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service industry

‘I really think I've seen everything... But then I go to work.’: Potential Karen-level-10 situation pleasantly deescalates to a hilarious misunderstanding

‘I really think I've seen everything... But then I go to work.’: Potential Karen-level-10 situation pleasantly deescalates to a hilarious misunderstanding

When you work in customer service, you truly see all of humanity. You see the precious people who the world could use more of, and you, of course, see the Karen, the humans incapable of empathy, the “adults” whose first response is to throw an entitled tantrum. Perhaps this is how balance is kept in our world? Who knows… Recently, a hotel employee went to the subrredit r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk to share a story that could've had a very different ending. You see, when you work the front desk of a…
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'Eye for an eye': Barista fights fire with fire when a customer throws her ‘incorrect’ coffee on the ground, finding the Karen at work and making a mess in her department as payback

Two can play this game.
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'Three cop cars pulled in and surrounded them': Cheap couple gets cops called on them for refusing to pay for a $9 salad bar

How much trouble is it worth going through to avoid paying for a couple of leaves of lettuce? Is it worth a run-in with the police that could possibly see you arrested and sent to prison, all because you didn't want to pay $9 for your salad after complaining about the toughness of your steak? From there, you'll be forced to plan a daring means of escape. By day, you'll see yourself unwittingly participating in and then dismantling the operations of the corrupt warden running the prison while sp…
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'Won’t give me a raise, enjoy replacing me and the people I poach': Restaurant employee gets denied a 10% raise, quits and takes all of the best employees with him

'Won’t give me a raise, enjoy replacing me and the people I poach': Restaurant employee gets denied a 10% raise, quits and takes all of the best employees with him

If you have ever worked in the service industry then you know that the best part of it are your coworkers. You all trauma-bond and get super tight when you have to deal with all the Karens and entitled customers. Literally, I'll never forget having to quit my restaurant that I had all throughout college, it felt like I was breaking up with someone I still loved. But managers in restaurants know that their staff tends to come and go, so if it's a healthy workplace, they'll be excited for your ne…
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'I tipped her $21 on a $21 order': 30+ Customers who got exactly what they asked for when restaurant workers served up 'delicious compliance'

'Ask and you shall receive'. These are certainly words to live by– but when we're talking about making modifications on a restaurant order, this phrase is more of a solemn warning.
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'The pizza was like 3 inches tall': Customer rudely insists on a pizza with everything on it, experiences immediate regret

Whenever you write the phrase “The customer is always right” online, there's always someone showing up to show you up in the comments to confidently proclaim that this utterance is actually a shortened version of the original phrase, “The customer is always right in matters of taste." Attributions for either version normally go to one of several pioneering and successful department store retailers who reshaped the trade in the late 1800s and publications on the retail philosophy emerge in the e…
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'I pulled up the fan-fiction on my phone and started to read it': Manager reads worker's erotic fan-fiction out loud to the team, embarrassing her, wonders if he's wrong

Having good working relationships with coworkers is important and can contribute to a thriving team and business—but it's important to know where the line is—or else it can be incredibly easy to accidentally jump across it with a two-footed leap… especially when you have no common sense about how to communicate with other people respectfully. It's not uncommon for coworkers , especially in the service industry and retail, to be incredibly close, bonded through mutual suffering and long, unforgi…
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'‘He tipped with a fake $100 to impress his date’': Servers Share Stories of Getting Tipping Karma on Cheap Customers

'‘He tipped with a fake $100 to impress his date’': Servers Share Stories of Getting Tipping Karma on Cheap Customers

When working in the service industry it is inevitable that you will encounter a bad tipper. Whether they're old and still think 25 cents is an appropriate tip, or their entitled and think because you forgot the ice in their water, they're allowed to tip you $0. It's a mad mad world out there working as a waiter. At least in the U.S. it is. You work for barely an hourly with usually no benefits and you relay almost completely on tips. So when you get a $0 tip, that person who you just served and…
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'Are you still open?': Couple orders food from exasperated workers at a closed restaurant, wonders if they're wrong

How many people working in customer service, retail, or the service industry have had to deal with this exact same scenario? The closing time was 6 pm—it's now ten after—and there are still customers in the store. You're not allowed to turn customers away—management has forbidden it—still, customers continue to pour in. This same thing happens often, and management insists that every last customer be able to order, forcing you to stay late well past scheduled closing… Yet, every time you try to…
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'I guess you're going to need a to-go box?': Guy exploits "no takeout" Taco Tuesday dine-in loophole

People love tacos… and people love a deal. So, it stands to reason that people would be willing to go to extraordinary lengths in order to get a deal on some tacos. If this is a small operation, then you can't help but wonder about the ethics of this story. Restaurants and bars run these deals as “dine in only” in order to get butts in seats and mouths drinking alcoholic beverages. Restaurants don't really make much money off of food anyways. With slim margins and intensive labor requirements,…
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[I] dropped the uniform on his desk and walked home': Bakery worker told they can't quit while wearing their uniform, so they quit and leave in their boxers instead

This bakery owner kneaded a reality check, and—well… he sure got one. Trust some small business owners to think that their power over their workers is absolute and that they own and orchestrate every part of their lives. Unfortunately, in communities where jobs are scarce, this can literally be the case. Whilst traveling and working in cafes in small towns, I personally witnessed a local cafe owner, an absolute demon of a woman, torpedo the job prospects of a single mother who worked for her. A…
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'Someone changed my schedule without my knowledge': Shift worker gets accused of a no-call, no-show on their day off

Yes, the schedule. The cornerstone, the Monolith, of shiftwork… Obey the schedule—lest you find yourself at odds with some angry shift manager who quotes its existence at you like scripture. Managers love a good schedule, and they also like complaining about that schedule and blaming the schedule for all of their problems—even when they're the ones who made it. If they schedule you for a shift you couldn't normally work, all of a sudden, it's “It's on the schedule,” “I've posted the schedule.”…
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'They were looking at us weirdly': Couple orders food from a closed restaurant, wonders if they're wrong

How many people working in customer service, retail, or the service industry have had to deal with this exact same scenario? The closing time was 6 pm—it's now ten after—and there are still customers in the store. You're not allowed to turn customers away—management has forbidden it—still, customers continue to pour in. This same thing happens often, and management insists that every last customer be able to order, forcing you to stay late well past scheduled closing… Yet, every time you try to…
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happy-server funny-karen server waiter justice-restored heroic-waiter happy ending restaurant-karen restaurant-worker karen-story service industry - 21689605

'[I'm] not going to waste my manager's time on a complaining Karen': Waiter stands up for solo diner who finds himself stuck in the middle of a classic Karen conundrum

When we say “Karen conundrum," we're being nice. Any situation that warrants the person to be called a Karen (and not because that is their actual name), means that the situation is one of the most annoying and tiresome situations. When you get deemed a Karen, it isn't because you look like your name might be Karen, it is because you are acting like an entitled grown child who is quite literally too old to be throwing this kind of toddler-aged tantrum. Too often do people in the service industr…
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'I tell them straight up that the problem is the lack of management.': Bartenders quit when owners refuse to accept that they're the problem after hiring expert

'I tell them straight up that the problem is the lack of management': Bartenders quit when owners refuse to accept that they're the problem after being told so by an expert they hired

If you're hired by a client or employer to pick apart their business operations and identify inefficiencies and issues—do you give them an honest answer? Even if it's an answer that they're not going to want to hear? Even if the problem is—well… them? No one would disagree that keeping a boss or client happy is a good idea. After all, these people are paying all or part of your livelihood—and if you were to be fired or dismissed for telling them something they didn't want to hear—even if it's t…
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'He is a menace': Worker quits new job after two days because of new boss

People don't quit jobs; they quit bosses… Most of the time, at least. This saying has echoed off of the walls of this site a thousand times, and yet it remains just as true as in its first utterance. Too many jerks out there have ended up in a position of workplace authority—either by starting their own business or through the power of the Peter principle—and find themselves wondering why they can't keep staff, not realizing that the answer is looking at them in the face every morning when they…
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