoiled a marriage proposal.

‘There was a note in our reservations that it was an engagement, they wanted champagne, a specific seat and a bunch of other stuff,’ one waiter wrote.

‘I came up to the table with something like “so I read we’re celebrating an engagement, congratulations”.

‘Confusion from the woman; glaring from the guy. He hadn’t proposed yet. I ruined it.’ 

Another waiter confessed to having seen his colleague put his foot in it with a man and his wife.

‘A guy and his date came in for Valentine’s Day,’ he posted.

‘They had a great time, ate a lot of food, drank a lot of wine, and got along really well with my co-worker who was their server.

‘About two months later, they come back in and request my co-worker again, who happily says yes to serving them.

‘He goes up and greets them, the guys introduces his wife to him, and my co-worker mentions something about how much he enjoyed serving them on Valentine’s Day.

‘They go quiet. Wife gets up and leaves, the guy just lowers his head. Turns out he had brought his mistress in on Valentine’s Day, but my co-worker didn’t realise he was with a different woman this time around so didn’t think anything of it. 

‘We never saw the guy again.’    

Unsurprisingly, many of the horror stories related to engagements, such as one waiter said she had to serve throughout an awkward situation (stock image)

Unsurprisingly, many of the horror stories related to engagements, such as one waiter said she had to serve throughout an awkward situation.

‘A woman who had been proposed to stared like a deer frozen in the headlights for an excruciating 30 seconds before muttering “let’s talk about this later”,’ she said.

‘The couple stayed for the rest of their six-course V-day special dinner, eating and making painful small talk.’

Others said they had witnessed many men alone waiting for their date to join them, only to be disappointed after 40 minutes when no one showed up.

‘Someone showing up for a date and you both realise about 30 minutes in she ain’t coming. “Drinks on me buddy”,’ one person said. 

One woman shared the experience that has stuck with her years after serving:

‘I was a waitress many moons ago, and one springs to mind,’ she said.

‘The first was an older couple who were dressed nicely. They were polite and cordial to me, but not overly enthusiastic or friendly.

‘They were at the table for a little over an hour and a half and we didn’t see them say one word to each other during that time.

‘Every time I went over to their table, the atmosphere felt like I’d walked straight into an argument, but they weren’t speaking or looking at each other or anything. It very quickly became awkward as f**k.’