December 13, 2023 at 7:57 am

‘You want me to stop punching in people’s orders?’ Co-Worker Tries To Tell Her How To Do Her Job And It Ruins The Customers’ Experience

by Matthew Gilligan

Source: Reddit/AITA/Unsplash/@brookecagle

You gotta love a know-it-all at work!

They make everything harder than it needs to be and they won’t listen to reason…not even a little bit…

And sometimes all you can do is maliciously comply with them to show them the error of their ways.

Check out this person’s story from Reddit, we think you’ll love it!

“Don’t calculate a table’s bills the moment you get their order ticket, it makes it hard to keep track.” You got it, boss!

“For starters, I’m (23) a university student working part time at my aunt’s restaurant to make a little extra money before the academic year starts.

My job is pretty simple — it’s an all-rounder job where I need to take people’s orders, send tickets to the kitchen, calculate each table’s bills, handle payments and clear tables.

I’m only here until the end of this week because I secured another gig elsewhere before the academic year starts, so I figured why not finish this week for a little extra cash before then?

It seemed like a chill place to work.

I get along with most of the staff, all of whom are a decade or so older than me, and said individuals work at the restaurant full time. There’s another part timer (19) who’s working here and he comes to work whenever he’s able since he’s studying too.

He wasn’t around for a couple of weeks, so I’ve been left to sort out most waitressing matters. My shifts during lunch hour get particularly busy, which is why my system keeping the workflow super smooth is a crucial point to this post. The moment after bills have been settled, tables need to be cleared immediately because new customers come pouring in and some insist on being seated even before the tables have been cleared or wiped down.

They had a system for the job.

I came up with a system in the three weeks that I’ve been working here that works for both myself and my colleagues.

Upon receiving tickets for orders that have been received, I always key in their order according to the table they’re sat so that it’s less time consuming in the event other customers want to settle their respective bills.

Customers are expected to come to the payment counter when they’re ready to pay, so this system is a lot easier and much more efficient than letting tickets pile up and only calculate the bill right when customers are about to pay (which results in a longer line).

I always make it a point to ask customers if their food has all arrived, if they were satisfied with the quality of their order and if they ordered anything else that I hadn’t seen on their tickets.

Once they verify their orders are correct, that’s all.

I go about my day and mind my business.

But the part-time worker had to throw a wrench into everything.

That was until the other part-timer approached me earlier today. His point was an eyebrow raiser, for sure.

I’m not the type of person to pick fights or argue, so since he was so insistent that my way of doing things was making it difficult for him to keep track of additional orders at each table, I decided to just let him have at it since he was so happy to tell me how to do my job.

So they maliciously complied!

I simply smiled and nodded at him, making a beeline to the cleaning supplies and thinking to myself, “You want me to stop punching in people’s orders? Sure thing!”

For a solid hour or two, I only collected the tickets, bringing them to the cash register and letting them pile up, just as he requested.

When I noticed customers stand up from their seats and making their way to the payment counter, I would speedwalk to the cleaning supplies and start collecting plates to show that my hands were occupied and that I wouldn’t be able to sort out people’s bills!

This is what the co-worker wanted!

I left it all to my dear coworker who tried telling me what to do and how to do it.

It was the right call to make because the line that followed, due to his insistence on changing the system, snaked about halfway through the restaurant, full of customers waiting their turn to pay their bill.

Once lunch hour had slowed down, I smiled to myself and went back to keying in people’s tickets the way I always had.

My part time coworker sheepishly approached me with new additions to existing orders since then.”

Let’s see how Reddit users responded.

This reader shared an old saying that applies to this story.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Another individual said he probably got a ton of flack for this.

Source: Reddit/AITA

One Reddit user said this reminds them of a story.

Source: Reddit/AITA

And this individual said at least it seems like this guy took it well!

Source: Reddit/AITA

As we’ve said before, some folks just gotta learn the hard way.

You asked for it!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.