A "Crash" moment

I usually do not write about the crazy things that happen at work. Mostly because the stories are either the ones where "you had to be there" or they need some sort of extra explanation or hand gestures to be funny. Yet tonight...I had a "Crash" moment.

At around 10:00pm 9 African American women and children came into the resturant. 6 of them sat at a large table, which could have fit them all since the resturant was dead, and 3 of them sat at a small table across from them. We have had parties in the past who have done this in order to beat the 18% gratuity, which is added to parties of 8 or more. This group sounded like a handful from the start. Demanding everything from everyone, talking loudly on nextel walkie talkie phones and even dropping some bad language into conversation. Well as bill time approaches the server comes to me to add the gratutity. There are two seperate checks one is just one pasta dish and the rest is on the other check. As he gives the bill to the two groups the one who has the pasta tells me he didn't like the pasta (our pasta dishes are really large and even if you eat half, it still looks full). Reluctantly I took care of his pasta like we would for any other guest who didnt like what they got to eat, and asked if he would like a replacement dish, he declined (probably full). Sensing no further problems I return to the office to do some paperwork. 5 minutes later the server comes in saying they want the "kids eat free" discount we offer to ticket stub holders from knotts. They didnt have stubs, handstamps, or recipts but they did have large stuffed animals that could have come from the park. So I comped off about $15 in kids meals. By this time they were at the front door. He presented them with the new bill and they were still shocked by the $97 they still owed. (Right before this the server realized he had forgotten to ring in the drinks, I advised him to forget about it since they had seen the bill already). A younger girl has a wad of cash in her hand but its not enough. A women then starts pulling bills out of her braw. Still not enough. Then they start examining the bill and looking at every item trying to figure out why the bill is so high. At first they decide its because we didn't give them the discount...I pointed it out to her. Then at last she sees the gratuity!!! Boy did that outrage the family. Who would pay $16 for a bill well over $100....ahhhh. So then one of the daughters says "we want split checks." I tell her it doesnt work that way, we put gratuity on parties of 8 or more and they are clearly all together. They continue to argue so the server says, "ok I will take off gratuity but then I am going to have to charge you for all the sodas and slushies I didn't ring in, which should add up to around $25. ($2.79 each). Then one of the girls goes "look at them all standing there cause they think were gonna walk out and not pay" By this time there was a host, 2 servers, myself, and the expo (waiting for her ride) at the door. After more arguing the woman says alright give them the money lets just get out of here. The younger girl throws the wad of cash on the host podium and they all start walking out. I snatch up the money and quickley count it....$20 short. At this point I am just pissed. I walk out side yelling Maaaaaammm, you still owe us $20 (other guests are laughing at this point). I then yell "security is on the way, you can either give me the $20 or you can talk to them about it" all of a sudden a younger boy turns around and hands me a $20. So why do I call it a crash moment? well....for those of you who have seen the movie, the part of my story in bold reminds me of one of the opening scenes in Crash where they two african american guys are walking out of the resturant saying they had crappy service (their server was african american) because their server was serving the white people and they didnt tip...ect....ect....I thought of it because the girl made the comment about us all waiting there cause we thought they were walking out...and then they tried!!!!!!!! (45 more days).