These chefs and waiters have the patience of saints. They've encountered some truly bizarre customer requests, and they're sharing the strangest of them with the r/AskReddit community. When you go out to eat and pay for a nice meal, you want it to be perfect the first time. You shouldn't have to ask the server to send back the dish to the kitchen, but it happens. I once got a green egg at a diner during breakfast, which I sent back to the kitchen with haste (politely!). But I'd never dream of s…

Whether we would like to admit it or not, some people have been blessed with endless patience—or at least, what passes for boundless in our minds when we have the patience of a ten-year-old. However, does that suggest that those people are suddenly better than us mortals? No, it does not. It does, however, imply that we still have room for growth. In the story that follows, a displeased waitress talks about having to cope with a continuous flow of rough customers. However, OP explains that she…

What do you expect in terms of hospitality when you book an expensive 5-star hotel? You're usually paying upwards of $500 a night, so you would think they would provide the best of services. Especially if you get stuck in a bathroom! Things happen and precarious situations arise, we all know that's unavoidable in this place we call life. But it is how you handle these situations that gives you a top notch rating. When this woman got stuck in a 5-star hotel bathroom while vacationing with her bo…

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.

Nepo-babies are the privileged kind of delusional, not the fun kind of delulu. Like, there's the employee that pushes the boundaries and might get you in trouble for doing something fun kind of delulu, and then there is the nepo-baby delusional co-worker who thinks he's entitled to everyone treating him like the boss even though he was given a bartending position because his mommy is the boss. See what I mean? The latter is, unfortunately, where our story begins . This hotel bartender was the k…

Running around the restaurant trying to take orders, pick up dirty plates, and grant ridiculous requests such as ‘Give me a literal bowl of ketchup’ is exhausting. Especially when your entire wage depends on the kindness of strangers, also known as customers. Are they going to tip? How much are they going to tip? Will I be able to afford to fix my car this month, or am I going to cry when I see my account balance instead? You never know. Around the holidays, people are often a little more gener…

You know that stereotype of restaurant owners being grimy and shady? Well, unfortunately, it's not unwarranted. More often than not restaurant owners will toy with their employees' lives just to save face. That might mean getting fired for no just reason because someone left an entitled 1-star review. That is where this Reddit story goes. This server covered a shift for a coworker in mourning. When she got there, her section already had a belligerent guy who obviously had way too much to drink.…

Sometimes a beautiful thing can blossom out of something horrible. For example, a higher-paying job can blossom from how you handle a Karen tantrum. Which is exactly what happened to this Redditor . She was enjoying her lunch at a restaurant she did not work at. She had interviewed with them, but it was too soon to know anything about that. She had only an hour for lunch from her actual chef job at a completely different restaurant, so was trying to down her food as fast as possible. All of a s…

There's always at least one person in every workplace who can't help but make everyone laugh. This is the kind of person that people say “lights up every room they walk into.” They just immediately begin cracking jokes and lightening the mood. This kind of person is especially appreciated in high-stress environments---like the back of house at a busy restaurant. Back-of-house, sometimes abbreviated as BOH, refers to all of the workers behind the scenes, like chefs, meal preppers, and dish washe…

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.

Some people want to be food critics with their reviews, but this person took it further by writing a very long message directly to a restaurant. When I worked retail, I always found it so delightful when customers would vow to never return to our restaurant. It was often that they'd come in during a rush, and then were shocked, stunned, and horrified, that they'd have to wait a whole 15 minutes for their meal. Bigger problems are going on in the world. But not to these people. Sometimes they'd…

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…

As someone who has worked many years in the service industry let me tell you, when an unruly customer gets what's coming to them, it is the most satisfying feeling in the world. Service industry jobs are usually low pay, you're running around on your feet all day, and you have to deal with the most entitled customers. It's not always like that! Sometimes you have great regulars and a fantastic team. But, unfortunately, those more annoying events are more common. The longer you work in the servi…

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…