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…

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…

Being the newest employee is never easy. There is so much to learn and you constantly feel like you have to prove yourself with every step you take. The one thing that can make that experience a little bit more tolerable is the people you work with and the way they help you settle in. If those people are not there for you the way they should be, it makes the onboarding a lot more difficult. The employee in this Reddit story did not have the easy onboarding he wished for. Two weeks into the job,…

At what point will hiring managers just acknowledge that the reason why people are applying is always ultimately about a paycheck? Sure, sometimes there can be passion that motivates an applicant to apply for a particular position, but a paycheck is a paycheck and people need money to live. That's the point of work. With that in mind, no one should dress a job up to be anything else during the application process. It also should not be a bad thing if a candidate states that they want a certain…

Some managers need to learn to have some patience. Not every issue is worth the time and energy to throw a tantrum and get on a high horse. There are often far more important things to be done and far more productive ways to channel any frustrations. But when has a manager ever listened to what we have to say over here at FAIL Blog? This manager certainly did not take our advice. She also clearly had some major anger management issues, considering that when she confronted a server about a hash…

There should be a cap on the number of times a customer is allowed to send food back to the kitchen. Once is fine and, honestly, should be enough. These people are professionals and if you constantly need to send food back, then you’re the problem or at the very least, there is a huge difference between what you’re asking for and what you want. Now, there is also plenty of wrongdoing happening on the other side of things in this thread, which was posted to Reddit’s r/pettyrevenge subreddit. We…

At a certain point, ordering a specific dish without the vital components that make it that specific dish in the first place becomes pretty pointless. For example, if you order a cheeseburger without cheese, it's just a hamburger; and if you order eggs benedict without hollandaise sauce , that's just poached eggs on a bun; and if you order a Ceasar salad without anchovies, you're just going to get a few lettuce leaves and croutons on a plate.

Even if your work, knowledge, and contributions make you irreplaceable in your organization, your employer is never going to admit it. For one thing, they probably aren't even going to be aware of it until long after you're gone. They probably think that there are dozens of people out there who can do exactly what you do. For another, if they did admit how valuable you were, they know that you'd likely want to be paid fairly for that fact—and that's just never going to happen. No, it's better t…

Perhaps everyone should have made their resolutions this year to be kinder to their servers and bartenders. If you're not part of the problem but you are witnessing a Karen customer throwing a tantrum for no good reason, perhaps you should consider stepping in and defending the people who have been on their feet for multiple hours and are just trying to get you your food and drinks the way you ordered them. No one is trying to mess up, and so much of what goes on in a bar or restaurant is outsi…

There's nothing more confusing in life than someone who refuses to accept that withholding a part of their order actually makes it a different order. It's like when someone orders a cheeseburger without cheese but refuses to accept that all that does is make it a hamburger. Similarly, if you're ordering eggs Benedict without Hollandaise sauce, you might as well just be ordering a poached egg on a bun. Making an issue of that fact really just betrays your lack of ability to think logically. So,…

The wider world of the internet is filled with stories of ill-mannered customers, making life unnecessarily difficult for the humble working-class customer service rep who had the misfortune of serving them. Still, it's important for us to take a step back and realize that, while it may be nice to root for the everyman, we can't blindly assume that the workers themselves are infallible. There are entitled people on all sides and from all walks of life—and there are certainly plenty of people wo…

It's not uncommon for those in petty positions of power to vastly overestimate the reach of that power. Whatever the words of the message, the point this manager is trying to convey is clear: we know that you need us more than we need you, so we're going to see how far we can manipulate the conditions of your employment in our favor and you're just going to have to deal with it.

Before we wrap up the dysfunctional year that was 2023, let's do a recap of the most dysfunctional customers servers were forced to encounter on the job. Being a server requires a certain bandwidth to be able to withstand a lot of unfair treatment from managers, Karens, etc. That being said, every so often, that bandwidth is tested no matter how much experience one may have in this field. Sometimes, customers demand something so outrageous (like seriously, dude? you can't live without tartar sa…

One thing's for sure: there's no greater relief than quitting a bad job, especially when you already have another one lined up and ready to go. Everyone, at one point or another, has dreamed of doing this—preferably in explosive fashion. One day, walking and just letting your honest feelings fly before walking out —never to be seen again—while everyone is still sitting there stunned and processing what has just occurred.

The best part of managing or owning a business is that you're the master of your own destiny; success or failure rests primarily on your shoulders. The worst part of managing or owning a business is that you're always going to be at the whim of petty delusional customers who, for some reason, any reason, may at some point perceive that you've wronged them in some way, even if the result they're upset about is directly a result of their own actions. Still, they'll leave reviews and maybe even ma…

It can be incredibly difficult and frustrating working in customer-facing roles where your managers refuse to face up and take accountability on behalf of the operation they are managing, instead throwing the lowest-level workers under the bus for things well out of their control. When you're an honest, well-intended person, it can take an unfortunate amount of time to realize that not everyone is wired to be honest and well-intended and that there are, in fact, people trying to take advantage…