Restaurant Patrons Demand "Sit Me With Your Hottest White Server"—And The Bar Drags Them
Reddit user mattdacoolcat shared an unfortunately all too familiar story of discrimination from their days as a restaurant host:
It was a group of middle aged guys. They're regulars, but they're annoying as hell, and they always ask for the hottest server. As a host, I usually just sit them with whoever. The last time they came in, I sat them with D, a really sweet black girl who's one of our best servers. They were FURIOUS. They never said anything to me or a manager, but they claimed everything was wrong. The food was too cold. The drinks were flat. She was way too slow. She was rude. They left a 25¢ tip and left not long after.
This time, they specified they wanted a hot WHITE server. I said "okay!" and with a smile, I walked them over to their table. I specifically sat them with the only male server, a tall, black, bodybuilder who towered over all of them. He's a really cool guy, but he can be slightly intimidating to people that don't know him just due to his stature.
They never said a word.
Tl;dr: Buncha pervs asked for a hot white girl, got a big black guy.
Users were understandably upset by the actions of these men, and shared their ire in the comments.
Some responses have been edited for content/clarity.
Forced interaction
Imagine being so inept at talking to women that hitting on your waitress, someone who is forced to interact with/be nice to you, is the best shot you have at meeting someone.
-Xsy
Right of Refusal
You’ve got the right to kick people out for announcing their intention to sexually harass your coworkers btw. I’d suggest using that power.
Sex Appeal
Why do so many guys just feel entitled to have sex appeal added to their every experience? Next time I go to church I’m requesting only the hot preacher in the slutty priest outfit so I can really enjoy my religious experience. And I’ll slap every male butt I see on the way out. (Side note...why are slutty nun outfits a thing??)
GiphyOthers disagreed with their methods.
100% would kick people out for this. These people are here to harass someone who is trying to do their job. They should be there to get food, not flirt with people who are being paid to get you food or drinks.
I would've asked “Why does she have to be white?" and watch them lose their tounge.
When they finally come up with a diet racist response I would've told them to accept whatever seating I provide or kindly leave.
I know you said it ended up making them silent but I think this is kind of a f**ked up thing to do to your black co worker.
Lol making him serve a group of potential racist dudes. Real nice man.
Yeah, I wouldn't subject a POC to them. This might be funny to you, but they will treat the server badly and not tip.
And still others shared similar experiences, and how they handled them.
Am a nurse. In school rotations this guy demanded my peer to only let the cutest nurse do his Foley cath. She tells me, a fat 32 year old hairy guy, and I walked in.
"who the hell are you?"
"I'm the cute one."
I work the bar in a family restaurant. Had a couple guys sit at a table in the bar section while I was bartending. I let them know I’d go grab them a server, like I do to every table.
“Get us the one with the biggest tits hahaha”
I gave them the ‘disappointed parent’ look and told them “I’ll see what I can do” and went and found the only male server, who unfortunately was working on the opposite end of the restaurant. I told him he had a request in the bar, a couple guys looking for a waitress with big boobs if he wanted it. The two guys gave me the meanest look when he came out.
Apparently they just walked out when I was in BoH and the waiter was getting their drink order. Good riddance.
One time at my restaurant we had three guys come in and sit outside in our smoking patio. The only server outside was a dude who was cool as hell. After he took their order for me they went back to the host stand and asked for a female server. The host told the manager and he told them if they were going to behave like that then he didn't feel comfortable assigning them a female server, and said if it mattered that much they could go to Twin Peaks or Hooters. And they did. Loved that KM. He gave no f**ks and always stuck by us. His philosophy was that if we were sweating, then he was. He would back us no questions asked in front of customers. Great dude. Got screwed by the company but is happily with someone else now.
Alternative Solutions
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this yet. Why not give patrons like this one of those silly queue pucks and just have them wait without actually assigning the puck to the queue? Or, if you have to assign them to the queue make sure you note that they are looking for a server that can tolerate racist, sexist pigs.
Pigs
Was a seating hostess. Once I got this elderly couple who came in, and the man commented that he wanted a "pretty, young female" server. He had been joking with me earlier, so I thought he was just joking about that as well. We were on a 30-minute waiting list, so customers generally were sat at whatever table was open next. Just so happened that "Alan's" section was open next. I sat them, let them know Alan would be over shortly, and the guy BLEW UP. I found them a new seat as soon as one became available, but the f**king chauvinistic pig kept threatening to report me to corporate for, ya know, not having a pretty woman available to serve him and his WIFE. F**k that guy. And f**k my manager for telling me that *I* was in the wrong.
Black People Can Make Tacos Too
So I work at a Tex-Mex (Americanized Mexican) restaurant, and was the first person on the row of people to put food together for customers. We weren't that busy, so me and the other workers were in the back chatting. As customers came in, I went to put on my gloves so I could make food without germs on everything. While I was doing that, I asked my coworker, who happened to be black, to go ahead and get the customers started, as he had his gloves on already. He got into position, and said as politely as possible, "Hi, what can I get for you today?" To which she responded "I want him to make it" and pointed at me. Now, at this point I had my gloves on, so I stepped up and started getting her food, but me and my coworker shared a glance like "is this b*tch for real?" As she got to the next section, where the same black coworker was, she told him "I told you already I want him to make it." When I told her that that wasn't how the ordering process worked, she demanded to speak to a manager. I went back to the next customers while my coworker got my manager. This woman started YELLING at my manager about how "black people don't understand Mexican food" and how "it's a disgrace to let them work here" and all that fun stuff. When my manager asked her what my coworker had done, she told him, and I quote "n*****s can't make a proper taco". When my manager asked her to leave, she screamed and raised a middle finger to us and stormed out. Sometimes I just don't know why people think they get to just sh*t on people.
Why Serve Them?
Serious question, why aren't you guys refusing service to people like this?
They probably aren't allowed to. Like only the manager/area manager/head office is allowed to ban people, maybe. Happens with some companies.
Seriously. As a manager, if I was told that this was going on, especially from repeat offenders, I would tell them we aren't serving them. Objectifying my staff and being blatantly racist has no place in a business I work at.
Don't Be This Guy
I work as a server and host at chain family restaurant.
So, last night, I'm hosting. It's slow so I'm hanging out in the back. I'm standing in front of the window traying up some food. A new server (She used to be a cook for us) comes up to me.
"Hey, I got this guy at 41... I gave him one shot and he's acting super drunk already. I think he was drinking before I got here. I think I need to cut him off, what do I say?"
I give her the run down, I tell her to be firm but polite. Server says she's scared, that he's been aggressive anyways. I grab our manager and we explain the situation, says she'll handle it.
Well. Not two seconds after my first manger cuts him off, he flags down ANOTHER manager. Just asks for another shot. This manager, not knowing what was happening, gladly says he'll get it going for them. Luckily, we were able to stop him before he brought another drink.
10 minutes go by, and the drunk guy stops one of the hosts, and talks to her for a long time. I'm watching from the kitchen. After she walks away she comes over the headset.
"Hey, elea_no, they guy at 41 is asking for you. He says he ordered a drink and hasn't gotten it. He just keeps asking for you."
So I am confused as hell and I tell the host that I'm not going over there. And that she and nobody else is to serve him. It's not my job to serve him and I have no idea why he's asking for me. At this point I haven't even stopped by the table.
My manager goes by the table again to tell him to quit harassing the staff, we're not going to serve him anymore. He begins yelling "I want elea_no! I want elea_no!" And my manager is telling him no, she's not going to get me. So at this point they ask for the check and get ready to leave.
As he's leaving out the door, he calls my name. I look up, and recognize this kid as someone i went to high school with. We always had classes together. He had always had a huge crush on me. I served him the last time he came in.
"Hey, elea_no, 'mere" we talk in the foyer between the two sets of doors. He says to me "The service f**king sucks here. That dumb blonde manager was a c*nt"
I am so taken aback I literally don't know what to say, so I unfortunately just let him continue. "and, I'm sorry, there's not better way to say this, but that other dumb n****r manager of yours unbelievable. And that Sp*c server is the worst of all, f**king cut me off like that. I only had one shot. F**king bullsh*t."
I'm standing there mouth open. I'm trying to find the right words. He ends his rant with, "But it's not a race thing, it's not. I know I'm wearing a confederate flag hat and sh*t, but it's not a race thing, it's just what they are."
I reply "Well, it's at the servers discretion, if she doesn't feel comfortable, then she has every right to refuse service. She's new and just being careful."
To wrap the mess in a little bow, his departing line is: "Alright whatever it's still bullsh*t, I'm never coming back unless you serve me. I'll see you later. Hit me up on Facebook when you turn 21! We could meet up for drinks!"
Yup. I'd love to meet up with a sh*tty, racist ass for some drinks. Thanks!
He walked out on his check.
I had a table who made some insanely rude remarks. 1. That they were glad they got a female server this time women should be serving and men should be cooking or managing. 2. Asks how many mexicans work in the kitchen. Answer 0. 3. Makes remark that the dishwasher must be mexican or native american. Answer nope college age white girl trying to pay her bills. They got the same no smile response for everyone of these remarks. First of all, cooking, dishwashing, and serving are not degrading jobs. Next assuming that all of these must be held by minorities is just straight up racist.
Ugh
I was standing up at the Host Stand watching the door while the host was in the bathroom when I was approached by a 70 something older white Man with a bag stacked with to go boxes.
Me= M OWM= Old White Man
OWM: I need to speak with your manager.
M: Is there something I can help you with?
OWM: I just wanted to let you know that the food tonight was absolutely the worst meal I have ever had in my life.
Looks at to go bag filled with 3 large boxes of food, confusion washes over my face. M: I'm so sorry sir what seemed to be the problem with your meal?
OWM: Everything. I ordered the ribs and they were absolutely disgusting. I come here all the time and the food has always been mediocre but this time it was inedible.
M: Did you tell your server about the food quality? She would have replaced the slab for you. It only takes a few minutes to put the sauce on but the meat is already cooked.
OWM: I couldn't tell her.
M: You couldn't tell her? Like, she never checked on you?
OWM: No. I couldn't tell her because she isn't American. She wouldn't understand.
It clicked to me. He was seated in one of the other server's section who is Asian American. Her parents are Vietnamese, but she was born here, has always lived in the US and has never been to Vietnam. Doesn't have an accent, speaks perfect English. Because she's AMERICAN.
OWM: You know my Aunt owned a restaurant, and once she started hiring international people the place just went to shit and it closed within 6 months. You should really think about who you're hiring.
At this point, this dude has just seriously crossed the line. My adrenaline is pumping, and the dude is looking at me like he's waiting for me to agree with him and somehow validate this statement.
M: Sir, are you implying that your server's nationality had something to do with the quality of the food you received tonight?
OWM: Well you cant trust these international people to do the job like real Americans they don't care about good service.
At this point I'm losing my cool.
M: Sir, your server is American. She was born in America, has lived her ENTIRE life in America, and speaks perfect English. I was going to hear your concerns about the food quality, but now you've insulted me and my staff and I'm going to have to ask you to leave.
OWM with astonished look on his face, started yelling: Are you serious? You can't treat me like this! I didn't even do anything!
M: I'm absolutely serious you need to go.
OWM proceeds to walk out of the door yelling to anyone in earshot about how much of a trash dump my restaurant is and how he'll never come back.
That was the first day I ever cried at work in my whole 9 years in the industry. F that dude.
I work at a higher end restaurant/bar (new American fare, expensive whiskey) in a more upper class but super trashy still, neighborhood of my city.
Two men come to the bar and have a seat. They're a tad drunk I'm assuming, and whispering amongst each other and giggling.
I hand them their menus and as I fill their water glasses, they don't even look at the menu and one of them just says "I guess we're having sushi tonight." And the other burst out laughing and then they get up and leave. Laughing the whole way out.
The server at the pass was just standing there slack jawed as she hears it too. My face felt hot and I wanted to cry.
Sometimes people like that actually make me want to leave the service industry forever.
I'm Asian, btw. Hence the sushi joke. Filipino, not Japanese. But I digress.
I work in a Japanese steakhouse as a server and we had a table come in tonight (was ~4 adults and 3 kids) that my coworker ended up taking (she's Vietnamese this matters later). Later on when my coworker asked if they needed anything one of the kids who had to have been around 12 went, "Yeah Ling Ling I need a refill" I heard her say it and didn't even know how to react neither did my coworker, then the adults realized what she said and were laughing after my coworker walked away. Didn't end up saying anything about it but felt it was shitty and I wanted to say something but my coworker told me not to. But just your daily reminder some people just suck.
This took place in a very rich very white small Canadian town. I was working in the dining room of the local casino when an older lady and an older gentleman are sat in my coworker's section. My coworker is named "Michelle" and we'll call the lovely customer "RL".
Michelle is black, originally from the Caribbean, but has lived in Canada since early childhood.
Our kitchen staff is probably about 80% Filippino and Indian people.
Michelle: "Hi, good evening, how are the two of you doing today?"
RL: Long pause in which she stares at Michelle "Fine." The gentleman is silent.
Michelle: "I'm glad to hear it. Can I get the two of you anything to drink to start you off?"
RL: "...No."
Michelle tells me she didn't know how to react to that, so she asked if there was anything else she could get them at the moment, to which RL snarled: "Do you think we're ready to order?? Stupid girl send someone competant over here!"
Michelle, not visibly upset, asked me to take them. This seemed normal to me because she was about to be cut anyway and we frequently did little favours for eachother. She didn't tell me about the earlier interaction until later. I'm white.
I went over and greeted them and they seemed pleasent enough. I got them started with drinks, which they ordered without issue. After giving them some time with the menus I went over to take their orders.
Me: "All ready to order? What can I get for you this evening?"
RL: "Who's in the kitchen?"
Me: thinking she might know someone in BOH because why else would you ask that question? "Oh quite a few people are working tonight, are you thinking of someone in particular? "
RL: "No I mean" she gives me a significant look "who is in the kitchen?"
Me: confused "um... ??? ..." trying to figure out what to say, besides listing off 9 or 10 first names of the BOH staff
RL: "I want to know if there's any" her voice dips low like she's saying a really nasty word "Filippinos in your kitchen."
Me: every alarm going off in my head. Wtf is this I must be misinterpreting her, there's no way she's this blatantly racist
Me: "Well we have a very diverse staff here at (casino), which is something I really love about working here. There are quite a few Filippino people who work in the kitchen."
RL: "That's disgusting!! Touching the food??? I want to see a manager"
At this point I would have kicked her out if I had any kind of agency, but it wasn't that kind of job. I went and got Ravi, my manager. An Indian man with a fairly strong accent.
He approaches the table and asks what's going on.
RL: "You're the manager????"
Ravi: "Yes that's me."
RL threw her hands up in disgust and strode over to the blonde, blue-eyed, 18 year old bartender. By this time most people in the dining room were watching the shit-fit. She demanded that the bartender give her a corporate number. He told her she would need to ask a manager for that. Or she could try the lobby desk. He openly laughed in her face when her eyes bulged with fury. He pointed her towards the lobby desk where three east-asian women were helping customers. RL was literally shaking with rage when she collected her husband and stormed out.
She was a legend at that job, a story we told to newbies. I still can hardly believe anyone is that open about their racism in this day and age.
Sometimes, the not-so-subtle racism is coming from the other side of the table.
That's amazing. Good on you.
We had this really rude, racist server at our restaurant that would always tell the hosts not to seat her with anyone that wasn't white or anyone with kids. One time a host was sick so I picked up for her. I'm usually a server, so I didn't know that the other server expected this kind of filtering from me and sat her with a 4 top with two parents and two toddlers.
She tried to tell me not to seat her with any families or "anyone that speaks Spanish". The family had spoken English to me, but I could see she was just being racist.
I would never want to make anyone uncomfortable by seating them with a racist person, but I also wanted to teach this server a lesson. So I sat her with only people of color and people with children all night. I checked up on all of her tables to make sure they were still getting good service.
She was fuming, but what was she going to say to the manager? That I was following rotation? That she wanted to turn down 75% of our clientele and good money and I wasn't letting her? She quit a few months later and now somehow works for corporate at that restaurant. I have no idea how.
Thankfully, People's Reasons Aren't Always Sinister
Family is in pizza delivery, we had a customer that would always ask for female delivery people. It actually turned out to be completely innocent.
When he asked for a female delivery driver of course we sent out our biggest burliest guy for the first few deliveries because we assumed he was a pervert/creep. Never got to meet the guy. He'd leave a check in an envelope with a decent tip taped on the door and the driver would leave the pizza on a chair on his porch. Still assumed he was a pervert that was gonna snatch the pretty girl we sent out.
One day we showed up when there was a caretaker or family member there. She was a petite woman. She let us know he has MASSIVE agoraphobia and PTSD, and the reason he asks for a female driver is because a big guy coming down his driveway freaks him out way more than a small person (male or female), and women just tend to be smaller (we felt a bit bad about sending our biggest guy each time, but our safety has to be first). Now anyone is allowed to go to his house and people will try to snipe his order because he tips well.
Professional Secrets From Customer Service Employees
"Reddit user Psychological-Name15 asked: 'Customer service workers of Reddit, what secret can you reveal from your former company?'"
Customer service jobs are not for the faint of heart.
Dealing with people at their angriest and rudest does not breed a positive work environment.
Customer service can be a downright toxic job.
And if it's not the customers setting your spirit on fire, it's the companies themselves.
Some companies seem to revel in creating discontent.
That's why these types of jobs have such high turnover.
Redditor Psychological-Name15 wanted the customer service reps out there to give us some truths, so they asked:
"Customer service workers of Reddit, what secret can you reveal from your former company?"
I want to know about the inner workings of Comcast!!
I loathe them!
Oh Dear
Jennifer Lopez Smh GIF by American IdolGiphyI used to work in tech support for Citi Bank. The people working there are not intelligent. My favorite interaction went like this..."
"Banker - How do I type the upside down I?"
"Me - Ma'am, that's an exclamation point."
slappy_mcslapenstein
The Crappy People
"In every CS job I’ve ever had: we will bend over backward to help a nice person. We will expedite any complaint, give maximum compensation, and harass other areas of the business for you."
"We will do the absolute bare minimum to help a shi**y person and if you’re really bad, we will do everything in our power to make sure you get nothing but what you’re legally entitled to and it will be a process to get that."
11catsinahumansuit
"I don’t work in CS but 100% the same for us in IT a nice person will get new stuff while a shi**y person will get questionable secondhand crap that will take 12 months to fix! I will make sure that you wait as long as humanely possible to have anything fixed!"
Sharp-Demand-6614
Go to Holiday Inn
"If you ask for a supervisor calling Marriott you will just get another person who is not a supervisor, but say they are."
cryptnificent
"Yep. I've seen this done numerous times across multiple industries. Usually, it only involves an actual sup if it's a genuine problem or if they want to make a point."
"The last job I had was in towing junk cars. Two of the inside buyers, one male, and one female, would bounce that sup card around constantly. Idk how no one ever put it together. We'd get repeat callers and repeat sellers so I don't know."
ItsBobFromLumbridge
Heartless
"Worked at a contracted call center for Centrelink. The manager told us to deny as many emergency payments as possible and they would back us no matter what. They were actively working towards a culture that despised the callers and churned staff to get heartless right-wingers who hated the poor."
Rizza1122
"I feel ya. My best mate is a quadriplegic. Centrelink denied his disability pension because he wasn’t disabled enough."
Less-Storage
Go to Home Depot
You Are Dumb Patrick Star GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy"I worked at Lowes. I didn't know anything about anything in the electrical department yet that's where they put me without any training."
Eattherich187
Not training people is not just a Lowes thing.
There are too many unqualified people doing too many things.
Switcharoo
Drag Race What GIF by TAZOGiphy"Can confirm it's an unwritten policy for deli departments in Coles Supermarkets to change the written expiry dates on their tickets so they can sell out-of-code products at full price."
A Little Sunshine
"I worked at a call center for the billing department of a major internet and cable service provider. We were authorized to give up to $90 credit per customer on their bill but only as a last resort. Always remember to be nice to all customer service workers. You never know just how much they can help with a friendly attitude."
Axel_Dunce
"Former call center employee here. Highly accurate. Use your manners, and well fix your issue. Anything else, just makes us want to take longer, and you won't get a credit. Just because we are authorized, doesn't mean you'll get the credit for being an a**hat. haha. I've been verbally abused a few times for asking them not to swear at me. Lol."
Ok-Ad-7247
LELU
"I worked for a major telco company for many years in something called a ‘LELU’ which stands for Law Enforcement Liaison Unit. This 'unit' is pretty self-explanatory, but it essentially is a team who worked directly with the police/FEDS to monitor people's information for things such as obtaining communications history of call logs, SMS loss, etc."
"However, most importantly, the software we used, we as agents could directly see all your SMS texts, including MMS and their explicit imagery of whatever you were sending. This would include sexting, naked images, family photos, and everything. There were instances where people abused this position by stalking or 'monitoring' their SO’s comings and going’s."
MidniteMischief
Cookies!!
"I worked at a cafe chain called 'The Cookie Man,' 95% of their cookies arrived in cardboard boxes layered with bubble wrap. The last 5% arrived as pre-made dough that we would bake on-site to make the place smell like fresh cookies."
"I also worked at a cupcake shop. It's literally just packet mix that you add eggs and oil to before baking/piping pre-made icing onto. Don't waste your money on these places, 90% of these chain shops are the same and most are severely underpaying their workers (this is for Australia btw). Just purchase some packet mix from the supermarket and call it a day."
Frequent-Selection91
Look in the Back
"I was a Store Manager for a very large grocery chain and I can tell you that 95% of the time when customers complain to the manager, we may be professional and show empathy, and even resolve the problem."
"But then we usually just make fun of or talk crap about the person who complained to the other employees. And when a customer is really rude when we go 'look in the back' for something, we legit just stand around and talk to other employees, and make zero effort to look for the item."
A_Womans_Thoughts
From the Box
Kaitlin Olson Brunch GIF by The MickGiphy"I once worked at 'the area's premiere day spa'; the mimosas were made with Sunny D and not real orange juice, and the wines came out of a box."
SailorVenus23
Sunny D and champagne?!?!
What in the name of Lucifer?
Who does that?!
Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments below.
For anyone who has attempted to adopt a new habit, like rising earlier or exercising or eating healthier, they've likely heard the advice to make the change a little at a time, rather than trying to do it all at once.
Because truly, sometimes it's those smaller choices that make all the difference.
Redditor robbbala asked:
"What life hack changed your life?"
Alcohol Elimination Diet
"If you’re trying to lose weight, eliminate alcohol from your diet."
- dem4life71
"Uggghhhhhhhhh. F**k you, man. I know. I KNOW."
- r_u_ferserious
The Importance of Good Sleep
"When I was 16, I made the life-changing discovery that if I sleep eight or more hours before school, it will suck less. I've been doing it ever since."
- Princessss5
"I keep the same sleep schedule every day no matter if I work or not."
"I fall asleep right away and get better sleep from it."
- chaedog
Be a Good Example
"'Just because someone is doing it wrong shouldn't stop you from doing it right."
- in-a-microbus
"I'm a building inspector and I regularly run into guys who are doing something wrong and when I explain to them how it's supposed to be done according to the code, they always say, 'I've been doing it that way for over 20 years.'"
"I always respond, 'Well, I guess you've been doing it wrong for over 20 years.'"
- lukewwilson
Be One with the Sim
"When you're stuck in a rut of not being able to take care of yourself, I pretend I'm a Sim and someone is controlling me to fill all my bars back to green."
"For some reason, it works. It even works with cooking and doing the dishes. It's kinda fun to feel like you're leveling up in cooking or writing or something, too."
- Tired_tall
"This is how I’ve gotten by as an adult so far. Learned how to turn off the fear response sort of in order to get things done. Go into it mechanically, and deal with my anxiety later."
"Pretending to be confident does wonders. It doesn’t teach you how to handle personal struggles on your own, though. Still gotta figure that one out."
- TinyChaco
Become a Social Media Influencer
"Lol (laughing out loud), when I don’t feel like doing something, like a household chore, I’ll say, 'Hey guys, welcome back to my channel' like a blogger and pretend I’m showing people. It's stupid but sometimes it works."
- Ok-Mechanic9136
"Directions unclear. I used a meme as a model, and now my kitchen is on fire."
- jlp120145
Helpful Apps
"For fellow gamers: I've been using this app called Habitica. You have a little pixel avatar with health and experience bars and completing tasks will raise your experience while continuing bad habits will affect your health."
- WitherWithout
"It works when trying to make friends, too. You have to actually do stuff with people to fill your friendship bar. You have to compliment and say nice things and do your best to actually connect with them. And three to five interactions and activities really do help a friendship solidify."
- HarrisonRyeGraham
A Capsule Closet in the Laundry Room
"Buying one color of socks and undershirts saves so much time on laundry."
- kukukele
"Even better, buy also the same model of socks, so you don't even have to sort them."
- FireBone62
Pick Your Battles
"Care less."
"It leads to less stress and generally makes you better at what you’re doing. Also, caring less tends to help set boundaries, you’ll say yes to less nonsense when you don’t care."
- TurboEthan
"My friend and I always say we only have so many f**ks to give in this lifetime so choose wisely."
- starcielizabeth
The Importance of Exercise
"Exercise. Oddly enough this gets a lot of crap on Reddit sometimes, but it is an excellent depression treatment. Numerous studies have shown this and it's been shown to be just as effective at treating mild to moderate depression as medication is but without any side effects."
"People are not made to sit in front of screens all day. Just get out and walk for 30 to 45 minutes a day and it's super helpful. If you do weight training on top of that, it's a bonus."
- throwaway_4733
An Effective Evening Routine
"This is super basic, but preparing my kids' lunches and outfits in the evenings for the next day has massively reduced my morning stress level."
- mejok
"Setting out my next day's clothes at night is so great. Whether I wake up fresh as a daisy or groggy, I don’t have to make a decision, because it’s already made."
- ccx941
Useful Automation
"Automate everything you can. Bill pay, calendar reminders for taking the garbage out, schedule the dentist a year out etc. Not having to spend mental energy remembering to do stuff makes life WAY better."
- brycebgood
Clean Space, Clean Mind
"Not really a hack, but carving out a couple of hours on the weekend to clean out my car and place. Cleaning it all. Really made me feel better about myself."
- JMT2492
"It is surprising how some self-discipline helps mental health, at least in my experience. Helps my mind feel less cluttered if that makes any sense."
- B3TST3R
Understanding Anxiety
"Understanding most of my anger issues were actually caused by anxiety. Lack of control of a situation doesn't mean I need to mentally produce a solution, and act out emotionally when the situation doesn't go the way I expect."
"Shrugging and saying, 'I guess we're just going do it the dumb way today,' is so much less stressful than freaking out because I'm not in control. I just go with the plan unless it's going to get someone hurt. It's been years since I remember being angry at work, I still get disappointed but it doesn't ruin my day."
- Dizzy-Particular-258
Keep Reminding Them
"Go to the Dollar store. Buy three or four cards you can write 'I love you' in. Randomly give your partner one every once in and a while. Bonus points if you put them somewhere they’ll easily find them when you’re not there."
"It’s the little things."
- Chicagostupid
Gratitude Before Remorse
"Express gratitude instead of remorse, whenever possible. People enjoy gratitude and generally don't know what to do with remorse (and kind of feel like they're now responsible for making you feel better)."
"I.e. don't say, 'Sorry I'm late,' say 'Thanks for your patience,' and don't say, 'Sorry for bothering you,' say 'Thanks for your time.'"
- AWildRapBattle
Though each of these tasks are seemingly simple in and of themselves, it's clear from these Redditor's accounts that they've made a serious change in their lives.
Sometimes it's truly the smallest stone that makes the biggest ripple!
When we were much younger, we thought we could get away with anything.
To cover up something we did that we as children inherently knew was wrong, we may have said something that wasn't true to make us seem more innocent than we actually are.
It doesn't always go as planned, however, and hopefully, that was a good lesson to learn while the consequences are less harsh and people are more forgiving.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor Drizzho asked:
"What is a 'little' lie that backfired on you when you were younger?"
These young students who thought they could get away with lying got schooled for their dishonesty.
Scholastic Setback
"Not sure if it's a lie, but in a big state-wide exam day in the 3rd grade the teachers said if you finished your test you go to recess for the rest of the day. I filled in random answers so fast and had the best day ever."
"The test results came back and I was put into special needs classes for 4th and 5th grade before anyone realized I wasn't developmentally disabled."
– hamletreset
Skipping Homework
"In fifth grade I wasn’t doing my homework and I got home from school one day to my mom and mamaw sitting in the living room with serious looks on their face. My mom told me to sit down and said that the school called and told them that I hadn’t been turning in my work. I instantly started crying and said that I had been turning in my work, just not my homework."
"They would always ask if I was doing my homework and I’d say yes even thought I wasn’t."
"My mom said, 'Okay, well you better start doing it.' And then proceeded to tell me that the school never called, she just knew I hadn’t been doing my work."
"Another time when I was fifteen my mom told me to fold the fitted sheets and I said that I would. I thought she was on the back porch so I just shoved them into the storage container and she was sitting right behind me watching me lol."
– RandomLurker04
Fake Pregnancy
"Told my kindergarten teacher that my mom was 'going to have a baby.' Not sure why. My mom volunteered at the school so when she came in a few days later, my teacher hugged her all excitedly and went "congratulations!" She had even gotten my mom a card and everything."
"It was really awkward when my mom was super confused and then had to explain to my teacher that she wasn't really pregnant."
– princessedaisy
Failing To See It Through
"I had an eye appointment in grade 2 and I told my teacher my vision was so amazing that the eye doctor said I had 40/40 vision. It was actually 20/20, but I fibbed and thought 40/40 sounded better."
"She made me read the next chapter of the book in front of the whole class because I had excellent vision."
– 19VWGTI
You can't always fool your parents.
Tongue Clicker
"My parents told me I clicked my tongue in my sleep so that when I pretended to be asleep I would click my tongue and they’d know I was awake."
– AcademicNose7
Leaving A Mark
"I wrote my sister’s name on the closet wall in crayon. I told Mom and tried to frame her. She said my sister can’t write yet. I still remember how stupid I felt for pulling that stunt. But it makes me smile, remembering. I will have to ask Mom if she remembered that. I noticed years later, she never painted over it."
– Ok-Essay-2352
Bad Liar
"In 6th grade, we had weekly behavior reports or something like that. It was weird. Had to get them signed and turned in every Monday morning. I was horrible at remembering to get my parents to sign it."
"One Monday morning, I realized I forgot to get it signed before my parents left for work, so I thought I could get away with forging my mother's signature. After the 10th try with a pencil, I was proud of how similar it looked! Turned it in that morning not thinking about all of the eraser marks left behind from my previous attempts."
"That night during a conversation with my mother, she looked at me and said, 'I'm really glad you got that report turned in on time today. It's funny how I don't remember signing it.' And then she left it at that. I immediately knew I was caught and the guilt ate me alive until I slipped a note under my mom's pillow confessing to my crime. Never heard anything about it, but I quickly learned I'm bad at lying."
– ComplexWest8790
Authorities had to get involved in order for the truth to come out.
No Mickey D's For You
"When I was young, was at a daycare for the summer, along with younger sister and brother. One day, early afternoon, I'm hungry after mom picks us up and ask if we can get McD's. Mom says no, I can wait for dinner. I insisted, 'but I'm hungry...' and then lied and said 'they forgot to feed me.' I claimed I was in the bathroom or something during lunch so I didn't get any.
"My mom went ballistic. She called the daycare right then, sitting in the car (early days of cellphones) and gave them hell. After she hung up - just as I was thinking I won - she declared we were not going to McD's, and I'd just gotten myself grounded for lying, to boot, and how embarassed she was at having just yelled at staff who had been good to us just because I wanted McD's, and that I owed them an apology the next morning."
"Not only did the daycare staff know they gave me lunch, they knew which of the 2 sandwich options I had eaten and exactly how many pieces (quarter-of-a-sandwich sized) I had eaten."
"Lesson learned, kids: don't lie. The truth will always come out and bite you in the @$."
– TellMeRUThatSomebody
Hard Evidence
"I forgot my keys and got locked out of the house in like seventh grade, Usually I'd just wait on the porch, read and do my homework because locked myself out at least twice a month, but it was a long day and I was tired, so I donkey kicked the door."
"When my mom and stepdad came home they asked why the door was broken and I said I didn't know, it was like that when I got home..So they called the police and the police matched my shoe to the shoe print."
"luckily I was generally a good kid and wasn't one for lying, so I just got yelled at a bit."
– MarshmallowFloofs85
Foul Ball
"Holy sh*t my story was incredibly similar! I broke a window playing soccer and lied that a burglar broke in. Police showed up and found the ball in the living room and put two and two together."
– Martini_b13
Prank Gone Wrong
"When I was elementary school age, my parents left me home alone while they went to pick up my sister from a school event. I thought it would be funny to prank 911. I called and said “There’s an escaped murderer in my house!” and hung up, laughing at my funny joke. I got an immediate call back. I panicked and answered the phone and hung up. They called back. So I tried to unplug the landline."
"Just as the police were pulling up, my parents pulled up too. The police pulled a gun on my dad and made him prove he lived there. I was so scared of getting in trouble, I made up a story that a man knocked on the door and tried to force his way in. I told them it was a white man with a dark beard and he ran off in the cornfield. I don’t think my parents ever knew I made it all up."
"The next day, the Oklahoma City bombing happened and I thought it was God punishing people because he was mad at what I did."
– Skr000
Of course the one time I fibbed in fifth grade, my teacher who knew about my deception right away shamed me in front of the whole class.
When she asked us who read the assigned short story, I raised my hand even though I didn't read it.
She called on me and asked me what I thought of the ending and how the character's situation might relate to me.
My blank stare said it all, and she singled me out in front of everyone and I had to write standards on the chalkboard, writing, "I will not lie to my teacher and I will do my homework."
I still haven't read the short story, but I never lied to my teachers ever since.
Many people prefer to know as little about what they're eating as possible, while others will do copious research about their food, namely how safe and hygienic what they just ate was.
Sometimes going down that rabbit hole of research, you might learn something about a product you just purchased or a restaurant that you wish you hadn't.
Then too, some of what you may read is purely urban legend and has absolutely no basis in fact.
Unfortunately, some information is merely the surface of shocking, disgusting secrets.
"What dark facts do you know about food industry?"
Unwanted Extra Ingredients...
"Sometimes the salads aren't bug free."
"There were times where I received crap for taking too long washing lettuce."
"Staff would wash a large container of lettuce like once or twice."
'I did it 3 or 4 times."
"I didn't stop until the water was clear and had no bugs."
"The others had a 'who cares' attitude."
"One time my boss needed my help and said to me frustrated, 'The lettuce is already washed, unpack it in salads quickly'."
"The lettuce looked dirty so I said to myself 'I can't sell this to people'."
"I washed it and guess what the water looked like."
"Dark brown from soil, 50+ dead gnats, a living and swimming spider the size of a penny."- FightStageYouTube
The Contaminants Will Not, Though...
"Worse I participated in as kitchen staff in a rather top-flight restaurant."
"On a slow summer Sunday afternoon, the boss sent us down to the walk-in meat coolers to spray paint the rusted walls."
"We were instructed to not remove the contents of cooler first; rather just shift the meat from one side of cooler to other."
"The coat of silver spray paint will come off during cooking."- Zealousideal_Lie_383
Season 11 Cooking GIF by MasterchefGiphyYou Have No Idea What's Been In There...
"The deep fryer grease is long overdue for a change; but it’s expensive to do so nightly."- Zealousideal_Lie_383
And People Go To Bed Hungry...
"The amount of waste thrown away every single day by grocery stores."
"I worked in the meat department of a decently sized grocery store and the waste their was nauseating."
"I sh*t you not, we would throw away an industrial sized garbage bin worth of meat, fish, and poultry every single day."
"The expiration dates dictated everything which is obviously a sensible policy to have, but they wouldn't do anything about it."
"They wouldn't donate it, let employees take it home, or make adjustments to the orders so we wouldn't have to throw so much away."
"The reasoning was always 'better have to much than not enough' which I guess makes a little sense, but when I am throwing away dozens of pounds of tenderloins, center cut fish and shellfish per night, its to much."
"Mind you, this is one department of one grocery store."
"Sorry for the rant but I feel like it needed to be said."- Zastrow_Studios
Waste Management Food GIF by UC DavisGiphyThere's A Reason They're "All You Can Eat..."
"In my country, buffets often sell spoiled food, like if the employees see mold on top of the sour cream, they just scrape it down and continue selling it."
"Also, if they sell cooked meat, they often leave them on the counter for days and add some oil to it every morning to look fresh."- Wooden_Potential_699
Don't Believe Everything You Hear... (But Remember, This One Was In Canada...)
"So odd to see all of the comments that chain places are dirty!"
"On the weekends I work as a server in the lounge of Boston Pizza (Canadian chain—not sure if there are any in the states) and when I started working there I was seriously impressed with the cleanliness procedures!"
"For one example, parmesan and chilli containers are emptied and cleaned every night, as well as salt and pepper shakers!"
"Kitchen protocols are very clean and organized as well!"- noobishpineapple
Happy Season 17 GIF by The SimpsonsGiphyNot Exactly "Haute Cuisine"...
"You'd never want to eat at a restaurant again once you saw how much of your $70 meal for two came frozen and pre-prepared in plastic bags."- PhilipLiptonSchrute
It's Not Just The Greens That Need Washing...
"Grocery distribution warehouses are often extremely filthy and rarely cleaned."
"Wash anything canned, bottled or jarred!"
"They're filthy as hell, covered in microplastics, rotten food, mouse pee, bird sh*t, etc etc."
"I used to do maintenance on conveyor systems for a major US chain and they just send sh*t flying down the conveyors so fast that, its fairly common for glass to shatter because of the vibrations, food to fall off, etc etc."
"I saw Bats, Birds and Mice in that facility, but it was within tolerance of their health policy."
"Also saw people that were sick sneezing and coughing on products."
"Never saw a floor scrubber go through the warehouse the entire 3mo I worked there and I was doing alternating double shifts!"
"The only time I saw a broom was if there was shattered glass."- -Plunder-Bunny-
mice GIFGiphyRemember, All These Incidents Are Case By Case...
"As a former chef, I've got to say that I've never seen any of the horrible stuff mentioned here over my career (mostly higher end and fine dining establishments)."
"We on ocassion would have things like frozen airline chicken breasts brought in, but other than that we did all prep and cooking by hand with fresh ingredients from mostly local purveyors when possible."
"We also broke down and deep cleaned every night from the ranges to the floors to the wells to the vents."
"Every night."
"Myself and staff have always taken this sh*t very seriously, and it's always disappointing when you hear of this kind of behavior."
"Do better, people."- iamtehryan
They Trick You With The Language
"It’s more like misleading labeling."
"No sugar."
"Right?"
"Wrong if you read ingredients on a lot of these packaging it will say things like maltodextrin and dextrose."
"That’s actually a sugar."
"Because of regulation they only have to label it no sugar and people think it’s healthy, etc."- SavemebabyK
Maybe Just Stick With Sausage...
"Worked in a pepperoni factory 20+ years ago as an accountant."
"Found that the more MSP in the bill of materials, the lower quality and cheaper the product."
"Looking at the stuff, it looked kind of like an old square crumbly eraser if you remember those."
"So I asked what MSP was."
"It's 'mechanically separated pork'."
"When I asked what that means, they told me that after all the good meat is cut off of a pig, a power washer is used to blast the remaining flesh off the carcass."
"That's scooped up, dried out and packaged as MSP."
"Enjoy your next cheap pepperoni pizza."- Lahk74
Catering Happy Birthday GIF by Feliks Tomasz KonczakowskiGiphyIt's very easy to decide not to eat at a certain restaurant, or dine at a certain grocery store owing to a less-than-appealing appearance.
That being said, many people might be surprised to discover that conditions at the "higher end" options might be as bad or worse.
Then too... if the food is delicious, and has yet to make you sick, then perhaps ignorance is, in fact, bliss.