You never know how some bosses are going to react to how you interact with customers at work. It’s a roll of the dice and it can lead to some surprising results.

Today’s story involves a waitress whose boss told her she needed to cut down on the chit chat with her customers.

Let’s see how she handled it!

Oh, I’m being too nice to customers? Ok!

“This happened about a year ago.

I was working at a small cafe that – despite being part of a chain – was a rather homey place. It had many regular customers, that all had their regular times, regular dishes and regular conversation topics.

Within a week of working them, I knew them all by name. I’m proud to say that I was a great waitress – I was efficient, I was kind and I managed well even when the place was brimming with people.

Sounds like a great place to work!

I was always nice and polite, and (when there was time) I loved chatting and laughing with my customers more than anything.

Even when there was stress, I always made sure to throw in a nice remark before moving on to my next table. Now, this all sounds like a brag, but I just legitimately really loved my job – and the people that were in it.

Well, my boss never really liked me from the start, and apparently he was having none of it.

One day he sat me down for a “conversation”. I immediately freaked out, thinking he was gonna fire me or something – which was rather confusing since we both knew I was one of his best waitresses.

He calmed me down and said he just wanted to make a few remarks about my “work routine”.

Hmmm…

Apparently I was being “too nice” to customers.

You see, my boss said that I was making customers uncomfortable by being too friendly. As a very shy person in my nature, it was a real surprise – I’m very cautious around people and always back off when people seem to want their space or don’t feel like chatting.

I can’t stand the thought of being too pushy or unpleasant.

He also said that me chatting with customers was taking up too much time, in which I could be doing other things like polishing cutlery or piling up glasses.

Honestly, this one I can understand a bit better from his POV as an employer, but I still disagree with. Being nice is part of my job just as much as cleaning spoons, it’s a part of the experience people pay for!

It was GO time.

Anyway, cue malicious compliance.

Me being the salty little jerk that I was, decided to make his remarks my new motto. I stopped chatting with customers or addressing the chatty regulars in conversations.

I barely talked, barely laughed, barely smiled. My entire interaction with customers was nothing more than the mere minimum that was necessary.

I was like a machine. And boy, did that backfire at my boss. Before all this, I was one of the highest tipping waitresses. The average in my country is 10%? I got 15% regularly.

Most other staff weren’t doing as well, since they were kind of meh people all around. That’s why we really felt the blow when the average tip percentage in the shifts I was a part of fell from 12.5% or so, to 9%.

That was an insane drop. And not only that, but the regulars started asking me what was wrong. I didn’t feel like lying to cover up for my boss, so I just said it like it is – “my boss says chatting with you is a waste of time. I’m really sorry but I can’t stick around since I really need this job”.

This was gonna be interesting.

Oooooh boy.

One of the regulars – a lovely old lady that I actually grew really attached to – came over and told him he was a jerk, that he didn’t know a good waitress if she spat him in the face, and that he’s “clipping the wings of the youth”.

She wasn’t the only one complaining about this, but she was the loudest one about it, and I adore her to this day. After that I realized the place really wasn’t for me, and moved to another cafe nearby.

I wasn’t there long (it closed down when the pandemic hit) but I swear to god the boss there appreciated me for what I’m worth, and I never regretted moving there even for a second.”

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person weighed in.

Another reader spoke up.

This individual had a lot to say.

Another person shared their thoughts.

It sounds like this manager didn’t belong in the hospitality industry.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.