If you mistake salt for sugar in your recipe, it's no big deal. But if a chef does it while making a five gallon soup recipe, there's going to be some problems! Help yourself to a serving of these funny stories from chefs who were humbled by their own kitchen mishaps. We're all human, we all make mistakes every now and again. There are just some jobs where this is more acceptable than others. For example, if you're a FailBlog writer, it's okay if you make a mistake or three. Now, if you're an o…

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…

On the most monotonous days as a server, sometimes a wholesome act of kindness can make one's entire shift infinitely better. People don't tend to extend those kindnesses enough in the cutthroat world of customer service. Instead, servers and bartenders often have to deal with a slew of Karen customers, loud children, and entitled parents. Some of these more wholesome moments were compiled from the top posts this week on Reddit's r/TalesFromYourServer subreddit. These anecdotes included an anno…

This waiter works at an upscale place where the customers are used to getting whatever they desire. As many waiters will tell you, working at high end restaurants can be intense, but it's worth it for the giant tips that some rich folks will leave. Part of the intensity is working with people who are used to snapping their fingers and immediately getting what they want. These customers aren't patient, and some of them view wait staff as beneath them. The customer u/grayson1228 served seems part…

Who actually orders food like this? In a prompt to r/AskReddit, u/Graceful_Swan_Ronson asked waitstaff about the most ridiculous things their customers have ever wanted to eat. The resulting answers are hilarious and strange — and some are even a little bit wholesome. I have a few friends who order weirdly at restaurants, and dining with them is a delight. Sometimes I'll order a burger and fries, while my friend orders a slice of ham, a fruit smoothie, and a bowl of tater tots. It's like food r…

This dad was humbled after placing an order he couldn't eat. U/ClassiestRobin shared a story from her time waitressing as a 16 year old. It was the OP's first job, and though she generally enjoyed it, there was one family that stuck out in her mind due to their quirky order. Burger joints that offer up dozens of free toppings to customize your sandwich have the right idea. Most places just give you the typical lettuce, tomato, onion, and maybe some ketchup. But this place has a cool array of ot…

There's a certain kind of satisfaction that comes with giving demanding customers a hard time, but there's also the satisfaction that comes with giving them exactly what they asked for. It takes a specific kind of person to order food at a restaurant and immediately threaten the server before they've done anything wrong yet. It's as if they're asking to be messed with in some way, which is exactly what happened with this demanding customer who we will refer to, unsurprisingly, as Karen. Karen i…

'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.

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…

This parent has a question about their dating life , and they aren't going to like the responses he got. U/sasisgsbseb asked if they're wrong for the way their girlfriend has been treated by their daughter. The whole situation went down when the OP took their 12 year old daughter to lunch with the 47 year old OP's 33 year old GF. “My girlfriend does not particularly like interacting with waiters or waitresses ,” the OP admitted. While the GF's prior bad experiences with waitstaff might have mad…

Some customers prefer to learn by experience, rather than listen to the waitstaff who know what they're talking about. This customer chose that route, and was quite displeased with her experience. You can't please everyone, which is especially true when it comes to food service gigs. No matter how long you've been waiting tables, there will always be those customers who ruin their own day by not understanding what they're ordering. Some customers will order a burger, then get upset because this…

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…

"I used to be a server like you, and I've gotten stiffed by tables before. It just happens and you need to get used to it" were a restaurant owner's words when one of the waiters approached him after being stiffed on a $3,600 event. Talk about a good manager, huh? OP took to r/Serverlife after a frustrating incident at work happened, where he was forced to wait on a large party with a reservation booking in the restaurant's event room. Per usual, the restaurant was ridiculously understaffed, an…

Have you ever been in a situation so bizarre you were sure there must be TV cameras somewhere nearby? This bewildered customer recently had that experience, and it has commenters in a tizzy trying to figure out what was going on. In an era of constant content, pranks are a popular way to make videos cheaply and easily. Even if they're not from official TV shows, you could run into TikTokers or other content creators who want a few quick reactions. That's even worse, in my opinion, because at le…

Customers are not your friends, and this case makes that perfectly clear. They stomp loudly into your restaurant, noses up in the air, demands rolling off their tongue. If you can't give them your full, undivided attention for the entirety of the time they are there, then what are you even doing with your life? OP was serving a table who came in with a rude attitude and continuously made his life hard with their special requests. One of the customers at the table demanded OP get his food 'right…

Working in the service industry is one of the toughest to endure, as customers, management, and coworkers can really get under your skin. You need the patience of a sloth, the memory of an elephant, and the speed of a cheetah. Picture this: a family of eight, children sobbing whilst simultaneously drooling, parents at their wit's end just rattling off their order to you while corralling their children. Having a long list of dietary restrictions and substitutions to their order after demanding y…