After working in customer service, there are some experiences that will stick with you long after. These experiences will mostly be the exceptional ones that stand out even from every other bizarre daily interaction.

Even if your work, knowledge, and contributions make you irreplaceable in your organization, your employer is never going to admit it. For one thing, they probably aren't even going to be aware of it until long after you're gone. They probably think that there are dozens of people out there who can do exactly what you do. For another, if they did admit how valuable you were, they know that you'd likely want to be paid fairly for that fact—and that's just never going to happen. No, it's better t…

It is 2024, if you are an American and don't know how to properly tip, then shame on you. 20% is the minimum. Period. Nobody cares if you had to send your plate back multiple times, that service industry employee is working to pay their rent. The least you can do is give them $5. Like, stop being so entitled. This entitled customer got a beautiful act of petty revenge thrust upon him, and he probably never even realized it. You see, this guy was not only not going to tip, but he was also holdin…

Perhaps everyone should have made their resolutions this year to be kinder to their servers and bartenders. If you're not part of the problem but you are witnessing a Karen customer throwing a tantrum for no good reason, perhaps you should consider stepping in and defending the people who have been on their feet for multiple hours and are just trying to get you your food and drinks the way you ordered them. No one is trying to mess up, and so much of what goes on in a bar or restaurant is outsi…

There's nothing more confusing in life than someone who refuses to accept that withholding a part of their order actually makes it a different order. It's like when someone orders a cheeseburger without cheese but refuses to accept that all that does is make it a hamburger. Similarly, if you're ordering eggs Benedict without Hollandaise sauce, you might as well just be ordering a poached egg on a bun. Making an issue of that fact really just betrays your lack of ability to think logically. So,…

Working in a kitchen is an eye-opening experience that will forever change how one eats at a restaurant. Not only does one gain further appreciation for what servers and restaurant workers have to put up with, but also one has a greater sense of the pandemonium that occurs behind the scenes. Yes, television shows like The Bear provide some insight into this visceral world, but hearing from actual restaurant workers directly is the best window into that experience. These restaurant secrets, whic…

What do you expect in terms of hospitality when you book an expensive 5-star hotel? You're usually paying upwards of $500 a night, so you would think they would provide the best of services. Especially if you get stuck in a bathroom! Things happen and precarious situations arise, we all know that's unavoidable in this place we call life. But it is how you handle these situations that gives you a top notch rating. When this woman got stuck in a 5-star hotel bathroom while vacationing with her bo…

The wider world of the internet is filled with stories of ill-mannered customers, making life unnecessarily difficult for the humble working-class customer service rep who had the misfortune of serving them. Still, it's important for us to take a step back and realize that, while it may be nice to root for the everyman, we can't blindly assume that the workers themselves are infallible. There are entitled people on all sides and from all walks of life—and there are certainly plenty of people wo…

Now that the year has come to a close, let's look back at some of the most memorable stories of entitled people and their ridiculous tantrums. From a neighbor who claimed someone else's parking spot indefinitely to a sister-in-law's outlandish demand… from a former landlord's unnecessary request to a guy who ran off with his brother's ex … let's just say that 2023 was not short on entitled behavior. Hopefully, people remember what it is to be generous, or at the very least decent , next year. T…

It's not uncommon for those in petty positions of power to vastly overestimate the reach of that power. Whatever the words of the message, the point this manager is trying to convey is clear: we know that you need us more than we need you, so we're going to see how far we can manipulate the conditions of your employment in our favor and you're just going to have to deal with it.

Nepo-babies are the privileged kind of delusional, not the fun kind of delulu. Like, there's the employee that pushes the boundaries and might get you in trouble for doing something fun kind of delulu, and then there is the nepo-baby delusional co-worker who thinks he's entitled to everyone treating him like the boss even though he was given a bartending position because his mommy is the boss. See what I mean? The latter is, unfortunately, where our story begins . This hotel bartender was the k…

Running around the restaurant trying to take orders, pick up dirty plates, and grant ridiculous requests such as ‘Give me a literal bowl of ketchup’ is exhausting. Especially when your entire wage depends on the kindness of strangers, also known as customers. Are they going to tip? How much are they going to tip? Will I be able to afford to fix my car this month, or am I going to cry when I see my account balance instead? You never know. Around the holidays, people are often a little more gener…

You know that stereotype of restaurant owners being grimy and shady? Well, unfortunately, it's not unwarranted. More often than not restaurant owners will toy with their employees' lives just to save face. That might mean getting fired for no just reason because someone left an entitled 1-star review. That is where this Reddit story goes. This server covered a shift for a coworker in mourning. When she got there, her section already had a belligerent guy who obviously had way too much to drink.…

Sometimes a beautiful thing can blossom out of something horrible. For example, a higher-paying job can blossom from how you handle a Karen tantrum. Which is exactly what happened to this Redditor . She was enjoying her lunch at a restaurant she did not work at. She had interviewed with them, but it was too soon to know anything about that. She had only an hour for lunch from her actual chef job at a completely different restaurant, so was trying to down her food as fast as possible. All of a s…

Before we wrap up the dysfunctional year that was 2023, let's do a recap of the most dysfunctional customers servers were forced to encounter on the job. Being a server requires a certain bandwidth to be able to withstand a lot of unfair treatment from managers, Karens, etc. That being said, every so often, that bandwidth is tested no matter how much experience one may have in this field. Sometimes, customers demand something so outrageous (like seriously, dude? you can't live without tartar sa…

One thing's for sure: there's no greater relief than quitting a bad job, especially when you already have another one lined up and ready to go. Everyone, at one point or another, has dreamed of doing this—preferably in explosive fashion. One day, walking and just letting your honest feelings fly before walking out —never to be seen again—while everyone is still sitting there stunned and processing what has just occurred.