Picture this: a restaurant where you pay to be insulted by your waiter, have straws thrown at you and where you are given a paper hat with a rude or offensive statement to wear.  Why would someone pay for service like that?

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Dick’s Last Resort.  It is a restaurant located in the Twin Cities at the Mall of America. After we walked into the restaurant and sat down, we were greeted by our waiter as he yelled at us and called us 14 year old girls.

Midway through the meal, the waiters make a paper hat for the guests with a comment written on the front. I saw a two-year-old at a table near ours that read “For Sale.” Some other hats read “Lights on, doors are open, and no one is home” and “A face only a mother could love.”

The entire atmosphere is sarcastic even down to the decorations.  There was a chalkboard that read “Dick’s poison free weeks chalkboard.” If you had to use the restroom, you would walk toward a lit up sign reading “2P.” And when I walked into the room with the word “Dolls” on the door, I walked out reading the word “Men” on the other side.

I couldn’t help but notice some more behaviors of other waiters as well. One waitress was standing on top of a table taking orders.  It crossed my mind, how can that behavior not be a health violation? It seemed as if there were no rules.

Another waiter yelled at a woman sitting at the table on her phone. He said, “Are you aware that it is very rude to be on the phone in a restaurant?” He continued walking toward her yelling in the same loud voice, “Who are you talking to?”

As we sat at our table talking to our own waiter, he told us some people that come to the restaurant are unaware of the “motto of service.”  The waiters are supposed to be sarcastic.
It was definitely a new experience and the atmosphere was fun. All the waiters, hosts and even the manager had something rude to say in a playful way.

This leads me to the question I addressed earlier: why would anyone pay for bad service? To answer, I would say, it is fun. The liveliness is good for entertainment, but you cannot take anything personally.

Overall, the new experience was a good one.  I enjoyed my meal, even though someone at our table had to walk to the kitchen doors to get our extra sauce. But the vibe of the meal was fun and kept me on my toes.

So next time you want to go out for a meal, why not skip the boring places where the waiters use manners? Go to a place where the host can tell you to have an awful rest of your day.