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…

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…

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…

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…

Don't underestimate the pettiness of these fed-up workers . You'd be acting petty too if customers treated you the same way . Cashiers work so hard for so little recognition. If I was running things, all cashiers would be allowed to sit down, they'd be allowed to talk back to rude customers, and they'd all be paid at least $1 million per year. In reality, though, cashiers have to deal with the grouchiest customers one after another for minimum wage (and no sitting down either). You can only han…

The brilliance of the manager putting the sport coat on before returning to the conversation as “the owner” is something that I wish I had been able to witness with my own eyes.

Working in the service industry is one of the toughest to endure, as customers, management, and coworkers can really get under your skin. You need the patience of a sloth, the memory of an elephant, and the speed of a cheetah. Picture this: a family of eight, children sobbing whilst simultaneously drooling, parents at their wit's end just rattling off their order to you while corralling their children. Having a long list of dietary restrictions and substitutions to their order after demanding y…

Restaurants see no shortage of demands for customization and demanding customers, with the latter uttering the former with surprising frequency. Dealing with these demands from the demanding is no picnic, but learning to handle them can be. Not in the literal sense in that you're going to sit down in a nice grassy spot with a blanket, basket, some nice cheeses, a bottle of prosecco, some ripe fruit, and your favorite pal—more so in the sense that like a picnic is a pleasing and relaxing experie…

The process of preparing for an interview is immensely time-consuming and stressful for any candidate. You've already sunk considerable amounts of time into prepping your CV, writing an effective cover letter, and applying for the role—and there's likely been some back-and-forth communication between yourself and the company's HR. To have all of that done only to be blindsided and discover that the interview preparing for isn't actually an interview is—well—devastating. Instead, you're asked to…

Most people can't really say they enjoy dealing with long shifts, meh-money, and annoying customers on a daily basis… although there will always be exceptions. Serving can easily get tiring when you are forced to put a smile on your face and pretend to like the people you're serving, laughing at their dad jokes and complimenting their hideous striped t-shirts. But you don't have to do that everywhere… in fact, there are places where you can be borderline rude, and it's totally acceptable. Custo…

It turns out we might not be very good at doing a job that isn't actually ours, and that shouldn't come as much of a surprise, except to people like this Karen who refuse to listen to you when you tell them that you don't actually work there. Sure, we've all probably mistaken a complete stranger for an employee of the establishment we're patronizing, but continuing to insist that they must work there and are doing their job poorly after being corrected is downright insane. This college student…

Going back to an old job is always awkward, especially when you were fired from that job and especially when you go back to beg for free things—and especially when you go back to try and steal from your ex-coworkers' tip jar. Like, this guy actually managed to get himself demoted from line cook to customer and then managed to get himself demoted further from being a customer too. Lou really sucks, and is a In the end, it's incredibly fitting since you can't spell “lousy coworker” without “Lou.”

This worker came with receipts. Usually, these types of things are a “he said, she said” type of scenario, where both sides state their perspectives, and the truth lies somewhere in between.

We all know that the fast food industry is dirty in more ways than one. An obvious and well-known downfall to fast food is working for them.They are notorious for paying minimum wage and many even have their own lobbyist fighting to lower the minimum wage. It's disgusting. So most people know that working in fast food is painful to the soul. You are not only not making enough money to get by, but you are also constantly berated by Karen customers. One fast food employee found a way to entertain…

So you think you know restaurant edict but have never worked in the service industry? HA! Don't make us laugh. You might know the basics, but there are so many things that can mark you as a crappy customer. The number one thing servers are currently discussing on Reddit? Complaining about free things. So you got a free basket of chips with salsa. Okay, so? You say, “thank you so much!” and move on. You do not complain about the chips being too salty, like the server can even fix that. You canno…

The customer service industry is unpredictable; customers range from super kind, to average, to complete wacko human beings. Servers often encounter a variety of strange, weird, odd, and unexpected situations, some of them being the tip that people leave when they are done with their meal. Apparently, not everyone leaves 15%, or any money at all… some customers prefer to leave some pretty strange, unconventional things instead. As we have worked in the service industry, we can vouch for the fac…