These servers deserve a RAISE, to say the least.
Note: Some of these stories include subjects of verbal abuse. Please proceed with caution."A regular tells me to smile and now ties it to my tips. I work at a Chinese buffet, and there’s this guy who comes in alone pretty often.
Every single time he comes in, he tells me to smile or asks why I’m not smiling. Today I sat him, got him his drink, and as I was walking away, he loudly said, 'Calm down,' and everyone in my section turned and looked. It was really embarrassing. Then, toward the end of his meal, he waved me over, held out a $10 bill, and said, 'Smile for me.' I smiled because I didn’t know what else to do, but honestly, it made me really uncomfortable and irritated. I’m there to do my job, not to be told how my face should look. I’m not rude, I’m just focused. It’s starting to feel less like a harmless comment and more like he enjoys putting me on the spot. I’m wondering if I’m overreacting to feeling this annoyed and uncomfortable about it...""It was a very busy Saturday at a brunch restaurant. There was a table for 10 people, and they had been on the wait-list and then sat. They probably had to wait 30 minutes, but that's typical for this restaurant. A woman ordered a drink with alcohol, but when I brought it out, she gave it to her daughter. I saw her daughter drink it, so I asked to see her ID. She 'left it in the car' and then she said she 'left it at home.' This girl looked 14. I told her that, unfortunately, we had to take it away, but I would get her some juice instead if she wanted. She was pissed. I had my manager talk to her, and we took the drink off the bill. We were nice. Another woman at the table told me it was the best breakfast she'd had all year, really hamming it up. Well, when they left, the girl's mom wrote, 'Don't be such a c-word...'" "I just can't imagine trying to do something illegal and then being mad when I don't let your child drink alcohol. What a lovely day 🙃.""I worked brunch as a barista/server. One of the hosts came up to me, ranting about how she couldn’t fit into a 5-top that claimed they'd made a reservation 30 minutes ago. But our system showed that they made one two minutes before walking in the door, and they raised a fuss. They had to wait a while for tables to be moved together, and they ordered sporadically. I brought one man his cappuccino, and he asked me how many ounces it was. I said eight. He said, 'Wow, it looks small. Do you have a bigger one?' I responded, 'No, this is the ratio for a cappuccino, but I could get you a latte if you like,' and he looked baffled. After they paid, they were about to leave when one told the chef that they ordered food from Uber Eats to the restaurant and 'will pick it up later...'" "These dudes literally ordered two giant Uber Eats bags of cream puffs that arrived after they had left, and no one knew what to do with them. My boss is kind and left it aside waiting for them, but we closed in 30 minutes. I was on team share-it-with-staff, because why the heck would you order outside food to a restaurant when you aren’t even there? And you act like we are bellhops who will just store your stuff for you?""A man in his thirties finished his meal, I brought the check, and he whipped out his phone. He opened his photo gallery and held up a picture of his credit card. I told him I couldn't run that. He got genuinely angry and said, 'It's the same numbers! How is this any different than Apple Pay?' My manager had to explain what a physical card was. I don't get paid enough for this.""I worked a Saturday night, and we were veryyyyy busy. The last table of the night walked in 15 minutes before closing. One of the girls was obviously drunk. The server went to the table and immediately walked away and flew up to the general manager to tell him that the drunk girl vomited all over the table. The general manager told the girls that we couldn't serve them and asked them to leave. The two more sober girls got up and left, but left their drunk friend behind. Fast forward 30 minutes, we were working on closing, and I saw the drunk girl passed out on the table. I got the managers involved, and ultimately, paramedics were called to take her to the hospital. I swear, if I went out with people and they did that to me, I’d never associate with them again.""I turned my back on a regular I've known for a long time, and he reached over the bar and poured his own beer, but from the wrong tap with a stopper in it. He sprayed beer over the whole bar back and my belongings, and proceeded to lie about it. I've known this guy for probably a year; he's a guest of a member. He couldn't even come in here by himself, but that didn't stop him from asking for free drinks. Today, I was on the patio, five feet from the bar, resetting some furniture we moved for an event about an hour earlier. He was watching me, waiting for me to turn. His girlfriend told him to stop, but he proceeded to lean over the bar, put his cup under the tap, and pour..." "Dummy picked the wrong tap that had a stopper in it and sprayed beer all over the place. I heard the commotion and came back in. He claimed he spilled his drink, and his girlfriend said the same. They left shortly after I started cleaning, but the spray was everywhere. There was no way he just spilled , but it's like 360 degrees. I checked the camera and saw exactly what he did. They were still on the property, so I went out and confronted them, told them it was on camera, and that I knew they lied about it, and they had to leave. They left, then he came back in alone to argue with me about it, saying, 'I wasn't getting a drink, I was just squirting it!' Whatever the heck that means. I had to tell him to leave over 10 times before he did. The whole time, he kept stressing, 'It's not that serious.' Something like this happens every week. Our drinks are free, but there's a limit, and people still try to steal more.""I work at a casual sushi restaurant by a bowling alley. Two women walked in today asking for chicken soup, which was a little vague, but since we’re a sushi/Japanese joint, we assumed they meant our go-to: chicken udon soup. We also made sure to clarify that was what she was ordering as we read it back to her . We served it to her, and a few seconds later, she flagged us down, looked completely disgusted, and said, 'This isn’t pho.' Now, for context, pho is Vietnamese, usually beef-based, and not something you’d typically associate with a Japanese restaurant that specializes in sushi. We’re also located literally two doors down from Pho 99. Our owner came over to try to explain the misunderstanding and even offered to just charge her for half the dish, but she started throwing a fit, insisting she shouldn’t have to pay at all and threatening to leave." "She ended up getting a full refund and the only tip she left was a huge mess on the table. I guess that's just the norm now: you walk into a restaurant, order any random food that pops into your head, and expect the chefs to read your mind.""I opened the restaurant completely by myself. I was everything: server, bartender, barista, hostess, food runner, and busser all rolled into one. In the first part of service, I already had nine tables, including two seven-tops. I was sprinting around, greeting tables, making cocktails and coffee, running food, bussing, taking orders, and doing all the opening tasks. Then a new table came in. I greeted them right away and said, 'Hey, I’ll be right back to take your drink order. Just a heads up, I’m the only one here right now.' They nodded as if they understood. But immediately, the guy at the table had an attitude. He asked to be moved because it was too loud. Fine. We moved him. He asked again to move to another spot because it was still too loud. Meanwhile, I’ve got seven different lattes balanced on a tray for other tables that are already waiting..." "Before I could even circle back to take his drink order, they stood up and walked out. As they were leaving, I apologized again and reminded them that I was running the whole floor alone. Fast forward to the end of my shift: I got a one-star Google review claiming they waited forever, that no one came to the table, and that the service was terrible. I literally acknowledged them and told them I was solo. I was clearly running around nonstop. But I guess some people just don’t care, and empathy is optional. Humans can be so unnecessarily miserable sometimes.""I work in a restaurant, and we have a mac and cheese dish. It does have shrimp, so the menu description says 'Shrimp, mac and cheese, and parm topping.' Two older women come in, and one of them orders the mac and cheese. I placed the order perfectly, and the food came out fast. I go to drop the plates. As the dish touches the table, one of the older women goes, 'Ummmm, what's this?' Confused, I respond, 'Your mac and cheese?' She very quickly snaps, 'This has noodles! I'm allergic to noodles!' Record-scratch moment: the other woman and I both look stunned. I begin trying to explain that the 'mac' in mac and cheese is macaroni noodles. She went back and forth with me for a good five minutes, arguing that noodles aren't in the menu description and that she could never have expected this to have noodles. Like, ma'am, we never expected to have to state noodles will come with a mac and cheese?!""I got this four-top, two sets of older couples, and the server card indicated there was a birthday. Everything was going mostly alright — the wives had something to say about their food, but the husbands were being jovial. When I cleared their entree plates, I rang in a birthday dessert. I put a candle on there, yada yada. I left to do something at the POS , and the husband approached me and said he had told the host he wanted a different birthday dessert instead of our standard one. He said, 'But I guess the host didn’t tell you…' I gave him a quick 'Yeah, alright, I’ll get that started for you.' While that was happening, the husband approached the hostess he had talked to and berated her. She was on the phone, but he started yelling at our manager. Then a supervisor tried to offer him a free meal card, and he threw it on the floor and said he wasn't spending any more money here." "They were fine with me. I even gave them a third free birthday dessert while all of this was going on. But yeah, the old man was irrationally angry at a 19-year-old hostess for causing one dessert to come out before another.""On a Friday night, 30 minutes before close, I get sat a table of three. A little disheartening, but hey, money is money. I greet them and ask what they’d like to drink. A guy orders a normal drink, a girl orders a normal drink, and another girl wants hot tea. Okay, fine. It's annoying, but it’s my job, so here we go. I bring them their drinks and ask what they’d like to order. Everyone orders, and one of the girls asks about the sides. I start naming everything under the sun I can think of: truffle fries, garlic fries, onion rings, Caesar salad, and mashed potatoes. She decides on a side of broccolini and fries. After that, she asks me which of our proteins is best. I tell her shrimp and chicken are my favorites, and she decides on a shrimp taco."Her : 'You have onions, don’t you? You have tomatoes, don’t you? You have cilantro, don’t you?'Her: '...Then you can make it, can’t you?”u/Taquitotheleo"We have a regular who comes in multiple times a day and gets a black coffee to-go every time. She always takes a sip, makes a comment about the coffee, then leaves. If anyone else handles her coffee, she’ll take a sip and say something along the lines of, 'I really needed this,' 'Nowhand her coffee, she says things like, 'Did you do something to it? It doesn’t taste like how it usually tastes,' and 'Can you get your other coworker to make my coffee?' It’s black coffee. We’re using the same coffee urn. There’s literally no technique; I’m just dispensing it into the cup. She’s been like this since day one, and I genuinely can’t figure out what her deal is. I smile, I always ask 'how are you,' I greet her politely, and tell her to have a nice day. I feel like I’m being bullied.""A woman booked a private room for her birthday and invited around 10 other friends. We were a full house that night, so we were all getting slammed. Apparently, the woman waited in the private room by herself for 30 minutes before going out in the main area to grab someone’s attention. Then she blew up at me for ruining her birthday. No one knew she was waiting as she brought herself to the private room without any of us knowing. My manager said he remembered her from last year, and when she came last year, she also caused a ruckus.""Yesterday I had to work a lunch shift, and this woman and her daughter came in. I got their drinks and took their orders, and all was going well. I even brought out an ice cream with chocolate syrup for the little girl towards the end of the meal. She paid and tipped fairly. But she wrote on the comment card that I needed to work on my oral hygiene. The thing is, I brush my teeth, floss, use mouthwash, and even use whitening strips from time to time. I have these stains on my teeth from when I was a baby, that’s the only thing I can think of. But now I’m even more insecure. Just the audacity of people.""I’ve never been stiffed on a bill over $100 before. In fact, I hardly get stiffed at all. My first table of the day, the bill was about $150. The table was sweet but had horrible table manners. They kept interrupting me — I would be talking to another table and look up for a second, and they’re trying to talk to me across the room while I’m talking to other guests. Half of the table paid in cash, leaving no cash behind. The other half paid with the card. The most annoying part about it? I was busy taking another table's order when one of the men from the rude table came up to me and handed back the tip slip with a $0 tip. Like, why did you have to interrupt me to hand this to me? But oh, they claimed 'the food and service were amazing!'""My coworkers and I will roll our eyes whenever two regulars who never tip come in and inwardly groan. What especially pisses us off is when they act all buddy-buddy with us like we’re friends. Like, no dude, we can’t stand you and want you to leave. We once had a regular say he should get a discount because he’s such a loyal customer. This dude NEVER tips. We talk about you when you’re not here, bro. We often argue over who has to take these people’s tables. If you go to a restaurant a lot and start thinking that because you’re on good terms with everyone, it’s okay not to tip, please rethink this. It’s annoying, but it doesn't matter as much when a random person doesn’t tip. But when it's a regular customer? It's waaaaaay more aggravating. Like, if you like us so much, why are you stiffing us? You’re making us work for free.""A woman asked me, 'Did a dog roll your silverware?' and demanded an answer. I asked what she was talking about, and she pointed to her linen. It had one or two fuzzies from the wash, and she thought one was a hair . So, I did what anyone else would do and got her a new roll-up, but that wasn’t good enough. 'I asked you a question' — I made her repeat the question so she could hear how weird she sounded. I said, 'I don’t know any dogs who can roll silverware,' and just walked away. She said she was never coming back, but three hours later, she came back in with her daughter and was assigned to my section. You can’t make this up.""There was a man who made a reservation for two people, but wrote in the notes that the reservation was actually for six people and a baby. I contacted him and let him know it wasn’t possible that evening, and offered alternative times for the party of six. He never responded. Cut to an hour before service, and this man called the restaurant to let me know his party was now eight people and that they were 10 minutes away. I nicely explained we weren’t open yet and couldn’t accommodate his party. He kept asking if I could 'do' anything for him, but he wouldn’t accept no for an answer." "Now, it's 20 minutes before we open, and he showed up with his entourage and demanded that I sit them upstairs . He kept saying, 'Can’t you do anything for me? It’s my nephew's baptism or whatever. Then, he tried to threaten me that they'd go somewhere else to eat, so I politely advised them where to go nearby. This didn’t work, and he tried again to get me to 'do something' for him. I explained that seating his party would require that I cancel other reservations, and I wasn’t willing to do that. So, we went back and forth like this a few times, and he eventually left in a huff. I don't understand why people behave this way. Why the hell would you make a reservation for two because that’s 'the only party size that was available?!'""I had a pair come in, and I was on register, so I had the pleasure of serving them. They grabbed a menu and sat down — all was well. 'I want Eggs Benedict with sausage,' she said. On our menu, we have bacon and eggs, a classic breakfast that has eggs and sausages, and an on-theme meal called Eggs Benedict. So, I asked her some questions and figured out she was talking about the on-theme meal, Eggs Benedict, so we do that and add some sausage. She asked me to make sure it had hollandaise, so I did that. Then, she asked for another Eggs Benedict meal — awesome! I rang her up, and all was well until the food came out, and there were two Eggs Benedict meals." "Apparently, she 'didn't want hollandaise on one of them,' but f*ck me for not reading her mind, right? We started remaking them, but halfway through, they decided that no, They just wanted a refund because I specifically messed it up too much.' Because they couldn't be bothered reading the menu or, at the very least, telling me what they wanted! Anyway, at least I got a free Eggs Bene out of it, so that's cool .""This past Sunday morning, we were slammed. I had a party of 12 that was running me into the ground, as well as a table of four, a table of three, one other small party, and then a new party of 16. I greeted the 16-top, and they wanted to put in EVERYTHING at once . The whole order took no more than 10 minutes. On my way to grab their drinks, I stopped by my 12-top, and they wanted water refills. Gathering drinks for my 16-top took a few minutes, so when I returned, a woman at my 12-top was FURIOUS. She said I wasn’t moving fast enough, and my service was 'unacceptable.' This word was the final straw for me — she was a jerk the whole time, and even grabbed my attention twice by actually entering the kitchen." "I don’t keep my phone on me at work, I don’t take breaks, and I rarely sit during my 12+-hour days — I wasn’t going to let this comment slide. I was so calm and just said, 'You know, we’re very busy, and I’m one person. I have other tables to serve, and, frankly, accommodating you has been difficult since you changed your order four times. I’m not taking the fall for your bad experience.' I dropped the 12-top's check on their table, offered no boxes, and treated the table like lava until they left.""Them: 'We'll have a bottle of rosé.' The server: 'I'm sorry, but we just sold the last chilled bottle.' Them: 'I see some on the counter.' The server: 'Yes, but it's not chilled — it's the display bottle, and it won't taste great. May I suggest this chilled macerated white wine that'll give you a similar flavor profile, but taste much better?' Them: 'Ugh, orange wine?! Gross. Just bring that display bottle of rosé and a bucket of ice, and it'll cool down fast enough.' The server coming to me, the owner: 'That bottle won't cool down as they think.' Me, to the server: 'You're right, but give it to them anyway...'"Them: 'You don't have to take it off the bill, but this rosé is terrible. It tastes like a wine cooler, and it's warm.'The server to me: 'I TOLD THEM.'"I had my first-ever dine and dash today! It was the last table of the night . The kids spilled two drinks, and I told them I’d make sure the second one wasn't on the bill because accidents happen. But then, two drinks and an entire bowl of popcorn spilled . They knew they were leaving me with a huge mess, and that they weren’t going to pay for their meal."hand me $28 in cash for being 'the best waitress ever' — but I had a feeling they would dine and dash. I asked my manager to go to their car to pick up the bill because I had closing duties, but my manager said no— 'It would be rude.' They got away, and I kept the $28, but my manager said I had to cover the full $83 for the meal. I reminded him I asked him to get them and he said no, so it wasn’t on me that they got away. Unfortunately, our security cameras didn't record any of it. It just goes to show you they truly got away with it, but at least I got a nice tip?""I work in a brewery, and the sign above the door states the name of the brewery. The sign on the glass part of the doors displays the brewery's name, and the giant metal sign that hangs behind the bar. Name of the brewery. We open at noon on Sundays, which is usually my shift, and I leave the door open when I get there. Allow me to set the scene: The lights are all off, the music is realllllly loud, and I'm counting the drawer. A woman walks in 30 minutes before we open with two small kids who are about four years old, and she. is. furious."Me: 'I agree — it'll be at an appropriate level and on a different station when we open at noon.' Her: 'Can't you do that now?' You know what, fine — I can. So, I did and went back to counting the drawer.Me: 'Anywhere you'd like, ma'am. But, I'm afraid I still have to finish opening and won't be able to get to y'all for at least 15 to 20 minutes.' Her: 'IS THERE NO ONE ELSE HERE?' At this point, I made a snarky look around before I answered: 'It doesn't look like it.'Me: 'Ma'am, this is a brewery. I don't have any of that.'I point to the draft board and tell her those are the draft selections, the chalkboard next to it with our wine selections and snacks, and tell her we have certain soft drinks in cans.Me: 'Ma'am, this is a brewery. We don't have kids' menus, milk, juice, or breakfast foods.' The whole damn time she ignored every obvious clue and sign, and thought she was at the breakfast spot around the corner .""About a week ago, I had a two-top come in for some burgers. They barely touched their food, but every time I asked if everything was okay, they said yes. When they left, they tipped me $0. A few days later, we got a one-star review from these people, complaining about the food and that we charged them full price. Why couldn’t they have spoken up? I would’ve fixed it and gotten them something else. It was just so frustrating.""My wife and I were out to eat last night, and overheard customers at the next table harassing their server about whether he knew Jesus, and tried to get him to agree to go to church. He was non-committal and said he never found much 'connection' with religion. But, they kept at him for a long time — inside, I bet he was screaming that he had other tables to get to. I loved his parting words, though: 'If your soup is cold by now, let me know if you'd like to order a fresh one!'"And,"I had my restaurant booked out for a private sports event for 150 people. This didn't happen often, and it's only the second private event I've worked . We were working with the info the organizers gave us, which we were led to believe had been communicated to the guests. If guests had a pink lanyard, they were paying for drinks as they went — and if they had a gray lanyard, it meant they had a pre-paid package and got free refills on beer, wine, and soft drinks. What's important to note is that they did NOT get spirits included. The organizers told us to stop serving drinks at 1:15 p.m., pay their checks, and get everyone ready to depart for the game. This is where things started getting interesting..." "A table with gray lanyards got confused when I brought over their bill. One guy asked, 'What the hell is this?' The beer refills they'd had were included in their package, so they only had to pay for the double vodkas they ordered. 'Since when?' I asked, and he told me that was the original plan. He yelled at me about how he ordered the premium package, wasn't supposed to have to pay, and that this was a disgrace. After gently explaining to him we followed the organizers' orders, he demanded I go get someone in charge. I got the main organizer. He spoke to them, then spoke to my manager. I have no idea what happened, but somehow, the guy didn't end up paying for the spirits, and they were put on the organizers' tab instead. I understand if the guy thought everything was included, but bro, I am not the person to yell at. And, in my opinion, it's a lack of organization and clarity on the organizers' part, not ours."
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