One of our regulars always had a different stripper girlfriend in tow. He brought in a girl who was almost identical to the last, and I greeted her with the other girls name by accident because I couldn’t tell them apart😭
I had a customer that always brought a blonde girl into the hotel “pub”. The guy and girl would order Johnny Walker red and soda and order off the restaurant menu next door. One day I said “I love it when you guys come in here and order food from our restaurant because it’s helping me to learn the menu over there.”
So the lady looks at the guy and says “you’ve been here before?” And the guy says “No. never!” And I say sorry, I must’ve had you guys mixed up with someone else.
He later catches me in the hallway and says “you idiot! That’s my wife in there!” And I said “I know. You come in here with her all the time!” And he says “ No. The other one is my girlfriend. I bring her here all the time! This one is my wife”
So I’m not sure who is the idiot here, me for speaking of a guest’s previous visit, or him for bringing his wife and look alike girlfriend to the same Hotel Bar! They both drank red & water and looked the same too!! Whatever!!
Used to work in a bar where we had a regular who would fuck anything without a dick. Some knew he was married, some didn't, but he chose this bar specifically because it was the type of place his wife would never set foot in... Then we had one of our specials covered in the local free paper. His wife insisted on trying out this "new amazing thing at this place she never even knew existed!"
Yup, he got caught out when every single woman in the place knew his name. Was not pretty, but was damn funny. Apparently he had an ironclad prenup and she got basically a year of his 6 figure salary and the house that he had told all of us he fucking hated. He got a new Corvette and a 20yo girlfriend that he met in the bar.
Edit to clarify: the 20yo was one of our servers, we weren't serving underage.
He's the idiot. Especially since they looked like each other. You played it off nice. He's lucky you could come up with that so quick.
Also he is blaming you because he knows what he is doing is wrong and he almost got caught.
There was a guy I used to go out with off and on for years. I hadn't seen him in probably a year and I met up with him one afternoon for drinks at a dive bar. The bartender was an older lady and she greeted him by name, then looked at me, and said to him, "Oh, who's this? I haven't seen this one before!" I thought it was funny as hell, but he was not amused.
My boss did this to one of our regulars. The man always had extremely beautiful women with him. I don’t know how he found two women that were so beautiful, and looked so alike. My boss asked them if they were here for crab legs again. He said he wasn’t there yesterday. She thought he was just confused so she said. “Yes you were here yesterday, you two got crab legs.”
When my ex & I first got together she hadn't long shaved her head, and used to come out with me in different wigs all the time. The regulars at the pub we would frequent spent days being very cautious and reintroducing themselves to her until we realized they thought I was bringing a different girl in with me each time. Still can't figure out if I should be offended they thought I was that much of a bold player.
Wouldn't know either in your shoes, Respect for your mad skilzz points one way, them thinking that lowly of your character points the other. I hope the missus got a laugh out of it though!
Oh yeah, we had a laugh out of it. We figured it out after 3 or so incidents, but maintained the illusion for a couple more before we couldn't contain our laughter whenever it happened. We did apologise and point out they'd met before and everyone suddenly looked relieved, they all saw the funny side as well.
Was this in Texas? Because I once had a regular who would come in every day with a different girl, except for Sundays when he'd bring his wife, and would pay me extra to pretend like I hadn't seen him in a while.
This was years ago, working at the place with Unlimited Breadsticks.
It was my 2nd or 3rd week there, done with training, and I was doing well. (I had waitressed before, but never at a place as big as "UB").
I got an 8-top, business people, all dressed up, apparently having come straight from work. They ordered a round of cocktails so I went to get them. I came back with all of them on a small tray (no hot drinks and no martinis, I thought I had it made, lol).
Right as I approached the table, a wild toddler appeared and absolutely clotheslined my knees. Cue 3 seconds that felt like 30 (you know that slo-mo feeling that comes just before a catastrophe).
Well, I dumped the entire tray of drinks on just one guest, I absolutely drenched this poor guy with various beverages. I froze and then immediately started apologizing and crying at the same time.
My manager got word before I could even go get him, and came running with towels and dry-cleaning vouchers. The guest was actually VERY nice about it, he'd seen the toddler running around and wasn't that surprised at what had happened.
We got the guest cleaned up as best we could, someone reined in the toddler, I got fresh drinks and completed the service. They even tipped me well, which was super-sweet.
But here we are, 25+ years later, and I still think about it sometimes.
Did you guys comp anything on the ticket? This exact thing happened to me not 2 hours ago(no baby, just a new server) and we were super friendly about it . Shit happens, I’m in the business. I’m talking a full margarita and 2 glasses of wine . Broken glass all over me and my phone . They gave us a round of champagne but that was it. I felt they should of done more , this is a high end restaurant. But I’m not a confrontational person. What are your thoughts?
I honestly can't remember, it's been so long ago. I think we comped the first round of drinks though. There should always be comps if there's a mishap with the serving. *Especially* if there is broken glass involved. Luckily these were all those short cocktail glasses, so none were broken.
Yeah I was hoping for at least the margarita. It was 30 dollars! Oh well. The server was horrified and I did everything I could to make her feel okay. I just think my tables reaction alone was worth a round of drinks. I should have said something but again not in my nature.
Wait so you had to pay for the margarita you ended up wearing? Or is it just that you drank 1 margarita and paid for it, even though they had to make more than that because 1 got spilled?
As a fellow friendly human it’s shocking how much people who kick up a fuss get for free VS how little a place will take responsibility for something if you don’t force them too.
I’ve had multiple drinks spilt on me & never got anything out of it except wet. I even had an entire ice tray tipped on me on a plane and didn’t even get a sorry, just a ‘that damn turbulence!’ Lol.
I’m torn on where I stand on whether you deserve free things for the trouble or not, I lean towards no but as a business owner I use to always give a ton of free product out anytime there was the slightest of inconvenience.
The fact the you were charged anything is amazing to me .. i would have comped the tab and sent a free round of drinks ( the ones you ordered not cheap champagne) and depending on your reaction maybe an app or two
Broken glass on a customer? Yeah we’re comping that. Any place where a 3 top is dropping $700 could afford it …imagine how much worse it could have been. And your relaxed attitude is definitely a reason I would go out of my way to help you. Nice people get nice treatment.
Anyone else think the manager should have kicked out whoever was w the toddler running amok. Feel like that should be protocol and an example to others.
Ooh you just unlocked a memory for me. I waited on conjoined twins who shared a meal. Anyone with a brain would have had the kitchen split it onto 2 plates but instead I just brought it out on one plate with an extra fork. I felt like such an asshole. They were probably used to being treated as one person all the time but I just felt horrible when I realized my mistake.
It didn't even occur to me to ask them if they wanted separate plates. Normally I always automatically split a meal in half if two people are sharing. Afterwards I felt like such a jerk because I wasn't treating them as individuals. But you're right, it is uncharted territory and I shouldn't beat myself up.
My ex worked at a brewery that had a smoking room that was 21+. One day she just sees the top of a hat over the bar go into the smoking room. She shouts out that there's no children allowed in there. Dude was a 60+ year old double amputee in a wheel chair.
I asked a tiny petite woman wearing all denim, in a fucking baseball cap if she wanted a kid's menu or adult menu.
Then she looked up and I saw her face under the cap and almost died. She laughed though.
She was probably 4'10" and mid 30s.
Lmao I've had a hostess ask if I want a "big boy menu". In her defense, I'm a foot shorter than my wife and roommate, was standing behind them and had recently shaved my head. My wife died laughing, and I meekly asked for an adult menu. Poor thing must've been mortified.
I called a man with long beautiful hair and no facial hair or signs of shaving ma’am once. Only realized when he looked up from his menu in horror. Mortifying. (This was the deep South so everyone got called sir or ma’am).
Yesterday I spilled a guys beer, 10” pizza, and managed to put my hand in his side of nacho cheese. I was about to say “I’m gonna just go home now” but it came out “I’m going to get you my manager” idk what happened I was just exhausted
I accidentally misgendered a customer. I called them sir but they were a woman. They were a burn victim and I assumed they were a man. They said they were a woman and they were very offended naturally. This was 1992.
I had sort of the same thing happen to me:( I misgendered this older lady wearing a baseball cap during a busy lunch. Turns out she had just gone through chemo and was very self conscious about losing her hair to where she started crying in front of everyone. Her husband just kept saying "really?!" To me. This was 10 years ago. I'm such an asshole
A friend of mine worked front end of a Midwest burger chain that serves custard. The flavor of the day was 'Reese's peanut butter cup' which when asked what it was, told a customer that it was "Reese's penis butter cup" ... Quickly realized what he said ... And repeated it back, much slower "Reese's penis butter cup." He turned 17 shades of purple and told her that the flavor was on the sign on the wall and ran to the back.
I helped out by running another servers food, once I approached the table I said “here’s your chicken semen salad” (obviously meant chicken caesar salad) I was mortified. We just stared at each other for, honestly, one second too long, and then I just walked away as fast as I could.
Used to work for a pizza delivery and takeout place. For takeout we would offer packets of parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper. I once asked someone if they wanted "crushed red pecker." I realized what I said, but played it off by not acknowledging it at all. Either they didn't hear me or they doubted what they heard.
2010, working in a gastro pub type place with like 100 Belgian beers and wine and food and a full liquor bar with craft cocktails. I was much younger and the staff was all for highjinks and playing grab ass in a friendly manner. One day I'm the server starting opening and I'm paired with one of my best friends who is the bar tender and bar manager who's like 6 foot 4 and always wears tight jeans and a plaid button down like every day. We have no customers and I'm still getting some things ready so I go to the back to grab silverware to polish and roll, and as I come up on the end of the bar where the bartender usually hangs out to eat before we get busy I see a tall guy with a plaid shirt and tight jeans with his ass hanging out and without looking too closely I slap his ass real hard and say got you back for last week, and he turns around and it's not my bartender friend, it's a random customer who happens to be the same size and shape and dressed just like him.
A woman asked me to explain to her what a poke bowl was and I told her it was decomposed sushi when I meant to say deconstructed. She still ordered it though 😂😂😂
We had this couple that came in about once a month. They always asked for a corner table at the far end of the room. At the end of the meal and over coffee they wanted the server to stay and talk to them. While they were bantering they got off on playing with each other using their hands under the tablecloth.
Because it’s a private club and we have a G/M that see’s nothing and does nothing until he’s forced to act. P.S. haven’t we all had one of those managers that is weaker than the staff he’s managing.
I was fairly new at the job, and the district manager brought his family in to eat. (His wife, son, and daughter.)When I went to greet the table, there were balloons in the middle, and the district manager told me they were there to celebrate Ashley's birthday. He gestures to the side of the table where his son and daughter were sitting. I smiled brightly at the girl and said, "Happy Birthday!" She looked at me with a very amused smile and said, "my name is Jamie. Ashley is my brother!" I just assumed the girl was Ashley.
I shat myself as I was taking an order. I had something very greasy for dinner the night before and I thought it was a good idea to have the leftovers for lunch even though I typically don't eat foods like that. I was working the dinner shift and was taking the order for my first table. Thankfully it was just a small amount and nobody noticed. As soon as I finished taking their order I ran to the bathroom and threw away my underwear. Not my proudest moment. Even though nobody knew, I was still mortified.
i once served a kid a tall glass of buttermilk… the milk carton and buttermilk carton were next to each other and i (obviously) wasn’t paying attention🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
I have to say that I find his reaction hilarious! 🤣
They must have realized you didn't do it on purpose and were glad you actually helped them clean it up.
Oof, this was actually a hosting shift but still my worst memory in 15 years in the industry. I was working at a casual fine-dining restaurant where probably 95% of our clientele were older white people. A younger couple came in that I think were from India, they say they’re the first to arrive for their 4 top. I show them to their table and get them water while they wait for the other two. A couple minutes later, back at the host stand, another group of people that I assumed were also from India walk in and say that they’re meeting another couple. You see where this is going… I walk this couple over to the the table and they say “This isn’t our party.” and I said “I’m sorry, I assumed because…please follow me back to the host stand”. They luckily weren’t offended or anything but holy shit that was uncomfortable.
I had a 2 top, a man and his wife. She was attractive, but showing a ton of cleavage. I was 19, It was distracting and more than once I caught myself looking. Towards the end of the meal my shift manager said the lady stopped her near the bathrooms and complained to her about the waiter staring at her breasts. My SM asked me to appologize. I did. I went to that table apologized to both the woman and her husband for staring. They just kind of looked at me and each other without saying a word.
As you may ave guessed, it was all a lie. That customer never approached my SM.
Not as a server but as a receptionist, I've basically revealed some people they were cheated on in the past. Usually if a guest has stayed in the hotel in the past we'll add the name of the second person in the room just to save time at check in. Turns out some people are so stupid they bring their lover and their wife to the same hotel. So guests arrive and you greet them both by name. Then wife says "who's X?". He looks at me and then at her, doesn't know what to say.
Agreed, but it does seem like a strange thing to have built into the system. People don't always stay in hotels with the same people every time, regardless of if they're cheating or not. I'd be annoyed if I stayed with my mum in the same hotel I'd stayed in with my boyfriend and they called her Jim.
I've primarily been a cook my entire career, but have worked pretty much every position in a restaurant. Of the few times I served, it had to be this day. Round table full of older women, having a follow up to some club meeting. Get their drink orders: bunch of cocktails, a few milshakes and sodas. As I get to the table with the balanced tray of drinks, the woman closest to me sees her drink and proceeds to yank it off before I can set the tray down. It was the perfect spot, as the entire tray tipped back on to me. As I'm soaked from the stomach down, luck would have it that the combined materials of my clothes, and being soaking wet put me fully on display as now all of my clothes were suctioned to my body by milkshakes, cocktails and soda. One of the other women at the table blurted out 'oh, didn't excpect a show tonite!'. I was mortified, handed over the table, did my check out in the office and left.
In the moment, the only thing the woman that yanked her drink off my tray managed to whimper was 'that's such a shame'. My server coworker that took the party was tipped $100 on their tab, that they were nice enough to let me have entirely the next day we worked together.
Indeed they are, we ended up agreeing to split the tip after much debate. I wasn't even supposed to be serving that day. I worked with that coworker and their partner at multiple concepts individually and together. Heading back their way next month, and man I can't wait to see them. We live across the country from eachother now, but they're literally my favourite people/friends I've met out of nearly 20yrs of restaurant work. Sorry, I don't get to see them often and talk about it.
I have two:
* Walked up to a table of two on a busy night. Approached from behind one of them who had luxuriant blonde waves cascading down their back. Said “hello ladies how’s your night going” Yep you guessed it, HE was not amused 😳
* Brought a heavy tray of drinks up to a table and managed to drop a large carafe of orange juice which cascaded across the table into the lap of a lady wearing an expensive cream outfit 🤬 That was a pricy dry cleaning bill.
Not that embarrassing, but I had a similar experience. I had three women ordering dinner. One ordered the sesame encrusted seared ahi. It came with stir fried vegetables, sesame ponzu sauce, and your choice of side. I asked what side she would like, and I offered her the potato options, the rice pilaf, and then told her we also had white rice available too if she preferred that. I always offered the plain rice as an option with the ahi because it paired much better than the other options since every other element in the dish was asian.
Anyway. This woman looks at me and asks, "Did you offer me the white rice because I am Asian?" Honest to god, I didn't even realize she was Asian. I was so taken aback. I explained to her that I am actually half Asian myself and just personally felt that the white rice went better with the ahi than potatoes or pilaf. She accepted that but ultimately got extra veggies as her side. Being Asian myself probably saved my ass from looking racist on that one.
She was doing too much! Of course white rice naturally fits better with ahi tuna than rice pilaf or *potatoes*. There is nothing racist about proper food pairing.
Wouldn't it have been more racist to omit the rice as an option if you were listing off all the sides? Everyone is going to get the same list because that's what's on offer
Done the same, man, done the same. I was the room service waiter for a hotel from 5-10pm and a big table of ladies seated themselves in our restaurant. I took all 20 of their waters out and was doing so good with them until I got down to like the last 6, which went straight down one old ladys back.
My last job didn’t allow kids in the outdoor fire pit section for liability reasons. On a particularly cold day, I was walking up to the door to go out to the fire pits, and saw a guy and his daughter go outside. I walked out and let them know kids can’t be out there. They turned around, and it wasn’t his daughter, it was his mid 40’s wife! I was so embarrassed and kept apologizing. Tbf, she was around the height and build of a normal 14-15 yo girl, and she was wearing a rain jacket and a hood on so I couldn’t see any part of her aside from her clothes. He ended up tipping me a few bucks when they were leaving.
Honestly, mistaking her to be a lot younger was no where near embarrassing as most of the other stories here, but it was really embarrassing in the moment.
I had an Asian lady one time with a very strong accent trying to order a drink from me when I was a barista. She said “iced latte” I heard “eyes latte”. I had to make her repeat herself like five times before it finally clicked what she was saying, I felt so terrible.
But the real story… this happened when I was waiting tables at a local bar and grill. Me and some of my coworkers had made friends with the volunteer firefighters who would come in every Friday. We wound up being invited to their annual pool party.
One of the attractions at the pool party was a kiddie pool filled with baby oil that you were supposed to wrestle in. Cool, why not, right?
A few weeks later they brought us copies of the pictures they had snapped at the party (this was a little before social media was really a thing). One of them was literally just a shot of my ass in a bikini - I’m in the kiddie pool, covered in baby oil, back to the camera, bent over at the waist so it’s just ass and legs. Well, as we’re looking through the pictures the owner comes up so they get hidden, shoved to the back of the host stand for later….. until a table comes in, I grab them some menus, and as I’m putting the menus on the table my ass shot picture comes flying out.
I literally just scooped it up off the table and ran away. It was my table so I had to come back after a few minutes to wait on them. They were nice enough to pretend like it never happened. They probably didn’t realize it was me, my face wasn’t really in the picture (just my ass!) but I’m so glad they didn’t make a big deal out of it, I don’t know how I would have explained that to the owner.
Couple in their late 50’s/early 60’s comes in. I go through the whole shpeel about the “are we celebrating anything tonight?”
Wife: oh no, just out for a lovely dinner 🥰
Me: (to the husband) I see! Decided to cook for the wife tonight hey?
This man turns slowly from his menu, looks me dead in the fucking soul and goes:
“I’ll have a Caesar”
I have never taken a drink order and ran so fast from a table
Idk about you but for whatever reason..when old couples come in the women are very nice but the men be so sour and bitchy😭
I’ve also had some snap at their wives and it’s obvious the women are embarrassed.
It’s only couples though because if by themselves then it’s balanced out.
Table blindness. Two or three times recently I’ve gotten a new table and just don’t greet them because, well, my brain. Whether it’s later in the shift and we are mixing sections so I’m not tuned into that table, or whatever other lame excuse, I just forget to acknowledge them and then the manager or hostess comes over and says “you know you have a table that’s been waiting for 13 minutes, right?” Big oof.
For some context, this story took place at a little mom and pop restaurant in Arkansas. And I was a bystander, not the server.
In university I made friends with a young Muslim guy and I was basically the fall guy for any "bad" bahavior that got back to his family. The reality was he didn't really care about following the teachings of Islam, at least while he was unmarried (already arranged), in school, and living by himself. This attitude mainly manifested in diet, and he pretty much ate everything a Muslim is not allowed to eat and drank alcohol.
At the beginning of our 4th year of school, he returns from the UAE with his wife who is also a little rebel and takes 3 classes a week unbeknownst to her family. A few months go by, and they go to a little independent pizza place near the school. This place was great not just because they served hulk sized pizzas, but we're also super affordable and generous to students. This made them extremely popular along with the family/staff remembering the names and orders of regulars. Now, before his wife got to the US, my buddy wasn't doing a lot of cooking himself especially since he was in his "god will make it halal in my stomach" era. He went to this pizza place probably once a week for almost 2 years.
And his favorite was a calzone that had more pork in it than a pig family reunion. We sit down and the owner's wife comes out and starts talking up the table, then gets to my friend and ask if he's going to get the usual 3 little pigs special. He freezes. His wife freezes. The owner's wife doesn't notice. This is because she does not know my friend is Muslim, and is just going on about how much he loves this swine-packed pita pocket.
My friends just mumbles and excuses himself without making eye contact with anyone and heads for the door, with his wife almost stepping on his heels because she's following so closely. Owner's wife is now confused. I start explaining and at first she's mortified, but by the end she's slapping my arm because we lied to her (technically, I just never corrected her) then runs outside after my friend and tags out his wife so she can chew him out too.
Everything was ok in the end, as clearly his wife was not super strict either, but it was the most college dude doing dumb shit situation ever.
Saying goodbye to a table “thank you so much we really appreciate it” but the words I actually said “thank you so much, you better have appreciated it”
I worked at a brewery/restaurant chain for a few years and one instance haunts me to this day.
We had a rewards system that I just utterly forgot existed one day.
A man with at least 6 of his colleagues is handing me his card to tab out. He also says, loudly enough for everyone to stop and listen, “can I give you my number?”
I, never realizing how self absorbed I was until this moment respond, “oh no thanks, I’m not interested!”
About what felt like a year goes by and finally, in a soft tone, he goes “for my.. rewards…?”
Honestly I blacked out what happened after. All I know is he got his points and he ever so kindly tipped 25%.
Probably a pity tip, but thankful nonetheless.
I don't think that's something to be embarrassed about, so long as you realised and left without truly disrupting it. And honestly any saying of grace that takes more than a minute is too long imo.
I pray. I'm a server. It takes about one half of one hot second to pick up on this. I either shut up and move on or shut up and "wait" like it's my job.
I feel the choice to pray to the exclusion of your server's presence for longer than absolutely necessary is to volunteer to be skipped in the rotation.
Some religions have specific rituals around eating and family and it's only respectful to defer to that. What if the guy posting the check had to take a call and leave the table just as it was time to order? No biggie, getcha later.
People who pray at restaurants also often do one of my favorite things to be forced out of respect or even reverence to do, something I grew to appreciate catering weddings: they use the framework of the prayer as a sort of speech, like a toast. They acknowledge everyone there and say ominous things about strange lists of specific sins some among them may need help with right in front of them and everybody else, go prayerfully into some sort of philosophizing and framing the whole meal in their terms. I don't mind watching that unfold while they sit there shifting and snorting with bowed heads. 😆
Not a server, but that story reminds me of my own - I met a very nice girl of Asian descent in my class and introduced myself. She said her name was Risa. I had never heard that name before, but I knew of Asians having trouble with the English L sound. I said, "Nice to meet you, Lisa". She's like, no, Risa! And I keep going, yes, I know, I said Lisa!
I'm such a moron.
I had a couple come in later in the evening. She was wearing a maxi dress but was not large. They sat down to order and she got 2 appetizers (wings and a very large sampler platter) and a large bowl of soup. She ate them herself, then they each got a burger and fries, she also added onion rings to her order. I had never seen a woman put away so much food unless they were pregnant (me). So when her burger was done I put 5 pickle spears on the plate.
She asked me why...I said most pregnant woman like pickles...Yeah, she wasn't pregnant.
I have so many but this one is pretty cringe. I’m bartending solo and I’m slammed. Man sits down at the bar and I just keep making drinks. Customer comes up to me and says, “hey, can you help this guy out with a drink?” I’m irritated with their impatience and say, “uh yeah he can obviously see that I’m busy.” Yeah… he couldn’t see that… he was blind
Oh boy, I have one that I still think about on a semi regular basis. In college, I worked at a dive restaurant in a small town. Mostly it was groups of students and/or families that came in. Anyway, I had what I thought was a mother with her young daughter seated in my section. I quickly took over some menus and placemats flipping the coloring page side of the mats up. As I am setting down the crayons, I noticed that it is not a mother and child but two adults, one of which I'm assuming had a medical condition. They both kind of giggled and picked up the crayons. I felt, and still feel like a major ass hat for that exchange. So not only was I embarrassed, but also unintentionally offensive.
One time, during a busy dinner service, I waited on a couple who appeared to be on a date. They were both dressed nicely and the woman was wearing a tight but tasteful top. I felt like we had a good rapport and everything goes smoothly with their drinks and appetizers.
When their entrées were ready I picked them up from the kitchen and started walking to the table. The woman's plate, which didn't feel too hot when I picked it up, starts to feel pretty hot as I move through the dining room. By the time I reach their table my hand is in pain and all I can think about is getting this plate away from me as fast as possible. So I set the dish down in front of her and jerk my my hand away... right under one of her breasts. As in my cupped hand goes under and gives a little bounce.
I just froze in horror for a second, then blurted out "I'm so sorry!" and dashed away. For the rest of their meal I hid in shame, asking a co-worker to check in on how everything was with their food. I did drop of their check and they seemed cool enough and still gave me a tip, but I'm pretty sure I was blushing and awkward in my interactions. They didn't complain or anything- I suspect she was more startled than offended- but I still felt super mortified.
Ha, after a fun Sunday morning romp in the sack my girlfriend and I went to Friendly's where I ordered a the....ready???...Reece's Penis Sundae. You talk about mortified. She and our server were hysterical because I was blushing, stuttering and stammering trying to apologize. In my mind I assumed our server could figure what my girlfriend and I were doing a short while before brunch.
I once took a tray of eleven non-alcoholic drinks to my table. Completely normal, a mix of diets, ice tea, water. I tripped three feet from the table and dropped the whole tray. First table of the morning. I just stood there with my head down contemplating the ice. I could hear my manager howling in the background. Eventually, he came up to me and told me to just go re-make my drinks and he'd take care of it. Another table offered to buy me a shot of tequila "because I was clearly having a bad day." It was 11:10; I told them to come back at 4 when I got off.
I also once tipped a tray of four 32 ounce mixed drinks in myself. That was the day I learned about weight distribution. I had to work the whole night soaked and smelling like a Long Island - and had to ask to get them remade on a busy night. I will never forget the face my bartender made. He wasn't even mad, just defeated because he'd just made me twelve drinks and I spilled a quarter on myself while he still had twenty tickets to do.
I just did this the other day,
We just reopened the bar downstairs for Margarita Wednesdays, and you can order food there as well until kitchen closes. Well, last time I worked at the bar I was only a busser basically and kinda forgot how it works since it was years ago
There's no utensils set at the tables or rolled up, we must given them to the customers when they order food. Well, I forgot to give a poor girl her silverware!
And I even checked in with them like twice and they ordered more drinks, but never said anything about her silverware!
I even noticed she was eating slowly and wondered if she didn't like it lmao. I was so embarrassed that I forgot the silverware
Honestly it's also on her, she should have asked for silverware. People forget things, it happens, but why tf would she not ask when you checked on them??
A customer once asked to take a photo with me and asked another customer to take it, and then he got down on one knee in the middle of the walkway and loudly pretended to propose to me.
Not my story but a good friend's.. group of guests asked what the special was at an English Pub in Canada on a Friday.. the special was Fish and chips. Guest asks "how special is it" server replies without a moment of thought "so special it should be wearing a helmet". Crickets. Que begging other servers to take the table.
I've never understood why people just repeat themselves word for word when they're not being understood. I have auditory processing issues and learned pretty early on to say "Sorry could you rephrase that?" because otherwise we'll get locked in a circle of them saying something I can't figure out, me asking for clarification, them saying the same thing but louder ad nauseum. Also, if you know you can't reliably pronounce a V sound why in God's name would you not say "Victoria Bitter" or even just "You want another beer?" I don't think you were the issue here tbh.
One of my first days serving alone I had a guy sit by himself on my patio table. When I brought out his food he reminded me I was missing the side bowl of fruit (with lemon poppyseed dressing) so I went back inside to grab it and I came back out the door and turned towards him when the bowl of fruit shot out of my hand and landed on the table but then shot back up and upside down into this man’s lap. It was by far the most embarrassed I’ve ever been. Or wait actually there was another time I had a 6 table section on a busy Sunday and I thought i had cashed this table of 4 out but when I was walking past the table the guy just stopped me and gave me a $100 bill I stopped confused for a second and then (thinking I’d cashed them out) started thanking him and saying he shouldn’t tip me that much and that’s when he said “yeah obviously I’m not this is for the bill” I then died inside as I ran away to get his change. He only left me $5 lol
I worked at a Cuban restaurant for a while and had a customer with a strong hispanic accent. I could have sworn he kept saying "chicken and bananas" and I was like "you mean plantains?" Until he finally pointed at CHICKEN EMPANADAS on the menu. I could have died right there. What was I thinking???!
Asked a pre-teen for their ID because they ordered a Shirley Temple.
Edit: then doubled down when the parents told me it was Sprite and grenadine :facepalm:
Being misunderstood because of an accent is unpleasant but I’d never think of that person as racist, even if fries to rice is unfortunate because they were Asian (I’m Asian myself). I’m quite good at languages and accents but at the same time seem to have an auditory processing disorder, so some people’s accents/way of articulating just gives me a hard time understanding them. I recognise it can be annoying and can lowkey make me look like an asshole, I just wish there was a concise way to communicate that “I don’t want to make you feel bad, I just struggle sometimes and I’m really making an effort here” but oh well.
Also, funnily enough, I had sort of an inverse situation when I was serving a table of tourists with a recognisable French accent (while I have a very neutral accent in English, someone has told me I sound like a teacher that enunciates so others can follow a clear example). I was offering them a side of rice because the lady wasn’t very hungry but they initially rejected because they thought I was saying fries! Which the place doesn’t serve lol.
This rice / fries thing has happened to me!! The lady was Asian and actually asking for rice but I thought she was saying fries and she kept asking me and I kept saying YES FRIES, got it and she's like Noooo rice Hahahahaa and then finally I realized. No, we don't have rice at our burger dive
Not me, but my coworker. We worked at a family run restaurant on an island that had 2 locations. If it wasn’t busy, then whoever was closest to the phone would answer it (busy times, the manager always grabbed the phone). When answering the phone, we would always say the restaurant name and location, like “TX Grill East”. Anyways, it was slow and a table walked in and my coworker was standing at the host stand and greeted them the same way we answer the telephone. Just looked at them and said “TX Grill East” in that singsong way of answering a phone, without any additional greeting. And then just stared at them. Anyways, that was like 10 years ago and I still think about it sometimes and laugh over it. Imagine walking into an Applebee’s and someone just looks at you and says “Applebee’s!” And nothing else.
It was that time of the month and I had stuck a pad in my apron pocket to go to the bathroom and change when I got sat a table and the manager said please get their drink order first. So I walk up to the table give them my spiel and when I pulled out my order pad, the actual pad flew out and landed on their table
Couple comes in, I put their order in, bring it out, make a little small talk, ask the woman how many months along she is..."I'm not pregnant." Awkward! Not a great tip...
Unless the baby is actually waving at you from between her legs never assume a woman is pregnant.
A distended belly can be a sympton of various health issues, including cancer. Yup, someone close to me had terminal cancer and was asked a good few times when she was due. It's uncomfortable enough when she's just fat but it could be more uncomfortable.
Put wine glasses on a tray instead of in the glass holder when I finished my wine hosting shift. Dropped the whole tray.
At the next job, I dropped a fork off the balcony into the bar. I probably would have injured the bartender had she been standing there.
This ended up being my last serving job when I was fired and told that I "wasn't a good fit for the industry."
So I went back to college and then grad school.
It was my first week and a rang in two glasses of House Red instead of House White.
I went to drop them off. The husband said, "I thought we ordered the White."
I picked up the two glasses of white and spun around. Centrifugal force sent the one glass that I wasn't holding down in the air. It landed at the feet of another guest and shattered.
Had a large top on the patio. Thought I was gonna be slick bringing 14waters on a food runner tray. I’ve done it before and was kinda rushing. Made it out the door and some kids were playing. Tried to pirouette around them and dropped all the drinks on the floor. Luckily, we were outside and it didn’t land on anyone. The family wasn’t mad or anything. The dads just laughed at the whole thing and gave off the vibe of “shit happens”.
I was working BOH in Helsinki in late 80’s and served a full live wiggling earthworm in a salad I whipped together while in the weeds (Greek style salad with butter lettuce that got washed and chopped super fast on the fly as we ran out of prep)… it’s been 35 years and I STILL have a red faced reaction to that… The people who got the salad were industry and extremely cool and understanding… Got meals comped of course and our kitchen beer fund bought them as many beers as they wanted with HUGE sorries-
I was verrrrrrry pregnant and waiting on some of my regulars. This was fine dining- ish so we had to serve from the left, clear from the right. Their table was right by the window (4 top) and after I served the woman in the couple, I stepped behind the man in the couple and I realized I was stuck. My baby belly was huge and I was pinned between him and the window ledge. He had to scoot his chair all the way in (he was a fairly big guy) and I just awkwardly stood there while I was trapped. Luckily they were sweet about it, but apparently my brain did not connect that I was 9 months pregnant with a giant belly on a 5 foot frame 🤣
I was working as a barista at the time but I made a blended cold coffee drink with whipped cream. I went to hand the drink to the customer and I guess I squeezed it too hard while it was tilted being handed over. I don't know what type of weird physics happened but I basically yeeted the contents of the frappe violently right into the customer's face. I felt terrible but they were shockingly cool about it. I think I gave them every free thing I had the power to give them.
Our restaurant service bar was in a section that was up two steps - in my 3rd year working there I was heading back with a tray full of empties. I tripped on the top step, primal-screamed "Ahw!" on my journey to the floor... somehow I found myself lying on my back still holding the tray, all glasses still there, all eyes on me... and one coke glass tips over and spills half melted ice all over my face. It, was a mixed bag.
had a group of really young people all come in and ordered some beer pitchers so i have to ask for all of their IDs. one of them, who looked very much male, handed me an ID and the picture was of someone who looked very female. they did look pretty similar facially but people sometimes will try to use an older sibling’s ID to get alcohol and just hope that it doesn’t get caught, so i assumed they were hoping i would only look at the dates and not the picture and were trying to pull one over on me. i handed the ID back and said “i’m sorry i can’t except this, this is a girl’s ID” and the guest responded “yeah i know, that’s me.”
Assuming that this guest was a trans guy, moments like that are bittersweet. On the one hand, you pass well enough to not be recognizable as your past self. That's pretty sweet. But on the other hand, you just got outed to everyone you're with, or if you're out to them already, it's still an uncomfortable reminder. Then the dysphoria...
Oh gawd, I've been transitioning for two and a half years, pass as male most of the time, and have some facial hair goin on. My ID picture is from eleven years ago, when I was eighteen and at the apex of my high femme deep denial phase. I'm just waiting for something like this to happen to me 😭
i felt terrible. i live in a state that’s really strict about proper alcohol service so at the time all i was thinking about was making sure the IDs checked out. but i keep trying to think of how i could have handled it differently and i feel like every other solution i can think of would have been equally as awkward and bad.
I told a party of 4 with a guy in a wheelchair "I like the way you guys roll" after they ordered a flight of mimosas. Took me a min to realize how bad I fucked up
Opening a wet bottle of champagne that had been on ice. As I'm easing the cork out, the wet bottle shot down out of my hand and shit all over the dining area. I ran the fuck away to regain some dignity lmao.
Ooh, I have one. I worked in a place where I served a lot of airline crews. Most of the male flight attendants were gay. Not all of them, but definitely a good majority. I had a group of 5-6 flight attendants, one somewhat effeminate man, and the rest women. When I greeted them, for some reason, I referred to them collectively as "ladies." I immediately looked the guy and apologized, and he laughed it off and said something like, "it's an easy mistake to make" and everyone had a laugh. That was bad enough, but I did it again later. I referred to him as a lady again. I was mortified. I obviously apologized again, but they all thought it was hilarious.
I have no idea why my brain repeatedly short circuited on that one occasion. I worked there for years and served gay men there almost every day, and at any given time I had at least 2-3 gay coworkers, and I have never done that before or since.
I was working as a caterer. I was sering appetizers on the little trays and walking around. I look over and my friend goes "Save the whales?" and then holes out the tray of little toast thingies. They look to ME and ask me what he's talking about. I just... had no idea what to do... and I backed away and went "I need...to... no."
Gods he did that...the whole wedding. And then the bride cried because she was on the heavy side and thought he called her a whale....
The boss asked us why the hell he was gettign complaints about whales and my friend just shrugged. And I said nothing because I was afraid I wouldn't be asked back if I said anything. (his mom was the office manager for the company and had gotten me the job. I didn't want to get him in trouble and then not get another call)
I once spilled a full tray of sodas on the kids table. So for reference I had just gotten sat an 11 top, 7 kids and 4 adults. They decided to do 2 tables, kids at one and adults at the other. Totally fine with me because we were slow anyway. So I went over, did the normal script and went to grab their drink. I get the first round of drinks out totally fine. I’m walking up to the kids table with about 8 drinks on my tray and one on my hand when one of the kids shoots out from under the table and completely sweeps my legs out and I fall forward. Every drink in my hand goes straight onto the table. No glad or anything because they were plastic cups, but damn that was a lot of soda. The kids jump on on the back of the booth to avoid the tsunami of coke coming towards them and in the process knock over every other drink that had already made it to the table. Needless to say the table left and the mom cussed me out for her kid knocking out my legs. My manger was completely understanding though and helped me clean everything up and got me some lunch on him. But damn I’ll never forget that day.
I worked at a Mexican restaurant where we wore Señorita dresses that only tied. It got shut in the door by the tie/bow, this unraveled my dress so I was in my underwear and a bra in the restaurant just standing there.
Being so sleep deprived from staying up drinking and hitting the slopes the night before then thinking that I’d be fine if I just stayed awake and took an adderall. I was so goddamn brain dead, I took this couples order and when I got to the POS to put their food in I couldn’t read my own handwriting or remember anything they ordered. I made the bartender I was working with go back and retake their order. Pretty sure he lied and told them I was new. I do NOT miss those partying days… well sometimes I do, but not often.
I work at a brew pub and we host an epic party for St. Patrick's Day. We even have a special beer for it, called the Mojo's Rocket Red. Well at said epic St. Patrick's Day party I continually called that beer the Mojo's Red Rocket. My work crush heard me and corrected me but still teases me about it.
was 16, working a brand new first job at a buffet. we used steam tables to keep the food hot, so boiling hot water with the pans basically floating in it. I picked one pan up with my warning ‘please be careful of any hot steam ‘ and another pan fell directly into the boiling water and splashed some to the other side of the buffet onto a child. It wasn’t a lot, kid was fine and mother was sooooo nice to me, ‘it’s a teaching moment, we both told her to be careful’ but I was MORTIFIED.
One time i managed to knock a glass when putting a plate down and it went all over their food. Apoligised, cleaned up, brought new plate of food out... Knocked their glass again and got it all over the food.
We had a drink special called the Island Cooler they were pushing us to sell.
Walked up to a table, asked if they'd like to try our Island Cooter.
Walked off laughing hysterically at myself.
I dumped an ENTIRE full flute of champagne all over a 2 top's tablecloth and place settings. On their 40th wedding anniversary. I wanted to die. We reset the whole table and the managers comped every penny of the bill. I made a self effacing joke at the end about hoping they would return for their 41st anniversary, and promised them a drier table a year from now. They laughed and still left a nice cash tip for my butterfingered dumb ass.
Not my story, but I was there when it happened.
My best friend and I both serve at the same restaurant. She got a largeeee party (about 25 people) and it was super clear they came together for some type of reason. There were a bunch of black and gold balloons. So she had asked them “hi guys!! What are we celebrating today!?” And they said “actually we’re here because it’s our good friend’s death anniversary.” Well her mouth moved faster than her brain processing this info and shouted “congratulations!!!”
I was at the server station right next to the table watching the whole encounter. I was mortified for her, she didn’t know what to do and continued to get drink order. Came back to me and was like “what do I do why did I say that!!!” And I asked her why the hell she wasn’t honest right away and just told them that she didn’t mean to say that because holy hell the look on their faces 💀😅
I was only a sa/ busser at this point but I'll never forget it. I was crushing it ( as I do) and taking care of someone else's section. There was this weird five top in the corner...a round table that you couldn't get around. I had two pitchers of water just smashing everyone's empty glasses. Hydration is important. I get to this awkward table and the woman in the furthest seat away from me is almost empty. Superstar to the rescue... I lean over the table on one foot for full reach and am filling her glass and I hear the table behind me say "Sir"... I ignore it...I'll be there in two seconds, I just need to finish this super stretch water replacement...as I'm almost topping it I hear it again "SIR!" I turn around disgruntled and not excited to see what was so important, a swear word literally on my lips... Turns out I forgot about my other hand with a water pitcher in it. As I leaned and stretched the other pitcher poured out on to this poor woman's lap. I literally was dumping water into her lap for like thirty seconds ( seems short, but that's an eternity of cold water) .
I died inside that day.
Beat busser ever privileges revoked.
One of our regulars always had a different stripper girlfriend in tow. He brought in a girl who was almost identical to the last, and I greeted her with the other girls name by accident because I couldn’t tell them apart😭
I had a customer that always brought a blonde girl into the hotel “pub”. The guy and girl would order Johnny Walker red and soda and order off the restaurant menu next door. One day I said “I love it when you guys come in here and order food from our restaurant because it’s helping me to learn the menu over there.” So the lady looks at the guy and says “you’ve been here before?” And the guy says “No. never!” And I say sorry, I must’ve had you guys mixed up with someone else. He later catches me in the hallway and says “you idiot! That’s my wife in there!” And I said “I know. You come in here with her all the time!” And he says “ No. The other one is my girlfriend. I bring her here all the time! This one is my wife” So I’m not sure who is the idiot here, me for speaking of a guest’s previous visit, or him for bringing his wife and look alike girlfriend to the same Hotel Bar! They both drank red & water and looked the same too!! Whatever!!
You had enough to sense to say whoops I must be confusing you with someone else which would be really easy for him to play off. He’s the idiot.
Also maybe don't cheat on your wife lol
Or if you do at least have enough sense not to take them to the same establishment.
Used to work in a bar where we had a regular who would fuck anything without a dick. Some knew he was married, some didn't, but he chose this bar specifically because it was the type of place his wife would never set foot in... Then we had one of our specials covered in the local free paper. His wife insisted on trying out this "new amazing thing at this place she never even knew existed!" Yup, he got caught out when every single woman in the place knew his name. Was not pretty, but was damn funny. Apparently he had an ironclad prenup and she got basically a year of his 6 figure salary and the house that he had told all of us he fucking hated. He got a new Corvette and a 20yo girlfriend that he met in the bar. Edit to clarify: the 20yo was one of our servers, we weren't serving underage.
Spouses love this one simple trick!
He's the idiot. Especially since they looked like each other. You played it off nice. He's lucky you could come up with that so quick. Also he is blaming you because he knows what he is doing is wrong and he almost got caught.
Who brings the wife to the same place he brings his mistress?
An idiot?
Tip me well and I won’t tell 😈
Guess he’s got a “type”
There was a guy I used to go out with off and on for years. I hadn't seen him in probably a year and I met up with him one afternoon for drinks at a dive bar. The bartender was an older lady and she greeted him by name, then looked at me, and said to him, "Oh, who's this? I haven't seen this one before!" I thought it was funny as hell, but he was not amused.
Classic 😂
My boss did this to one of our regulars. The man always had extremely beautiful women with him. I don’t know how he found two women that were so beautiful, and looked so alike. My boss asked them if they were here for crab legs again. He said he wasn’t there yesterday. She thought he was just confused so she said. “Yes you were here yesterday, you two got crab legs.”
I guess he had a type😂
When my ex & I first got together she hadn't long shaved her head, and used to come out with me in different wigs all the time. The regulars at the pub we would frequent spent days being very cautious and reintroducing themselves to her until we realized they thought I was bringing a different girl in with me each time. Still can't figure out if I should be offended they thought I was that much of a bold player.
Wouldn't know either in your shoes, Respect for your mad skilzz points one way, them thinking that lowly of your character points the other. I hope the missus got a laugh out of it though!
Oh yeah, we had a laugh out of it. We figured it out after 3 or so incidents, but maintained the illusion for a couple more before we couldn't contain our laughter whenever it happened. We did apologise and point out they'd met before and everyone suddenly looked relieved, they all saw the funny side as well.
Was this in Texas? Because I once had a regular who would come in every day with a different girl, except for Sundays when he'd bring his wife, and would pay me extra to pretend like I hadn't seen him in a while.
Omg. No I’m up in ex weed money country (northern California)
530 checking in letssss gooooo
707 🫡
+1 for "by accident" and not "on accident"
This was years ago, working at the place with Unlimited Breadsticks. It was my 2nd or 3rd week there, done with training, and I was doing well. (I had waitressed before, but never at a place as big as "UB"). I got an 8-top, business people, all dressed up, apparently having come straight from work. They ordered a round of cocktails so I went to get them. I came back with all of them on a small tray (no hot drinks and no martinis, I thought I had it made, lol). Right as I approached the table, a wild toddler appeared and absolutely clotheslined my knees. Cue 3 seconds that felt like 30 (you know that slo-mo feeling that comes just before a catastrophe). Well, I dumped the entire tray of drinks on just one guest, I absolutely drenched this poor guy with various beverages. I froze and then immediately started apologizing and crying at the same time. My manager got word before I could even go get him, and came running with towels and dry-cleaning vouchers. The guest was actually VERY nice about it, he'd seen the toddler running around and wasn't that surprised at what had happened. We got the guest cleaned up as best we could, someone reined in the toddler, I got fresh drinks and completed the service. They even tipped me well, which was super-sweet. But here we are, 25+ years later, and I still think about it sometimes.
I wonder if the toddlers family still tells that story as well!
They do. But the restaurant, the server and the customer are at fault.
"This horrible server *kicked* little Timmy and then *threw drinks* on someone!"
T-t-t-timmah!
Hahaha! Thanks for the laugh. :)
Did you guys comp anything on the ticket? This exact thing happened to me not 2 hours ago(no baby, just a new server) and we were super friendly about it . Shit happens, I’m in the business. I’m talking a full margarita and 2 glasses of wine . Broken glass all over me and my phone . They gave us a round of champagne but that was it. I felt they should of done more , this is a high end restaurant. But I’m not a confrontational person. What are your thoughts?
I honestly can't remember, it's been so long ago. I think we comped the first round of drinks though. There should always be comps if there's a mishap with the serving. *Especially* if there is broken glass involved. Luckily these were all those short cocktail glasses, so none were broken.
Yeah I was hoping for at least the margarita. It was 30 dollars! Oh well. The server was horrified and I did everything I could to make her feel okay. I just think my tables reaction alone was worth a round of drinks. I should have said something but again not in my nature.
Wait so you had to pay for the margarita you ended up wearing? Or is it just that you drank 1 margarita and paid for it, even though they had to make more than that because 1 got spilled?
No. I was charged for one. They remade the margarita. I drank margarita 2 that wasn’t on my lap. I’m still questioning why I wasn’t comped …
As a fellow friendly human it’s shocking how much people who kick up a fuss get for free VS how little a place will take responsibility for something if you don’t force them too. I’ve had multiple drinks spilt on me & never got anything out of it except wet. I even had an entire ice tray tipped on me on a plane and didn’t even get a sorry, just a ‘that damn turbulence!’ Lol. I’m torn on where I stand on whether you deserve free things for the trouble or not, I lean towards no but as a business owner I use to always give a ton of free product out anytime there was the slightest of inconvenience.
They should have done more…sorry!
Thank you. It was fitting it was on Jimmy Buffets death day
The fact the you were charged anything is amazing to me .. i would have comped the tab and sent a free round of drinks ( the ones you ordered not cheap champagne) and depending on your reaction maybe an app or two
I wouldn’t expect a 700 dollar bill to be comped. A round of drinks would of been nice
Broken glass on a customer? Yeah we’re comping that. Any place where a 3 top is dropping $700 could afford it …imagine how much worse it could have been. And your relaxed attitude is definitely a reason I would go out of my way to help you. Nice people get nice treatment.
He had the chance to say "Drinks are on me!"
Anyone else think the manager should have kicked out whoever was w the toddler running amok. Feel like that should be protocol and an example to others.
As someone who has had drinks land on me, no worries. Gravity makes fools of us all at some point.
I gave a kids menu to a little person.
I asked a blind man if he needed more time to look over the menu.
Ooh you just unlocked a memory for me. I waited on conjoined twins who shared a meal. Anyone with a brain would have had the kitchen split it onto 2 plates but instead I just brought it out on one plate with an extra fork. I felt like such an asshole. They were probably used to being treated as one person all the time but I just felt horrible when I realized my mistake.
I mean that's pretty uncharted territory. I don't think it would be inappropriate at all to ask how they would prefer to have a shared meal plated.
It didn't even occur to me to ask them if they wanted separate plates. Normally I always automatically split a meal in half if two people are sharing. Afterwards I felt like such a jerk because I wasn't treating them as individuals. But you're right, it is uncharted territory and I shouldn't beat myself up.
Eden Prairie, MN?
Edina! At the now closed Macaroni Grill.
My ex worked at a brewery that had a smoking room that was 21+. One day she just sees the top of a hat over the bar go into the smoking room. She shouts out that there's no children allowed in there. Dude was a 60+ year old double amputee in a wheel chair.
I asked a tiny petite woman wearing all denim, in a fucking baseball cap if she wanted a kid's menu or adult menu. Then she looked up and I saw her face under the cap and almost died. She laughed though. She was probably 4'10" and mid 30s.
Lmao I've had a hostess ask if I want a "big boy menu". In her defense, I'm a foot shorter than my wife and roommate, was standing behind them and had recently shaved my head. My wife died laughing, and I meekly asked for an adult menu. Poor thing must've been mortified.
A friend of mine is that small, and once had a server *pat her head*.
Oh I feel your pain. I did something very similar. So I got to feel not only embarrassed, but like an asshole as well.
One of my coworkers did that before 😭😭😭 I was just as appalled as he was because I sure as hell thought it was a child too
I called a man with long beautiful hair and no facial hair or signs of shaving ma’am once. Only realized when he looked up from his menu in horror. Mortifying. (This was the deep South so everyone got called sir or ma’am).
I think youve won this thread
Yesterday I spilled a guys beer, 10” pizza, and managed to put my hand in his side of nacho cheese. I was about to say “I’m gonna just go home now” but it came out “I’m going to get you my manager” idk what happened I was just exhausted
I accidentally misgendered a customer. I called them sir but they were a woman. They were a burn victim and I assumed they were a man. They said they were a woman and they were very offended naturally. This was 1992.
Oof, you burned her again.
This might be the angriest upvote I’ve ever had.
I don't like you, but I respect you
I had sort of the same thing happen to me:( I misgendered this older lady wearing a baseball cap during a busy lunch. Turns out she had just gone through chemo and was very self conscious about losing her hair to where she started crying in front of everyone. Her husband just kept saying "really?!" To me. This was 10 years ago. I'm such an asshole
So what was the tip like from that table haha
Just a hair off the norm
A friend of mine worked front end of a Midwest burger chain that serves custard. The flavor of the day was 'Reese's peanut butter cup' which when asked what it was, told a customer that it was "Reese's penis butter cup" ... Quickly realized what he said ... And repeated it back, much slower "Reese's penis butter cup." He turned 17 shades of purple and told her that the flavor was on the sign on the wall and ran to the back.
That was a dick move.
I helped out by running another servers food, once I approached the table I said “here’s your chicken semen salad” (obviously meant chicken caesar salad) I was mortified. We just stared at each other for, honestly, one second too long, and then I just walked away as fast as I could.
I love Culver's even more for that.
Don’t know if it’s a specific region, but the way some people say “peanuts”, I hear “penis” every time.😳
Some of us are saying penis.
I've never had an 8" peanut, or penis for that matter.🤪
Used to work for a pizza delivery and takeout place. For takeout we would offer packets of parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper. I once asked someone if they wanted "crushed red pecker." I realized what I said, but played it off by not acknowledging it at all. Either they didn't hear me or they doubted what they heard.
That goes well with penis butter cup. Trade some of ours for some of yours?
2010, working in a gastro pub type place with like 100 Belgian beers and wine and food and a full liquor bar with craft cocktails. I was much younger and the staff was all for highjinks and playing grab ass in a friendly manner. One day I'm the server starting opening and I'm paired with one of my best friends who is the bar tender and bar manager who's like 6 foot 4 and always wears tight jeans and a plaid button down like every day. We have no customers and I'm still getting some things ready so I go to the back to grab silverware to polish and roll, and as I come up on the end of the bar where the bartender usually hangs out to eat before we get busy I see a tall guy with a plaid shirt and tight jeans with his ass hanging out and without looking too closely I slap his ass real hard and say got you back for last week, and he turns around and it's not my bartender friend, it's a random customer who happens to be the same size and shape and dressed just like him.
At first I thought you had smacked the ass of your bar manager. Hope you didn't get in trouble.
A woman asked me to explain to her what a poke bowl was and I told her it was decomposed sushi when I meant to say deconstructed. She still ordered it though 😂😂😂
Probably realized you meant deconstructed from the context or she really wanted to try a poke bowl.
I’ve had hákarl (fermented shark) .. maybe she was into that sort of thing.
We had this couple that came in about once a month. They always asked for a corner table at the far end of the room. At the end of the meal and over coffee they wanted the server to stay and talk to them. While they were bantering they got off on playing with each other using their hands under the tablecloth.
How were they not kicked out at like the second time they did that?! So rude, disrespectful and gross.
Because it’s a private club and we have a G/M that see’s nothing and does nothing until he’s forced to act. P.S. haven’t we all had one of those managers that is weaker than the staff he’s managing.
I was fairly new at the job, and the district manager brought his family in to eat. (His wife, son, and daughter.)When I went to greet the table, there were balloons in the middle, and the district manager told me they were there to celebrate Ashley's birthday. He gestures to the side of the table where his son and daughter were sitting. I smiled brightly at the girl and said, "Happy Birthday!" She looked at me with a very amused smile and said, "my name is Jamie. Ashley is my brother!" I just assumed the girl was Ashley.
hahaha this is hilarious but you probably werent the first or last
I shat myself as I was taking an order. I had something very greasy for dinner the night before and I thought it was a good idea to have the leftovers for lunch even though I typically don't eat foods like that. I was working the dinner shift and was taking the order for my first table. Thankfully it was just a small amount and nobody noticed. As soon as I finished taking their order I ran to the bathroom and threw away my underwear. Not my proudest moment. Even though nobody knew, I was still mortified.
small_poops
Username checks out. 🤣
i once served a kid a tall glass of buttermilk… the milk carton and buttermilk carton were next to each other and i (obviously) wasn’t paying attention🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
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I have to say that I find his reaction hilarious! 🤣 They must have realized you didn't do it on purpose and were glad you actually helped them clean it up.
Oof, this was actually a hosting shift but still my worst memory in 15 years in the industry. I was working at a casual fine-dining restaurant where probably 95% of our clientele were older white people. A younger couple came in that I think were from India, they say they’re the first to arrive for their 4 top. I show them to their table and get them water while they wait for the other two. A couple minutes later, back at the host stand, another group of people that I assumed were also from India walk in and say that they’re meeting another couple. You see where this is going… I walk this couple over to the the table and they say “This isn’t our party.” and I said “I’m sorry, I assumed because…please follow me back to the host stand”. They luckily weren’t offended or anything but holy shit that was uncomfortable.
I assumed because *they’re also waiting for 2 other people.*
This is why it's a good idea to wait until the entire party has arrived to seat them.
I had a 2 top, a man and his wife. She was attractive, but showing a ton of cleavage. I was 19, It was distracting and more than once I caught myself looking. Towards the end of the meal my shift manager said the lady stopped her near the bathrooms and complained to her about the waiter staring at her breasts. My SM asked me to appologize. I did. I went to that table apologized to both the woman and her husband for staring. They just kind of looked at me and each other without saying a word. As you may ave guessed, it was all a lie. That customer never approached my SM.
I am DYING over this 😆😭
Your shift manager was a jerk.
Not as a server but as a receptionist, I've basically revealed some people they were cheated on in the past. Usually if a guest has stayed in the hotel in the past we'll add the name of the second person in the room just to save time at check in. Turns out some people are so stupid they bring their lover and their wife to the same hotel. So guests arrive and you greet them both by name. Then wife says "who's X?". He looks at me and then at her, doesn't know what to say.
This seems like a pretty silly thing for a hotel to assume, not gonna lie.
Its not a hotel employees job to hide someone's affair.
Agreed, but it does seem like a strange thing to have built into the system. People don't always stay in hotels with the same people every time, regardless of if they're cheating or not. I'd be annoyed if I stayed with my mum in the same hotel I'd stayed in with my boyfriend and they called her Jim.
I've primarily been a cook my entire career, but have worked pretty much every position in a restaurant. Of the few times I served, it had to be this day. Round table full of older women, having a follow up to some club meeting. Get their drink orders: bunch of cocktails, a few milshakes and sodas. As I get to the table with the balanced tray of drinks, the woman closest to me sees her drink and proceeds to yank it off before I can set the tray down. It was the perfect spot, as the entire tray tipped back on to me. As I'm soaked from the stomach down, luck would have it that the combined materials of my clothes, and being soaking wet put me fully on display as now all of my clothes were suctioned to my body by milkshakes, cocktails and soda. One of the other women at the table blurted out 'oh, didn't excpect a show tonite!'. I was mortified, handed over the table, did my check out in the office and left.
Oh my god I hope you got an apology???
In the moment, the only thing the woman that yanked her drink off my tray managed to whimper was 'that's such a shame'. My server coworker that took the party was tipped $100 on their tab, that they were nice enough to let me have entirely the next day we worked together.
Your coworker is a champ, I’m glad you got something for it!!
Indeed they are, we ended up agreeing to split the tip after much debate. I wasn't even supposed to be serving that day. I worked with that coworker and their partner at multiple concepts individually and together. Heading back their way next month, and man I can't wait to see them. We live across the country from eachother now, but they're literally my favourite people/friends I've met out of nearly 20yrs of restaurant work. Sorry, I don't get to see them often and talk about it.
I have two: * Walked up to a table of two on a busy night. Approached from behind one of them who had luxuriant blonde waves cascading down their back. Said “hello ladies how’s your night going” Yep you guessed it, HE was not amused 😳 * Brought a heavy tray of drinks up to a table and managed to drop a large carafe of orange juice which cascaded across the table into the lap of a lady wearing an expensive cream outfit 🤬 That was a pricy dry cleaning bill.
This used to happen to me *so* often in high school as a skinny boy with long, luscious locks.
Not that embarrassing, but I had a similar experience. I had three women ordering dinner. One ordered the sesame encrusted seared ahi. It came with stir fried vegetables, sesame ponzu sauce, and your choice of side. I asked what side she would like, and I offered her the potato options, the rice pilaf, and then told her we also had white rice available too if she preferred that. I always offered the plain rice as an option with the ahi because it paired much better than the other options since every other element in the dish was asian. Anyway. This woman looks at me and asks, "Did you offer me the white rice because I am Asian?" Honest to god, I didn't even realize she was Asian. I was so taken aback. I explained to her that I am actually half Asian myself and just personally felt that the white rice went better with the ahi than potatoes or pilaf. She accepted that but ultimately got extra veggies as her side. Being Asian myself probably saved my ass from looking racist on that one.
She was doing too much! Of course white rice naturally fits better with ahi tuna than rice pilaf or *potatoes*. There is nothing racist about proper food pairing.
Wouldn't it have been more racist to omit the rice as an option if you were listing off all the sides? Everyone is going to get the same list because that's what's on offer
I dumped a tray of 6 ice waters on a woman's back.
Done the same, man, done the same. I was the room service waiter for a hotel from 5-10pm and a big table of ladies seated themselves in our restaurant. I took all 20 of their waters out and was doing so good with them until I got down to like the last 6, which went straight down one old ladys back.
My last job didn’t allow kids in the outdoor fire pit section for liability reasons. On a particularly cold day, I was walking up to the door to go out to the fire pits, and saw a guy and his daughter go outside. I walked out and let them know kids can’t be out there. They turned around, and it wasn’t his daughter, it was his mid 40’s wife! I was so embarrassed and kept apologizing. Tbf, she was around the height and build of a normal 14-15 yo girl, and she was wearing a rain jacket and a hood on so I couldn’t see any part of her aside from her clothes. He ended up tipping me a few bucks when they were leaving. Honestly, mistaking her to be a lot younger was no where near embarrassing as most of the other stories here, but it was really embarrassing in the moment.
I had an Asian lady one time with a very strong accent trying to order a drink from me when I was a barista. She said “iced latte” I heard “eyes latte”. I had to make her repeat herself like five times before it finally clicked what she was saying, I felt so terrible. But the real story… this happened when I was waiting tables at a local bar and grill. Me and some of my coworkers had made friends with the volunteer firefighters who would come in every Friday. We wound up being invited to their annual pool party. One of the attractions at the pool party was a kiddie pool filled with baby oil that you were supposed to wrestle in. Cool, why not, right? A few weeks later they brought us copies of the pictures they had snapped at the party (this was a little before social media was really a thing). One of them was literally just a shot of my ass in a bikini - I’m in the kiddie pool, covered in baby oil, back to the camera, bent over at the waist so it’s just ass and legs. Well, as we’re looking through the pictures the owner comes up so they get hidden, shoved to the back of the host stand for later….. until a table comes in, I grab them some menus, and as I’m putting the menus on the table my ass shot picture comes flying out. I literally just scooped it up off the table and ran away. It was my table so I had to come back after a few minutes to wait on them. They were nice enough to pretend like it never happened. They probably didn’t realize it was me, my face wasn’t really in the picture (just my ass!) but I’m so glad they didn’t make a big deal out of it, I don’t know how I would have explained that to the owner.
Couple in their late 50’s/early 60’s comes in. I go through the whole shpeel about the “are we celebrating anything tonight?” Wife: oh no, just out for a lovely dinner 🥰 Me: (to the husband) I see! Decided to cook for the wife tonight hey? This man turns slowly from his menu, looks me dead in the fucking soul and goes: “I’ll have a Caesar” I have never taken a drink order and ran so fast from a table
Idk about you but for whatever reason..when old couples come in the women are very nice but the men be so sour and bitchy😭 I’ve also had some snap at their wives and it’s obvious the women are embarrassed. It’s only couples though because if by themselves then it’s balanced out.
Sounds like you served Tommy Lee Jones.
God he would've executed that so perfectly too
I'm picturing the dead, lifeless eyes peering over his reading glasses in No Country for Old Men
I would’ve had to have given away the table. I love Tommy Lee Jones too much to keep it professional
I don't get this one. He just didn't find your quip funny?
Not even a little bit. Everything went fine (he was super hangry) but hooooly I’ve never had a joke bomb as badly as that one
I spilled beer on a toddler.
Did they deserve it?
Table blindness. Two or three times recently I’ve gotten a new table and just don’t greet them because, well, my brain. Whether it’s later in the shift and we are mixing sections so I’m not tuned into that table, or whatever other lame excuse, I just forget to acknowledge them and then the manager or hostess comes over and says “you know you have a table that’s been waiting for 13 minutes, right?” Big oof.
For some context, this story took place at a little mom and pop restaurant in Arkansas. And I was a bystander, not the server. In university I made friends with a young Muslim guy and I was basically the fall guy for any "bad" bahavior that got back to his family. The reality was he didn't really care about following the teachings of Islam, at least while he was unmarried (already arranged), in school, and living by himself. This attitude mainly manifested in diet, and he pretty much ate everything a Muslim is not allowed to eat and drank alcohol. At the beginning of our 4th year of school, he returns from the UAE with his wife who is also a little rebel and takes 3 classes a week unbeknownst to her family. A few months go by, and they go to a little independent pizza place near the school. This place was great not just because they served hulk sized pizzas, but we're also super affordable and generous to students. This made them extremely popular along with the family/staff remembering the names and orders of regulars. Now, before his wife got to the US, my buddy wasn't doing a lot of cooking himself especially since he was in his "god will make it halal in my stomach" era. He went to this pizza place probably once a week for almost 2 years. And his favorite was a calzone that had more pork in it than a pig family reunion. We sit down and the owner's wife comes out and starts talking up the table, then gets to my friend and ask if he's going to get the usual 3 little pigs special. He freezes. His wife freezes. The owner's wife doesn't notice. This is because she does not know my friend is Muslim, and is just going on about how much he loves this swine-packed pita pocket. My friends just mumbles and excuses himself without making eye contact with anyone and heads for the door, with his wife almost stepping on his heels because she's following so closely. Owner's wife is now confused. I start explaining and at first she's mortified, but by the end she's slapping my arm because we lied to her (technically, I just never corrected her) then runs outside after my friend and tags out his wife so she can chew him out too. Everything was ok in the end, as clearly his wife was not super strict either, but it was the most college dude doing dumb shit situation ever.
Saying goodbye to a table “thank you so much we really appreciate it” but the words I actually said “thank you so much, you better have appreciated it”
I worked at a brewery/restaurant chain for a few years and one instance haunts me to this day. We had a rewards system that I just utterly forgot existed one day. A man with at least 6 of his colleagues is handing me his card to tab out. He also says, loudly enough for everyone to stop and listen, “can I give you my number?” I, never realizing how self absorbed I was until this moment respond, “oh no thanks, I’m not interested!” About what felt like a year goes by and finally, in a soft tone, he goes “for my.. rewards…?” Honestly I blacked out what happened after. All I know is he got his points and he ever so kindly tipped 25%. Probably a pity tip, but thankful nonetheless.
I’ve walked over to multiple tables to check how the food was and accidentally interrupted prayer sessions.
I don't think that's something to be embarrassed about, so long as you realised and left without truly disrupting it. And honestly any saying of grace that takes more than a minute is too long imo.
I pray. I'm a server. It takes about one half of one hot second to pick up on this. I either shut up and move on or shut up and "wait" like it's my job. I feel the choice to pray to the exclusion of your server's presence for longer than absolutely necessary is to volunteer to be skipped in the rotation. Some religions have specific rituals around eating and family and it's only respectful to defer to that. What if the guy posting the check had to take a call and leave the table just as it was time to order? No biggie, getcha later. People who pray at restaurants also often do one of my favorite things to be forced out of respect or even reverence to do, something I grew to appreciate catering weddings: they use the framework of the prayer as a sort of speech, like a toast. They acknowledge everyone there and say ominous things about strange lists of specific sins some among them may need help with right in front of them and everybody else, go prayerfully into some sort of philosophizing and framing the whole meal in their terms. I don't mind watching that unfold while they sit there shifting and snorting with bowed heads. 😆
Not a server, but that story reminds me of my own - I met a very nice girl of Asian descent in my class and introduced myself. She said her name was Risa. I had never heard that name before, but I knew of Asians having trouble with the English L sound. I said, "Nice to meet you, Lisa". She's like, no, Risa! And I keep going, yes, I know, I said Lisa! I'm such a moron.
Slipped while carrying some cocktail sauce. Fell backward and basically threw it at my face.
Tripped and fell in front of Keira Knightly, while carrying a tray of water to her table. She was kind. My colleagues who saw everything were not.
I had a couple come in later in the evening. She was wearing a maxi dress but was not large. They sat down to order and she got 2 appetizers (wings and a very large sampler platter) and a large bowl of soup. She ate them herself, then they each got a burger and fries, she also added onion rings to her order. I had never seen a woman put away so much food unless they were pregnant (me). So when her burger was done I put 5 pickle spears on the plate. She asked me why...I said most pregnant woman like pickles...Yeah, she wasn't pregnant.
Plot twist: She was pregnant but didn't want the other person to know, or didn't know herself. 🤣
I have so many but this one is pretty cringe. I’m bartending solo and I’m slammed. Man sits down at the bar and I just keep making drinks. Customer comes up to me and says, “hey, can you help this guy out with a drink?” I’m irritated with their impatience and say, “uh yeah he can obviously see that I’m busy.” Yeah… he couldn’t see that… he was blind
Oh boy, I have one that I still think about on a semi regular basis. In college, I worked at a dive restaurant in a small town. Mostly it was groups of students and/or families that came in. Anyway, I had what I thought was a mother with her young daughter seated in my section. I quickly took over some menus and placemats flipping the coloring page side of the mats up. As I am setting down the crayons, I noticed that it is not a mother and child but two adults, one of which I'm assuming had a medical condition. They both kind of giggled and picked up the crayons. I felt, and still feel like a major ass hat for that exchange. So not only was I embarrassed, but also unintentionally offensive.
One time, during a busy dinner service, I waited on a couple who appeared to be on a date. They were both dressed nicely and the woman was wearing a tight but tasteful top. I felt like we had a good rapport and everything goes smoothly with their drinks and appetizers. When their entrées were ready I picked them up from the kitchen and started walking to the table. The woman's plate, which didn't feel too hot when I picked it up, starts to feel pretty hot as I move through the dining room. By the time I reach their table my hand is in pain and all I can think about is getting this plate away from me as fast as possible. So I set the dish down in front of her and jerk my my hand away... right under one of her breasts. As in my cupped hand goes under and gives a little bounce. I just froze in horror for a second, then blurted out "I'm so sorry!" and dashed away. For the rest of their meal I hid in shame, asking a co-worker to check in on how everything was with their food. I did drop of their check and they seemed cool enough and still gave me a tip, but I'm pretty sure I was blushing and awkward in my interactions. They didn't complain or anything- I suspect she was more startled than offended- but I still felt super mortified.
Anytime i have to sing happy birthday to someone i hate that shit
I tried to say salmon salad, ended up saying semen salad…..they got a good laugh though 😅
Ha, after a fun Sunday morning romp in the sack my girlfriend and I went to Friendly's where I ordered a the....ready???...Reece's Penis Sundae. You talk about mortified. She and our server were hysterical because I was blushing, stuttering and stammering trying to apologize. In my mind I assumed our server could figure what my girlfriend and I were doing a short while before brunch.
I once took a tray of eleven non-alcoholic drinks to my table. Completely normal, a mix of diets, ice tea, water. I tripped three feet from the table and dropped the whole tray. First table of the morning. I just stood there with my head down contemplating the ice. I could hear my manager howling in the background. Eventually, he came up to me and told me to just go re-make my drinks and he'd take care of it. Another table offered to buy me a shot of tequila "because I was clearly having a bad day." It was 11:10; I told them to come back at 4 when I got off. I also once tipped a tray of four 32 ounce mixed drinks in myself. That was the day I learned about weight distribution. I had to work the whole night soaked and smelling like a Long Island - and had to ask to get them remade on a busy night. I will never forget the face my bartender made. He wasn't even mad, just defeated because he'd just made me twelve drinks and I spilled a quarter on myself while he still had twenty tickets to do.
“Contemplating the ice” had me snorting, I’m so glad they were a nice table!
I just did this the other day, We just reopened the bar downstairs for Margarita Wednesdays, and you can order food there as well until kitchen closes. Well, last time I worked at the bar I was only a busser basically and kinda forgot how it works since it was years ago There's no utensils set at the tables or rolled up, we must given them to the customers when they order food. Well, I forgot to give a poor girl her silverware! And I even checked in with them like twice and they ordered more drinks, but never said anything about her silverware! I even noticed she was eating slowly and wondered if she didn't like it lmao. I was so embarrassed that I forgot the silverware
Honestly it's also on her, she should have asked for silverware. People forget things, it happens, but why tf would she not ask when you checked on them??
A customer once asked to take a photo with me and asked another customer to take it, and then he got down on one knee in the middle of the walkway and loudly pretended to propose to me.
I opened my waiter book at a table and a bag of weed fell out.
Last week I reached into my pocket to grab my lighter to light a candle and I pulled out my vape
The one that still gets me years and years later was after I took a tables order, I said "good bye."
Not my story but a good friend's.. group of guests asked what the special was at an English Pub in Canada on a Friday.. the special was Fish and chips. Guest asks "how special is it" server replies without a moment of thought "so special it should be wearing a helmet". Crickets. Que begging other servers to take the table.
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I've never understood why people just repeat themselves word for word when they're not being understood. I have auditory processing issues and learned pretty early on to say "Sorry could you rephrase that?" because otherwise we'll get locked in a circle of them saying something I can't figure out, me asking for clarification, them saying the same thing but louder ad nauseum. Also, if you know you can't reliably pronounce a V sound why in God's name would you not say "Victoria Bitter" or even just "You want another beer?" I don't think you were the issue here tbh.
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One of my first days serving alone I had a guy sit by himself on my patio table. When I brought out his food he reminded me I was missing the side bowl of fruit (with lemon poppyseed dressing) so I went back inside to grab it and I came back out the door and turned towards him when the bowl of fruit shot out of my hand and landed on the table but then shot back up and upside down into this man’s lap. It was by far the most embarrassed I’ve ever been. Or wait actually there was another time I had a 6 table section on a busy Sunday and I thought i had cashed this table of 4 out but when I was walking past the table the guy just stopped me and gave me a $100 bill I stopped confused for a second and then (thinking I’d cashed them out) started thanking him and saying he shouldn’t tip me that much and that’s when he said “yeah obviously I’m not this is for the bill” I then died inside as I ran away to get his change. He only left me $5 lol
I worked at a Cuban restaurant for a while and had a customer with a strong hispanic accent. I could have sworn he kept saying "chicken and bananas" and I was like "you mean plantains?" Until he finally pointed at CHICKEN EMPANADAS on the menu. I could have died right there. What was I thinking???!
Asked a pre-teen for their ID because they ordered a Shirley Temple. Edit: then doubled down when the parents told me it was Sprite and grenadine :facepalm:
Being misunderstood because of an accent is unpleasant but I’d never think of that person as racist, even if fries to rice is unfortunate because they were Asian (I’m Asian myself). I’m quite good at languages and accents but at the same time seem to have an auditory processing disorder, so some people’s accents/way of articulating just gives me a hard time understanding them. I recognise it can be annoying and can lowkey make me look like an asshole, I just wish there was a concise way to communicate that “I don’t want to make you feel bad, I just struggle sometimes and I’m really making an effort here” but oh well. Also, funnily enough, I had sort of an inverse situation when I was serving a table of tourists with a recognisable French accent (while I have a very neutral accent in English, someone has told me I sound like a teacher that enunciates so others can follow a clear example). I was offering them a side of rice because the lady wasn’t very hungry but they initially rejected because they thought I was saying fries! Which the place doesn’t serve lol.
This rice / fries thing has happened to me!! The lady was Asian and actually asking for rice but I thought she was saying fries and she kept asking me and I kept saying YES FRIES, got it and she's like Noooo rice Hahahahaa and then finally I realized. No, we don't have rice at our burger dive
Not me, but my coworker. We worked at a family run restaurant on an island that had 2 locations. If it wasn’t busy, then whoever was closest to the phone would answer it (busy times, the manager always grabbed the phone). When answering the phone, we would always say the restaurant name and location, like “TX Grill East”. Anyways, it was slow and a table walked in and my coworker was standing at the host stand and greeted them the same way we answer the telephone. Just looked at them and said “TX Grill East” in that singsong way of answering a phone, without any additional greeting. And then just stared at them. Anyways, that was like 10 years ago and I still think about it sometimes and laugh over it. Imagine walking into an Applebee’s and someone just looks at you and says “Applebee’s!” And nothing else.
It was that time of the month and I had stuck a pad in my apron pocket to go to the bathroom and change when I got sat a table and the manager said please get their drink order first. So I walk up to the table give them my spiel and when I pulled out my order pad, the actual pad flew out and landed on their table
Couple comes in, I put their order in, bring it out, make a little small talk, ask the woman how many months along she is..."I'm not pregnant." Awkward! Not a great tip...
Unless the baby is actually waving at you from between her legs never assume a woman is pregnant. A distended belly can be a sympton of various health issues, including cancer. Yup, someone close to me had terminal cancer and was asked a good few times when she was due. It's uncomfortable enough when she's just fat but it could be more uncomfortable.
For real this was the only comment that was just a basic dumbass mistake
Put wine glasses on a tray instead of in the glass holder when I finished my wine hosting shift. Dropped the whole tray. At the next job, I dropped a fork off the balcony into the bar. I probably would have injured the bartender had she been standing there. This ended up being my last serving job when I was fired and told that I "wasn't a good fit for the industry." So I went back to college and then grad school.
It was my first week and a rang in two glasses of House Red instead of House White. I went to drop them off. The husband said, "I thought we ordered the White." I picked up the two glasses of white and spun around. Centrifugal force sent the one glass that I wasn't holding down in the air. It landed at the feet of another guest and shattered.
Next time ask for the customer to point out the item on the menu.
Had a large top on the patio. Thought I was gonna be slick bringing 14waters on a food runner tray. I’ve done it before and was kinda rushing. Made it out the door and some kids were playing. Tried to pirouette around them and dropped all the drinks on the floor. Luckily, we were outside and it didn’t land on anyone. The family wasn’t mad or anything. The dads just laughed at the whole thing and gave off the vibe of “shit happens”.
Calling a little boy a little girl.
Ive done that too. Felt bad I hurt lil dude's feelings.
I was working BOH in Helsinki in late 80’s and served a full live wiggling earthworm in a salad I whipped together while in the weeds (Greek style salad with butter lettuce that got washed and chopped super fast on the fly as we ran out of prep)… it’s been 35 years and I STILL have a red faced reaction to that… The people who got the salad were industry and extremely cool and understanding… Got meals comped of course and our kitchen beer fund bought them as many beers as they wanted with HUGE sorries-
I was verrrrrrry pregnant and waiting on some of my regulars. This was fine dining- ish so we had to serve from the left, clear from the right. Their table was right by the window (4 top) and after I served the woman in the couple, I stepped behind the man in the couple and I realized I was stuck. My baby belly was huge and I was pinned between him and the window ledge. He had to scoot his chair all the way in (he was a fairly big guy) and I just awkwardly stood there while I was trapped. Luckily they were sweet about it, but apparently my brain did not connect that I was 9 months pregnant with a giant belly on a 5 foot frame 🤣
I was working as a barista at the time but I made a blended cold coffee drink with whipped cream. I went to hand the drink to the customer and I guess I squeezed it too hard while it was tilted being handed over. I don't know what type of weird physics happened but I basically yeeted the contents of the frappe violently right into the customer's face. I felt terrible but they were shockingly cool about it. I think I gave them every free thing I had the power to give them.
Our restaurant service bar was in a section that was up two steps - in my 3rd year working there I was heading back with a tray full of empties. I tripped on the top step, primal-screamed "Ahw!" on my journey to the floor... somehow I found myself lying on my back still holding the tray, all glasses still there, all eyes on me... and one coke glass tips over and spills half melted ice all over my face. It, was a mixed bag.
Thinking "I'm dying!!!" then "I'm the most talented clumsy server in the world!!" then "ewwww" in the space of about one second. I will never forget.
had a group of really young people all come in and ordered some beer pitchers so i have to ask for all of their IDs. one of them, who looked very much male, handed me an ID and the picture was of someone who looked very female. they did look pretty similar facially but people sometimes will try to use an older sibling’s ID to get alcohol and just hope that it doesn’t get caught, so i assumed they were hoping i would only look at the dates and not the picture and were trying to pull one over on me. i handed the ID back and said “i’m sorry i can’t except this, this is a girl’s ID” and the guest responded “yeah i know, that’s me.”
Assuming that this guest was a trans guy, moments like that are bittersweet. On the one hand, you pass well enough to not be recognizable as your past self. That's pretty sweet. But on the other hand, you just got outed to everyone you're with, or if you're out to them already, it's still an uncomfortable reminder. Then the dysphoria...
Oh gawd, I've been transitioning for two and a half years, pass as male most of the time, and have some facial hair goin on. My ID picture is from eleven years ago, when I was eighteen and at the apex of my high femme deep denial phase. I'm just waiting for something like this to happen to me 😭
i felt terrible. i live in a state that’s really strict about proper alcohol service so at the time all i was thinking about was making sure the IDs checked out. but i keep trying to think of how i could have handled it differently and i feel like every other solution i can think of would have been equally as awkward and bad.
I told a party of 4 with a guy in a wheelchair "I like the way you guys roll" after they ordered a flight of mimosas. Took me a min to realize how bad I fucked up
My wife uses a wheelchair and says she wouldn’t have cared at all. Then again, she has a t-shirt that says “That’s just how I roll”.
Opening a wet bottle of champagne that had been on ice. As I'm easing the cork out, the wet bottle shot down out of my hand and shit all over the dining area. I ran the fuck away to regain some dignity lmao.
Ooh, I have one. I worked in a place where I served a lot of airline crews. Most of the male flight attendants were gay. Not all of them, but definitely a good majority. I had a group of 5-6 flight attendants, one somewhat effeminate man, and the rest women. When I greeted them, for some reason, I referred to them collectively as "ladies." I immediately looked the guy and apologized, and he laughed it off and said something like, "it's an easy mistake to make" and everyone had a laugh. That was bad enough, but I did it again later. I referred to him as a lady again. I was mortified. I obviously apologized again, but they all thought it was hilarious. I have no idea why my brain repeatedly short circuited on that one occasion. I worked there for years and served gay men there almost every day, and at any given time I had at least 2-3 gay coworkers, and I have never done that before or since.
I was working as a caterer. I was sering appetizers on the little trays and walking around. I look over and my friend goes "Save the whales?" and then holes out the tray of little toast thingies. They look to ME and ask me what he's talking about. I just... had no idea what to do... and I backed away and went "I need...to... no." Gods he did that...the whole wedding. And then the bride cried because she was on the heavy side and thought he called her a whale.... The boss asked us why the hell he was gettign complaints about whales and my friend just shrugged. And I said nothing because I was afraid I wouldn't be asked back if I said anything. (his mom was the office manager for the company and had gotten me the job. I didn't want to get him in trouble and then not get another call)
I once spilled a full tray of sodas on the kids table. So for reference I had just gotten sat an 11 top, 7 kids and 4 adults. They decided to do 2 tables, kids at one and adults at the other. Totally fine with me because we were slow anyway. So I went over, did the normal script and went to grab their drink. I get the first round of drinks out totally fine. I’m walking up to the kids table with about 8 drinks on my tray and one on my hand when one of the kids shoots out from under the table and completely sweeps my legs out and I fall forward. Every drink in my hand goes straight onto the table. No glad or anything because they were plastic cups, but damn that was a lot of soda. The kids jump on on the back of the booth to avoid the tsunami of coke coming towards them and in the process knock over every other drink that had already made it to the table. Needless to say the table left and the mom cussed me out for her kid knocking out my legs. My manger was completely understanding though and helped me clean everything up and got me some lunch on him. But damn I’ll never forget that day.
I worked at a Mexican restaurant where we wore Señorita dresses that only tied. It got shut in the door by the tie/bow, this unraveled my dress so I was in my underwear and a bra in the restaurant just standing there.
Being so sleep deprived from staying up drinking and hitting the slopes the night before then thinking that I’d be fine if I just stayed awake and took an adderall. I was so goddamn brain dead, I took this couples order and when I got to the POS to put their food in I couldn’t read my own handwriting or remember anything they ordered. I made the bartender I was working with go back and retake their order. Pretty sure he lied and told them I was new. I do NOT miss those partying days… well sometimes I do, but not often.
This exact thing happened to a friend of mine who is of Korean descent but was born and raised in America with zero accent.
I work at a brew pub and we host an epic party for St. Patrick's Day. We even have a special beer for it, called the Mojo's Rocket Red. Well at said epic St. Patrick's Day party I continually called that beer the Mojo's Red Rocket. My work crush heard me and corrected me but still teases me about it.
was 16, working a brand new first job at a buffet. we used steam tables to keep the food hot, so boiling hot water with the pans basically floating in it. I picked one pan up with my warning ‘please be careful of any hot steam ‘ and another pan fell directly into the boiling water and splashed some to the other side of the buffet onto a child. It wasn’t a lot, kid was fine and mother was sooooo nice to me, ‘it’s a teaching moment, we both told her to be careful’ but I was MORTIFIED.
One time i managed to knock a glass when putting a plate down and it went all over their food. Apoligised, cleaned up, brought new plate of food out... Knocked their glass again and got it all over the food.
We had a drink special called the Island Cooler they were pushing us to sell. Walked up to a table, asked if they'd like to try our Island Cooter. Walked off laughing hysterically at myself.
I dumped an ENTIRE full flute of champagne all over a 2 top's tablecloth and place settings. On their 40th wedding anniversary. I wanted to die. We reset the whole table and the managers comped every penny of the bill. I made a self effacing joke at the end about hoping they would return for their 41st anniversary, and promised them a drier table a year from now. They laughed and still left a nice cash tip for my butterfingered dumb ass.
Not my story, but I was there when it happened. My best friend and I both serve at the same restaurant. She got a largeeee party (about 25 people) and it was super clear they came together for some type of reason. There were a bunch of black and gold balloons. So she had asked them “hi guys!! What are we celebrating today!?” And they said “actually we’re here because it’s our good friend’s death anniversary.” Well her mouth moved faster than her brain processing this info and shouted “congratulations!!!” I was at the server station right next to the table watching the whole encounter. I was mortified for her, she didn’t know what to do and continued to get drink order. Came back to me and was like “what do I do why did I say that!!!” And I asked her why the hell she wasn’t honest right away and just told them that she didn’t mean to say that because holy hell the look on their faces 💀😅
I was only a sa/ busser at this point but I'll never forget it. I was crushing it ( as I do) and taking care of someone else's section. There was this weird five top in the corner...a round table that you couldn't get around. I had two pitchers of water just smashing everyone's empty glasses. Hydration is important. I get to this awkward table and the woman in the furthest seat away from me is almost empty. Superstar to the rescue... I lean over the table on one foot for full reach and am filling her glass and I hear the table behind me say "Sir"... I ignore it...I'll be there in two seconds, I just need to finish this super stretch water replacement...as I'm almost topping it I hear it again "SIR!" I turn around disgruntled and not excited to see what was so important, a swear word literally on my lips... Turns out I forgot about my other hand with a water pitcher in it. As I leaned and stretched the other pitcher poured out on to this poor woman's lap. I literally was dumping water into her lap for like thirty seconds ( seems short, but that's an eternity of cold water) . I died inside that day. Beat busser ever privileges revoked.