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

Recipes are great for some, but some chefs prefer to freestyle their meals. I'm fully on team recipe, mainly because when I try to cook without one, my dish turns out just awful . I trust the random cooks of the internet when I make my meals — mostly because I actually had a physical cookbook, and everything I made with it turned out wrong. This cookbook had me making soggy and inedible french toast, and another time, it steered me into making the most watery pancakes I've ever witnessed. They…

When the dish you order is specifically known and named for the style of spice that it uses, it would be foolish to request that dish without it. Sure, you might have meant that you just wanted it to be less spicy, but if you're going to be rude to service staff, you should be careful what you wish for and choose your words carefully. Or, how about we treat service staff with the respect that they deserve? This Karen unwisely demanded exactly this after being rude to staff during her trip to th…

Every workplace has that one room that you can sneak off to to be on your phone. No matter how small your workplace is, there's a hidden corner for you to lean instead of clean , or to scroll your phone instead of having to answer the phone . You can take a minute just for yourself to collect yourself, have some water and a snack, and pretend you don't have 6 hours left of work. It's the little things that make a difference. It's good to take care of yourself, because we all know that lots of p…

It sounds like they were just looking for the smallest excuse to fire this server.

Most people start a career as a waiter or waitress because of the money. It's no secret that servers make bank, but it's definitely not because of their minimum wage hourly rate, it's because the tipping culture in America says it's acceptable (if not encouraged) to tip 25%+ to the server on top of a restaurant receipt. So for servers who aren't making tips, why would you suffer the long hours, picky customers, and weekend enslavement? Exactly. You wouldn't.

Toxic organizations breed toxic behavior, begetting toxic people. Unfortunately, those that conform to the organization's less-than-ideal ideals tend to do better and prosper, rising far above their deserved rank and encouraging their unfavorable behavior towards others that would ideally be derided. We've seen stories like this before, where an employee is singled out and collectively gaslit by their coworkers on behalf of getting them to conform to bizarre organizational directives. In this c…

But what if the customer is wrong? So epically wrong that their servers are scarred for life contemplating their tasteless choices and downright wacky desires. For the woman who wanted creamer with her red wine, please leave this establishment and never return. Your tastebuds are not welcome here.

Friendly reminder that our servers deserve better.

There are two types of people: those who check the menu before they get to the restaurant, and those who show up having no idea what they're going to order. Either way is fine — some people prefer to know exactly what dish they're going to get, while others like to hear the daily specials and decide on the spot. But people also show up to restaurants with lots of questions about their food …and some questions are way funnier than others. We took a peek into the life of a waiter or waitress with…

The restaurant industry is unpredictable, and there is always a high turnover rate. Employees come and go, to and fro, to here and there. Not all managers know how to successfully navigate the trenches of employment. In this case, a manager flipped out at OP for ‘telling on them’, AKA for informing upper management about the fact this boss was selling $1,000 worth of expired food to customers at a restaurant. Moreover, OP was informed that they were going to be paid on a certain day, but that p…

Working in food service changes your view of the profession forever. Most people only experience restaurants as a guest. You sit down, have a lovely meal brought to you by a waiter or waitress , and don't have to lift a finger as you dine. But once you tie on that apron and work as a server, you're on the other side of the experience. You have multiple tables of people who need you to take their order, deliver their food, and cater to their every whim. It's nonstop! And it basically turns into…

I'd be cringing so hard if I was the person behind this birthday mixup … but mistakes happen. Celebrating your birthday is a great time to gather your friends and family members to celebrate your big day. Another year old and wiser! There's no one way to throw a party — some people like to have small house parties, while others love to invite the whole neighborhood over for a BBQ. And then there are others who love to dine at their favorite restaurants to celebrate — and that's what happened in…

The restaurant industry is known for being fickle; if a few coworkers call in sick, you're gonna find yourself in a bit of a pickle… that is, as a manager. But as someone in a management position, that is your problem; not the other employees' issue. In this case, OP's boss initially approved their vacation but quickly backpedaled when it became apparent that they had granted time off to too many other employees, meaning that now they were short-staffed. Tough luck, as OP was already on their v…

One of the worst parts about working in the service industry or retail is “blackout” dates—where no one is able to take days off—these always line up with precisely the days you'd want to take off. Holidays, long weekends, and anytime between Christmas and New Years—pretty much any time you might want to see family or friends (who are all off work.) These have all been deemed as days where all hands are needed on deck due to high volumes of trade. But the worst part about blackout dates?.. Hypo…

This restaurant owner broke a cardinal rule of waiting tables, and it's wild that so many of his employees actually went along with his plan. It's a hallmark of American life that waiters and waitresses work mainly for tips. Over the years, tip prices keep rising higher as minimum wages have stagnated, and that has started frequent debates over tipping culture. In a story shared to r/AmItheA**hole, this desperate restaurant owner found a way to put some more cash in his own pocket. He shared th…