I am from the UK, and have just visited the USA with my wife. While we were in a rural part of Arizona I experienced this on a Saturday morning.
We went in to the only Dennys in town. There was a large wait to be seated and it was very busy. One young guy was managing the front desk, and it appeared that the card machine was having a technical issue.
The cooks looked slammed, there was one other guy serving tables and one manager running around like a headless chicken. It appeared at least some staff had not showed up.
We waited probably 10 minutes to ask for a table then another 15 to be seated. The wait seemed to also be caused by people arriving to pick up orders.
A lady in her late 50’s came in and yelled at the young guy “WHY IS NOBODY WAITING ON US?”. She said “Waiting” as if the guy was below her socially and she should be seen to, even though she was waiting behind us while we were waiting patiently. He tried to explain the technical issue he was having but she stormed out.
The young guy also served our table, I was very polite and he insisted I take a soda for the road. I gave him a tip, he really looked like he was trying his best and the short staffing issues caused chaos.
Honey is sweeter than vinegar.