One of the unspoken rules of working in food service is that you’re able to empathize with others in the business, and therefore treat them better than most.

Sometimes that rule gets broken, and when it does, people have to learn the hard way.

OP worked in the sandwich area of his base’s diner. He was a generous sandwich maker, so he often had a long line.

I was on base, working the sandwich bar in the dining facility.

I had a long line of customers because when I worked the sandwich bar I added way more food than I was supposed to.

One of the people waiting turned out to be a sergeant who used to work in food service herself. She took it upon herself to walk around the counter and hand him a fork, loudly reminding him of the rule for using it.

As I’m rushing to get the soldiers in and out, I get a female Sgt and she informs me that she is a cook for the other dining facility on base.

Naive me thinks she’s trying to be friendly; but instead she walks over to the utensil rack, takes a fork, brings it to me, and in her most Karen (and loud) voice says, “so I Knowww you’re supposed to use a fork to grab the deli meat.”

She’s not wrong: I was using my gloved hands (like they do at the restaurant) because it’s really hard to get the tightly packed deli meat separated, and I’m trying to work faster so I don’t get in trouble for having a long line.

She was right, but he had the feeling embarrassing him was more important than the actual rule.

Even though she was right about the rule, I was still upset with her because of the way she said it- she cared more about putting me down than the actual rule.

So, he made sure to use the fork for her sandwich, even though it resulted in a mess – and he followed every other rule, too.

First of all, it’s unsanitary for me to use a fork that she touched with her dirty hands- she knows that. But I do it anyways because she’s a Sgt.

The first slice of meat separates perfectly and I put it on her sandwich. But that second slice is married to the next one and will not budge.

So now I’m scraping at the meat and it starts to shred. She gets frustrated, but I’m LOVING it. As I shred the meat some more, she barks at me to just put both slices on her sandwich.

To which I reply, “Sorry, I can’t do that, as you know, the rules are only two slices of meat per sandwich.” (I never followed that rule which is why I had a long line of customers).

Once the meat is Completely shredded, it finally separates. I figured no reason to stop there, and I made her the ugliest sandwich possible.

The next sergeant was happy to have OP use his (gloved) hands.

It was so bad that when I looked at the next Sgt in line, he held up his hands in surrender and quietly said, “You can use your hands for my sandwich.”

Is Reddit on the side of hands in the food? Let’s find out!

The top comment says she violated mess hall 101.

No one knows what this lady was thinking.

They say being a little bit nice can pay off in big ways.

This way everybody wins.

An unshakable life rule.

It sounds like this lady might have been having a bad day.

Otherwise, you have to assume she’s just slow.