Being appointed as a leader generally means that you should be doing at least a little bit of leading: sitting on your cell phone while your teenaged workers suffer the onslaught of a rush is not that. It's a sure sign that someone shouldn't have been appointed to the leadership position they are in and is instead a living, breathing example of the “Peter principle.” Other times the issue is worse still, and the person's appointment to their leadership role isn't due to any previous performance…

The service industry offers its workers a myriad of shitty experiences: Terrible customers, terrible employers, terrible coworkers, and an (often) unpredictable income that relies upon strangers' ethics and understanding of their social obligations.

It's ever a wonder how people like this manage to get into positions of power over other people. Unfortunately, it's often probably because the organization they're working for is run by toxic, cruel people who recognize the toxic and cruel (or spineless, subservient) traits in those they promote to management positions within their business.

People don't quit jobs: They quit managers. A sentiment that we've echoed across the pages of Fail Blog more times than I dare to count.

Unfortunately, every one of us has probably experienced foul treatment from someone in a position of authority who just specifically didn't like us for some reason. It might be conscious on their part, or it might be entirely subconscious; maybe you look just a little too much like an old friend who stole their partner; who knows? Whatever the reason, that person just perceived a freshly painted target on your back from the moment they laid eyes on you. Nothing you can do is ever going to chang…

"Don't come in and act like you already know everything when you're a new comer to not only the job, but [also] the whole industry.”

Those working in retail and service are no strangers to discomfort and, often times it can seem like employer's make it intentionally so.

The thought of being paid less than the legal minimum wage sounds outrageous to some people, especially to those outside of the US, but that's just how the bizarre nature of the US tipping culture works.

“He had to disconnect the phones during a busy rush because she called 30 times…”

There are times in life when temptation is just too great and leads us toward doing something that we probably shouldn't be doing… Take, for example, serving a customer a calzone containing entire chicken wings (bones and all) after they obstinately and repeatedly request it as a special order. When you've been working in the service industry, retail, or customer service for long enough, you get a growing itch to pull off something like this. With every entitled customer interaction, you can fe…

If you've ever worked in a restaurant then you know chaos lives there. Whether it's working along toxic managers and coworkers or having to deal with entitled Karen customers—it's unavoidable in the service industry.

Some say the little white lies are necessary, others are disgusted by the “unprofessional” deception.

Your first job in the service industry (or retail, I'd argue) is a formative experience. For most of us, it comes at that time in our life when earning some cash is a necessity: Maybe you've just graduated high school or college and need a job; maybe you're still in high school; maybe the career you thought you were going to have as an Olympic level athlete didn't quite work out, and now you have no idea what you're doing with your life. Ignoring the fact that the last example is oddly specific…

There's nothing that makes you feel so entirely helpless as being bullied by children. It's this weird catch-22 where you both are unable to retaliate but are rendered completely vulnerable by their cutting words. Kids know exactly what to say to cut you down, and their frank honesty can leave you with no retort or means for retaining your pride. This is even worse when you're in a customer service role. Being bullied by anyone in a customer service role feels like crap, but when it's kids doin…

This entitled dad is lucky the waiter didn't press charges!