Having to be nice to people outside of your job… because you work in Service

If you read the title, congrats: You know what this post is about!

I used to work in a somewhat fancy restaurant for three years, serving wine and local cuisine to tourists and rich people, so I never really had to quite worry about this problem… but ever since I started working at a pub, I realised that there’s a ton of people who could possibly stop by the pub, which is why I sort of have to be careful not to cuss out the wrong people.

Look, I’m a peace-loving person all the way… and yet, sometimes people piss you off, you know? Can’t spell “pacifist” without “fist”, right?

But since these people could annoy ya at work and since I tend to just forget people I randomly was rude to in my life, this can cause problems… or a reduction in tips, so there’s a bit a of an incentive for waiters, bartenders, and other service staff to be nice to folks outside of work…

At least that’s what I used to think until I kicked out my first couple guests… in fact, most of my friends and acquaintances who work(ed) in service felt that way at some point. When I raised the concern, they said “it will pass”, and oh boy, pass it did. Whoever said “the customer is king” needs to get beheaded, like all those kings before them.

The first guy I kicked out was a literal neo-nazi. The second guy I kicked out was someone asking inappropriate questions to female guests in the pub. The third guy I ever kicked out threatened to “wait till my shift is over”. The fourth one was a creep that kept glancing over a drink another guest left out in the open (which I replaced after I kicked him out).

Point is: There’s a ton of people out there and you cannot be nice to everyone. If people stop by at your work place, kick them out. Don’t be nice to twats. If you keep the twats in the pub, it turns into a twat pub. If you’re nice to nazis, the nazis bring their nazi friends and turn the place into a nazi pub.

So, what I wanna say is… my colleagues are rubbing off on me and I recently called some rude and entitled lady on the train “cunt”, which I never would have done two years ago… but it made her shut up and move out of the way, which is a good thing.

Don’t be nice to assholes. Even when you work in service.

This post was originally published on Indiecator.

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