(There’s a spill on the floor that hasn’t been mopped up, but I don’t see it as I walk by with a tray of drinks. I slip and fall hard, dropping all of the drinks and hitting my hip on the floor. My manager rushes over, and I think he’s going to help me up. Instead…)

Manager #1: “Were you wearing non-slip shoes?!”

Me: *shocked, wet, and in pain* “Yes! And I’m fine. Thanks for asking!”

(In contrast, about a year later, I slipped and fell again, this time with a different manager on duty. I’m not hurt, so I just get up and go about my business.)

Manager #2: *comes up to me 10 minutes later* “Oh, my god, I heard that you fell! Are you okay? Does anything feel broken? Do you need to go home?”

(I’m the last to get cut tonight and end up having to pick up a table. Right off the bat, this woman tells me how last time she had a horrible experience and that our boss said he’d take care of them the next time they were in.)

Customer: “I want our appetizer crispy, but not burnt. I want our ribs to be meaty and full. I don’t want them to just pick out any kind and my daughter will have her steak medium.”

(I bring out the appetizer.)

Customer: “This isn’t crispy at all! See all this?”

(I go back and get a new one started for her. When I come back out to tell her that, she says:)

Customer: “Well, we actually want it without all the seasoning on it.”

(I run back to let the kitchen guys know, and they are now making the third appetizer for this family. I bring it out when it’s ready.)

Customer: *after about a minute of eating the appetizer* “Why is everything taking so long? Why is the food taking so long? We’ve been here three hours!”

(It’s been approximately a half an hour.)

Me: “Well, ma’am, we had to make you three appetizers first, before the food was put in.”

Customer: “I don’t care. It’s taking too long. And they better not screw up the ribs.”

(I go back to the kitchen and tell the guys they really need to help me out here and they do their best.)

Customer: *after biting into her ribs* “Do you see this? It’s so dry! Taste it!”

Me: “No, thanks, ma’am. I trust you.”

(I grab my manager and have her talk to them. We get her two new baked potatoes, she argues over what medium meant, etc. My manager takes the ribs off the bill. I take it out to her.)

Customer: “Well, I don’t think we should pay for any of this! We didn’t eat it! My daughter hardly touched her steak.”

(I ran back and begged my manager to take care of it, since they had been here over an hour and a half and we’re closed. She took care of the whole check. I sat down with the woman and chatted for a minute afterwards, and she handed me $6… on a check that should’ve been $50, for a table that kept me past closing.)

(Our broiler breaks down during lunch service. It’s our only means of cooking burgers. Fortunately we still have a small number on hold but not enough to last very long. I’m working in the back making the orders. We sell the last of the meat and are now only able to offer chicken. I inform the cashiers of this and they all acknowledge it. Moments later an order comes up for two burgers.)

Me: “We don’t have meat.”

(The cashier keeps going.)

Me: *louder* “We’re out of meat.”

(The cashier keeps going.)

Me: *practically yelling now* “[Cashier], WE DON’T HAVE MEAT!”

(The cashier finishes the order and I’m finally able to get her attention.)

Me: “[Cashier], you know we don’t have any meat left, right?”

Cashier: *blank stare* “Yeah, so?”

Me: “So… what did you just sell?”

Cashier: “Two burgers, why?”

Me: “What am I supposed to make them with?”

Cashier: “Uh, the meat.”

Me: “The meat we don’t have any of?”

Cashier: “OH! When did we run out?”

(Our mom takes us through the drive through of a fast food joint known for frozen custard. We all have one, and as we are driving away and eating, three of us discovered long hairs in our custard. We go back through the drive through and my mother tells them what happened. The poor teen on the mic sounds so nervous when my mom calmly explains the situation. They give us free replacements. We get to the window and instead of the kid, it’s the manager.)

Manager: *hands my mom the tray of three custards as well as a handful of tokens for a free scoop of custard*

Mom: “What is this for?”

Manager: “Ma’am, so many customers in your situation would have screamed at my poor employees and terrified them. The other day, a customer came up to the counter and screamed at and verbally abused the fifteen-year-old girl at the register because he found a very small piece of onion on his burger when he had asked for none because he doesn’t like the smell of them. And other people would try to sue us for that. So I am giving these to you as a thank you.”

Mom: “Oh, wow. You’re welcome, I guess.”

(Our custard was delicious and hair free, though it melted rather quickly once we got to the park as it was the summer. Good thing we had dishes and not cones!)

(My family is on vacation in New York, visiting from Canada. I just got a new phone and don’t completely understand it yet, whereas my mom has had a phone many years.)

Me: “Um, mom, I just got a message saying I’m 25$ over my data limit.”

Mom: “What!? How could you do that!? Didn’t you know to turn your data off?”

Me: “I’m sorry! I’m still learning!”

(Ten minutes later:)

Mom: “You know you really need to be more careful with that phone what if you racked up hundreds of dollars?”

Me: “I said I’m sorry.”

(Another ten minutes later:)

Mom: “You know you always have to shut down data roaming and the rest of your apps. You can’t be so careless.”

(An hour later.)

Mom: “Hey, did I ever tell you about the last time I was in New York? I thought I was on wifi but I wasn’t and ended up spending 250$ over my data plan! But, hey, what can you do? Accidents happen you know?”

(Sadly this isn’t the first time she’s called me out for a minor mistake while seeing no problem with doing the same thing, just worse.)