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Working in the food service industry isn’t all fun and games. It’s grueling, repetitive work that isn’t always rewarded as generously as it should be. And very often, as a server, you’ll also end up emotionally exhausted after dealing with customers all day long. Some customers are great, sure. But there will always be at least a handful of less empathetic ones who will make you question your choice of career.
To show you some of the challenges these hard-working employees face, our team at Bored Panda has collected some of their top posts and vents about situations they constantly deal with. Scroll down to take a look. If you’ve ever worked at a restaurant, you might find these takes incredibly relatable!

#1 She Knows What’s What

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#2 As A Person Who Worked In Retail, All I Can Say Is Very Accurate

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#3 Nothing Like When The Doors Are Already Locked And They Start Aggressively Tugging On The Doors From The Outside Though

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The food service industry is absolutely gargantuan in the United States. It encompasses everything related to food prepared outside of one’s home, from full-service and quick-service (e.g., fast food) restaurants to catering, cafes, private chefs, and more. Statista reports that the largest share of employment in the US food service industry came from waiters and waitresses in 2022. On the other side of the scale, private cooks made up the smallest share of employment that year.

In 2022, the American food service and drinking place industry as a whole reached earnings of a jaw-dropping $975.9 billion. That’s just shy of a trillion!

In 2023, that trillion-dollar mark was breached, with the sales in the industry reaching an eye-watering $1.09 trillion, supporting 13.2 million employees. Statista notes that there were over 2.1 million servers in the US in 2022, and more than 2.2 million in 2023.

#4 The Most Hateful Meal

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#5 Silly. You’re Supposed To Balance It On Your Head

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#6 Mine Was Mr. Pickles Because I Asked For Extra Pickles On My Sub

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With the size of the industry in mind, it only makes sense to take the workplace issues that the employees in this market face very seriously. Good managers ought to care about their staff’s welfare. Meanwhile, good business leaders know that motivated, well-compensanted, and properly supported employees are loyal and get better results.

Online food delivery is also massive and continues to get ever more popular. The US has the second-biggest online food delivery market after China. In 2023, the size of this market in the US stood at around $270 billion. Grocery delivery brought in $182.9 billion while meal delivery was worth $86.9 billion in revenue.

#7 Can’t Get Any More Accurate Than That

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#8 They Are So Bad At Reading The Room

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#9 “I’m Scheduled Until 8, So I’ll Probably Be Off Around 10”

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WebstaurantStore reports that nearly 750k restaurants were operating in the US in 2023. An overwhelming number of them—9 out of 10—were small businesses with fewer than 50 staff members. Meanwhile, 7 out of 10 restaurants were single-unit operations. Most American adults (63%) have worked in the restaurant industry at some point in their lives.

#10 Changing One Of Those Bad Boys In A Lunch Rush Is An Extreme Sport

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#11 Truer Words Were Never Spoken

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#12 I Showed This To The 56-Year-Old Who Sitting Next To Me And His Response Was “I Don’t Understand What That Means”

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The sad reality is that many servers have to deal with rudeness, disrespect, and entitled behavior on a constant basis. One server and popular content creator, Quinn, previously opened up to Bored Panda about how a customer came in, started filming him, and set up a game for him to play for his tips.

He said that many employees don’t stand up for themselves because they’re scared of getting fired if some of their customers were to complain about them.

#13 The Uselessness Of Signs

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#14 The True Stupidity Of Earth

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#15 Bit Harsh

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“We can’t change how people think, however, if servers realized their job is just a job and stood up for themselves more often and had managers who backed their servers up more often instead of allowing such behavior from these guests, I think we’d see a massive improvement in the workplace of restaurants,” the server told us in an earlier interview.

#16 At Least He Took It Well

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#17 As A Server, I Promise You We Noticed Everyone That Makes Our Restaurant Their First Date Spot

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#18 Who The Chef Really Is

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“Servers are people and just because they’re in the industry doesn’t mean they’re beneath you. In fact, some A-list celebrities used to be servers: Chris Pratt, Chris Rock, Lady Gaga, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Aniston. A lot of important people used to be in the service industry, not just celebrities, people in science, people in our justice system, and doctors. Just treat them for who they are—PEOPLE.”

#19 It Really Is

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#20 Hahahah, Why Do I Relate To This Back On My Old Sales Days

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#21 The Least Welcome Version Of Small Talk

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Not all rude customers are alike. Some folks are decent but they’ve had an awful day, and they snap (even though they shouldn’t). Others are used to always getting their way, so they resort to bullying and manipulation.

Servers with lots of experience can often instinctively tell who’s who, and how to deal with each category of people.

#22 And Salt

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#23 The Reasonable Requests

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#24 There’s Multitasking And Then There’s Multitasking

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Often, unhappy customers just want to be heard and their criticism shouldn’t be taken personally. A dash of empathy and some active listening from the server’s side can work wonders in these situations.

It can be a ton of help if your manager roleplays with you and walks you through some potential scenarios with rude customers. Meanwhile, managers should always be available to support their newer staff members and step in if they have trouble handling negative and entitled people.

#25 Got Your Back

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#26 Better Not To Know What Is Happening Behind The Scenes

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#27 If You’re Having A Bad Morning. I Just Spilled 4 Liters Of Extra Reduced Down Lobster Stock We Badly Needed. And It Was The First Thing I Touched. It’ll Be Alright, Folks

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Have you ever worked in the food service industry, dear Pandas? Do you have a lot of experience as a server, chef, or bartender? What are the weirdest situations you’ve ever been in with customers?

What advice would you give anyone who’s completely new to working at a restaurant? We’d love to hear all about your job stories, so if you’re taking a coffee break, share your experiences in the comments at the bottom of this list.

#28 That’s Today’s Society For You

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#29 Asked For These To Be Sliced In Half For Hot Dogs… Didn’t Know I Needed To Specify

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#30 Guess I’ll Have To Struggle Along Without Their One Weekly Latte Purchase

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#31 The Staff Have Got Enough To Do And We Clear Our Own Mess

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#32 An Inspiration To Us All

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#33 If You Have Ever Picked Up One Of These With Your Bare Hands, You Don’t Need To Worry About What’s In The Vaccine

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#34 The Highest Quality Speakers

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#35 Using Your Coworkers As Free Therapists

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#36 Every Time, All While Saying “Sorry, Sorry, Sorry”

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#37 The Struggle Is Real

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#38 Only One Worst Scenario Would Be All Cash That All Needs Change

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#39 The Generational Difference

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#40 And It’s Never The Teens Or Kids Who Will Argue And Be Rude It’s Always The Parents

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#41 The List Of Allergies A Table Handed Us On NYE (The Set Menu Was Surf & Turf)

Public service announcement: "If you have life-threatening dietary restrictions please check the menu beforehand and contact the restaurant to ensure accommodations can be made. Thank you".

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#42 Not To Mention We Had A Solid 50 Other People Ordering Food

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#43 Oops

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#44 Yes, And You Have 0.7 Or Less Seconds To Complete Their Order With Perfection, Or You Will Be Immediately Thrown Into A Vat Of Acid In The Back

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#45 I Always Say Sorry I Left My 3rd Arm At Home Today

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#46 The Intense Heat

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#47 Those Wonderful Greetings

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#48 How To Really Train Someone

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#49 Accurate

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#50 Been There

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#51 I Screwed Up Today

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#52 Whole Table Of Boomers Just Sitting An Hour After Closing

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#53 That Is How

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#54 Time Works Different There

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#55 I Work In An Upscale Seafood Restaurant And Get Order Like This All Day

We only had 58 covers today and I've already seen 3 different tickets like this. Almost every station contains fish. I don't understand the logic of choosing to go to a seafood restaurant with a severe allergy like this.