the joys of food service: long

[loveisuneven]

luckily, at the moment i do not work in food service, but most of my jobs were, so i'm going to share the worst stories i can remember

working at a restaurant in a theme park:

woman is ordering food, child is tugging at shirt shouting that she wants this or that or whatever, i'm taking the order and to my shock and the shock of everyone around, this woman b*tchslaps her kid and says "shut the f*ck up"
i really couldn't believe it....

also, i loved it when people would complain about the prices of food, as i recall it was 5.95 for a personal size pizza, drinks at least 2 dollars, i mean, average prices for a theme park, similar to prices for a movie theater, but really? complaining to a girl who makes 5.50 an hour about how i'm ripping them off, do you really think i have any control over that?

after i got promoted to assistant manager, i would stay in the back and cook and do paperwork (inventory and scheduling), but one day, i hear screaming up at the front at the register, so i go up to help and i'm just in time to see this lady with her three small children around scream at my friend samantha "i'm not a f*cking retard" and sam is trying to hold back tears, i tell her to go on break while i deal with the woman, i ask what's wrong and the lady is still shouting saying we're stealing her money, blah blah, turns out, sam had given the lady back her change, and the lady was convinced it was wrong, so sam starts counting it out outloud and thats when the lady starts screaming... the lady took her change from me, but i couldn't believe she would just be shouting like that with her kids around, very colorful language

and there was always the people trying to get free food, like these kids that brought us a hotdog with a penny stuck in it, saying it was like that when they got it... of course that was impossible, and luckily i was in power and told them too bad, basically
and then the guy who brought an empty pizza box, saying he got ripped off and only got one slice, nice try, you probably got the box out of the trash

one day, i was scheduled to manage the afternoon and the other asst man was supposed to work morning, well, when i show up for work, i seem him getting out of his car as well, he "forgot" that he was working the morning, even though it was always like that on sundays, since he wasn't there, they got a manager from another location to run it, but since it was later than when someone should have been there, stuff didn't get done, specifically the chili wasn't heated up for chili dogs and frito pie.... point of the story: a 6 foot man yells at a 7month pregant 5 foot woman because he has to wait 20 minutes for frito pie.... i mean really.... it was probably 11am at the time... really? does yelling at a pregnant woman make you feel more like a man

waitressing at a steakhouse:

you know how you give those stupid spiels that they make you say? ok well, i was promoting some special bar drinks and this very husky, manly man gives in a buys a ... something sunrise, can't remember the name, but it's a pink and orange drink in a girly glass with like a cherry, very girly drink... anyways, he's all embarressed when it comes out, he drinks about half of it, and then wants a refund.... whatever dude

i had just turned 18 at the time, so forgive me for not being an alcoholic, yes, as a waitress i needed to know certain things about alcohol... but i mean.. i looked young for my age, why would i know what a colorado bulldog was? apparently i should know everything and it's ok to yell at me, when i don't know, or when i'm not sure if we have JWR or JWB and i need to ask the bartender

ugh, this one is sorta my fault, i was pre-bussing tables, and we had those huge oblong shaped trays, almost as tall as me, you know? i'm walking through a crowded area, and a guy stands up behind me and his shoulder hits my tray, i try to keep it stable but i lose control and the whole tray flies forward, most of the dishes hitting the floor, but alot of food falling on this one guy, and you know that custom people have of clapping when they hear plates fall, yeah, i guess most people couldn't see what had happened, so there was massive amounts of clapping and i was so shocked and upset i started crying, with this man covered in food glaring at me, a manager had to come get me and take me to the back and sternly tell me to stop crying, the guy with food on him got his whole table's meal comped,

working in a coffeeshop:

woman comes in, orders a triple americano with two extra shots, she gets it and exclaims its not strong enough, when we try to tell her we'll make her something else, she gets all upset and says she can have it made better anywhere else.... oh well

none of these are terribly good, but it's just sad how people have such bad attitudes about everything

[Dalvenja]

Did the ingenious woman not realize an Americano is espresso and water? She wanted it stronger then she ought to have ordered five shots of espresso in a larger cup and put her own bleeding water in it.

I used to work in a cafe myself, and I hated when people ordered Americanos (with the exception of one regular who knew exactly what he was getting himself into). I mean, really people...what do you expect three ounces of espresso and seventeen ounces of water to taste like?

[Chanlin]

I hate the clapping thing in restaurants like that and try to avoid it myself.

Welcome to the board, we hope you enjoy your stay may it be long and SCless (though it most likely won't be if you still work in customer services of any kind)

[LifeCarnie]

I mean, really people...what do you expect three ounces of espresso and seventeen ounces of water to taste like?

I've never had one, but from the description, I'd say shit. Liquid shit to be precise.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I mean, really people...what do you expect three ounces of espresso and seventeen ounces of water to taste like?

I expect it to taste awful. But then again I hates coffee.

I see Swiss Miss has hot chocolate with enough caffeine in it to equal that in a cup of coffee--sounds like something for me to check out.

[ReverendBSB]

I had the almost the same thing happen when bussing tables. I was working at a pizza buffet, and me and another employee were bussing. I had a stack of trays with some plates and cups on it, most pretty full of ice and soda. A group of guys were walking into the dining room, not paying attention, and one of the walked right into me. Both of us got soaked, and we were both pissed. I apologized anyway, but the little shit hauls off and hits me. Now I was 6 foot and over 250 pounds, he had to be half a foot shorter and a hundred pounds lighter. I guess he thought I would not do anything. But I just saw red, and slugged him hard. Knocked him out cold, knocking over a table on the way down. Got fired for it, but I never liked that job anyway.

Went and applied at a Subway the next day. During the interview the manager asked me why I left the pizza place. I told her I knocked out a customer. Her reply was "Well don't do that here."

[Nakajo]

I hate the clapping thing in restaurants like that and try to avoid it myself.

In the restaurant I used to work in, if someone dropped and broke something, people used to clap, and most of us found it pretty rude. Being a small privately owned place, the owner hated any rude people. One of his ways was starting this tradition: whenever something broke, everyone who worked there, including the person that dropped said item, and the regular diners would yell, "Mazel Tov!". It got a great laugh out of those who were new working or dining there, and stopped the rude clapping.

[loveisuneven]

I told her I knocked out a customer. Her reply was "Well don't do that here."

hahaha

i'm glad i'm not the only one who thinks the clapping thing is awful!

[Peppergirl]

this very husky, manly man gives in a buys a ... something sunrise, can't remember the name, but it's a pink and orange drink in a girly glass with like a cherry, very girly drink... anyways, he's all embarressed when it comes out, he drinks about half of it, and then wants a refund.... whatever dude

It's a Tequilla Sunrise.

And he should have been embarassed.

He also should have gotten it shoved up his ass when he requsted a refund.

[Boozy]

woman comes in, orders a triple americano with two extra shots, she gets it and exclaims its not strong enough, when we try to tell her we'll make her something else, she gets all upset and says she can have it made better anywhere else.... oh well

Don't feel too bad. We made cappuccinos and lattes at the cafe I worked at, but we served them Italian-style, not Starbucks style.

One woman drank the whole damn thing, then demanded a refund, telling me that we "didn't know what we were doing."

[HereWeGo]

woman is ordering food, child is tugging at shirt shouting that she wants this or that or whatever, i'm taking the order and to my shock and the shock of everyone around, this woman b*tchslaps her kid and says "shut the f*ck up"
i really couldn't believe it....

Thankfully I've never seen anything that bad, but I do see a good number of those awful mothers that throw a bigger fit than their children when trying to get them to behave. Once I was ringing up a woman's groceries when I hear her roar at the top of her lungs, "OH MY GOOOD YOU'RE BEING SOOOO RUUUUUDE! I'M NEVER TAKING YOU ANYWHERE AGAIN, AAAAAAAAAH!" I looked back, expecting armeggedon or at least a kid that would make Bart Simpson look well behaved, and there's just a little girl quietly munching on a powdered donut. The bag she was eating from was half empty and resealed neatly. I'd consider it rude to eat something before it's paid for, but a lot of people do it anyway and besides, I know the kid didn't eat them all by herself. Her mother had to have been feeding them to her while they were shopping, so where did she learn it from? Her two little boys were chattering quietly and she kept screaming at them to shut up.

Then there was another little girl, a toddler, that was sitting in a shopping cart and leaned over to grab one of our complimentary mints (clearly marked so). Her grandmother lifted and dragged her by her little arm back over the conveyer belt and screamed, full force, in her face, "YOU ARE BEING UGLY! THAT IS UGLY! IF SHE WANTED YOU TO HAVE A MINT SHE WOULD HAVE OFFERED! YOU APOLOGIZE TO THIS LADY RIGHT NOW AND YOU ARE NEVER GOING ANYWHERE AGAIN AAARGHBLAHChOKE*

I thought, if this little girl has to apologize to me for taking a FREE mint in addition to getting yelled at by this troll, I'm going to throw up on myself. Luckily the grandmother didn't actually make her apologize and I was able to keep it down to silent loathing.

[loveisuneven]

that reminded me:

i had a table while i was a waitress, they get my attention, and ask me if i can do something about another table that was diagonal from them.... the children at that table were throwing CRAYONS at my table...
a manager ended up having to get involved, because the parents didn't think it was that big of a deal
but jeez... really?

i don't get how people don't understand social responsibility.... kids can do what they want at your house... but out in public, need to have some control

[allniter]

Did the ingenious woman not realize an Americano is espresso and water? She wanted it stronger then she ought to have ordered five shots of espresso in a larger cup and put her own bleeding water in it.

Maybe she meant it needed some rat poison in it?!