Have you ever heard of a restaurant owner demanding their servers sign an NDA to keep them from discussing their jobs? Well, you are about to hear about it now. It can be understandable that some workplaces require employees to sign an NDA to protect information that needs to stay within the company. Many lines of work handle delicate matters, and it is not beyond reason to legally prevent employees from talking about it outside of work. But demanding employees sign an NDA simply to prevent the…

Servers should get an additional 20% tip every time a customer asks a self-explanatory question. It turns out people are just as ignorant in restaurants as you would think. This collection of questions real servers were asked by entitled customers just goes to show that thinking before speaking is a lost art. Instead, people are asking questions like why the menu did not properly state that the risotto had rice in it. People are asking what the difference is between a 6-ounce steak and a 12-oun…

Would you put your life in the hands of a 17-year-old line cook who cheated on his food allergen training?

It's not easy to forget the people who yell at you for no reason. Those moments become embedded in our memories forever and often inform how we respond or react in future confrontations. No one has to endure more of these confrontations than our servers, so be sure to give them tips and a break if something goes wrong. Here, we have a server who worked the opening night of a brand new restaurant when a Karen customer memorably screamed at her in front of the entire restaurant because orders wer…

Customer service is never an easy task. It's even more difficult when you have to fulfill your responsibilities as a customer service representative while a guy is trying to win over his girlfriend. If you are familiar with what I mean, I apologize for the experience you had to endure; if not, consider yourself fortunate. The story below is an account of a frustrated front desk clerk. The original poster (OP) has a long history of employment in the hospitality industry. The job has challenges,…

Imagine you're waiting tables, scurrying around with hot plates, forcing a smile every time someone asks for some extra sauce. ‘Of course’, you say, and run to go get some… for the fifth time that night, for that table. Finally, a glimmer of relief, table 12 wants to pay. They'd been relatively great, smiled politely, said ‘please’, and hadn't bothered you. You'd even had good banter with them, so you expect they'll tip well. No luck, they don't even leave a tip… and their bill is just about $2…

Some people have a tendency of taking really low stakes situations way too far, making things that have no business being stressful very stressful indeed. When you work in customer service these situations will usually present themselves in the form of people making audacious demands and being impolite for no reason—sometimes even having meltdowns in the lobby of your restaurant or store. All that being said… Burritos are a serious business, so it's no surprise that people take situations like…

As someone who has worked a lot in customer service, I can assure you that I have never seen a coworker react badly to a customer yelling, ‘You just lost a customer!’. Because the honest truth is, we just didn't care. I can promise you it's quite universal, as anyone working a minimum wage job just isn't getting paid enough to care. One man entered a restaurant to have a nice meal with his wife. At first, all was going well. They got their food, ate it up, talked, whatever. Then he asked for th…

There are numerous challenges in the customer service sector, as we have all stated at some point. The obstacles could vary from challenging to exceedingly challenging, depending on the client in front of you. The irony of it all is that if you want to advance in your line of work, you need to be able to handle any situation with poise and maturity. The story below is of a dumbfounded restaurant employee. Given that the original poster (OP) has worked in the food sector for a significant period…

Every restaurant or store has to deal with people attempting to leave without paying. In stores, it is easier to prevent people from doing it, because they have to leave the premises with a physical item at hand, and it is pretty simple to track the items and make sure they are not stolen. In restaurants, is it a bit more complicated, since a customer consumes the food before they actually pay for it, so they can just up and leave when no one is looking, and never pay a dime. Surely every resta…

Starting a small business is a scary thing, putting it all on the line to try and create a successful business, which will see you solely reaping possibly unlimited benefits—if you can make it that far. But, hey, you take on all of the risks, you get all of the rewards; that's fundamentally how we've decided things should work in this world… and when it works well for someone, you're not going to see them complaining. However, taking on the risk means taking on the risk. Which is something a lo…

This totally unethical manager is about to go down. Not only was it against policy for the employer to participate in the tip pool among the other servers at the restaurant, but matters were also made worse when the manager suggested that tipping was a “privilege.” Essentially, she threatened to stop allowing her servers to receive tips at all, as if that is not the majority of the money these workers rely on to pay their bills. This thread was posted to Reddit by u/mddnaa , who decided that it…

A career in the service industry is never easy. However, it gets ten times more challenging when someone tells the chef they have dietary sensitivities in order to ensure that they take their dislike of a specific ingredient seriously. The story that follows is relayed by an unhappy server. The Original Poster (OP) is in charge of asking customers if they have any special dietary needs that the chef should be aware of. That's why OP investigated the matter properly when a disgruntled customer c…

Dodgy off-book leave policies are something that you just come to expect after a while of working in the restaurant or retail world. From the first time you go to book leave and are met with the strong insinuation that maybe you shouldn't be taking any leave at all, giving you reasons of being too busy or too understaffed to possibly afford to be a “man down," you're going to be feeling that old resigned feeling of knowing that this is going to be that kind of place. The reality is that you're…

Talk about a humiliating dining experience! This patron had an unfortunate emergency that required a relatively long trip to the bathroom. The trip took so long, in fact, that his server began to think he dined and dashed because he took his things with him. It turns out the customer elected to grab his things because he didn't want his stuff to be “out in the open” while he was gone for what he instinctively could tell would be more than just a minute. Well, the server decided the matter was s…

Servers wait on people from all walks of life, and that includes celebrities. In this thread, they shared the good, the bad, and the ugly. Back when I was a waitress, I didn't meet a single famous person. I guess the diner I worked at wasn't exactly in high demand, and it was also in a pretty rural area, so I doubt most people have heard of it. There was this one time when I thought I had waited on Paul Rudd, but nope, it turned out it was just a look-alike. To be honest, I wish I had him as a…