"Really seems like the kind of thing you should call ahead and ask about."

Show them up

the ticket printer still haunts me

For crying out loud, if you bring your kids to a restaurant, don't let them treat it like a playground. Waiting tables is a lot harder if you have a little one running beneath your feet, not to mention it's actually really dangerous, as servers are running around with hot plates in their hands. If a kid were to bump into a server, they could potentially have the hot plate dropped on their head. That would hurt, a lot. And then parents would bla bla bla about suing for damages when really, they…

Work in the food sector is never simple. It's more challenging, though, to work in the food industry with clients who are trying to score free meals. The story below is an account of a puzzled server. The Original Poster (OP) is a server at a local restaurant. As we all know by now, working in customer service has its challenges, but nothing could have prepared OP for the day when a family would attempt to score a free meal. The savvy family came up with a sly scheme to divert the attention of…

Enforcing a dress code on employees is a tale as old as time. And in some cases, I get it. You knew what you were getting into when starting working there. Other times, I don't get it. That is, when managers are inconsistent in terms of their expectations. One day they say this, the other day they say that… Who is to know what is right? This server was completely at a loss after being kicked off shift for not complying with the dress code… Even though two weeks prior, they had been told that th…

They got served

Almost 99 percent of the time, customer service representatives handle difficult clients. In one contact with a customer service representative, a customer can release weeks' worth of stress and anxiety. The story below is an account of a hotel front desk clerk. The Karen of the century checks into the hotel, marking the official start of the story. OP can tell Karen is a troublemaker as soon as she sets foot in the vicinity. The altercation started with disagreements over the pet policy, then…

Ninety percent of the time, the food industry is demanding and stressful. Even in the wee hours of the night, you depend on an infinite number of associates and suppliers to make ends meet. The story below is of a woman who worked at a privately owned fine dining restaurant. OP reflects on her time in the culinary world. She makes it very clear throughout her story that running a restaurant is never easy. However, on this particular occasion, even OP failed to get a hand on the situation. The s…

Customer service is never an easy job to work in. A whole different story, though, applies to customer service jobs during the holiday season. A disappointed retail sales associate tells his story below. For a while now, OP has been employed in the field of customer service. He is therefore well-acquainted with the variety of challenges that come with working in the field of customer service, especially retail. However, OP's life isn't getting any easier because of the new craze that's taking t…

As we often say, being a customer service representative has perks as well as drawbacks. But what happens when hierarchy enters the picture? If we're being really honest here, that means you will most likely be forced to work every holiday, birthday, and significant occasion up until a new hire steps in to take your place. The following story tells an account of a distressed server who had to work on Christmas Eve. Since OP was a new employee at the time, she was forced to give up her Christmas…

In my younger years, I worked as a waitress to support myself. My eight-hour shift at the restaurant would be followed by a job working in retail till the early hours of the morning. To be honest, though, I wasn't very good at being a waitress, and I didn't particularly love my work there either. The story below is of a stubborn customer who demands that his server adjust the quantity of the meal before accepting the order. And to make matters worse, the customer refused to leave a tip after th…

As a former server, I can attest to the fact that ninety-nine percent of customers are Karens. However, it's our positive outlook that keeps us sane. Though the evidence may seem to contradict our sense of optimism, we, for some reason, hold onto this notion that one day our table will greet us with a smile and leave us with a fat tip. The story below is an account of a frustrated waiter who has to deal with a table of Karens who won't pay the well-deserving servers. It's one thing when the tab…

Being in a professional setting requires one to interact with a variety of people. Some of which, we don't particularly like. That being said, it is important to remain composed at all times. The story below is an account of a frustrated employee who works at the hospital restaurant. It makes sense that the hungry customers would be the top priority. But today, we're going to address something bigger, and that's the subject of Sharon. Sharon is the gossip queen of the hospital. She wanders the…

When I was a bartender, customers would often rack up huge tabs over several hours, ordering martinis at the busiest moments and shots for everyone at the bar minutes before closing. The most ostentatious customers were usually the ones who would ditch the bar without closing their tabs, and 90% of the time, those cards would decline. It's a risky scam, but people who work in the service industry know better than most that customers can be shockingly audacious. As much as we wish we could expos…