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…

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…

Working in a restaurant is, at the very least, a humbling experience.

You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but these folks have some surefire ways to tell if a restaurant is quality or not. I actually have a true story about this that you can totally judge me for. One time, I was in Harlem, volunteering to paint homes in an area I had never been before. I had to get lunch somewhere, so I stopped in a corner store and bought a BLT. I hung out in the store, and as the person behind the counter handed me the sandwich, I saw a cockroach crawling inside the glass…

It sounds like posh lady either knew how difficult she was being or has no sense of the laws of physics.

No one's perfect at their job, mistakes do happen. When you're a chef, however, any cooking mistake is going to effect a lot of dishes, and therefore a lot of customers! Chefs, bakers, and waiters gathered to share their funniest stories of food prep gone wrong, and the results are eye-opening and hilarious. It's a good look at the behind the scenes life of a restaurant. I never thought about what might happen if you had to make 40 pecan and pumpkin pies , and then burnt them all! It's a major…

Some diners have absolutely no idea what they want, and they've decided it's their waiters' job to figure it out for them.

This lady is either not very bright or she just got herself two free drinks.

Even long-time servers are upset when entitled people throw a fit. It's always unpleasant, and it never gets any easier to be screamed at by someone. Even for this server, who's been in the industry for six years, a Karen managed to spoil their mood. As u/ravioliwizard shared in their post to r/TalesFromYourServer , “It all started when a woman asked for a side of butter…” The Karen immediately began to fret over her butter, even though the server had barely left her table. Then, the OP says th…

Often when we see stories online about customer service people, it's regarding the abuse they receive from customers. But, since service industry workers are people too, it should be expected that there are plenty of examples of the worker themselves being unreasonable or entitled. These stories don't fit the popular narrative, so they often don't get upvoted as frequently, getting shared less overall as a result. It's no surprise to anyone that ‘upscale’ trendy establishments can have a bit of…

There's nothing more cringey than that sinking feeling in your gut when you hear restaurant waitstaff emerging from the kitchen with a sparkling dessert in hand and a birthday song on their lips. For some, even when it's not even their birthday, this public hooplah sends them into a fight-or-flight response.

Waitstaff have to deal with wild customer interactions constantly, like this woman, who just didn't understand why she had to take her food to go.

Everyone wants to think they have all the answers… but sometimes you don't know even half as much as you'd like to think. We would all do our best to listen to other people's thoughts and opinions before assuming that we have the best and only answer. This student and part-time waiter made the asinine assumption that his method for charging guests was superior to the method devised by his coworker. After claiming that her methods were making it more difficult for him, he insisted that they reve…

Saint Patrick's is the one day you don't want to work as a bartender. Not that New Year's is that much better, but still, Saint Patrick's holds first place for rowdy customers who use the celebration of Irish culture as an excuse to get completely hammered. As customers, they can be rude, loud, and most of all, sick to their stomachs, which creates a big mess. Who gets the lovely privilege of cleaning up after 'em? You, if you're a server. But the money is pretty sweet, as people tend to be pre…

This guy wanted a well-done steak but ended up getting roasted himself. There's nothing that can make a man feel small like his own mother. Even the toughest of gangsters know not to cross their mamma. When mom lays down the line and says, "Enough is enough," then you had better quit. This Dad was determined to act out the Applebee's scene in Talladega Nights before his mother stepped in. The story was posted by their server, u/Papakeely, to Reddit's r/talesfromyourserver subreddit. The family…