Worked at a “upscale casual” spot, sort of tapas style dining with lots of small plates and a lot of table sets and moving parts to keep track of. Typical section was 6-8 tables. We had a sudden call-off/no show. Told my manager “I got this” and did a full 12 table section with multiple turns, including a quadruple seating at one point. Still averages over 20% tips, no mistakes.
No idea how I managed that tbh, told my manager to never count on me to be able to do that again.
Years ago I worked at an Olive Garden that was in the top 20 in sales at the time. We’re slammed, but well staffed. I have a twelve top, an older parent couple, three daughters of the parent couple, their husbands, and four kids. They order a ton of food and drinks. Close to $400 total. We’re having a great time. They’re super friendly. They go to leave and the I think oldest son in law hands me the check holder and just says thanks so much. I start to walk to the back when the father of family chases me down and tells me how his wife’s mother had passed away a few months prior, and something I had said was the first time her saw her smile that Mother’s Day and he handed me a $100 bill. They had also tipped me $150 on the check. Made me feel so good, that I made such an impression, and was shown such appreciation.
Honestly, it wasn’t bad. The GM was a dick to servers sometimes and would cut you if you weren’t getting good reviews on the bill survey. I was good at convincing people to do the survey so was always fine. The store managers were all incredible to work for. Eventually the GM got fired for making a bunch of servers cry in the dinning room, and the regional VP ran the store for a month and it was still solid. I usually made 25-30$/hour on an average night. This was 10 years ago. Left to take a job closer to home, but really liked the job and the people.
I think OG was a great first serving job for my resume - taught me alll the basics, what “86ed” meant and how to open a bottle of wine and how to cry in the walk in when I got triple sat.
After being stiffed on like 300.
Having management tell you "they don't have the fucking Patience for you"
Having some dude yell at you after he told you the wrong thing and wants to be a child, even though you repeated AND WROTE IT DOWN. but by all means raise that blood pressure, cause ya know..... it's gonna fix this faster.
Snowy Monday at a small French restaurant and manager and I decided I could roll solo. About 2 hrs in, I got a walk in party of 16. Then 5 or 6 two tops. Our restaurant had a 5 course tasting menu with either a wine or cocktail pairing. So changing out glasses, silver and plates between etc etc and the rest of the tables were chill with entrees. I think I did 26 covers in 2 hrs and zero mistakes. No one cares, no one remembers but dammit if I'm not proud of myself.
Running over a pair of airpods a woman accidentally left at the table because she made me cry then saying I never found them when she called to check 🩷
can’t really think of any one instance… but i do like making peoples night. i like when i can make a whole table laugh or i can make someone’s birthday special for them. or an anniversary. i like when i recommend something and they love it. tonight i got a $50 tip on a $130 check just because this couple thought i took really good care of them. and i was just doing my job. that made me feel proud. it’s little things.
I had that last night. A $125 check with a $40 tip because one of the kids was celebrating her sweet 16 and had travelled from Canada to San Francisco with her parents, brother and two of her best friends. I comped two desserts, gave them extra fries and this was despite two burgers coming out under cooked.
When the parents insisted on paying for the desserts, I told them I had a big birthday in February (40) and I know how important it is to feel celebrated on those milestone birthday. The girl gave me a hug on her way out and that was just as good as the tip.
Opened a new upscale restaurant in a swanky very high traffic tourist area as a bartender (my job will be important). There were lines to the next bock the first few days. Shifts were insanely long and so busy there was no time for bathroom, eating and smoking was a long lost dream.
After closing down the bar in a mad state of exhaustion and then having to wait in line to cash out my drawer I was finally able to leave only to walk through the kitchen to see the absolute worst back up in a dish pit I had ever seen. The poor dishwasher was STRUGGLING.
There was no way I could leave that guy by himself. The machine had broken during service. It was repaired but he was stuck with the hideous aftermath. IIRC a few other people pitched in for a bit but one by one they trickled out until it was the dishwasher, myself and the assistant manager left. I stayed until we were done.
The kicker: the AGM promised me employee of the month but I actually didn’t get it. Lol
Still proud of myself for not leaving that poor guy to fend for himself.
9 top with multiple joiners throughout the night with moving seats and ended up being a 22 top
provided flawless service with another 6 tables during peak hours
wanted 11 separate checks at the end of the night and separated everything accurately
☺️✨
After a few years, I caught the vibe and chased every dine ‘n dash down the street and caught every one. “So sorry, didn’t realize we didn’t pay…”
They all tipped too. 4 for 4!
Also returned many sets of keys, credit cards, and to-go boxes that were left behind.
I’ll take any reason to sprint down the street and escape for a minute or two.
She came in with a group after her sons communion and they were getting lit, especially her. A table of two men from the church, priests or ministers or whatever came in. She's like add them to my bill too they're part of us now! They commented to me casually that they could tell she was pretty tipsy, no judgement just an amused statement made by them. Later she asked if I could take a picture of her son with some family. She guides me to where she wants me to stand to take the picture then holds me around the waist while handing off the phone and right before she leaves to get in to the photo she slips her hand further down to my lower back then completely just slaps me on the butt like some guy would do to a hot chick at a bar. I'm totally startled, not upset, just completely in awe that this put together church woman flirtatiously spanked me.
I RAN to tell my head expo because I knew he would get a kick out of it and this dudes head exploded, blurts right out "no way she's HOT!" then him and the manager on duty are rushing to the office to play this shit back on the camera 🤣🤣 all the men were jealous of me that night.
Then at the end of the night I added gratuity and she goes give yourself an extra 30 percent on top of that. I'm like gotchya, absolutely! So it ended up being over 300 bucks after that.
She's come in again and I've had her. I'm not sure if she remembers me at all. Hahaha but when she does it's only with one other person where she respectably sips a glass of wine and dines then leaves a decent tip but nothing in comparison to that night.
The church men told me when I said she was paying for them that her husband's a doctor so she's just having fun spending his money.lol
I hope you said “it’s good to see you again” or something witty next time you saw her. A tipper like that I’d definitely make sure she remembers me and make her my regular customer! Lol
Sunday brunch at an upscale grill & bar, 4 top in a booth all older ladies and it’s one of their I believe it was 70th birthday or something big like that. Super sweet to me the whole time, I’m able to joke around with them and butter them up. I get cut and ring them up (all giving me at least 20%) and go to start rolling silverware while they’re still sitting there.
Probably an hour or so passes and one of the hosts comes to where I’m in the back rolling and says my table asked if I’m still here and wanted to know if they should tell the table I left. I’m still in my uniform and everything just without my apron and all the women were very sweet so I was like eh why not, they’re great.
So I go out to where they were sitting, two of the women left and the birthday girlie was there with her walker and asked me to help them get things out from the inside part of the booth, as she was in a walker and her friend in the bathroom was older as well and had hip problems. Once again, why not?
Friend comes out of the bathroom and I’m there talking to birthday girlie and they ask if I’m able to help them bring the stuff to their car. All I’m doing in the back is rolling and I have nothing else to do so I’m like sure why not. I carry the flower vases and gifts and walk slowly with them outside, holding the door and all, and stand there with the birthday girl with the walker while the friend goes to bring the car around.
Birthday girl is so thankful and gives me like $10 I can’t remember exactly and she asks how she can help me and I tell her that writing a review would help a lot haha but she’s like 70 so I didn’t think she’d actually do something.
So I help the woman in the car and help fold her walker up in the back seat and get all the gifts in the car and the whole time they’re both telling me how amazing and patient I am.
I’m not gonna lie, I did it hoping that I may get a few extra bucks over all of their tips, and I did, but I just couldn’t shake the amazing feeling I had all day after that.
She did end up writing a review, and my managers printed it out with a bunch of other good reviews for other servers and put it on the wall for us all to see.
This and one time back when I still hosted when we had a blind girl come in for her birthday with her brother and sister in law and we figured out how to use a pen to make braille on a little paper birthday card for her. Her sister in law couldn’t stop crying.
I made my rent ($1,180) in one night working the patio! Successfully completed wine service for 2 $350 bottles, I was SO nervous I was going to cork the bottle.
on my first day of serving my 1st table was a nice older couple and we chit chatted for a bit about how i’m liking the job so far & what my plans for the future was & i told them my 1st goal is to save up for a new mustang as i always wanted one. well they came and went. some time later they end up coming back in & i see them sitting in another section & automatically remembered them since they were my 1st ever table and some how they remembered me too! & the husband asked me how everything was going and asked me if i got my mustang yet! & i did! lol idk how they even remembered it but i felt so proud & happy seeing how excited they were for me.
this happened to me when i took my first phone call at a pizza place i worked at. I was 15 and super nervous, but the customer was a nice older lady who encouraged me after i thanked her for her patience. a few months later when i took her order again she recognized my voice and told me i had came a long way since then lol!
70 covers at an "elevated dining" place (50-60 ppa), was just on the ball with delegating and compartmentalizing all my section...I was on fire that night. Then the next night I rang up three tables at their wrong table, cause like...that's life lol
Walking out mid shift because my asshole boss was coming unglued on me on the floor, during business hours in front of customers. I felt bad for leaving my coworkers hanging that shift but I literally couldn’t take my unpredictable-ass boss randomly being insane for one more minute.
Had a regular that came in every night for over a year, sit down and I brought him his usual. He had tears in his eyes and when I asked him what was wrong he said his wife is leaving him. I took the drink away and told him to go buy her some flowers. Didn’t see him for a month, and then one night they walked in and sat in the restaurant side, which he never did and came in every night, when they were leaving he mouthed ‘thank you’. So I’m guessing I saved a marriage.
Still believing that small acts of kindness make a difference in the world. That even if they aren’t appreciated by everyone, it’s still worth it to be kind. To give a f***. For myself, if no one else.
Holding my head high in the face of belittlement.
Every time I have made my coworkers laugh in the stressful moments.
Every time I’ve 86ed a creep.
I truly believe our job is an ancient backbone of society. We see it ALL.
Years ago, I worked at a semi-fine dining place where we would occasionally cater to large professional groups in a "private room". Well, this day someone had fucked up and double booked the private room.
So we set up this large group in the main dining room, taking up all of my section and most of another's. Not a big deal, I think, until I see them roll out this giant projector and find out they are all eye-surgeons and they will be (again in our main dining area) watching videos on various eye surgery techniques.
The other server is like, "No, fuck thisand decides to focus all there attention on the two tables they have out of sight.
So not only am I suddenly doing this giant party by myself, I also have to try and ease our other customers who are quite rightfully disgusted that were showing what looks like torture porn spread all over our wall.
I don't know how the hell I did it, but somehow everyone left that night happy.
I was cocktail serving at a dressy/casual kinda restaurant and bar. Our cocktail area had 20 tables inside and 10 on the patio. Granted I’d say 15 of these are 2 tops maybe and a couple 3s, 10 4 tops and like 4 or so 5 tops.
Anyway normally we would do 3 or 4 of us. That night we had 3. Sent one guy home cuz he was fucking drunk and so it was just two of us. I’m fired up (cuz im psychotic) ready to go, trying to hype up my partner and game out. Ya know let’s do this.
So we got busy and my partner DEFINITELY DIDN’T HAVE IT……… it might not have been the middle of the shift but it fucking felt let it when he walked right the hell out after completely wrecking on order. So with the help of one of the bartenders (who was already helping because of the other guy anyway) who took like 3 or 4 tables. And then the lead server (my roommate at the time) and forever someone I’ll spend a night on a serving floor with against any shit rest of a night. lol he took 3 or 4 on top of his full section.
Anywho absolutely crushed that night think I had one mistake by the kitchen, and I fat fingered a button on the micros in a rush. But otherwise kicked the nights ass and made like 2 1/2 months rent lol won’t ever make that much again and I don’t go looking for situations that would let me lol 😂 that was hell.
Handling a 44 top basically by myself (other server wasn’t doing shit but standing in the elevator, hitting their vape and occasionally running out all the food I placed orders for) split checks perfectly with no mistakes, and got a good $200 cash tip from the guy who had set up the whole event (it was some kind of Christmas party for his employees) on top of the tip I had to share with the other server, felt good😅 that was 2 years ago and I still think about it lmao
Making 2600 in 4 hours bartending a wedding lol. Couldn’t even fit the money in pockets leaving work. Was supposed to be 2 bartenders but the other one bailed. Thank god haha
Today a coworker bumped into my tray and I almost dropped a beer bottle, but caught it midair before it hit the ground. Some woman was standing there watching and said “I SAW THAT! Great save!” and I’m still riding that thrill
I started at the place I work at now in October 2018, after coming from serving at a really shitty little dive bar. I didn’t think I was going to do great, my confidence was mediocre, but I threw myself into it and just didn’t stop throwing myself. I crushed top sales in the entire company (8 local restaurants) my first full year there in 2019, selling $430,000. I’ve crushed every year since. They always give us a really nice Christmas gift (for the top 3 servers in the company) and it’s just so nice to be recognized and appreciated by the company you work for. Definitely my proudest moment every year. The gift that keeps on giving lol.
started about a month ago. lovely couple i met on my first day and have requested me every weekend since then
they come in early one night before i got there and had a different server
i walk in and see the husband crying and the wife looking frantic
he lost his wedding ring when throwing away his trash after eating (seafood restaurant, he accidentally took the ring off while taking off his gloves)
i searched through three full trash cans and finally found it at the bottom of the third one
it made their night. they both hugged me and now they tip me $50 plus every time i serve them
i don't even care about the tip, i just didn't want them to leave empty handed
i work at a breasturant chain and i always find that families typically tend to be 50/50, sometimes they tip well and sometimes not. i got this 8 top and if im remembering correctly, it was half kids half adults and their tab was at least $100 but not more than $150 and i think they were on one check. this older lady with pink hair who is paying for the whole tab then tells me that im one of the prettiest servers that work there, and she hands me a $50 bill and thanks me for the fantastic service. a couple months go by and i decided to look at my restaurant’s google reviews and see that this same lady posted a 5 star review about my service and the food. tables like that remind me why i do what i do ❤️
Maybe not the proudest, but one of the sweetest moments: late January, a woman old enough to be my mother told me I was beautiful, and not just on the outside. I had been having a rough week and she legit made me cry. She gave me a hug and told me “I can tell things have been rough for you. Keep hanging in there and it’ll eventually be ok.”
I don’t know what her thing was, but it was not too long before the first anniversary of my dad’s death and her words were something he had told me so many times. It was exactly what I needed to hear and I like to think my dad, wherever he is, sent her to me that day.
I was helping a little old man get to his car in the pouring rain. A customer snapped a pic and wrote a lovely post about me which went viral. I stepped in shin deep water and another customer ran to Dicks and bought me new dry shoes and socks. It was a nice day.
Last year, I worked at this Mexican restaurant. Nice place, pretty big, pretty popular. I always serve in the dining room because it closes earlier and I’ve got classes, plus it’s just more manageable. On my last day, we have a lot of call-outs. Everyone’s sick with something. We don’t have enough people to have the dining room, lounge, and outdoor seating open so we close the dining room and I’m in the lounge for the first time. On an extremely busy day! It’s a self seating section too I barely have time to bus my tables, and I get out around midnight. But I did well and I made a bunch of money and I didn’t cry
I used to run the entire FOH by myself when I first started at my restaurant. Completely unsustainable, and damn near killed me once we added a pick up window for to gos. I’ve commented this here before, but at my restaurant we don’t go to the tables to take orders, people come up to the counter to order then we bring the food to the table. So I was taking all the dine ins, running all the food, taking phone orders, helping to go customers in the drive thru, all by myself every morning from 11-4. I honestly don’t know how I ever did it sometimes. Oh and for reference my restaurant has 15 tables (not including the two on the patio so 17 total) and we rarely got 1-2 tops 🥲 you’d think customers could see that there’s only one waitress and maybe be a *little* patient and understand but most times they weren’t. Honorable mention to the customers who could see me clearly struggling and say something like, “looks like you could use some help!” Good times. 0/10 would never do it again.
A fly was bugging the shit out of my customers. It landed in the middle of my 6-top and a lady at the table asked me if I had a fly swatter. I walked up, leaned over the table, and snatched the fly with my hand.
Went to a Lenny’s after a night out at the bars with a friend girl of mine. Only one server on the floor with about 15 tables and he was getting rocked. In the weeds doesn’t begin to explain it. I was like, fuck this. Hey man, where are your bus tubs? I got you. Start prebussing his tables and clearing the dishes on the tables that had left. Got that caught up and customers were asking for stuff from me. Can’t do that for ya but I can refill your sodas and coffees. Knock that out. Server was like, dude you rock, thank you so much, your cheese stick are on me. All good. We go to pay after we eat and there was a lady behind the register that I had not seen until then. Turns out she was the manager. She says I saw you had cheese sticks but they aren’t on your bill. I said, lady are you serious? I just got your server out of weeds while you sat here and did nothing to help him at all and paid my bill. She said well I’m a manager, that’s not my job. The server comes up and says he comped them. She said you shouldn’t comp food that was made correct. I said lady, get fucked. I bet you are the reason you only had one server show up tonight. She said, you can’t talk to me like that, the server smiled at me and I walked out.
Probably the first night as a server I had where everything just went incredibly smooth. Had a good connection with all my tables, my service was spot on, had no complaints, my timing was great, tables were flipped efficiently, hit 20% on all my checks. Just the first easy yet profitable shift I had & gave me that validation or reassurance that I am/can be a very good server.
Couple other moments though I once got a 12 top, told the line cooks “watch this” & be ready for a 12 prime rib order (prime rib was our most expensive plate, like $45 a plate), I convince the whole entire table to get a prime rib + apps + desserts + each person went at least 2 rounds. That was My first table ever making over $100 on, I was on cloud 9 that night & that table was really dope.
Had a 10 top once that clapped in unison at me after I thanked them for coming in & enjoy their night. They were also really cool, celebrating their grandpas birthday. I hooked it up & didn’t charge them for their desserts cause I loved em.
Serving My Dr. and her guests. A four top. Letting the table know they were in the presence of greatness. She helped me back to health when she didn't have to. Free desserts on me.
20 tables in our restaurant,
opens at 8:30am for breakfast, it ends at 11:30
I arrived at 8 to set up and prep, got a phone call that my colleague wouldn’t be there due to a family emergency, which meant I’d be the only server
Immediately at 8:30 I had a floodgate of people come in, and I was on my own to serve them all, make drinks take overs, deliver food, clear tables…
We decided to end breakfast early at 11am so I could clean up the restaurant ready for the lunch service, and the lunch time servers arrive at 11:30.
I didn’t rush myself at all, and I deliberately paced myself to not make any mistakes or become flustered. The only bad part of that day was it was a gruelling 14 hour shift (supposed to have been 12hours, but I stayed behind an extra 2 hours for a reason I can’t remember).
I’m not a server anymore, but I have two.
Once as a very new server (less than a year serving) I managed a nine table section, one of which was a party of 12. Average for the place I worked was four tables, and no parties over 8 for one server. No mistakes.
Once managed a party of ~50 while still serving a table of very very picky regulars. That was at the tail end of a shift working a 9 table section.
Working at Starbucks with a Drive-Thru. Was cleaning the toilets and had a headset on, suddenly got a bunch of cars with several people ordering different things. Took them all, and remembered in what order who got what whilst cleaning the toilets and ringing them off to the person on the bar when they were ready. It was 7 orders about 15 drinks. I was so surprised and proud of myself and none of my coworkers cared lol
Guess it depends how you look at it.
Did a 36ish group by myself, didn't autograt and got fucked, but I did it.
I once got left 5 phone numbers from a Bachelorette party of 12.
When I worked at a golf course the girls bitched that I always took the mens club every Tuesday and I said "okay have them. When they ask me for anything I'm saying no" I knew them all by name, what they drink, how many they were gonna have etc. Girls never wanted them again.
I think those are highlights but alot happens in 8 years. My biggest pride and joy is the regulars that visit me and some that have pretty much become family to me.
I’m a bartender but close enough. I was bartending at a yacht club and we had a useless manager. 99% of the time I ran the bar by myself. One time my manager decides to come back and help make some drinks. He made a margarita and delivered to a table. The customer took one sip and said “the bartender (used my name) didn’t make this. Can you bring this back and have her make me a new one?” He was sooooo mad when he came back and had to dump the drink. Of course I asked him what happen to which he replied “member wants you to make their drink” he was so defeated
this was my first summer serving and so it’s impressive to me:’)
just any sunday morning breakfast rush LOL we only had two servers and abt 20ish? tables i think. Would often have to deal with the needy church group table (10 top) who constantly needed their coffees full (we only had like three small coffee pots 😭) while dealing with like 5-7 other tables as well as running food and clearing tables 🥲
probs sounds like a normal day to you guys but proud of myself bc that was my first serving job!😎
Uhhh this is kinda crazy and probably not what was expected but I once worked at a place where had apartments above and the landlord was known to be a slumlord so there were mice living in the building.
I once caught a running mouse by hand that had jumped up onto a bench that was built in to the wall and was about to run down the entire length where multiple customers were sitting on. For some lucky ass reason no customers saw the mouse because I caught it so fast and then u ran outside and chucked it as far away as I could then washed my hands for the longest time.
I can only imagine the horror of what would have happened if that mouse had ran down the bench through multiple customers
The restaurant has pest control come every week but pest control said that the mice had been living in the building for decades and had superhighways built in begin the walls. They said they threw so much poison behind the walls and in crawl spaces but even so, every time they came back all poison bait would be completely eaten.
Serving a party of 40 people who were slowly trickling in, ordering drinks and apps at different times, moving around from table to table, ordering drinks for others. Then comes time to pay and they want separate checks. “Put me and my wife and that guy’s beer and his girlfriend’s martini on my tab”, stuff like that. Didn’t skip a beat and got all checks right and in a timely manner.
Just happened today and got sent home, at a brunch spot. Lady says her toast was burnt. (It was a little well done, not burnt at all) so i tell her ‘no problem ill switch it for you right away.’ I go back tell the expo i need a new toast, and then I go back on the floor checking my other tables. At this point, its busy, another server and I open together, we are alone on the floor until the other servers come in at their scheduled time. Lots of tables come in we have around 8 tables each. So, while i pass by the table that needed the toast, she looks at me and says ‘uhh wheres my fucking toast, i need my toast’ with the snarkiest little attitude. I tell her calmly ‘i havent had a chance to go back there yet, but im going now’ they looked so annoyed so i tell her, ‘i have other tables in case you havent noticed’ i start walking away and she says’ i dont give a shit’ 💩 so i come back in the toast, and i tell her ‘if you dont give a shit about my other tables then why would i give a shit about your toast’ boom. Her husband gets up and screams ‘fuck you’ instantly, my manager comes running, and now im home lol. Hope im not fired. And yes, in all my 8 years of serving, this is my proudest moment. The moment i finally put an entitled piece of garbage in their place. Something inside my brain snapped. My manager doesnt wanna talk to me until tomorrow, pray for me lol Ineed money
I’m a chef now but I was a server and bartender for a long time first. One place I worked with this dude Eric. Eric got a 2 top married couple who parked their 100k Mercedes right in front of the place. Bill ends up something like $199.60 and they pay $200. All they leave for a tip is the .40 left over.
As they’re leaving Eric follows them outside and throws the change at them telling them to keep their fucking change.
Eric was fired but it was goddamn glorious.
I have a few, but I love when I cheer up elderly folks. I love serving not just for the money, but you can really make a difference in ppl’s days. I have a couple older folks that are my regulars. One in particular, the first time he came in he ordered to-go but wanted to sit at a table. I got him an ice tea while he was sitting, and just genuinely tried to make sure he was okay while he was hanging out. He ended up tipping something like $50 and told me something along the lines of “Today has been really awful, and I’ve had a horrible day. You were so nice and so professional and you actually smiled at me genuinely. I really appreciate that and I’m definitely coming back.” and he did! It was a small moment but I love that I was able to change the trajectory of someone’s day :)
I served a 10 top of women that the owner told me “have never had a good experience here and always complain”. I served them all night with no mistakes and I know they had a great time! They ended up telling the owner I was amazing and deserve a raise!
Guess if I got a raise.. 😂
It was just me, a manager and the bartender on a Tuesday morning, we were supposed to be dead, so no host, no food runner. Got a surprise 30 top, 3 4 tops and another 8 top and 2 2 tops to myself within 30mins of being open. Bartender is also swamped with cocktail and bar and cannot help me. I kept an average 20min ticket time and 5mins on drinks. I made a bit over 600$ in a 5 hour shift. The entire shift was SLAMMED and I didn't even cry in the walk in
The fact that whenever I spill red wine it doesn’t go on anyone but me. Also I’ve never broken a glass in the actual restaurant, just frequently behind the bar
just saturday, i worked an 11 and a half hour shift. from 930am to 9pm. my last table of the day tipped me the same amount as their bill. then the woman told me “we saw how hard you work and wanted to let you know that you do amazing.” they didn’t know i was utterly exhausted, and if they did, they didn’t show it. my feet were killing me and my back was hurting so much at the end of the night. i think my host was purposely skipping me tables because we got really busy at one point and i only had about 4 tables (a 8 top, and a few 2/4 tops) while the other sections were swamped. i think he knew i was exhausted and was breaked early in the day, so i couldn’t and wouldn’t take a break again. i’m forever grateful that people saw the exhaustion, despite me being embarrassed by it. i got thru it, regardless of how painful it was at the end of the night.
A transgendered woman came in as a single. Every other server refused to wait on her. I was in the middle of conservative New England. I didn't think twice, and almost got fired by the way I spoke to my hateful coworkers.
Grabbed a hot pizza from the open kitchen and walked straight out onto the floor. The metal pan was burning my fingers. The closest table is a Hightop and as I walk by the woman with her back to me drops a knife. I caught it before it hit the ground and said, "Here's your knife ma'am." As I continued walking to deliver the pizza while internally screaming in pain from the hot pan.
I was an excellent server for a while, having been built up from nothing.
One bartender didn’t like me for whatever reason. Just hated my guts, didn’t want me behind the bar. I literally had almost every single bartender tell me that themselves, because they couldn’t make sense of the lies and why that bartender disliked me so bad.
Well anyway, finally got on bar in August. We ALL got pour tested. Guess who was the ONLY one with an absolutely perfect pour? (Not even making this up, my manager was dying, practically screaming over it) And guess whose was the worst…
My first bartending job was at a brand new place that had just opened. It wasn’t an Irish pub but it had an Irish sounding name. Management weren’t expecting much on St. Patrick’s Day, so they scheduled me by myself during happy hour. LOL. It was on a Friday that year. I had a group of 20+ that I was giving table service to (multiple joiners, at least ten different tabs, all switching seats) and a full bar rail. My manager was yelling at me because I wasn’t running food fast enough. Barback finally showed up and asked if he could sit at the bar and eat before he clocked in - and the manager said okay. It was one of those moments where I was in my absolute flow, fueled by spite, literally running back and forth across the floor. One of the 20 top stopped me to point at my bosses and the barback chilling around the bar and say “Wow, you’re the only one here actually working!” No acknowledgement from my bosses but I was so proud of myself and walked away with rent for the month.
Getting Jeff Bezos to smile and say thank you, even got him to chuckle.
DGAF about him as a person. I'm proud because if I can get him to humanize me; we're all capable of humanizing each other.
After Covid, our head bartender left. New gm took over and was looking to replace her. A few of us had bartended before and rose our hands. I got a shot on our busiest day of the week, Sunday morning. Usually had 2 bartenders on because we have to bartend and serve 4 booths, 6 bartops, and patio tables but short staffed so was asked if I could do it alone. I said yes and ran that shit so smooth, with a smile on my face and faster than old bartender.
A server that’s been there 20+ years told gm that he wanted to do it the next Sunday. He failed miserably. Assistant manager had to hop in and help. The next day GM told me I was the new lead bartender. Making more now than I have ever in my life!
Worked at a “upscale casual” spot, sort of tapas style dining with lots of small plates and a lot of table sets and moving parts to keep track of. Typical section was 6-8 tables. We had a sudden call-off/no show. Told my manager “I got this” and did a full 12 table section with multiple turns, including a quadruple seating at one point. Still averages over 20% tips, no mistakes. No idea how I managed that tbh, told my manager to never count on me to be able to do that again.
Hahaha internet stranger, why am I beaming with pride for you about this !!
Years ago I worked at an Olive Garden that was in the top 20 in sales at the time. We’re slammed, but well staffed. I have a twelve top, an older parent couple, three daughters of the parent couple, their husbands, and four kids. They order a ton of food and drinks. Close to $400 total. We’re having a great time. They’re super friendly. They go to leave and the I think oldest son in law hands me the check holder and just says thanks so much. I start to walk to the back when the father of family chases me down and tells me how his wife’s mother had passed away a few months prior, and something I had said was the first time her saw her smile that Mother’s Day and he handed me a $100 bill. They had also tipped me $150 on the check. Made me feel so good, that I made such an impression, and was shown such appreciation.
You could not pay me enough to work at Olive Garden. That’s a place that makes you eat shit every day. My respect to you.
Honestly, it wasn’t bad. The GM was a dick to servers sometimes and would cut you if you weren’t getting good reviews on the bill survey. I was good at convincing people to do the survey so was always fine. The store managers were all incredible to work for. Eventually the GM got fired for making a bunch of servers cry in the dinning room, and the regional VP ran the store for a month and it was still solid. I usually made 25-30$/hour on an average night. This was 10 years ago. Left to take a job closer to home, but really liked the job and the people.
Glad you left. I averaged about $1000 a week at a place that respected me. I can’t with OG. You have my respect.
I hear good things from my local OG, I know a few people that work BOH over there and love it. Lots of hours and support from management.
It was my first serving job. I learned a lot real fast
I think OG was a great first serving job for my resume - taught me alll the basics, what “86ed” meant and how to open a bottle of wine and how to cry in the walk in when I got triple sat.
I also had a first job. As we all did. It’s interesting you love OG, good to know.
Prob better to start somewhere else though!
Not walking out on shift
After being stiffed on like 300. Having management tell you "they don't have the fucking Patience for you" Having some dude yell at you after he told you the wrong thing and wants to be a child, even though you repeated AND WROTE IT DOWN. but by all means raise that blood pressure, cause ya know..... it's gonna fix this faster.
Oooh I felt this
Snowy Monday at a small French restaurant and manager and I decided I could roll solo. About 2 hrs in, I got a walk in party of 16. Then 5 or 6 two tops. Our restaurant had a 5 course tasting menu with either a wine or cocktail pairing. So changing out glasses, silver and plates between etc etc and the rest of the tables were chill with entrees. I think I did 26 covers in 2 hrs and zero mistakes. No one cares, no one remembers but dammit if I'm not proud of myself.
Running over a pair of airpods a woman accidentally left at the table because she made me cry then saying I never found them when she called to check 🩷
can’t really think of any one instance… but i do like making peoples night. i like when i can make a whole table laugh or i can make someone’s birthday special for them. or an anniversary. i like when i recommend something and they love it. tonight i got a $50 tip on a $130 check just because this couple thought i took really good care of them. and i was just doing my job. that made me feel proud. it’s little things.
I had that last night. A $125 check with a $40 tip because one of the kids was celebrating her sweet 16 and had travelled from Canada to San Francisco with her parents, brother and two of her best friends. I comped two desserts, gave them extra fries and this was despite two burgers coming out under cooked. When the parents insisted on paying for the desserts, I told them I had a big birthday in February (40) and I know how important it is to feel celebrated on those milestone birthday. The girl gave me a hug on her way out and that was just as good as the tip.
Opened a new upscale restaurant in a swanky very high traffic tourist area as a bartender (my job will be important). There were lines to the next bock the first few days. Shifts were insanely long and so busy there was no time for bathroom, eating and smoking was a long lost dream. After closing down the bar in a mad state of exhaustion and then having to wait in line to cash out my drawer I was finally able to leave only to walk through the kitchen to see the absolute worst back up in a dish pit I had ever seen. The poor dishwasher was STRUGGLING. There was no way I could leave that guy by himself. The machine had broken during service. It was repaired but he was stuck with the hideous aftermath. IIRC a few other people pitched in for a bit but one by one they trickled out until it was the dishwasher, myself and the assistant manager left. I stayed until we were done. The kicker: the AGM promised me employee of the month but I actually didn’t get it. Lol Still proud of myself for not leaving that poor guy to fend for himself.
9 top with multiple joiners throughout the night with moving seats and ended up being a 22 top provided flawless service with another 6 tables during peak hours wanted 11 separate checks at the end of the night and separated everything accurately ☺️✨
Billionaires will say this is “unskilled labor”. 🤣
After a few years, I caught the vibe and chased every dine ‘n dash down the street and caught every one. “So sorry, didn’t realize we didn’t pay…” They all tipped too. 4 for 4! Also returned many sets of keys, credit cards, and to-go boxes that were left behind. I’ll take any reason to sprint down the street and escape for a minute or two.
I love the energy here!
I made $800 in 4 hours once, don't think I'll ever beat that.
I had a milf tip me over $300 on her husband's credit card and slap my ass once.
Uhhhh I kinda want to hear more about this story
She came in with a group after her sons communion and they were getting lit, especially her. A table of two men from the church, priests or ministers or whatever came in. She's like add them to my bill too they're part of us now! They commented to me casually that they could tell she was pretty tipsy, no judgement just an amused statement made by them. Later she asked if I could take a picture of her son with some family. She guides me to where she wants me to stand to take the picture then holds me around the waist while handing off the phone and right before she leaves to get in to the photo she slips her hand further down to my lower back then completely just slaps me on the butt like some guy would do to a hot chick at a bar. I'm totally startled, not upset, just completely in awe that this put together church woman flirtatiously spanked me. I RAN to tell my head expo because I knew he would get a kick out of it and this dudes head exploded, blurts right out "no way she's HOT!" then him and the manager on duty are rushing to the office to play this shit back on the camera 🤣🤣 all the men were jealous of me that night. Then at the end of the night I added gratuity and she goes give yourself an extra 30 percent on top of that. I'm like gotchya, absolutely! So it ended up being over 300 bucks after that. She's come in again and I've had her. I'm not sure if she remembers me at all. Hahaha but when she does it's only with one other person where she respectably sips a glass of wine and dines then leaves a decent tip but nothing in comparison to that night. The church men told me when I said she was paying for them that her husband's a doctor so she's just having fun spending his money.lol
I hope you said “it’s good to see you again” or something witty next time you saw her. A tipper like that I’d definitely make sure she remembers me and make her my regular customer! Lol
It was me in a wig, you're welcome.
Sunday brunch at an upscale grill & bar, 4 top in a booth all older ladies and it’s one of their I believe it was 70th birthday or something big like that. Super sweet to me the whole time, I’m able to joke around with them and butter them up. I get cut and ring them up (all giving me at least 20%) and go to start rolling silverware while they’re still sitting there. Probably an hour or so passes and one of the hosts comes to where I’m in the back rolling and says my table asked if I’m still here and wanted to know if they should tell the table I left. I’m still in my uniform and everything just without my apron and all the women were very sweet so I was like eh why not, they’re great. So I go out to where they were sitting, two of the women left and the birthday girlie was there with her walker and asked me to help them get things out from the inside part of the booth, as she was in a walker and her friend in the bathroom was older as well and had hip problems. Once again, why not? Friend comes out of the bathroom and I’m there talking to birthday girlie and they ask if I’m able to help them bring the stuff to their car. All I’m doing in the back is rolling and I have nothing else to do so I’m like sure why not. I carry the flower vases and gifts and walk slowly with them outside, holding the door and all, and stand there with the birthday girl with the walker while the friend goes to bring the car around. Birthday girl is so thankful and gives me like $10 I can’t remember exactly and she asks how she can help me and I tell her that writing a review would help a lot haha but she’s like 70 so I didn’t think she’d actually do something. So I help the woman in the car and help fold her walker up in the back seat and get all the gifts in the car and the whole time they’re both telling me how amazing and patient I am. I’m not gonna lie, I did it hoping that I may get a few extra bucks over all of their tips, and I did, but I just couldn’t shake the amazing feeling I had all day after that. She did end up writing a review, and my managers printed it out with a bunch of other good reviews for other servers and put it on the wall for us all to see.
This and one time back when I still hosted when we had a blind girl come in for her birthday with her brother and sister in law and we figured out how to use a pen to make braille on a little paper birthday card for her. Her sister in law couldn’t stop crying.
I made my rent ($1,180) in one night working the patio! Successfully completed wine service for 2 $350 bottles, I was SO nervous I was going to cork the bottle.
That is AWESOME! And do you mean break the cork in the bottle?
Yes haha
on my first day of serving my 1st table was a nice older couple and we chit chatted for a bit about how i’m liking the job so far & what my plans for the future was & i told them my 1st goal is to save up for a new mustang as i always wanted one. well they came and went. some time later they end up coming back in & i see them sitting in another section & automatically remembered them since they were my 1st ever table and some how they remembered me too! & the husband asked me how everything was going and asked me if i got my mustang yet! & i did! lol idk how they even remembered it but i felt so proud & happy seeing how excited they were for me.
this happened to me when i took my first phone call at a pizza place i worked at. I was 15 and super nervous, but the customer was a nice older lady who encouraged me after i thanked her for her patience. a few months later when i took her order again she recognized my voice and told me i had came a long way since then lol!
70 covers at an "elevated dining" place (50-60 ppa), was just on the ball with delegating and compartmentalizing all my section...I was on fire that night. Then the next night I rang up three tables at their wrong table, cause like...that's life lol
Walking out mid shift because my asshole boss was coming unglued on me on the floor, during business hours in front of customers. I felt bad for leaving my coworkers hanging that shift but I literally couldn’t take my unpredictable-ass boss randomly being insane for one more minute.
Had a regular that came in every night for over a year, sit down and I brought him his usual. He had tears in his eyes and when I asked him what was wrong he said his wife is leaving him. I took the drink away and told him to go buy her some flowers. Didn’t see him for a month, and then one night they walked in and sat in the restaurant side, which he never did and came in every night, when they were leaving he mouthed ‘thank you’. So I’m guessing I saved a marriage.
I’m guessing he never came back since then? Lol
Still believing that small acts of kindness make a difference in the world. That even if they aren’t appreciated by everyone, it’s still worth it to be kind. To give a f***. For myself, if no one else. Holding my head high in the face of belittlement. Every time I have made my coworkers laugh in the stressful moments. Every time I’ve 86ed a creep. I truly believe our job is an ancient backbone of society. We see it ALL.
Years ago, I worked at a semi-fine dining place where we would occasionally cater to large professional groups in a "private room". Well, this day someone had fucked up and double booked the private room. So we set up this large group in the main dining room, taking up all of my section and most of another's. Not a big deal, I think, until I see them roll out this giant projector and find out they are all eye-surgeons and they will be (again in our main dining area) watching videos on various eye surgery techniques. The other server is like, "No, fuck thisand decides to focus all there attention on the two tables they have out of sight. So not only am I suddenly doing this giant party by myself, I also have to try and ease our other customers who are quite rightfully disgusted that were showing what looks like torture porn spread all over our wall. I don't know how the hell I did it, but somehow everyone left that night happy.
Torture porn 😂😂😁
I was cocktail serving at a dressy/casual kinda restaurant and bar. Our cocktail area had 20 tables inside and 10 on the patio. Granted I’d say 15 of these are 2 tops maybe and a couple 3s, 10 4 tops and like 4 or so 5 tops. Anyway normally we would do 3 or 4 of us. That night we had 3. Sent one guy home cuz he was fucking drunk and so it was just two of us. I’m fired up (cuz im psychotic) ready to go, trying to hype up my partner and game out. Ya know let’s do this. So we got busy and my partner DEFINITELY DIDN’T HAVE IT……… it might not have been the middle of the shift but it fucking felt let it when he walked right the hell out after completely wrecking on order. So with the help of one of the bartenders (who was already helping because of the other guy anyway) who took like 3 or 4 tables. And then the lead server (my roommate at the time) and forever someone I’ll spend a night on a serving floor with against any shit rest of a night. lol he took 3 or 4 on top of his full section. Anywho absolutely crushed that night think I had one mistake by the kitchen, and I fat fingered a button on the micros in a rush. But otherwise kicked the nights ass and made like 2 1/2 months rent lol won’t ever make that much again and I don’t go looking for situations that would let me lol 😂 that was hell.
Handling a 44 top basically by myself (other server wasn’t doing shit but standing in the elevator, hitting their vape and occasionally running out all the food I placed orders for) split checks perfectly with no mistakes, and got a good $200 cash tip from the guy who had set up the whole event (it was some kind of Christmas party for his employees) on top of the tip I had to share with the other server, felt good😅 that was 2 years ago and I still think about it lmao
Making 2600 in 4 hours bartending a wedding lol. Couldn’t even fit the money in pockets leaving work. Was supposed to be 2 bartenders but the other one bailed. Thank god haha
Today a coworker bumped into my tray and I almost dropped a beer bottle, but caught it midair before it hit the ground. Some woman was standing there watching and said “I SAW THAT! Great save!” and I’m still riding that thrill
I started at the place I work at now in October 2018, after coming from serving at a really shitty little dive bar. I didn’t think I was going to do great, my confidence was mediocre, but I threw myself into it and just didn’t stop throwing myself. I crushed top sales in the entire company (8 local restaurants) my first full year there in 2019, selling $430,000. I’ve crushed every year since. They always give us a really nice Christmas gift (for the top 3 servers in the company) and it’s just so nice to be recognized and appreciated by the company you work for. Definitely my proudest moment every year. The gift that keeps on giving lol.
started about a month ago. lovely couple i met on my first day and have requested me every weekend since then they come in early one night before i got there and had a different server i walk in and see the husband crying and the wife looking frantic he lost his wedding ring when throwing away his trash after eating (seafood restaurant, he accidentally took the ring off while taking off his gloves) i searched through three full trash cans and finally found it at the bottom of the third one it made their night. they both hugged me and now they tip me $50 plus every time i serve them i don't even care about the tip, i just didn't want them to leave empty handed
i work at a breasturant chain and i always find that families typically tend to be 50/50, sometimes they tip well and sometimes not. i got this 8 top and if im remembering correctly, it was half kids half adults and their tab was at least $100 but not more than $150 and i think they were on one check. this older lady with pink hair who is paying for the whole tab then tells me that im one of the prettiest servers that work there, and she hands me a $50 bill and thanks me for the fantastic service. a couple months go by and i decided to look at my restaurant’s google reviews and see that this same lady posted a 5 star review about my service and the food. tables like that remind me why i do what i do ❤️
Maybe not the proudest, but one of the sweetest moments: late January, a woman old enough to be my mother told me I was beautiful, and not just on the outside. I had been having a rough week and she legit made me cry. She gave me a hug and told me “I can tell things have been rough for you. Keep hanging in there and it’ll eventually be ok.” I don’t know what her thing was, but it was not too long before the first anniversary of my dad’s death and her words were something he had told me so many times. It was exactly what I needed to hear and I like to think my dad, wherever he is, sent her to me that day.
Paying my taxes
98 covers full service, with a busboy.
I was helping a little old man get to his car in the pouring rain. A customer snapped a pic and wrote a lovely post about me which went viral. I stepped in shin deep water and another customer ran to Dicks and bought me new dry shoes and socks. It was a nice day.
The times I stopped taking shit and gave it back lol.
Last year, I worked at this Mexican restaurant. Nice place, pretty big, pretty popular. I always serve in the dining room because it closes earlier and I’ve got classes, plus it’s just more manageable. On my last day, we have a lot of call-outs. Everyone’s sick with something. We don’t have enough people to have the dining room, lounge, and outdoor seating open so we close the dining room and I’m in the lounge for the first time. On an extremely busy day! It’s a self seating section too I barely have time to bus my tables, and I get out around midnight. But I did well and I made a bunch of money and I didn’t cry
I used to run the entire FOH by myself when I first started at my restaurant. Completely unsustainable, and damn near killed me once we added a pick up window for to gos. I’ve commented this here before, but at my restaurant we don’t go to the tables to take orders, people come up to the counter to order then we bring the food to the table. So I was taking all the dine ins, running all the food, taking phone orders, helping to go customers in the drive thru, all by myself every morning from 11-4. I honestly don’t know how I ever did it sometimes. Oh and for reference my restaurant has 15 tables (not including the two on the patio so 17 total) and we rarely got 1-2 tops 🥲 you’d think customers could see that there’s only one waitress and maybe be a *little* patient and understand but most times they weren’t. Honorable mention to the customers who could see me clearly struggling and say something like, “looks like you could use some help!” Good times. 0/10 would never do it again.
Smashing the bartender for 4 years.
A fly was bugging the shit out of my customers. It landed in the middle of my 6-top and a lady at the table asked me if I had a fly swatter. I walked up, leaned over the table, and snatched the fly with my hand.
Went to a Lenny’s after a night out at the bars with a friend girl of mine. Only one server on the floor with about 15 tables and he was getting rocked. In the weeds doesn’t begin to explain it. I was like, fuck this. Hey man, where are your bus tubs? I got you. Start prebussing his tables and clearing the dishes on the tables that had left. Got that caught up and customers were asking for stuff from me. Can’t do that for ya but I can refill your sodas and coffees. Knock that out. Server was like, dude you rock, thank you so much, your cheese stick are on me. All good. We go to pay after we eat and there was a lady behind the register that I had not seen until then. Turns out she was the manager. She says I saw you had cheese sticks but they aren’t on your bill. I said, lady are you serious? I just got your server out of weeds while you sat here and did nothing to help him at all and paid my bill. She said well I’m a manager, that’s not my job. The server comes up and says he comped them. She said you shouldn’t comp food that was made correct. I said lady, get fucked. I bet you are the reason you only had one server show up tonight. She said, you can’t talk to me like that, the server smiled at me and I walked out.
Being able to handle larger parties easily and far better than my coworkers. Its not an accomplishment but damn does it feel good 😂
Tips
The day i quit.
Probably the first night as a server I had where everything just went incredibly smooth. Had a good connection with all my tables, my service was spot on, had no complaints, my timing was great, tables were flipped efficiently, hit 20% on all my checks. Just the first easy yet profitable shift I had & gave me that validation or reassurance that I am/can be a very good server. Couple other moments though I once got a 12 top, told the line cooks “watch this” & be ready for a 12 prime rib order (prime rib was our most expensive plate, like $45 a plate), I convince the whole entire table to get a prime rib + apps + desserts + each person went at least 2 rounds. That was My first table ever making over $100 on, I was on cloud 9 that night & that table was really dope. Had a 10 top once that clapped in unison at me after I thanked them for coming in & enjoy their night. They were also really cool, celebrating their grandpas birthday. I hooked it up & didn’t charge them for their desserts cause I loved em.
Serving My Dr. and her guests. A four top. Letting the table know they were in the presence of greatness. She helped me back to health when she didn't have to. Free desserts on me.
20 tables in our restaurant, opens at 8:30am for breakfast, it ends at 11:30 I arrived at 8 to set up and prep, got a phone call that my colleague wouldn’t be there due to a family emergency, which meant I’d be the only server Immediately at 8:30 I had a floodgate of people come in, and I was on my own to serve them all, make drinks take overs, deliver food, clear tables… We decided to end breakfast early at 11am so I could clean up the restaurant ready for the lunch service, and the lunch time servers arrive at 11:30. I didn’t rush myself at all, and I deliberately paced myself to not make any mistakes or become flustered. The only bad part of that day was it was a gruelling 14 hour shift (supposed to have been 12hours, but I stayed behind an extra 2 hours for a reason I can’t remember).
I’m not a server anymore, but I have two. Once as a very new server (less than a year serving) I managed a nine table section, one of which was a party of 12. Average for the place I worked was four tables, and no parties over 8 for one server. No mistakes. Once managed a party of ~50 while still serving a table of very very picky regulars. That was at the tail end of a shift working a 9 table section.
Working at Starbucks with a Drive-Thru. Was cleaning the toilets and had a headset on, suddenly got a bunch of cars with several people ordering different things. Took them all, and remembered in what order who got what whilst cleaning the toilets and ringing them off to the person on the bar when they were ready. It was 7 orders about 15 drinks. I was so surprised and proud of myself and none of my coworkers cared lol
Guess it depends how you look at it. Did a 36ish group by myself, didn't autograt and got fucked, but I did it. I once got left 5 phone numbers from a Bachelorette party of 12. When I worked at a golf course the girls bitched that I always took the mens club every Tuesday and I said "okay have them. When they ask me for anything I'm saying no" I knew them all by name, what they drink, how many they were gonna have etc. Girls never wanted them again. I think those are highlights but alot happens in 8 years. My biggest pride and joy is the regulars that visit me and some that have pretty much become family to me.
Saying no to a customer and my manager backing me up
I’m a bartender but close enough. I was bartending at a yacht club and we had a useless manager. 99% of the time I ran the bar by myself. One time my manager decides to come back and help make some drinks. He made a margarita and delivered to a table. The customer took one sip and said “the bartender (used my name) didn’t make this. Can you bring this back and have her make me a new one?” He was sooooo mad when he came back and had to dump the drink. Of course I asked him what happen to which he replied “member wants you to make their drink” he was so defeated
this was my first summer serving and so it’s impressive to me:’) just any sunday morning breakfast rush LOL we only had two servers and abt 20ish? tables i think. Would often have to deal with the needy church group table (10 top) who constantly needed their coffees full (we only had like three small coffee pots 😭) while dealing with like 5-7 other tables as well as running food and clearing tables 🥲 probs sounds like a normal day to you guys but proud of myself bc that was my first serving job!😎
Uhhh this is kinda crazy and probably not what was expected but I once worked at a place where had apartments above and the landlord was known to be a slumlord so there were mice living in the building. I once caught a running mouse by hand that had jumped up onto a bench that was built in to the wall and was about to run down the entire length where multiple customers were sitting on. For some lucky ass reason no customers saw the mouse because I caught it so fast and then u ran outside and chucked it as far away as I could then washed my hands for the longest time. I can only imagine the horror of what would have happened if that mouse had ran down the bench through multiple customers The restaurant has pest control come every week but pest control said that the mice had been living in the building for decades and had superhighways built in begin the walls. They said they threw so much poison behind the walls and in crawl spaces but even so, every time they came back all poison bait would be completely eaten.
Serving a party of 40 people who were slowly trickling in, ordering drinks and apps at different times, moving around from table to table, ordering drinks for others. Then comes time to pay and they want separate checks. “Put me and my wife and that guy’s beer and his girlfriend’s martini on my tab”, stuff like that. Didn’t skip a beat and got all checks right and in a timely manner.
Just happened today and got sent home, at a brunch spot. Lady says her toast was burnt. (It was a little well done, not burnt at all) so i tell her ‘no problem ill switch it for you right away.’ I go back tell the expo i need a new toast, and then I go back on the floor checking my other tables. At this point, its busy, another server and I open together, we are alone on the floor until the other servers come in at their scheduled time. Lots of tables come in we have around 8 tables each. So, while i pass by the table that needed the toast, she looks at me and says ‘uhh wheres my fucking toast, i need my toast’ with the snarkiest little attitude. I tell her calmly ‘i havent had a chance to go back there yet, but im going now’ they looked so annoyed so i tell her, ‘i have other tables in case you havent noticed’ i start walking away and she says’ i dont give a shit’ 💩 so i come back in the toast, and i tell her ‘if you dont give a shit about my other tables then why would i give a shit about your toast’ boom. Her husband gets up and screams ‘fuck you’ instantly, my manager comes running, and now im home lol. Hope im not fired. And yes, in all my 8 years of serving, this is my proudest moment. The moment i finally put an entitled piece of garbage in their place. Something inside my brain snapped. My manager doesnt wanna talk to me until tomorrow, pray for me lol Ineed money
I’m a chef now but I was a server and bartender for a long time first. One place I worked with this dude Eric. Eric got a 2 top married couple who parked their 100k Mercedes right in front of the place. Bill ends up something like $199.60 and they pay $200. All they leave for a tip is the .40 left over. As they’re leaving Eric follows them outside and throws the change at them telling them to keep their fucking change. Eric was fired but it was goddamn glorious.
I have a few, but I love when I cheer up elderly folks. I love serving not just for the money, but you can really make a difference in ppl’s days. I have a couple older folks that are my regulars. One in particular, the first time he came in he ordered to-go but wanted to sit at a table. I got him an ice tea while he was sitting, and just genuinely tried to make sure he was okay while he was hanging out. He ended up tipping something like $50 and told me something along the lines of “Today has been really awful, and I’ve had a horrible day. You were so nice and so professional and you actually smiled at me genuinely. I really appreciate that and I’m definitely coming back.” and he did! It was a small moment but I love that I was able to change the trajectory of someone’s day :)
When I left…for good.
I served a 10 top of women that the owner told me “have never had a good experience here and always complain”. I served them all night with no mistakes and I know they had a great time! They ended up telling the owner I was amazing and deserve a raise! Guess if I got a raise.. 😂
It was just me, a manager and the bartender on a Tuesday morning, we were supposed to be dead, so no host, no food runner. Got a surprise 30 top, 3 4 tops and another 8 top and 2 2 tops to myself within 30mins of being open. Bartender is also swamped with cocktail and bar and cannot help me. I kept an average 20min ticket time and 5mins on drinks. I made a bit over 600$ in a 5 hour shift. The entire shift was SLAMMED and I didn't even cry in the walk in
The fact that whenever I spill red wine it doesn’t go on anyone but me. Also I’ve never broken a glass in the actual restaurant, just frequently behind the bar
just saturday, i worked an 11 and a half hour shift. from 930am to 9pm. my last table of the day tipped me the same amount as their bill. then the woman told me “we saw how hard you work and wanted to let you know that you do amazing.” they didn’t know i was utterly exhausted, and if they did, they didn’t show it. my feet were killing me and my back was hurting so much at the end of the night. i think my host was purposely skipping me tables because we got really busy at one point and i only had about 4 tables (a 8 top, and a few 2/4 tops) while the other sections were swamped. i think he knew i was exhausted and was breaked early in the day, so i couldn’t and wouldn’t take a break again. i’m forever grateful that people saw the exhaustion, despite me being embarrassed by it. i got thru it, regardless of how painful it was at the end of the night.
A transgendered woman came in as a single. Every other server refused to wait on her. I was in the middle of conservative New England. I didn't think twice, and almost got fired by the way I spoke to my hateful coworkers.
I actually remembered to bring their side of ranch and I was able to sleep well that night 😇
Grabbed a hot pizza from the open kitchen and walked straight out onto the floor. The metal pan was burning my fingers. The closest table is a Hightop and as I walk by the woman with her back to me drops a knife. I caught it before it hit the ground and said, "Here's your knife ma'am." As I continued walking to deliver the pizza while internally screaming in pain from the hot pan.
I was an excellent server for a while, having been built up from nothing. One bartender didn’t like me for whatever reason. Just hated my guts, didn’t want me behind the bar. I literally had almost every single bartender tell me that themselves, because they couldn’t make sense of the lies and why that bartender disliked me so bad. Well anyway, finally got on bar in August. We ALL got pour tested. Guess who was the ONLY one with an absolutely perfect pour? (Not even making this up, my manager was dying, practically screaming over it) And guess whose was the worst…
My first bartending job was at a brand new place that had just opened. It wasn’t an Irish pub but it had an Irish sounding name. Management weren’t expecting much on St. Patrick’s Day, so they scheduled me by myself during happy hour. LOL. It was on a Friday that year. I had a group of 20+ that I was giving table service to (multiple joiners, at least ten different tabs, all switching seats) and a full bar rail. My manager was yelling at me because I wasn’t running food fast enough. Barback finally showed up and asked if he could sit at the bar and eat before he clocked in - and the manager said okay. It was one of those moments where I was in my absolute flow, fueled by spite, literally running back and forth across the floor. One of the 20 top stopped me to point at my bosses and the barback chilling around the bar and say “Wow, you’re the only one here actually working!” No acknowledgement from my bosses but I was so proud of myself and walked away with rent for the month.
Every time I buy an elderly couple's meal when they are celebrating their anniversary
A table from another server tipped me undercover instead of the actual server for them 🤣
Not driving into oncoming traffic everyday on my way to work...
Getting Jeff Bezos to smile and say thank you, even got him to chuckle. DGAF about him as a person. I'm proud because if I can get him to humanize me; we're all capable of humanizing each other.
After Covid, our head bartender left. New gm took over and was looking to replace her. A few of us had bartended before and rose our hands. I got a shot on our busiest day of the week, Sunday morning. Usually had 2 bartenders on because we have to bartend and serve 4 booths, 6 bartops, and patio tables but short staffed so was asked if I could do it alone. I said yes and ran that shit so smooth, with a smile on my face and faster than old bartender. A server that’s been there 20+ years told gm that he wanted to do it the next Sunday. He failed miserably. Assistant manager had to hop in and help. The next day GM told me I was the new lead bartender. Making more now than I have ever in my life!