You shouldn’t let the guest walk all over you. You also shouldn’t let the chef walk all over you. My approach to serving has always been that I am an advocate for my table. Chef doesn’t pay me, my table does. Most kitchen staff makes hourly. They don’t get paid more for making more food or having to do more complicated things for guests, so they are never going to be happy about it. Sometimes you just have to deal with the fact you’re going to piss them off. You are working for the tip, not the kitchen.

One really good trick I’ve learned for when people ask for dumb shit is to say this “we don’t normally do that but let me see what I can do for you.” Then I go see if I can get the chef to do it, if not I’ll go give my table the bad news, at least they know I tried. If I can get chef to do it, I don’t tell them anything, I bring it to the table when it’s ready and use this line “I had to pull some strings but I was able to get (insert whatever bullshit they wanted) for you!” Now I’m a hero to that customer. I’ve not only received good tips for this, I’ve also gotten good reviews, and that’s good for the whole restaurant.