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…

Two can play this game.

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…

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…

'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.

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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.”…

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…