The Best Service Industry Memes of the Week for Servers and Bartenders Who Never Thought They'd Be Here This Long (January 27, 2022)

It all starts when you take that summer job during college at the local restaurant when you're studying to be a doctor. It's fast paced, the money's pretty good, and your entire employee roster has hooked up with pretty much everybody. Sometimes you might even get free food! When you're 20, that's the dream right? Well then the money got too good and you forgot about post-grad degrees. The longer you were bussing the tables, the more they moved you up on the hierarchy and then you became a ~server~, the most coveted position in the room. Now, you're making bank on tips and wondering why your back hurts all the time and your cheeks get tight from fake smiling all night. Oh, that's because you're 30 now and the last decade of partying with your coworkers and spending all your cash has flown by pretty fast. Uh oh. Well, at least your entire friend group works on the weekends and parties on Monday so there's no reason to start being a corporate clown at this point. You might as well go to bartending school and just become a part of the system.

'What are my options?': Restaurant owner fires server and holds $2000 for ransom to force signing of illegal NDA

Working in the service industry is often stressful and traumatic for a number of reasons. On the one hand, you're often treated poorly by clientele, who mostly regard you as subhuman because of your line of work. On the other hand, you're at the mercy of the unrealistic expectations and unethical practices of the small business owner who owns the place, and—let's be honest—these people often shouldn't be allowed to operate a business or have responsibility over the livelihood of others. 

These owners are often willfully negligent of labor practices and standards, more likely to laugh in your face at the request for fair treatment than to take on board any meaningful feedback. Margins are slim in this business, and despite already being paid pennies for your work, when it comes to their bottom line, you're their most costly—yet most controllable—resource. 

This worker shared their experience to Reddit's r/Serverlife subreddit, sharing how they had been fired for questionable reasons, and their ex-employer was now holding $2000 of their pay as ransom to force them to sign an NDA. They shared their story in order to as the service subreddit for advice, of which they received plenty. 

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Keep reading to see this story and the advice the original poster received. For more, check out this job advertisement for a server that sparked debates online over the outrageously low wage.

'Restaurants like that don't deserve to work': Worker claims to be wrongly fired, reports restaurant to the feds

A young person in the food industry experienced poor treatment from their boss, and took some extreme measures to ensure it wouldn't happen again. As they shared to r/pettyrevenge, this worker shared that they were a 19 year old working in a pizza place. After a while of working in a nice environment with coworkers they liked, the place changed management, and that's when the s*** hit the fan. 

The OP says they trained the new people, yet the new management still made some inflammatory remarks against the OP. As the OP writes, they had to take a medical leave from their job, but since it was the first week since the new management started, that didn't look good for the OP. To discover what happened next, scroll down and read this pizza drama yourself. 

Up next, get inspired by another revenge story. This guy took down an entire HOA organization in an incredible stroke of genius (and legal methods, of course). 

Update: Landowner returns after 3 years to tell the story of how they defeated a backstabbing HOA and land developer

What are you to do when you purchase something only to have the terms of sale retroactively changed by a governing association? Oh, and that governing association is controlled by the organization that sold you the thing in the first place. Well, lawyer up and hit them with a strongly worded email letting them know just angry you are. 

After a three-year hiatus, this landowner returned to share the grippingly realistic tale of how they managed to defeat a land developer and HOA who had changed the terms of sale after they had purchased their lot. This story may not end with a fund-siphoning, power-tripping, fraudulent HOA board member getting ousted—and the whole HOA disbanded… but it does strike a few chords of realism that these stories seldom manage to.

Keep reading for this two-parter. The original thread is items #2-14 and the recent update is items #15-26.

Top 25 Most Mildly Infuriating Moments of the Week (January 27, 2023)

Bad landlords, careless delivery drivers, and wrong labels on food — these are just a smattering of random things that got on people's last nerve this week. 

R/Mildlyinfuriating is constantly updated with irritations big and small, submitted by folks around the world. Several people have posted receipts with mysterious new charges. One had an 'economic recovery fee,' which is bold way of begging for coins, I suppose. One person shared a pan that was never washed between meals, which surely started drama in the comments section. I actually just want to talk to the person who wanted their pizza "well done" and received a smoky pizza indeed. What the heck is a well done pizza? Much to think about. 

On a slightly larger scale, one guy posted a photo from the top of Mount Everest. It's covered with trash due to the tons of people who climb it every year and leave their garbage at the top. Ugh, humans are the worst. Keep scrolling to see these relatable mild annoyances. Then, check out one guy's approach to dismantling his HOA after they demanded dues they weren't entitled to — it's such a satisfying read.