Working in customer service of any kind can be one of the most challenging things you do in your life. But when your boss is worse than the customers, that's when you know it's time to go. In this case, OP was working as a server at an upscale steak restaurant. The money was good, but the management wasn't. His boss would constantly berate the employees, tell them that they were lucky he even hired them and cheaped out on fixing equipment that posed a safety issue. The only reason OP stayed at…

When one door closes, another opens, or so they say. In this case, the door that opened led to utter and complete chaos in the work environment of OP, who quit his job after finding a greener pasture. OP was working at a large electronics retail store for many years and eventually found himself working in a warehouse position. After quitting, he was given the job of training the employee who would take his stead. So he put in a lot of hours training this new employee. For some reason, his boss…

A car is the 2nd largest purchase you will make, aside from a house. Back in the 90s, car dealerships looked somewhat like a circus; all the balloons, streamers, inflatable wiggly men, the big price stickers on cars… but nowadays, car dealerships are supposedly more 'honest', more direct, and frankly, more concise in terms of financing. In this case, OP's car dealership was incompetent. OP's SUV was throwing error codes, so they took it to the dealership for them to take a look. After taking a…

This teen spent a few months working at their uncle's sweet shop for a summer, and got to experience what happens when “tempers and temperatures” run high.

You know what they say about when you assume...

Anyone who doesn't have mad respect for servers probably couldn't last two minutes during a brunch shift.

We all love a good loophole. Social media is full of people telling their favorite loopholes to get cash after a cancelled flight, return kids' clothing years after you bought it, or ‘hack’ a stores' return policy to your benefit. As a customer, finding a loophole can be great, but when too many people start to abuse the system, it results in a crackdown to stop customers from getting free stuff. Next up, this employee refused to do something his boss kept insisting on — but it was actually rea…

Navigating some companies' return policies can be an unnecessarily difficult experience that may drive you to look for ways you can circumvent their requirements and get a fair go at returning your unwanted item. At times it can feel like these policies are unnecessarily specific and cryptic: “Customer must return an item only when the thrush knocks on the last light of the third day of the second new moon—whilst wearing a hat made of cabbages." After a while of wondering what in the Tolkien yo…

A waiter shared an odd day in their life: dealing with some of the silliest and most demanding customers . Servers of America, you have my sympathies. It seems like customers are crazier than ever — but at least these waiters know they aren't alone in the war against Karens. On r/Serverlife, u/serverforadecade shared an encounter with one couple who kept them running all over the restaurant to fetch them things and wait on them hand and foot. In the comments, people broke down the servers' bull…

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…

For some people, it's not actually winning that makes their gears hum—it's thinking they've won. Let's be honest… they're so singularly focused on winning that they probably don't even realize what it is they were actually arguing about in the first place. The fact that they're not getting what they want doesn't matter as long as they feel like they've won. This is a problem you will run into time and time again when you engage with the masses in a retail or customer service role. When you're d…

There are a lot of reasons to be angry in this world… and free soda is not one of them. Still, name a thing that exists, and there is someone out there who is absolutely fuming about it, plotting how they can end it once and for all. Meet Larry. Larry hates free things, especially things that bubble and fizz and don't cost him anything. If you had asked Larry what the biggest problem in the world was, he'd probably answer that it was people enjoying themselves while they wait for him. His answe…

This server isn't holding back — they're spilling some piping hot tea about a local celebrity who's acting like a jerk at their restaurant. This VIP is drunk on power, as the OP, u/Capnmcquacken, shared to r/TalesFromYourServer. As the fed-up server writes, the restaurant they work at is a super popular taco spot in Michigan. They have tons of customers, and they also sponsor a race car driver, who the OP calls Randy. He's allowed to eat for free at this restaurant whenever he pleases, and he's…

While it's easy to agree with the sentiment that “You shouldn't be eating out if you can't afford to tip,” the last person you want to be hearing that message from is their boss who refused to pay them a living wage in the first place.

Sometimes the best lessons come from giving someone exactly what they wanted.

Dodging Karens while working in the hospitality industry is an unattainable dream for optimists. After working with a wide variety of guests and their entitled attitudes, the word optimist disappears from your dictionary. In this case, OP was working the front desk at a hotel, enjoying her night when an unreasonable potential guest entered the lobby. The man, who we will dub Karen, asked OP for a room that night, and was told by OP that they would need to put a refundable $100 deposit on his ca…