The UK’s restaurant industry employs 468,000 people as of 2024, across everything from fine-dining eateries to fast-food chains.
While the cuisine, prices, and setting vary between individual restaurants, one thing they all have in common is hungry customers.
Though many are taught that “the customer is always right”, waiters and waitresses across the globe have agreed there are some unwelcome dining habits.
Taking to the online forum thread r/AskReddit, one user asked: “Restaurant workers of Reddit, what do customers do or say that you secretly hate?”
The post, which prompted almost 2,000 comments, included details of a common table manner everyone has been guilty of.
One Reddit user with the alias ‘green_eyesxoxo’, shared: “The restaurant I used to work at had food runners. It never failed when I would see the food being brought out no one remembered what they ordered. I’d say for example chicken Caesar salad and everyone just gives you a blank stare like you are speaking a different language.”
Many people, including diners, agreed with the server who aired their frustrations. A fellow forum user claimed that it “used to irritate [them] so much” that they had come up with a system to avoid it. They said: “Now when we go out to eat I know who got what and I’ll tell the server whose it is.”
Other Reddit members argued that this is only a problem in more casual dining settings, and they should come up with a way around it. But that still doesn’t solve other nuances of restaurant work, like entitled customers.
Sharing their experience, a user with the alias ‘No_Resolution8278’ said: “As a restaurant worker, one thing that I secretly hate is when customers snap their fingers or whistle to get my attention. It’s incredibly disrespectful and rude. Just a simple ‘excuse me’ or a wave will suffice.”
They continued: “It’s important to remember that we are here to serve you with a smile, but we are not your personal servants. Respect goes a long way in the service industry.”
A fellow Reddit member agreed: “Seriously. I do this to my dog I have zero idea how people think it’s okay or acceptable to do it to people!”
But the quip sparked anxiety among others who questioned whether their approach to catching a server’s eye and giving “a little wave” is acceptable.
Another restaurant worker revealed that their frustrations stem from diners who can’t believe the bill when it comes to paying.
A forum user who worked at fast food joint, Five Guys, said: “…I won’t deny, the prices are really jacked up, but that has got nothing to do with me. I’ve had several say to me when I’m taking their order, ‘why do you, raise the prices this high?, ’or when I tell the total of the order, they are convinced I added fraudulent items to their order making it that high, like they can’t look at the screen in front of them and do the math.”
One person expressed the same annoyance when customers request discounts that simply don’t exist. They urged: “I’m like why are you blaming me for something I have no control of?”
