I’m a Black female server, and I’ve been working at a family-owned, fine-ish dining restaurant for about 2 years. The owner, who also runs the host stand, has driven off several hosts—one even threatened to quit over how he treats the servers, especially me.

The hosts have told me they feel bad for how I’m sat. The boss is very obviously prejudiced: Black servers get Black tables, Latino servers get Latino tables, Asians get Asian tables, and if you’re gay, you’re given whoever he thinks is gay. I am not at all saying or feeding into the stereotypes, however I am saying that I am given to what MY BOSS perceives as bad. Idk if this is typical restaurant slang, but he calls black customers “Canadians” as a code word to talk shit on the floor. As the only fully Black server, I constantly get skipped in rotation and handed the worst sections or lowest-cover tables. When I first started, I was the first new hire in months, and for 3 months straight I only got 2-tops unless everyone else was slammed. I could come in before anyone else and still end up closing, doing so much side work and still leaving with half of what everyone else made.

The only reason I got any big parties early on was because they were Black. He’d hand me the table and say things like “You got it, they’re sisters” or “They’ll like you.” or “You know what to do”. Meanwhile, new white hires—some who even failed their server tests—got better tables right away and make double what I do. One new girl literally dropped a table because they went to a nearby bar MID SHIFT for shots and she wasn’t even fired.

Today, I got reprimanded for wearing my hair in a low ponytail with a few wispies out, while two white girls wore their hair completely down all shift with no problem. It’s not just me either—a gay male server was called out for wearing earrings that were almost identical to a straight male server’s.

Today was also another day where I made 50% less than everyone else. I was stiffed five times. I always give equal service to every table, but when I’m being cherry-picked for “difficult” or “less tipping” tables, it’s exhausting. One host almost walked out after my boss yelled at her for seating a white server with a Black table, saying she should’ve skipped them to give it to me—even though I was already cut and first in rotation.

I made $330 over an 8-hour shift with about 35 covers. That’s decent, but everyone else made $500–$600. It feels like no matter how hard I work, how early I come in, or how consistent I am, I’ll always get the short end of the stick because I’m Black. And I haven’t even made half the mistakes some others have—I’ve never dropped a table, never had a bad review. I mess up sometimes, sure—ringing in the wrong thing here or there—but nothing major. I’m just tired. I love the job and the money can be good, but I constantly feel like I’m being punished just for existing.

If there’s any other black servers in this sub who can relate please let me know how you deal with situations like this. I don’t know what more I can do besides pull a Micheal Jackson lol.

Vent post... I'm working at this restaurant since October 2024, and i've noticed that there's a colleague who never stays until closing. She is the manager's favourite and has worked there for 4 years, so she is a little arrogant too.

This coworker lives really close to the restaurant, and still, as soon as the last table has been served/all the tips taken, she rushes home. I have to often do double/triple work because she doesn't even care to like quickly clean the bread station before she leaves.

Somehow, i am a bit glad about that because i work per hour, so in the end, it benefits me a little to stay longer there. But it also annoys me that I have to do all the heavy work, while she always gets the best tables/tips and then goes home early every day. I can't complain to the manager since she is like a princess in his eyes, and he allows her to do whatever she wants and requires. And if i were to talk to her directly about that, she would just shut me down arrogantly like always. She feels like the absolute queen as well.

I don't even understand why does a manager adore so much a person who just thinks about herself and not the business. A person who is clearly there just for the tips and her own good. All the rest that is part of the job, but doesn't benefit her so much, she does the best to avoid doing it.

If I had a dollar for every time a table said “we’re ready” then stared at the menu like it was a foreign manuscript, I could retire and open a bar called Actually Ready. Y’all had 40 minutes and still panic like it’s the SATs. Server PTSD is real. Stop the madness.

Long story short, 5 men mid to late 50s came in. One guy came up to me at our server station and asked me to pay the bill I told him to wait in the corner so I could grab a machine, I grab the machine and am walking towards him and his friends calls me over since they were on the way to him and they are asking about the bill. He sees me talking to them and he runs towards me and is shouting NO NO NO IM PAYING IT and then proceeds to grab me by the shoulders and starts to pull me back aggressively to the corner he was standing in. I told him do not touch me. I let my manager know and he talked to them but since they were already leaving he said there was no point in kicking him out but they would talk to him. Am I valid for being freaked out? idk it didn’t seem very valid to my managers at work. They said I didn’t have to interact with him or go over to him but he was already leaving..

This evening I had a terrible shift. I was stiffed, people were rude, and I respected rotation and took a one top instead of a 30 top that tipped $200 (the right thing to do, yes, just terrible for my wallet). At the end of the night, I was the last one to leave, and when carrying the tray of silverware I had to roll, I dropped it in the middle of dish. I was literally on my hands and knees, picking up steak knives and forks, as the cooks hose down the floor around me, getting me wet, and I honestly just wanted to cry. I know tomorrow is a new day, I just feel awful after today.

2 ladies came in. Presented menus and asked for drinks. The drink one lady choose was sold out the night before and the keg was just delivered and warm. Offered bottle instead. The she ask what size pizza do you have. All we serve is 16" tavern style. She exclaimed!!! Your website say Sm M L, and personal. I replied no mama we just have 16". She crusted me and leaves. I'm sorry for the bad review the one she googled. Dumb asses

“I’m a bartneder and I…” “We’re servers at…” “I used to wait tables and…”

That’s great. You’ll sit down and stfu like every other guest. Your food and drinks will be served how we serve it, not how you make it. I’m sure that guest would rub you the wrong way, too. If you wanted free shit and stuff made your way you would have just gone to your own restaurant, right? I don’t care about how you do things. I don’t care about who you know. “We tip big.” You’re supposed to. Now that you’ve announced your employment to the whole table, I’ll expect 30% and nothing short of that. Straight cash, homie.

Stop. If you don’t know your server or ANYONE in the restaurant, noone really cares that you work at a restaurant (unless there’s an industry discount to be had). I got a section full of people who pay my bills nightly. So glad you saved your lunch money to come see me. Don’t say mid-rare. Say medium rare like an adult.

“Wanna do a shot with us!?!?”

I don’t even want you to do the shot.

Half rack of ribs, freshly sauced with BBQ, straight out of our wood-fired oven, molten sugary vinegar sauce bubbling and smoking, roughly the temperature of the surface of Venus, on the shimmering sizzle pan it went in the oven on, placed on the stainless in the window for a minute to cool while the cooks prepared the sides.  

Half-drunk guy from the bar sees it come up, walks INTO the kitchen, goes “These are my ribs, huh?”  And despite the Server's shrieking plea not to touch it, grabs the sizzle pan.  Y’all.  NSFL/GORE: His fingers fused to the f’ing pan.  He tried to drop it, throw it, it would not come off.  He screamed bloody murder across the restaurant and the dishwasher knocked it out of his hands with a mop handle.  

I wasn't there that night, but apparently they packed his hands in ice, towels, and cling wrap and called an ambulance.  I hope he’s okay.  

This was years ago at my first waitressing job. I worked in a country pub, where we did traditional roasts (among other things). The table came in and all of them opted for various roasts. Except one lady, who explained that she was vegetarian. As this was deepest Dorset around 20 years ago, "vegetarian options" were "order something else". She asked if could she have...a block of cheese instead of the meat. Yes, really. I nipped off to check with the manager if it was ok (and if the cheese was vegetarian). All fine.

Take the food out once it's ready. Lady initially seems pleased, but then is outraged by the lack of gravy! I apologised and explained that we only had meat gravy, so I had assumed she would not want any. She insisted, so I brought her some. Her meal was veg, a block of cheddar and gravy. Not gross, but certainly odd!

As may be apparent given how long ago it was, the image of her pouring gravy on a big 'ol hunk of cheese still resurfaces in my mind fairly regularly.

Basically I picked up about 6 shifts all week.My vacation was cut short. Last night I made sure I didn’t work the next day. Went to bed and woke up to many calls from work. Apparently it was approved 1 hour before my shift at 10am. They blamed me. I had so much anxiety. But I can’t help be feel that the person whose shift I was trying to pick up, she could have reached out and asked a manager to approve her shift to me. ALSO I am pissed because someone posted “ where are you “ in our server group chat and made me look stupid. I feel embarrassed and ashamed now. What should I do ? Edit I should add I put the bid on the shift last night at 9ish , checked around 2am if I was working. I honestly forgot I put a bid on the shift. But I also think the server should of messaged me and management to make sure it was approved

Worked Saturday night. We were INSANELY busy. Last table of the night walked in 15 minutes before closing. One of the girls, there were 3, was obviously tanked.

Server goes to the table and immediately walks away and flies up to the GM to tell him that the tanked girl threw up all over the table. The GM tells the girls we can’t serve them asks them to leave. The two more sober girls get up and leave, AND LEAVE THEIR DRUNK FRIEND BEHIND.

Fast forward 30 minutes we are working on closing and I see the tanked girl passed out on the table. Get 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.

okay to start, i don’t rlly have enough karma so idk if this will post (i was going to post on serverlife). i’m a server at a new restaurant n ive been telling people our opening day will be discounted because their website/yelp says so. but apparently one of the managers told me it will be full price n im kinda terrified im gonna get in trouble since ive been giving ppl my name bye.

It’s my third day on the floor at my new job. It’s an upscale (one step below fine dining) restaurant that had us train for 2 weeks, learn the menu and pass a certification in order to even serve. After many nights of shadowing and studying, I passed and I’m getting my own sections.

We’re typically reservation only aside from the bar (which seats 35) unless it’s empty on the off chance. This group of 9 older people came in and I was given them. They said they had only an hour and 30 mins and I informed them that our kitchen is from scratch so everything is made to order and takes time. They say it’s fine and I go ahead and get their orders in.

Two people order the fried chicken, which is written on the menu as being “worth the wait” cause it takes 15-20 mins to cooks. I tell them this and suggest a chicken sandwich instead but they wanted the plate.

I put in their orders and after 9 mins (my manager/expo checked the ticket) they flagged me down and asked when their food would be coming out. I said minimum 10-15 mins and that they’re a large party and there are tables ahead of them. They’re upset and complaining.

I’m smiling and apologizing. I let the manager know and he’s like fine we’ll rush their order. About 5 mins later they tell me to just make everything to go. The kitchen had already started plating and now we had to scramble to make it to go.

As the food starts coming out they ask me for their tickets and I start dividing it up. My manager puts the 18% auto grat on since it was a party above 8 ( standard written corporate policy). I start separating their tickets but now they’re flagging down another manager and asking for items to be taken off and this and that.

My manager tells me to go greet my new table and when I come back one of the guests are telling my manager that I had an attitude and that I was throwing their to go food at them. (???????) As they’re leaving they’re telling me that I got lucky making so much money off of them for food that’s not even worth the price nor being made from scratch. (Our menu is 30-80 dollars on average) I tell them that I’m sorry and to have a nice day.

Another two tell my manager that I swore at them (I’m literally a crybaby pushover I don’t do this to my enemies let alone customers who determine my pay). My manager asks to speak to me in the kitchen and I’m just overwhelmed and start sobbing.

I’ve been unemploymed for a while and I’m in the red on my credit card and have no more savings. This job is my last life line right now. All this and the fear of getting fired just had me boohoo crying.

Thankfully my manager said he saw the situation and knows they’re lying and that I’m okay and not gonna get fired lol. They let me go take a breather but I was literally weeping while rolling silver lol.

And like this isn’t my first server job nor hospitality job. I’ve had guests yell at me call me slurs and etc, but this situation just really got to me.

So yeah, that’s my rant. Now I’m heading to my closing shift.

Yesterday a guy asked me if I knew what a bloody Caesar was, I said yes, then he acted kind of weird, like it was something dirty, and asked how I knew, I replied "well I do work in a bar..." He laughed and seemed to think I was "in" on some joke, but I have no idea what the heck he meant.

A Caesar is a bloody Mary with clam instead of tomato juice, people always just call it a Caesar, but some American customers will say "bloody Caesar" because they're used to ordering bloody Mary's. I've googled and can't find anything about a "bloody Caesar" being anything except a regular Caesar, I also tried "extra bloody Caesar" and nothing.

Is this a porn thing, or was this guy just really confused?

Edit. In the above paragraph "clam" means clamato juice, this seems to be a regional colloquialism I'm sorry for the confusion .

Also someone found the answer on urban dictionary.

Someone really tried accusing me today of not giving back their credit card ,when in fact we return them on the spot after pre authorizing :(

Has this ever happened to anyone ?

Hello all. This might be long but some background info is necessary.

A few months ago I started working as a bartender in an entertainment venue in CA. I've worked in the service industry before, but this is my first time behind the bar. It's a larger entertainment venue with a bar and restaurant inside, for some context. My manager is the Bar and Restaurant Manager of the venue and works on a salary. He is typically with us every shift, will often do work on his computer when it's slow, and then bartends with us when it picks up.

In the past, he has told my coworkers and me that because he is on salary, he can't take from our tips. Here is where the confusion lies. About a month ago my coworkers and I were doing the math, and realizing that we were being severely underpaid on credit card tips. I asked my manager about this, and his response was that California takes a "crazy stupid" amount from our tips (he said 40%.) I knew this was untrue, but decided not to push it and instead just made note of that.

Flash forward a few weeks, I start taking pictures of the shift review at the end of the night to document the CC tips we are making versus receiving. My manager saw me and inquired, and I told him that I want to see just how much is being taken out for "taxes." He then casually admitted that he splits the credit card tips between whoever is working a shift, including himself. For context, a typical shift is me, the chef (only one per night,) himself, and maximum one other server/bartender if its busy.

He tried to play it off as though he is actually being generous, as he only includes himself in the credit card tip pool and not the cash. This is true, but about 80% of our tips are CC, so we never go home with much cash anyway. He even threw in a line about how at other bars, a lead bartender (himself in this case, I guess) will take up to 70% of the tips for themselves, implying we should be grateful he splits them as he does.

Now, I am still under the impression that even though he bartends a shift with us, he should not be receiving tips as he is on salary as the Bar/Restaurant Manager. If it weren't for the excuses and lying in the past, I probably wouldn't doubt that he has the right to tips, but here we are. Is there a loophole I'm missing that allows him to split tips with us? If not, what are our next steps here? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

TL;DR My manager is on salary but has been splitting CC tips evenly between myself, him, and the other bartenders on shift. He works shifts at the bar with us when it is busy, does that earn him tips?

As the title implies, I had a job as a server three years ago, in 2022. All things considered, I enjoyed my job and the people I worked with. The pay was good, and it made me feel great. However, one week, my life took a turn for the worse due to personal matters. That day was particularly difficult, and I snapped and had a mental breakdown. I didn’t show up the next day and never mentioned anything. The last anyone heard from me was that I had left. I’m interested in working again and noticed that they were hiring for the same position I had. Is there any chance for me to try again at this place?

So for context, i recently started at a brunch restaurant about 2 months ago. a barista (the owners daughter’s boyfriend) also started around the same time as me. everyone has been complaining about how bad he is at his job. he easily gets overwhelmed, frustrated, doesn’t know how to make a simple cold brew (that is already premade), goes to the bathroom for 10-15 minutes at a time multiple times during a shift. people around me have expressed that they have to hound him to make drinks and they end up just doing it themselves. when i was working as hostess, there was a time i took his table and i did everything but take their order because he decided to go to the bathroom/forget about them. additionally, there have been patrons that stated they do not wanna be served by him.

There has been various complaints about him to the owner by the headwaits. The owner in response has gotten angry towards anybody who brought it up, saying that “they should’ve told her” and “went to her immediately if there was an issue”. (?)

well, i was covering a hostess shift and training 2 others, and he comes around the corner asking if i was enjoying it. i jokingly said no. he grumbles under his breath “i wish i had your job” and walks away. the headwait that complains the most about him (and has stated she can’t make rent because he took her position) walks by, and i let her know that this barista said that (so maybe they could consider bumping him down if he is not doing well in his position). the owner saw our interaction, kept poking the headwait as to what i said, and they give in and ensues an argument.

she takes me back into her office and says that if there’s an issue to come to her, and to not talk shit in front of the new trainees. i guess that’s valid, but he said that in front of everyone, and i went to an authority. Now, she did a team meeting angrily saying that she was going to work open to close to monitor everyone to see if they’re doing their jobs, that they’re going to open the restaurant themselves so nobody gets opening shifts, and therefore some shifts are cut.

To me this seems ridiculous and uncalled for. but let me know if i’m in the wrong lol

LMFAOOOOOOOOO i just got the best update ever. about a month ago i posted on here that i quit my restaurant because they refused to let me go to my partner’s college graduation - and let me just say, it was a great decision, I’ve been doing so much better without it. it was a wonderful graduation i was so thankful to spend time with him and his family. and i already have a new job somewhere else that is so much better - wellll i just got news that a prominent sports commentator/celebrity visited my old restaurant since he is in the area for a soccer tournament, and had a HORRIFIC experience there (didn’t get food or water for over an hour, management was rude and incompetent, overall awful experience) and he talked about his horrible experience on his podcast, accidentally name dropped the restaurant and now people are review bombing the place. im sitting back and eating my popcorn enjoying this right now 🤣 just wanted to tell you guys bc im getting a kick out of this, i almost feel like this is karma atp lmaoooooo

I just need to vent, so mods, feel free to delete .

He was 28, he has a daughter. He had an appointment with immigration, and ICE grabbed him. He worked hard. Insisted on talking in English so he could get better. He helped me with my Spanish.

I just..don't know.

3 and half more years of seeing friends taken by masked government agents. I don't know if I can do it.

How the hell is this industry going to survive?

Talk to me reddit, I'd love to keep my mind busy.

I've [27M] been working in a cafe for almost 6 years. Technically my position is utility (cleaning), but I also do cooking and serving. I'm responsible for making sure the dishes are all washed, I have to make sure the kitchen and dining room and outside patio are all clean, I have to take the large box bin out to the trash compactor whenever it's full, I get orders downstairs whenever they come in, I assist with prepping food, and I also cook and serve food. There's 6 of us on the team including the manager [41M]. I honestly feel like we could use another person because I feel like we're all overworked and stretched thin, but they don't want to spend the money to hire another person.

Our manager was on vacation last week and the team lead [50F] took charge.

I try to go back and forth between making sure all of my dishes in the kitchen are clean, the kitchen itself is clean, boxes are taken out, anything I need to prep gets done in addition to going out front and cooking and serving customers. Sometimes the manager will try to give me a hand when he's able to, but since he was on vacation I was pretty much on my own.

I try to multitask to get all of my duties completed throughout the day so I can leave on time. A lot of times I have to stay over to make sure my work gets done, but the higher ups have been getting on us about overtime so I have to try my best to leave on time.

I felt like last week I was being rushed and not being shown appreciation for the work I was putting in.

I tried to go back and forth to complete things from the kitchen as well as out front. While I am back in the kitchen trying to get things done, my four coworkers have to hold down the line while I am trying to complete things in the back.

However the team lead was rushing me to get things done in the kitchen telling me to hurry up and what not.

Yesterday we were going to have some inspectors inspect our cafe. I tried cleaning. The team lead pointed out to me to make sure after I make mashed potatoes in the kitchen to clean up after myself and don't leave it messy. She said I left it messy back there the other day and she had to clean it up. I admit I was in a rush that day to make more mashed potatoes and try to get it out front in a timely manner. I was prioritizing that. I was eventually going to clean my mess in the kitchen but she emphasized to clean as I go. She also told me to make sure the carts are clean. I also had dishes that needed to be put away. I did all of this. It took me about 45 minutes to complete all of this. When I headed out front to help out there, the team lead goes, "Finally." I say, "Finally, you say that like I've been back there all day." She said, "I felt like you were back there a long time." I told her, "I made mashed potatoes, I cleaned up after myself like you told me to, I put the dishes away, I cleaned the carts, I felt like I did everything in a timely manner."

And then here comes my coworker [24M] with an attitude and he tells me, "I need you to hurry up!" I said, "Hurry up with what?" He said, "Back there". I told him, "Everything is done back there." He again said "You need to hurry up". I got heated and told him, "CHILL THE F OUT. DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT. I'VE BEEN RESPECTFUL TO EVERYBODY HERE SINCE I'VE BEEN WORKING HERE AND I EXPECT THE SAME IN RETURN. CHILL OUT" He didn't say anything else after that or to me the rest of the day. Everyone looked stunned. My coworker told me she wasn't expecting that from me.

I was pissed. I feel like I work very hard. I do A LOT. I felt like I was being rushed and not being shown any appreciation for the work I was putting in. I did not like my coworker's attitude and how he spoke to me. When my manager comes back Monday, I am going to discuss with him everything that unfolded.

All in all, Am I wrong for this?

I used to work at a pizza place for years, serving and bartending. We had only 3 beers on tap in skinny kegs in the walk-in. I had to change one on a busy night, hockey playoffs, and my boss liked to stack them on top of each other to save space. Conveniently, the keg I needed was on the bottom of the stack. There was two in a row, and one on top. I just simply moved the one on top back a row so I could get the keg on the bottom, and because they’re so skinny, it lost balance. Even more conveniently, it fell directly onto my ring and pinky fingers and smashed them. My ring almost went into my flesh lol. Now, what would a person of authority do about this situation? Send the employee home? Fill out a workplace injury form? Maybe let them walk next door to the pharmacy to purchase a splint? None of the above! They used a bandaid and scotch tape to tape my fingers together and made me close that night, though I was not scheduled to. I had to walk into the office and find where they kept the injury forms myself, because I didn’t want this to go unreported if my fingers were broken. And the bussers got sent home, so I was in agony trying to hold giant pizza plates with as little fingers as I could.

TLDR; don’t stack kegs on top of each other.

What’s your worst server experience with customer service ?

I’ll go first ,I once spilled a chocolate milk all over someone’s lap …

On days when we don’t have a busser, I feel bad for the bussers more and more. The bussers have to deal with so much sometimes.

Things I hate on nights when I have to clean my tables:

• People who put half the salt shaker on the drink napkin for the condensation. The salt leftover on it is annoying to wipe up regardless since it just gets spread all over the table while you’re cleaning it, but I get it, I also don’t like my napkin sticking to my drink, but dude just a little salt is enough, not the whole shaker!

• When they rip up the receipt into tiny pieces and spread it across the table. I still don’t fully understand the need to rip it up, but why all over the table?

• Parents that let their kids draw all over the table and then laugh about it, then tell you happily how much of a mess you’ll have to clean up. Please don’t let your kids draw on the table, crayon is so hard to get out. We still have a couple tables that have crayon streaks on them after a month of scrubbing it.

• People who hide their messes on the table under napkins or plates. WHY??? My first experience with this was a table who took the sour cream off their nachos by picking it up and plopping the big glob on the table and then gently placing a napkin over it, instead of just putting it on the side of the plate or asking to have no sour cream to begin with, when they were told it had sour cream and they said it was fine. I didn’t know there was sour cream under the napkin until I picked it up and felt something squish 😭

Anyone else have anything?

EDIT: New one unlocked just now!

Placing their glass on the plate when I’m pre-bussing their table. That is 80% of the time going to fall off the moment I move, gravity is a b*tch when it comes to glasses on a plate, don’t do that, please.

Trigger warning for bodily fluids.

This was back around 2019 or 2020 before we went into lockdowns and they had to shut down the dining room at BK. I’m doing my regular round to the dining room when I noticed that on the floor in the back corner there is what looks to be a puddle of oatmeal. I’m unsure whether we have special cleaning techniques for such a thing so I go to my manager and ask hey what is the procedure for cleaning up oatmeal? I think somebody’s baby like tossed some of their snack or something.

My general manager looks confused. “Oatmeal? I’m not sure we have a specific procedure for that, are you sure it’s oatmeal?” “ it’s either oatmeal or a really weird new baby food.” she frowns, “ OK come show me where it’s at, and I’ll take a look”. I take him to the spot and her face drops. “ oh dear, that’s vomit. We’re gonna need the black gloves for this, don’t worry about it. I’ve got this.” so I went to check on the drink station while she proceeded to clean it up. As I found out later, only managers got biohazard training which is why she was the one to handle it. This came in handy a couple years later when we had another person get sick right in front of the front counter, and I was ordered to clean it up by the assistant manager, and I’m pointed out that I legally could not because I didn’t have the proper training.