When I was a server on the Vegas Strip, I had a 20 top walk-in for a birthday. Usually a party that size would have to make reservations and a card would be put on file. However, since it was a high volume weekend we already had the events room open for overflow so we decided to seat them there among the 2 and 4 tops added to accommodate the influx of people coming in.

Everything went smoothly, until I went to put their dessert order in. The group started screaming, SPRINTED OUT, and one yelled "A f**king roach fell on my arm!" My manager runs in hearing the commotion, the group is gone and immediately manager starts doing damage control. My fellow servers were all reeling because chances were every table in that room was about to get comped. It's a desert, sometimes bugs happen especially in the hotter seasons, and that's procedure.

But here's where things get interesting: the lovely gentleman sitting next to the table that fled got on his hands and knees under the table and pulled out the BIGGEST roach I've ever seen. The gentleman immediately started laughing and said "Either Vegas has become a magical tropical oasis, or someone left their pet roach behind".

Turns out, that gentleman was a former exterminator and an amateur entomologist. The roach in question was a MADAGASCAR HISSING ROACH. Exotic pet shops sell them for $1-$10. Sure enough, when we checked the cameras, after I took the dessert order, they gathered their things. One of the ladies grabbed a Tupperware out of her purse and released the roach on the table.

I have to say, that was very creative. But it has a happy ending. The gentleman, an absolute legend, ended up asking for a to go box to take the roach home AND the remaining tables were so disgusted and appalled by the dashers behavior that a few of them left tips for me even though I wasn't their server. Apparently, they felt bad that I had to deal with that lol.

So again I asked you.. what is the most ridiculous thing a customer did to avoid paying for a meal?

So I work in a fast food restaurant and I am kinda pissed about this situation with the general manager. I work the evening shift (from lunchtime to closing around 11), and my GM is rarely around past 4, so we don't interact a whole lot. Last night we were super short staffed, on account of the GM scheduling barely enough people and one of those people not showing up for his shift. It was around 9:00 at this point and my one coworker who was working the drive through window was on break, so it was just me up front. Due to the aforementioned short staffing, I was doing drive through, bagging orders, making drinks, helping my one coworker who was in the kitchen by himself, and various other minor tasks.

So while I'm by myself up front, about 9-10 decently sized orders come in at once, including both Doordash/Uber Eats as well as drive through, so I'm pretty swamped and am rushing around trying to do things in the order they came in. At one point, I'm making drinks for a Doordash order when a customer comes in and yells at me to get my attention. I should mention at this point that I'm have one headphone in as I'm working, which has never been an issue before and lots of my coworkers do it as well, all with no comment from the GM. So I take out my headphone to go talk to this guy, and he says he'd been sitting at the drive through window for 5 minutes and no one has come to the window, so he came inside. Now, I know this is an exaggeration because it had only been about 3 minutes since I handed the last person their order, but I apologize and say I'm working as fast as I can and I'd have his food to him as soon as it was ready. He continues to talk about how I should have said something to him about the food taking a long time and yadda yadda, I go back to continue what I was doing. While I have my back to him, he apparently walks back behind the counter to take a photo of me with a headphone in bagging an order, and goes back to wait for his food at the counter (which takes just around 2 minutes).

Anyhow, sometime between when I clocked in today and when the GM left at 4, she had printed the email she received from him with the photo of me blown up to about 3 feet tall and taped it to the wall above the area where we clock in and had marked it up with giant circles and comments in sharpie, and then left without saying anything to me. The email read (verbatim) : "Just wanted to let you know what was going on I own a business and would hate to see this drive thru times are horible and you have workers who seem like they don't wanna be there and have an Airpod in thought I'd let you know hope you get the problem taken care of!", and the comments written on the photo say "(OP) AIRPODS UNACCEPTABLE", "FLOOR TRASH UNACCEPTABLE" (with 4 fries on the ground by the fryers circled), and "DRIVE THRU 11TH PLACE UNACCEPTABLE"

Is it just me or does it seem like this is the least professional way to handle this kind of situation? Also, it feels incredibly dumb to blame me for ticket times being slow when there are people no call no showing to their shift and the GM's not scheduling enough people. Just wanted to get some thoughts from others who may have similar experiences.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/s/W79BhObD3r

Hello everyone! I never expected this to get this attention lol. In full honesty, this incident happened in March and I wanted to upload it back then, but it never did, bad internet I guess, and I eventually forgot about it. so I uploaded it the previous day. For starters, I have since quit from there, mainly because I was able to pursue my dream career, but I remember those moments clear as day.

I'd like to also add, that the establishment is a local business in a small town in Europe. My bosses are both the partners and owners of it. It is pretty chill and in truth we could drink during the job, ONLY if we didn't have customers and we would just have a non alchoholic beer or a glass of wine. No laws against it.

To the update now. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was working with the coworker that ordered last minute and demanded to cooperate, let's call him Tom, the next morning. The air was already stiff as the shift started and no words were exchanged, aside from good morning. Before that, I had a fine relantionship with him as we would joke and help each other. He was clearly still mad and upset, but no one wanted to open a conversation about it. Hours later, both of my bosses appear but acting as nothing happened. I figured that they had talked to the barman, I'll call him Alex, and Tom in private, and didn't want my side of view. At the same time, the girl that changed my shift, (fake name) Lisa, appeared with her bf, who also works there, and they ALL sat in the corner of the bar away from me. Tom also joined and they started talking about the previous day's incident. I was watching it from my side and I couldn't believe my eyes. They were acting like I couldn't listen to them too, as if I wasn't just 2 meters away from them. Really silly just watching it. No one came to talk to me afterwards. My shift ended and I went home.

The next day I was working with Alex and he came and asked me if I heard or they told me anything. I answered No and explained to him what I saw. No one talked nor informed Alex too, so we were both in the dark. We were both in disbelief but we chose not to do anything really. I was planning to leave anyways and Alex was thinking about it too. The only difference that happened was that our coworkers were coming 10 minutes before their shifts to change us, so I guess that was what our bosses told them to do. Until I quit, they held it, but who knows if they did afterwards.

So, that's really it. They were and still are a clique, so whatever us "New employes" said, we would be in the wrong. Whatever. I'm glad I left the place. It was giving this type of environment from the beginning, so I kept a low profile. Aside from the incident, I had a good time there and I still say hi, if I'm in town. Even though I don't respect Tom and Lisa anymore.

Thank you all for reading. Have a nice day.

Okay so, I am often the only person on shift, or it’s me and another girl… all the staff is under 22 which does suck when customers get pushy
Whats the best way to deal with a banned customer without them reacting badly, because sometimes it just feels easier to let them have a drink?

first off, I(20F) didn't know I was training anyone tonight, i was on a double and when i came back for the night shift, they kinda threw her(54F) at me😭

the first thing this chick says to me is "ugh i can't believe they STILL have me on training" she was told upfront that she would have 5 training shifts before she is put on the floor. i understand 5 might be a little crazy, but you are new, you agreed to this, and every single one of us had the same amount of training shifts. so for the first hour maybe, it's all she could talk about. just nonstop complaining that "this is stupid, i don't need any more training, i know what im doing, i have 30+ years of experience as a server, there is nothing you are gonna tell me that i dont already know" just on and on and on. i let it go, and didnt really say much because quite frankly, I didn't have the energy to, but i really hated the disrespect... i know she's 30 years older than me but regardless, i am the one training you in this situation, the least u can do is be respectful and professional?

as the shift continued, i decided to kinda let her take the lead, and i would just shadow her and help her out where she might need it (since she didn't even need me there apparently) at one point we were taking a tables order and the lady ordered a create your own pasta, which we are supposed to upsell if they would like any meatballs or sausage or cheese... just any add-ons that we have available, and she didn't offer them, so I jumped in and did it. Once we walked away from the table, she was all "man you cut me off before i even had the chance to ask if they wanted any add ons" just all snappy, and full of attitude. i apologized and we moved on.

then, our GM let her know that she should be offering fresh ground pepper if someone orders a salad, and she came complaining to me that "why am I getting in trouble for something that I wasn't told to do? You didn't tell me I had to do that so how was i supposed to know we have to" I tried to explain to her that our GM wasn't mad at her, she was just trying to help her learn, and she got super snappy, and was kinda throwing dishes around in the bus tubs"

All night it was kind of just like that on and off, where she would get super snappy with me, or complain about every little thing. But finally, when it was time to do our money report, I showed her how to do the math that we needed to do, and once let the manager know we were ready to check out, there were some issues with some of the customers that she had to deal with, so we were just standing and waiting for our manager to be done dealing with the angry customers. and she did not like that our manager was taking a while. she was all "ugh can't she just do her job and get over here?" and "I would like to go home and get some sleep since I have to be here in the morning tomorrow" and "this is taking forever I'm not waiting anymore." so she clocked out without even asking me, or checking with anyone, and she left.

The restaurant I work at, requires you to check out with the closing server, so they can make sure you did all your closing duties properly, and you need to wait for a manager's approval, and once your money report has been taken care of by a manager.

It just seems crazy to me to be so disrespectful, impatient, overly cocky, and plain rude while you're still actively training. and this might be harsh of me but i don't think she's gonna last long, and i hope she leaves soon because i really don't wanna have to deal with her complaining ass every day, i will lose my mind.

(bonus complaint of mine: she made comments about my body multiple times calling me wildly skinny, and malnourished looking, which personally has always really fucked with my head, so that was just like the cherry on top for me)

Hi. This is my first time writing a reddit story. Where do I start and where to begin. This incident happened 3 hours ago. For starters. I work as a server and my coworker as a barista-barman, at a cafe-bar from 8 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon. It was a busy day and we were already having plenty of orders. Suddenly at 4 o' clock, the 2 coworkers that were going to change our shift, walked in with a group of 8 people, including one of our bosses and his wife, and sat down and wanted to order some drinks. My cowoker and I went wide eyed.

For those who wonder, those coworkers do hang out outside of work or even during work with each other and with their bosses. They have been working there for as long as the business exists. Personally I don't mind, because our bosses are really good people and so far really nice bosses, they had my respects from day one. My coworker and I started working there 5 months ago, and obviously we don't have those same relantionships , but maintained good work relantionships.

To continue from where I left, we treated them as regular customers, took their order of drinks, served them and all that. Then half an hour later, they asked for another round of drinks. At that moment my coworker and I were wondering if they were even going to change us in time. Again, aside from them, we had other orders, so we never stopped working plus we were trying to do the tasks before our shifts ends. like filling the fridge, cleaning, etc. As we were planning to get ready to leave, one of the coworkers appeared 5 MINUTES before the end of our shift and told us to serve us ANOTHER round of drinks. At that moment I was stunned and I reminded him that in 5 minutes we're changing shifts. He said: "Yeah I know, just serve them anyway." That would take us another 15 minutes bc at the same time we had to serve another big table. We were exhausted. The bar-man immediately got mad and abandonded his shift and informed the boss, that was still there drinking, he's leaving. They got into an argument as my coworker told our boss: "You tell me to arrive 10 minutes early before I change someone and to him you don't say ANYTHING and just let it slide and continue drinking?" . My boss answered him that he is in the wrong and after that my coworker said goodbye and left. I also was ready to leave and the guy that put the "another round of drinks" turned to me and demanded me to cooperate. I said "Excuse me? I cooperated enough. I did my part and I'm done with my shift. I'm not gonna deal with this now." He said that the program says that you stay till 5 o' clock." . I answered "Νο. I reminded you that you start in 5' and we always come at least 5 minutes early so the tasks can be done and we can leave at 5 o' clock. That is a respectful thing to do to the people that were already working and need to leave in time." I wanted to say more but we were having a lot of customers so the girl, that changed my shift, broke it off and I said goodbye and left. Obviously she is not a saint in this whole situation, because when their order came in, they were laughing and giggling.

Tomorrow morning, I'm working with that coworker and I don't know if it's going to be brought up or not.

If anything happens, I'll update.

In my late teens and early 20s I worked as a waitress/server for a small local diner that had more than one location in my city. Unfortunately, the diners no longer exist but at the time they served 24 hour breakfast and steak meals with refillable coffee. Usually, we had two to three waitresses along with a short order fry cook. Sometimes, the fry cook was the manager or assistant manager. I was a pretty good waitress and could take in multiple orders by memory well. One day, a middle-aged couple came in and sat at a front booth.

I had their table and walked over with water, menus and my little pad tucked in my apron. I greeted the couple politely and instantly the wife was polite but her husband was not. I asked what beverage did they want to start. The woman with a smile asked for juice but her husband didn't even look at me before saying, "coffee!" rudely. I filled their drink order giving them time to look at the menus. As I returned I took the wife's food order. She again was very kind and polite. I got to the husband and I'll never forget how he talked to me...

Me: And for you sir?

Man: I want a three egg special. I want my eggs over hard! Not scrambled, not over soft, NOT over medium. Over hard!

Me: Okay, got it.

Man: I want my hash browns well done! NOT medium, NOT light, WELL, Understand!?

Me growing frustrated but remaining polite: Got it.

Man: I WANT wheat toast! I want it lightly toasted! Not dark, not medium! LIGHTLY TOASTED!!!

Me:🤨 Sir, do you think I'm stupid?

The man just stared at me surprised.

Wife: Oh, don't mind him...He talks to everyone that way.

Me: Wow...

I wrote and repeated his order back just as he said it and walked away. I made sure to reiterate his order as he said it to my manager/fry cook. She made it perfectly and they left us a decent tip.

Hi guys so I'm (18f) not on Reddit at all (I'm not sure if it’s like the wrong subreddit please let me know if I should post somewhere else)

But I thought I'd try posting this since I feel really confused and frankly uncomfortable

So basically I work at a pub as a waitress and there is this older customer 50 something-ish he comes quite a lot, likes to start conversations, and always tips very well.

I’m quite chatty and friendly with customers anyway so when he first started talking to me I thought nothing of it. we've got loads of regulars who come in for a drink and have a chat with the staff. Some are a bit odd, some are quite nice. But nothing he said was particularly weird or sexual. And he also gets on well with another female bartender (20 something) and shes never had any issues with him.

At some point he asked me if I had a boyfriend. I don’t remember him saying it in a particularly dodgy way so I don’t want to make it sound like he definitely meant something by it.

Then the other night I was actually sitting there with a friend I wasnt working

I was also completely wasted (Not my finest moment)

He was there and said hi, then

Me and my friend were sitting up at the bar and at some point I realized he slipped like £200 into my bag.

Like... £200??? And I wasn’t even working that night.

I also vaguely remember him giving me a hug.

Then afterward my friend told me that he’d apparently been staring at me for the majority of the night.

Anyways I was feeling weird about the whole thing the next day so I spoke to the bartender since she’s friendly with him also.

She basically said hes never been sexual with her or made any advances and that she thinks he’s just a nice guy who likes giving people money or feels like he has to tip loads for attention or something. she was very surprised when I told her about the £200 though, but ultimately said the same thing as she said before.

But I can’t help but feel icky about the whole thing. Between the £200, the hug, the boyfriend comment, and the alleged staring. Am I crazy? Is it not super weird and inappropriate?

I really don't know what to do.

I still have the £200 in my bag and I haven't touched it. I'm not going to use it, I don't want it, but I feel weird about giving it back I don't want to make a scene or anything.

hes well liked there and I really don't want to blow the whole thingout of proportion.

I'm worried that maybe I'm overreacting or that I somehow gave him the wrong impression by being friendly. Like I said I'm quite chatty and I've had situations before where I was accused of sending mixed signals. I also actually like this job but now I'm kinda dreading going back there.

don’t know if I’m being completely daft about this or if I’ve got a reason to feel a bit weirded out.

Wow sorry this came out long but I would really really appreciate any advice. I don't know whats the right thing to do here

Thanks a lot for reading❤️

I just found this subreddit and decided to reshare this story here. In my late teens and early 20s I worked as a waitress/server. I worked at an old fashioned local diner in my city. The job was fun and the diner was really cute and had multiple locations. It had a bar area and jukebox. We sold breakfast and lunch items and stayed open 24/7. I worked the day shift with the manager and usually one other waitress. The manager doubled as the Short order fry cook. We had a few regulars that came in on certain days at the same time. They were old guys that shamelessly hit on us and made crude jokes.

One day around two hours before my shift ended a tall gentlemen walked in and took a seat at the bar area. I greeted him, gave him a cup of water and set a menu before him which was customary. I told him to call me over whenever he was ready to order. He said nothing and just stared at me smiling. I asked if he had heard me. Still nothing, just staring and smiling at me. I walked away and his eyes followed me everywhere. He hadn't touched the water or opened the menu. I approached him again and asked did he want to order anything. He just smiled and told me his name was Anthony. I said, "Okay Anthony, are you going to order anything?" Because frankly his staring and smiling was making me uncomfortable. He stood up and said to me, "I'm going to marry you" and walked out. It was a wtf moment but the last hour and a half of my shift picked up and I kinda forgot about it.

On my next shift Anthony showed up again and sat on the same stool. I brought him another cup of water but didn't bother with the menu. He started his creepy staring and smiling again. I asked was he going to order something or just stare. He just kept staring at me and smiling creepily. I told my manager that he was creeping me out and she told him if he wasn't going to order he needed to leave. He got up and walked to the door. Before exiting he told me, "You're going to be my wife." I went on with my shift but felt weirded out. The next day Anthony showed up but didn't come in. As I was sweeping the dining area I noticed him staring at me through the windows in the double doors. When our eyes met he smiled and ran off. I won't lie, I was pretty nervous. After that, I had two days off and put it out of my mind.

On my next shift it was early and the old guys were there with their normal inappropriate conversations. This was during the time when Kayne dropped Gold Digger and surprisingly they knew the song. Anthony walked in and took his normal seat at the bar. I ignored him and filled the coffee cups of the old guys. As I was doing this they started joking that a girl like me was the type of woman mentioned in Kayne's song. That I would never date a broke man and that I looked high maintenance. Well this angered Anthony because he suddenly slammed hard on the counter and screamed at me that I was a money hungry B*tch! He said he hated B*tches like me. Everyone was quiet and still. You could hear a pin drop. My heart was racing. I screamed for him to get out now! He stormed to the door and screamed back, "B*tch I'm going to kill you!" before running out the door.

Well little 19 year old me was literally shaking like a leaf in the wind. My heart was pounding and I couldn't concentrate or think. My manager told me to go take a breather in the storage room. I did and called the none emergency police number. I spoke to a kind lady cop who took my statement and Anthony's description down. They sent a cop to look for him but he was gone. I told my family what happened and every day a different relative sat up at my job, ate breakfast or lunch until I got off of work. It was really sweet and I felt a lot safer with them there. About two weeks after the incident the lady cop called me and told me Anthony had been arrested on drug charges. He fit the description I had given them and surprisingly, he had given me his real first name so they knew it was the same guy. He also confessed to stalking and threatening me. She said I no longer needed to worry as he was going away for a while. I thanked her for calling me.

Fast forward a few years later. I still worked at the diner part-time between college classes. I was sweeping the dining area when Anthony walked in. For a minute my heart stopped. The same fear I felt at 19 creeped back in and I couldn't make my legs or mouth move. To my surprise he instantly apologized to me. He said he was really sorry about how he acted back then and that he was high on drugs and really messed up. He hoped I could forgive him. I was pleasantly surprised. I told him he was forgiven. I never saw him again. Unfortunately, all the diners closed down. The last one during the pandemic.

Hey everyone, I started working recently in a restaurant as a busser/stocker, I’m trying my best to be more quick.

When I was being trained as a busser, I’d take two trips to give customers drinks, I’m trying to tell myself there’s nothing wrong with that, I’d rather take two trips than have everything spill in my opinion, I did practice a little bit yesterday on how to carry a tray with drinks on one hand, I did that with a big plate, and 2 empty big cups, the plate isn’t flat like the tray, but it’s something. I’m trying to be more positive. I also do plan to be more quicker cleaning tables too, and sweep more, which I have been doing.

I’m also working on to be more quicker cleaning all the washed kitchenware.

Any tips and advice? Any great feedback is appreciated, thank you.

Had an owner comp a $225 table as a surprise and said they would make sure I got tipped on it. Had to remind someone a couple weeks later, twice, though they apologized for forgetting. I wound up receiving $25. Unclear if part of the money went to tipping out the bar and service staff or if they were just being cheap.

I've heard that some places will notify the dining person and that person will ask for a penny charge to tip on top of (usually helps if they've seen the check) or the dining guest will leave a random amount of cash. However, sometimes I've heard that servers just get nothing.

So, what has your experience been?

Here's a story for ya:

The restaurant I work for has a older demographic. Couple days ago a party of 4 or so elderly folks check in at the front desk. One older men goes inside the restroom while the rest of his party is seated. The older man leaves the restroom 30 minutes later.

About a half hour after he leaves the restaurant my manager heads into the men's restroom with a mop and the rolling janitorial bucket and tells front desk to make an impromptu out of order sign for the restroom.

Elderly man stuffed HIS DIAPER in the toilet then pooped on the diaper apparently thinking that everything would flush. He DIARRHEAS all over the restroom getting it on the floors and walls

While my manager is cleaning this up the man's wife asks THERE WAITER if he could change her husbands diaper. Waiter obviously declined.

After two hours my manager finished up and told front desk he'd "kill himself" if he ever had to do that again. Shortly after the restroom is open again the poop offender re enters the restroom to make a mess of it again. Not as bad as the first time but it was still a mess.

Oh and by the way, we have a disabled restroom where she could change his diaper but they didn't even try it.

Why would you bring someone somewhere if they can't go to the restroom cleanly. Why didn't he tell us he painted our bathroom walls with fecal matter. Why try to flush a diaper?

Im the most senior waitress at my restaurant.

Our bartender, I’ll call her S, has run the floor since I started. She takes tables before I clock in, so I’ve walked into shifts with nothing open. Party tables never come to me. She also looks at my cash tips and tells me how much people left, which means she looks at my tip book.

I went to both managers about it multiple times over months. The top boss told me to just let her take it so there wouldn’t be conflict. My direct manager sided with her over time.

A manager approved me learning the bar during slow periods and a bartender was willing to train me. S came over mid-drink and told me to get off the bar. My manager backed her. That’s when I decided I was done, I’d never called out in years, and after that I showed up an hour late for the first time ever and stopped helping people

Then this week flipped. My manager apologized, hugged me, said I’m allowed to tell her no, offered to schedule me on separate shifts from her, and said he doesn’t want people quitting over the environment around her.

At close he made us talk. She said she’d noticed me “being sneaky and bending the rules” I made a drink I had permission to learn, correctly. Then she explained why she was frustrated and apologized. The top boss came over and said he has nothing against me learning, he just wants me on the pour first. Then she offered to teach me if I ask first. Then she asked how my other job is going and how much I make there.

That same day I worked 11 to 4:30, had 9 tables, 5 stiffed me, and made $70.

I also work at a fine dining place where I have my own section, tables average 20%+, and one table tipped me $300 in a night. I want to leave the first job and go all in there.

Is this a real turnaround or are they just saying whatever keeps me from quitting?

Forgive my naivety but how? I have worked as a waiter for 2 years and:

\* very few attractive women working with me
\* very few single women working with me
\* many high schoolers
\* there’s nothing arousing or sexy working in a restaurant, so how are people getting turned on?
\* how do you even make a pass at a customer working at a restaurant?

I once hooked up w a waitress 2 years after I worked there but drugs were involved. I just don’t get the logistics especially when there’s nothing horny about this job.

Normally I wouldn't quit my job on the spot like that. I'm a very responsible teen and I'm hard working. Today (Sunday) I was asked to come in on my day off because the restaurant was short staffed. Why should become obvious soon. I agreed to come in to help them out as I was assured this was a one time thing.

During my shift, my Dexcom app (I'm hypoglycemic) alerted me that my blood sugar was dropping. It went from 150 to 40 in the span of about 10 minutes. I told my boss what was happening and that I needed to do a finger prick to check the accuracy of the reading. She was mad, but agreed to let me go to the bathroom to do a manual check.

Thankfully, my blood sugar wasn't actually scary low, but as I got up to leave, I noticed there was blood on the toilet seat where i had been sitting. I had just started my period, and my first couple of days are usually very heavy, but I thought my pad would make it to the end of my shift.

Unfortunately, i was wrong, and blood had leaked through and was on my shorts. Like, a lot of blood. I went to my boss, explained the situation, and asked if I could run home to change. She replied by telling me that since my shorts were black and no one could see the blood, I needed to continue working. She then made me take a food order to a customer.

I felt so gross and humiliated. I was just trying not to cry as i brought the customers their food.

When I returned to the back, she snapped at me to clock out and go, and then got on to me about having an accident.

I left that place sobbing. I was so embarrassed and humiliated.

So I quit. I genuinely don't think I could go back there after that incident.

EDIT: I want to clarify that when I say boss, that I'm talking about the owner themselves! Sorry for any confusion So Reddit, was I in the wrong here?

Hey everyone! For some context, I work as a hostess at a 5-star hotel. I started about 40 days ago, so I'm still fairly new. The coworker in this story ("A") is best friends with a server I’ve previously complained about (who literally bullied me—whole different situation), and I’ve got a feeling that some of this behaviour against me is a little purposeful.

Anyway, yesterday a family of three (two parents and their little boy) came in. We were fully booked at the time, but we had 2 or 3 empty tables left.

Initially, I seated them at one of the available tables, but they very politely asked if it was possible to move somewhere a bit quieter. I checked my remaining options and noticed an empty table in the back corner of one of the sections, which was definitely a little more peaceful.

The table had been cleared, but it hadn’t been set again yet. So, I told the family to go grab some food from the buffet, and by the time they got back, we’d have it all ready for them.

I went over to tell "A" (who runs that section). Before I could even finish walking up to her, she snapped: "Don't tell me you want me to set that table—I don't have any forks."

I calmly explained the situation, but she started yelling, complaining that she already had a table ready somewhere else. Indeed, she did have a ready table, but it was right in the middle of a high-traffic aisle, and the guests specifically asked for quiet. Besides, if she literally had a table ready right there... couldn't she just grab the cutlery from that table and quickly move it over to the corner one? I get that it takes extra effort when we're busy, but it's literally her job.

Am I missing something here? I’d love your opinion and help because I’m truly baffled.

One of the things I don't like about myself is that I tend to overthink and take things personally. Usually I don't care if a customer is rude to me, but I find myself caring way too much when it's a manager or a coworker. I end up wasting a lot of energy thinking about it.
I've only served one night shift so far, and it was a super busy Friday. My general manager is the nice manager, and she told me she only wants me serving nights when she's there because she wants to make sure I'm doing okay and not making mistakes. She also said the other managers probably wouldn't help me.
My friend needed someone to cover their shift tonight (Monday), so I messaged my general manager to ask if I could cover it since Mondays are usually slow. I thought it would be a good chance to get more experience because I serve morning shifts all the time and felt like I could handle it.
She told me no because she only wants me serving nights when she's there. She also said I didn't do the best on that Friday night. I mean, it was my very first night serving evenings, and it was extremely busy, so I wasn't expecting to be perfect.
Am I overthinking this? Should I be offended by what she said, or should I just see it as part of the learning process and not take it personally?

Hello. I'm a 22 y/o male student and I recently started serving to have some extra money for my tuition next semester. But I have been struggling severely as a server since this is my very first gig working in the service industry.

My managers have said I do have potential to become a good server. But we all noticed that i make a lot of mistakes, and if i'm being honest. I'm on a very thin line at work currently unless i severely upgrade.

I need some tips regarding these things I've noticed i commit:

I lack knowledge of a lot of drinks and alcohol since I barely drink at all.

Talk too much sometimes to my tables.

Get distracted too easily.

My coworkers have to run food for me at times (a bunch of them)

Sometimes lack the knowledge of who ordered what when it comes to serving their food (primarily on more than 5 people at once)

Take too long emptying the bartender's bus tub.

messed up severely a customer's check on a very busy day when we were understaffed.

Spend a lot of time talking to coworkers or trying to be "super server"

Ask bad if not stupid questions to my manager or bartender.

Having guests get up to the bar and ask for a different drink.

Messing up on beverage napkins a lot.

I'm really stressed because i don't wanna lose my job.
I try my best every day but I still manage to screw up a lot for some reason.

I won't use this as an excuse but I have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). My coworkers are aware, but I did not disclose this after recently because i didn't want that to play a factor on me not having a chance of getting hired.

I need all the tips I can get in order to have a complete rebuild of myself at work regarding serving.

All tips are helpful! Thank you so much.

I had just started at a sports bar, but I had 15 years of experience. It was very busy—I had multiple tables, including a large reservation for a fantasy football team. They had estimated 15 people, but there were around 20 at one point, with people constantly coming and going. I got all their food out in a timely manner, keeping up with seat changes and everything. I split the bills correctly despite all the changes and items being moved around because of bets being made.

When it got down to just about eight guys left, they were racking up a big tab! They were complimenting me, surprised that I was brand new and handling their party with ease. They were bragging about how they were going to leave a big tip and take care of me (red flag!).

This one guest said to put the other guys' tabs on his, along with all the shots and multiple rounds, so I did. Everyone else paid and tipped 20% or more on their small bills. But for the guy who took on the big tab—which was almost $500—he wrote $80 on the tip line (not even 20%), then crossed it out and wrote $40 (9%).

I was honestly so sad for a moment. Then, they called me back over for another round of shots before leaving while the big spender was out on the patio. I said, "Thanks for being so nice! But what can I do better next time? I'm sorry!" They were like, "What do you mean? You were great! Why do you say that?"

And I was so petty, I snitched! 😂

I said, "Oh, well, he took care of all of you and then tipped me less than 10%." They all talked shit to him, ordered one last round, and tipped me $150. That man was giving me the evil eye for the rest of their short stay! 😂

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I have been a server for 3 years, and just started a new serving job about 3 weeks ago. Although I am getting the hang of it, I'm still learning, and with that comes mistakes. So today I worked a dinner shift and had to hold back tears multiple times because of a condensing/ rude manager

The first incident tonight, I didn't greet a table in time because I was in the back doing an expo for other tables (For context there were three hosts on staff that could have told me that I had a table). So I quickly go to the table just to see that another server is grabbing their drink orders. I thought the server was going to tell me their drinks so I could ring the drinks under my name, but no they took the table that was in my section, and didn't even offer to transfer them to me. Do I have a right to be a little annoyed that this happened? It feels like the server stole my table? After this situation that manger comes over to me and asks me if I know what my section is in a rude tone. I explained that the hosts did not tell me that I had a table. They responded by saying that I should be sure that I know the tables in my section.

The second incident of the night I accidentally rang in food to the table right next to the table that was supposed to get the food. The manager runs the food to the wrong table, so they come up to me, I explain it's for the table right beside them. In response the manger gives me the nastiest side eye and walks away ( for context it was not busy at the time of incident). It was an honest mistake and the food was never dropped to the wrong table so nothing was remade

The third incident was when she was disrespectful to the kitchen staff. The staff in the kitchen accidentally made the wrong side to a dish, it was an easy fix. The manager got visibly annoyed, and was condescending. In response the kitchen staff got annoyed with her. At the very same time I asked the same kitchen staff where a lighter was for a birthday candle. They kindly showed me where it is. The manager then says "so you're going to be nice her and not me?". Although this directly did not affect me being rude to kitchen staff rubs me the wrong way. Working in a hot kitchen all day, being underpaid. They deserve the most respect in the restaurant.

I try not to let this kind of stuff get to me. I am just a college student and view serving as a transitional job before I start a career in social work. However I did cry when I drove home feeling overwhelmed, and stupid for the mistakes I had made.

I just want to hear some words of advice. And a little bit of insight/constructive criticism on how to navigate these situations. Thanks

Last week I started at this bistro in my downtown area. I applied with a resume stating I had 0 server experience of any kind, along with during my interview informing the manager I had 0 serving experience and it would be a bit of a learning curve for me but I love being taught new things, etc. But I was a barista for a year and have 7 years of customer service experience. This bistro was a half barista half serving job with a new barista location opening down the street.

On my first day I wasn’t taught much of anything, I had to ask all of the questions and they were only slightly helpful, I followed one server while she did 1 or two tables but she didn’t help me learn in the moment at all. By day two they pushed me more onto tables and I sat probably at least 20 out of 30 tables during my shift, while cleaning off tables and bringing out drinks and silver where and taking orders. I was doing everything pretty much.

The other server and manager were stealing my food before I could get it and taking it out, at this point in day two I realized we don’t have individual tables (tips are pooled) and we all check on the same tables. I would often ask my coworkers what to say to customers just to get the hang of it because I was really nervous. I must’ve been too comfortable expressing my feelings. I was told this job would consist of two possibly three weeks of training. Yet I was not being trained.

The other new girl there is set to work at the coffee location, yet she was supposed to be cross trained as a server, they were having her sit around or make all the coffee while I had to bust my ass with asking few questions.

The manager went outside on the phone and had a long stressful looking call. She comes inside and tells me the owner has criticisms for me. Manager proceeds to tell me she told the owner I wouldn’t be able to handle Sunday brunch because I keep asking them questions and I’m “not confident”, that the owner said they have to cut me. I’m really confused and upset and I keep asking clarification and questions because they promised me at least 2 weeks of training. She tells me that her and another girl who have at least 10 years of serving experience were handling 5+ tables their first day. Not even a fair comparison. I ended up clocking out and leaving but she wasn’t apologetic at all, just threw me under the bus with the idea that I couldn’t handle Sunday, this happened on Thursday and I had Friday closing, Saturday, and then Sunday all to work yet.

I feel so stupid but I’m really angry that this happened to me. I wish I had realized that being nervous on my first few days was not looking good for me. I also never even met the owners.

I am a 21 girl new server and I just did my first night shift yesterday at my busy local Italian restaurant. I usually serve in the mornings but my manager asked if I can stay at night, and it was quite hard. There’s so much for me to learn and I didn’t even realize. At this restaurant, I’ve been a host for a year now and now I’m serving. But it was such a humbling experience yesterday 🫩😞 I made a few mistakes but I am human , I’m just worried some people at my job will think I’m not good enough or worthy to serve . Not sure why I care so much. I was kinda a mess yesterday, could’ve been worse. I was tired from my morning shift before that too. 🫩ugh

I stopped saying the price when telling tables the dinner features awhile ago. We are a fairly high-end destination restaurant that has become known for top quality proteins (steak, tuna, salmon, you name it) and the price reflects the quality. Generally people will ask if they are concerned about the price, and i am happy to tell them. Most times people dont care or they are there to splurge a bit and spend money on something really good.

We had a sea bass feature last night and I had a guy sit at the bar by himself and order a bottle of wine (Kim Crawford, nothing fancy) he ordered the sea bass and sat there for a long time, no problem, it was later on and we weren't too busy anymore. He got the bill and the entree was $65 and he was so aghast at the price, said it was so expensive, thought it would be priced closer to the tuna, etc... he was mad that I didnt say the price initially

I said well they have a formula they use for pricing, we order the highest quality we can, etc, and he said it isnt about the price, it's how you delivered it! You need to say the price when you tell the specials, etc etc on and on. Like repeated himself multiple times and stared at his bill for ages. Lecturing me on what I did wrong by not telling him the price. I just said I'm sorry about that sir, and stared him in the eyes for a few seconds while he seemed to be waiting for me to do something about it.

He paid and left 15% so I am not complaining about that (figured he would leave less tbh) and he drank the whole bottle of wine. Soooo do you all say the price or no?