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…

Everyone's been to a restaurant before where they had a terrible server. You saw them flirting with the hostess, loitering around the bar, and rolling their eyes when you asked them to split the bill. Not to mention, they've neglected your table for 20 minutes, while you were starving and ready to order. Restaurant goers are faced with a tough decision– to tip or not to tip?

Serving one Karen at a restaurant is difficult enough. Imagine having to serve 13 of them!

Most people can't really say they enjoy dealing with long shifts, meh-money, and annoying customers on a daily basis… although there will always be exceptions. Serving can easily get tiring when you are forced to put a smile on your face and pretend to like the people you're serving, laughing at their dad jokes and complimenting their hideous striped t-shirts. But you don't have to do that everywhere… in fact, there are places where you can be borderline rude, and it's totally acceptable. Custo…

Not to yuck these peoples' yums, but why would they choose these food combos? The ones included below are truly odd — and chefs and waiters were the ones telling on their customers. The r/KitchenConfidential community answered the question, “What are the grossest substitutions you’ve been asked to make?” Interestingly, the OP suggested that they were unhappy with a customer substituting mustard instead of apple butter on a sandwich with sourdough bread, cheese, and bacon. Tons of commenters sco…

The service industry is riddled with careless, entitled, and rude customers who think you, as a server, should worship the ground they trample on. At the rate employees come and go in this industry, it's easy to decipher why nobody really likes to work as wait staff. In this case, OP was working at a pizzeria, waiting on an entire floor of tables alone, as there were no other servers on duty that shift. Running to and fro, most of the customers could recognize a damsel in distress when they saw…

When you're new in a job, you absolutely have to learn some things the hard way — how else will you learn? Fresh employees are always making lots of mistakes. They're new, they're learning, and sometimes that makes you, the seasoned employee, giggle a bit. Sometimes they don't understand rules about when to cut corners or stick to the books. Other times, they're not sure when to get a manager involved or when to handle customers on their own. At least as a longer-term employee, you've already m…

Employers don't always exactly abide by the law; some refuse tax forms in favor of under-the-table pay, which is really bad for servers in the long run. In this case, OP was working at a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant that served authentic Thai food. According to OP, her boss was actually pretty nice, but soon enough, OP realized that may not be the case. It began with less pay than usual, which OP found suspicious. OP approached their boss and asked for a tax form, which was refused upon re…

So you think you know restaurant edict but have never worked in the service industry? HA! Don't make us laugh. You might know the basics, but there are so many things that can mark you as a crappy customer. The number one thing servers are currently discussing on Reddit? Complaining about free things. So you got a free basket of chips with salsa. Okay, so? You say, “thank you so much!” and move on. You do not complain about the chips being too salty, like the server can even fix that. You canno…

A waiter shared an odd day in their life: dealing with some of the silliest and most demanding customers . Servers of America, you have my sympathies. It seems like customers are crazier than ever — but at least these waiters know they aren't alone in the war against Karens. On r/Serverlife, u/serverforadecade shared an encounter with one couple who kept them running all over the restaurant to fetch them things and wait on them hand and foot. In the comments, people broke down the servers' bull…

Hats off to this server for making sure this kid's prom night did not go as planned.