Things People Who Have Never Worked in Customer Service Do Not Understand, but Should

Restaurants, clothing stores and retail shops of any kind; many of us are familiar with these minimum-wage jobs. They’re the sort of jobs that most teenagers and adults alike are familiar with, having worked as a side hustle, a way to save for a new phone or car or even to get through college. 

There are many people, however, who have never worked in the customer service industry. After working at restaurants for five years, it’s become easy to tell them apart from those who have worked in customer service. 

So, here are five things that people who have never worked in the customer service industry do not understand (but should!).

Tips are Important

This is something that I see most forgotten among those who don’t understand how the American restaurant industry works. Simply put, most servers in restaurants rely solely on tips for a livable wage. Since restaurants pay servers less than minimum wage, they expect tips to make up for the rest and more. They are quite literally relying on whatever tips are left by customers to survive.

Throughout my time in college, I have witnessed people refuse to leave tips at restaurants time and time again.

I completely understand that many students in college are tight on money; however, if you are ordering out frequently, or even paying for your food to be delivered, maybe it’s time to reflect on whether you are truly tight on money, or whether you just don’t want to leave those extra few dollars. 

Moral of the story: don’t forget to tip.

Workers usually aren’t rude: they’re just doing their job

This one is tough. I recently worked as a hostess for a nice restaurant in a beach town where I frequently had to deny people from using our bathroom, tell families with children that we did not allow strollers inside the restaurant and that we did not have any booster seats for kids. Although I did not create any of these policies, I was still frequently blamed for them.

I had so many people tell me how rude I was, how our restaurant was “anti-children” and so much more, simply because I was enforcing the rules. I greatly disliked enforcing those policies, however, if I refused to do so, my boss was just inside and ready to tell me the importance of rules and order.

Doing other’s jobs is somewhat expected

This depends on the type of job one has, but I can definitely say that this is true where I worked. For example, even though I was hired as a hostess for my job last summer, I barely spent time seating people. In fact, most of my nights I spent bussing tables, running food, restocking the paperware, refilling drinks and so much more.

Many people who haven’t worked in such an industry don’t realize how important teamwork is in order to get things done, especially in a restaurant.

Anyone (servers, bussers and kitchen staff alike) can easily become overwhelmed, overloaded and need help. It is incredibly important that they receive the help to keep things moving. For this reason, most restaurant workers can easily multi-task and do bits and pieces of other people’s jobs.

it’s harder than you may think

Most people get frustrated when they end up waiting a long time for food, saying things such as, “What’s taking so long?” “Isn’t it easy to cook food?” If only they knew how complicated the process was!

People often fail to see how each part of the “machine,” or restaurant, work together. If a lot of people are seated at once, the servers will be overwhelmed, the kitchen will be flooded with orders and everything will take forever. It’s quite the ripple effect.

Even if you were to break down each individual job within the restaurant, you would discover how challenging they all are. Hostesses must manage a waitlist and reservations, keep an eye on tables, assist other workers and stand for a solid eight hours or so all at once. Bussers, servers and kitchen staff are all similar.

In the end, it comes down to anywhere between seven to 12 grueling hours of puzzling mind games, physical activity and customer service.

kindness is powerful

This may sound cheesy, but it is the truth. I have worked 12-hour days where the waitlist piled up so much that I felt like I was drowning. Days where people wouldn’t stop yelling at my coworkers and crowding around the hostess stand or where people decided to seat themselves and upset the servers. By the end of the night, it felt like I had been to hell and back. 

Working in the service industry is hard, and it doesn’t make it easier when you have angry (and “hangry”) customers breathing down your back. Although a core skill of a worker in the service industry is staying calm under pressure, especially when a customer is yelling and spitting in your face, it doesn’t make it any less tough or mentally draining. 

Let’s just say, the nicer you treat someone, the more likely you are to be treated the same way. Although I’ve never treated a guest rudely, you are almost guaranteed a bigger smile, a better conversation, a better table and maybe even a shorter wait if you decide to spread kindness instead of hate.

Next time you visit a restaurant, do your best to keep some of these points in mind. Many people in the industry work incredibly hard and deal with so much every day, just to make a living. 

Moral of the story: share kindness, and you will get some in return. 

• customer service
• kindness
• restaurants
• retail worker
• tips