To work as a waiter, besides all the rewarding experiences, might be draining and challenging at times. Dealing with difficult customers, carrying heavy trays of food and drinks, standing for long periods of time, small tips, etc. Those are just a few disadvantages that come with the job, not to mention all the little quirks every restaurant or diner faces from time to time. And this Instagram account “server_life” covers it all. Together with Twitter “@TipOrGoHome”, the page shares all the funny (or not so funny) incidents at an eating or drinking place that servers have to deal with.
"You work in the industry and feel as if nobody understands you? Well, we do,” write the moderators of “Server_Life”. Scroll down for some tearfully funny backstage moments of a waiter's life. Do any of the memes or posts feel painfully relatable to you? Let us know in the comments! For more similar content, check out our article covering servers talking and venting about their work here!
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"Server_Life" entered the vast waters of Twitter in 2013 and has 661k followers with its Instagram account combined. Since then, the page has grown to the point where it now has its own The Server Life Podcast on Spotify, talking about stereotypes about servers, celebrities at restaurants, kitchen horror stories, and more! It is truly worth checking out!
Could be me. My wife prefers to go 'shopping' (which is imo more endless looking rather than real shopping) with some girlfriend(s) but with me (how come?) and I often meet her afterwards in a Café. When I arrive at her table I sometimes say: "Excuse me, but you caught my eye the moment I walked in here." which causes a sudden silence and lots of turning heads. ;)
Servers are considered to be the face of a restaurant, being the first ones to greet a customer and making sure they have a pleasant experience. They’re also the connecting link between the kitchen and clients, taking orders and relating them to the cooks while ensuring that food and drinks reach every table in an adequate time. It's a challenging and demanding job that requires not only patience and concentration but also interpersonal savvy. Especially when it comes to dealing with difficult customers and challenging situations that can arise due to a broken coffee machine, for example.
Having a place to vent and read about similar experiences might be a good way to let all the steam out. That’s the goal of “Server Life”, a place where all the servers can get all the consolation they rightfully deserve!
Memes are a common type of internet comedy that frequently depict relatable or exaggerated scenarios. Given that so many people have either worked in or eaten at restaurants, waiters and the restaurant industry often appear in these humorous images, videos, or pieces of text widely shared and replicated online.
To learn more about memes in digital culture, we reached out to Bradley E. Wiggins, Ph.D., an Associate Professor and Department Head of Media Communications at Webster Vienna Private University who has published a book, The Discursive Power of Memes in Digital Culture. Scroll down to read the whole interview!
Memes have become an essential component of online culture. They often go viral and spread quickly across social media platforms. But what makes them so impactful and shareable? According to Bradley E. Wiggins, memes are often bite-sized content, simple to distribute and their inclusion of humor typically guarantees some degree of resonance with the topic presented in the meme. “Now, when memes use a critical topic, such as something about politics, for example, humor may still be present, but one can also begin to see aspects of an ideology at work. Memes that reflect or reject certain ideological aspects become part of the larger online experience and can serve to reinforce one’s preconceived notions about a particular issue.”
The dad shouldn't pressure his daughter into drinking either way though...
Memes have become a ubiquitous part of online culture, and they are constantly evolving in response to trends and current events. Memes have also become more widely used as a form of communication as a result of the popularity of social media platforms. Bradley E. Wiggins shared that memes are a genre of communication. That means that “the types of communication made possible by memes is limited only by its own form and modality. In other words, as certain meme-like content becomes more dynamic, such as content on TikTok, the user experience is inundated with additional information, the meta-data often accompanying a given post. Another point is that memes truncate, or shorten, complex perspectives into easily consumable chunks of information. This is quite similar to the journalistic practice of using a ‘soundbite’ to capture the essence of a sophisticated or otherwise abstract amount of information, such as policy announcements or new legislation.”
Some people argue that memes are trivial and frequently spread false information that can be harmful. Bradley E. Wiggins claims that memes are both trivial and sublime, silly and profound. “As to the perpetuation of negative stereotypes, the form a meme takes is going to impose limits on what can be included in the message alongside some reasonable expectation for a laugh. It may be better to view this criticism as positioned about the topic and not the form; the topic can change, the form of the memes can also change, but is largely limited to image, video and GIFs.”
Lastly, we asked Bradley E. Wiggins if he has noticed any trends in the types of memes that are most popular or widely shared on social media platforms. He shared that spy balloons (because of recent reports about them), for example, attracted meme versions of the alleged surveillance balloons across social media. “One reason for this is producing this kind of repetitive content gives a sense of control over the topic to online users who are not getting what they may perceive to be the full story, all the details, etc. about the balloons. It may also lead to conspiracy theorizing too, which also lends itself well to the meme format.”
😂 In Aus, the drinking age is the same as the driving age (18.) Once had bar security watch me drive up and park, then card me when I wanted a drink.🤦♂️
One time, we were in the weeds and this customer was complaining that her chicken was taking "foreveeeer!" Then, after it was served, she complained that it was undercooked. Well, do you want it "right now!" or do you want it cooked, Becky?
I actually witnessed something similar at our local McDonald's. Place was slammed and there was a newbie on the only working register. Customer ahead of me was patiently (but loudly) telling the cashier how things worked. Manager snaps "Fine, stand on this side of the counter and say that!" Turns out the customer worked at the McD's in a nearby town. LoL
edit the dates on the photos. Step 1. Take your computer offline. Step 2. Set the date to a year later (ie this year, but +1 day). Step 3. Open an image editor eg. GIMP. Step 4. Open offending image. Step 5. Select all, copy. Step 6. Back to GIMP. Step 7. New file. Step 8. Paste. Repeat with all his images from tinder. Step 9. Go back online and let your computer reset its clock. Step 10. Send to owner of restaurant with modifcation and creation date of files circled. Result: owner of restaurant sees new manager harassing staff one day after being hired.
Kitchen closes at 9:30, restaurant closes at 10:00. Problem solved
In addition to being at work, you also have to emotionally validate all your customers or they will instantly focus their entite being on making their lousy personalities your problem
At least they're not selling their bodies because that would be somehow worse? /s
Not true ! I just want you to act reasonably friendly, take my order, and serve it in a timely manner, while it’s still hot/ cold!
Exactly, Timbob..."reasonably friendly" is exactly what the soul sucking, %10 tipping, head case, boomer Johns ALL say. How bout you realize we are talking about you, jackass
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We can't all come on the Internet from a trailer park and lie about how much money we make like you almost certainly do.
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As a server, I sincerely LOVE when large parties ask for separate checks. It's not a hassle at all, because I'm awesome and I keep track of everything and everyone. Most importantly, it means that I don't have to "roll the dice" on whether the one person picking up the check also knows how to tip.
One time, while working at a cafe, I helped a boy break into his own car in the parking lot after he had locked himself out. The next day, he ran into the shop, threw something at me over the counter, and ran back out. It was a teddy bear. He had placed a cigarette in its paws and written his phone number on the side. We dated for several months. That was the ONLY TIME I ever enjoyed getting hit on at work.
Ya. Once worked with a line cook that would leave crumbs and stuff on his line when he closed it and then accuse people of using his line and leaving it messy after he left. Manager took a picture of his line directly after he walked out the door and then showed it to him his next shift. He still denied leaving his line messy.
if I was this server I'd send two batches of marinara. Gotta keep the testy girl at bay
"...for just like 2 seconds whilst Mary tells me about what her 5 year old did last ni- I WILL GET YOUR WATER IN A MINUTE SUSAN CALM THE F**K DOWN" yeah turns out Mary's 5 year old stuck a cheeto up his nose and lost it so they had to go to the emergency room.
I try to avoid training at all costs but I know if I don’t train someone they won’t get trained properly so it’s a catch 22
"I'm sorry, but when your dish came out, I saw that it wasn't up to our standards. I've asked the cooks to make you a better one, and they're working on it as their top priority. It should just be another moment. Thank you again for your patience. Can I get you some more sweet tea?" Then you ring it up, go in back and BEG the line to expedite your ticket.
not me being thrown(scratch that) CATAPULTED into my childhood.
Territory, kinda why you offer this service! Kitchen be damned - everyone loses without customers!
I’m sorry! We don’t mean to I promise! But just because you keep coming up to the host stand doesn’t mean that a table is going to magically appear
It's all fun and games until the same people see you at your 2nd Job.
It probably only takes 2 minutes to make. The rest of the time is trying to work out WTF this is supposed to be and look like.
Once when I worked at Subway, a man with his young daughter tipped me $20 for their $12 order. I still cherish them
But... is that not good because of tipping? As much as I learn about the tipping system, the lest I understand.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha *breathe* ahahahahahahahahahaha. Yeh you're right, it's not funny
This is why I've been mugged 3 times leaving a shift until I learned to bring a change of street clothes. You don't want to look like a server walking home. People will assume you have cash.
We have a policy that doesn't allow it. It's basically there as a backup if they complain.
Being a human, with a human brain that saw some shite in the 80s, I do not trust a fellow human who does NOT write it down. Mad respect for fellow humans who wrote stuff down. Like WHAT are they trying to prove? That my anxiety is spot on? 🤣
One time, during an insane rush, I was making my circuit of the dining room and a man at a table that wasn't mine was waving his napkin in the air. I was deeply offended. I put ice into my voice as I rounded the corner and said, "Your server will be right with you." People have said, "[Fudge] off and [unalive]," with more warmth. Then I saw that this was an adult man with Downs Syndrome having dinner with his parents. "Oh, we're sorry! He's just playing with his napkin." I felt like the absolute worst piece of scum on the planet, but I learned a valuable lesson about professionalism that day.
My place closed for 2 weeks to remodel. I was mistakenly told the day we closed was my regular day off. Turned out to be the day before and I got stuck packing and cleaning half the night. I was beyond pissed cuz I would have definitely taken that night off
It’s jealousy for me cuz I want nothing more than to quit my pos job
Why do I get the feeling that these people breezed past the host and sat themselves at a dirty table?
Same old tired argument each time, tipping culture is something that shouldn't be a thing. You shouldn't have to rely on tips to live, employers should pay a living wage no matter the industry. Once this happens we can go back to tipping because we thought the service was good not because we are worried the server has 3 children and they don't make enough so if I don't tip £20 on this £10 meal they are going to starve
And also it might attract people who want to work in, and are good at customer service instead of walking in knowing how much they resent you and their job.
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I went to my favourite restaurant today and while chatting with a waiter I'm acquainted with I said "The customer is always right, except for when the customer is wrong and an idiot". He laughed and said "You've definitely worked in the hospitality industry too."
Tipped minimum wage should be abolished, tips should not be taxable. And I'm a Republican (not a MAGA!). That being said, I don't tip based on what they might make; I tip based on service. And I tip heavy since I've been there and now I'm doing decent.
I've found that tipping well leads to great service.
Load More Replies... BP is welcoming you to the daily article about tipping in the service industry, hoping you’ll inveigh for hours about something not that interesting. Please let us make money out of our lack of imagination and laziness. Thank you and have a nice day. PS: don’t forget to tip your creators (hum) of content.
Interesting to read these coming from Africa. In my country most of the waiters are black and are quite often men (we don't call them servers because a server is a computer that hosts files for people). I've never seen them try flirt or be flirted with, unless it was a table of drunk men and the waiter was a woman. Generally if it's a family table or a date, the man does not act like that towards the waiter. We have I think one branch of hooters (maybe two) in my city. I've never been there and have no intention of supporting it because it objectifies women. I wish it wasn't here. So ya, sounds like USA has a sexual harassment problem in the service industry.
"So ya, sounds like USA has a sexual harassment problem in the service industry." 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Ummm... YEAH. You could say that. But really it's because,as a country, we have a "sexual harassment problem in the 'raising of the American Male' industry." 🙄
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Holy cow I've been looking for this thread, specifically your response for days. I'll get back to you shortly with my response.
Who says that being a server is only meant for teens or college students? That's not a fact, that's your opinion. Any work that is worth doing, is work that deserves a living wage. Any business that wishes to employ human beings should pay them a liveable wage, or not be in business at all. We aren't talking about people getting rich, we are talking about people earning enough at work so they can have a roof over their head and put food on the table.
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Same old tired argument each time, tipping culture is something that shouldn't be a thing. You shouldn't have to rely on tips to live, employers should pay a living wage no matter the industry. Once this happens we can go back to tipping because we thought the service was good not because we are worried the server has 3 children and they don't make enough so if I don't tip £20 on this £10 meal they are going to starve
And also it might attract people who want to work in, and are good at customer service instead of walking in knowing how much they resent you and their job.
Load More Replies... I went to my favourite restaurant today and while chatting with a waiter I'm acquainted with I said "The customer is always right, except for when the customer is wrong and an idiot". He laughed and said "You've definitely worked in the hospitality industry too."
Tipped minimum wage should be abolished, tips should not be taxable. And I'm a Republican (not a MAGA!). That being said, I don't tip based on what they might make; I tip based on service. And I tip heavy since I've been there and now I'm doing decent.
I've found that tipping well leads to great service.
Load More Replies... BP is welcoming you to the daily article about tipping in the service industry, hoping you’ll inveigh for hours about something not that interesting. Please let us make money out of our lack of imagination and laziness. Thank you and have a nice day. PS: don’t forget to tip your creators (hum) of content.
Interesting to read these coming from Africa. In my country most of the waiters are black and are quite often men (we don't call them servers because a server is a computer that hosts files for people). I've never seen them try flirt or be flirted with, unless it was a table of drunk men and the waiter was a woman. Generally if it's a family table or a date, the man does not act like that towards the waiter. We have I think one branch of hooters (maybe two) in my city. I've never been there and have no intention of supporting it because it objectifies women. I wish it wasn't here. So ya, sounds like USA has a sexual harassment problem in the service industry.
"So ya, sounds like USA has a sexual harassment problem in the service industry." 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Ummm... YEAH. You could say that. But really it's because,as a country, we have a "sexual harassment problem in the 'raising of the American Male' industry." 🙄
Load More Replies... Holy cow I've been looking for this thread, specifically your response for days. I'll get back to you shortly with my response.
Who says that being a server is only meant for teens or college students? That's not a fact, that's your opinion. Any work that is worth doing, is work that deserves a living wage. Any business that wishes to employ human beings should pay them a liveable wage, or not be in business at all. We aren't talking about people getting rich, we are talking about people earning enough at work so they can have a roof over their head and put food on the table.
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