It’s common sense to treat other people with dignity and respect. Especially anyone who is working on your food—they’re the last folks you want to get on the wrong side of. However, far from everyone understands this. And common sense seems to be in very short supply!
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Redditor u/AngryChefNate, a professional chef, is entertaining the net with his stories about how he teaches entitled customers a lesson about manners. In a couple of recent viral posts on r/pettyrevenge, he spilled the tea about how croutons, pickles, and even onions can become just as powerful as a good telling-off. Check out Nate’s full story below!
Bored Panda got in touch with the post's author, u/AngryChefNate, a big fan of ours. He was kind enough to tell us all about his viral stories, shared some tips for anyone hoping to be a chef, and gave us his take on why customers act so entitled. Read on for our full interview with him below! And be sure to follow him on Reddit for his latest posts.
If you work in the food service industry, sooner or later, you'll have to deal with rude and entitled customers
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One professional chef wowed the internet with his stories about how he gets revenge on anyone behaving poorly
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Image credits: AngryChefNate
The chef shared a few more stories in another post
Image credits: AngryChefNate
"By the time I was a teenager, I was cooking dinner every night. I never get tired of it, and always love learning new things"
We were curious to get Nate’s thoughts on why his most recent story got so much attention online. “I believe it resonates so much with people because I'm not only doing something amusing without causing any harm to anyone, but it's stuff that so many people feel like doing when it comes to difficult customers, but they hold back on actually doing it. It makes everyone who's ever had to bite their tongue with these types of customers feel like there's somebody out there fighting the good fight for them,” he told Bored Panda.
According to the chef, the reason why some entitled customers treat restaurant staff so poorly comes down to two things. “They're genuinely miserable people, and they see restaurant, retail, and other workers as being beneath them. The only thing that would ever change their mind, is talking to us and realizing we're people too, working hard to earn a living. There's no room in this world for job shaming. Anybody who works is golden in my eyes,” he shared his perspective.
Bored Panda wanted to get the OP’s take on what someone hoping to work as a chef should keep in mind. Especially if they’re still on the fence about cooking as a career. According to u/AngryChefNate, it’s vital to be passionate, no matter your line of work.
“If you don't have a passion for cooking and you just want the paycheck, don't waste your time pursuing a job cooking at any level. It's very hot, the hours are very long, and you will always feel overworked. The pay will also never match the work you're putting in. Cooks and chefs are miserably underpaid, even in fine dining. So you have to love what you do,” the OP said.
Nate also opened up to us about his own passion for being a chef. He’s been in love with cooking since he was small. “I first got started in cooking as a kid. First, always being under my mom's feet in the kitchen, then at 9 years old being fascinated with my Sicilian grandmother's authentic Italian cooking. I spent a lot of years learning from them, doing some trial and error, and by the time I was a teenager, I was cooking dinner every night. I never get tired of it, and always love learning new things.”
According to the OP, he never imagined that his stories would have such a massive impact on Reddit when he made his very first post. “I was off work, stumbled across r/pettyrevenge, and instantly had a flood of memories from various cooking jobs I thought people in the group might enjoy. I'm never one to try and be popular or get a reaction, I just love to have fun and tell stories, it's the same way I am in my everyday life,” Nate told Bored Panda.
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Food safety is a priority, no matter how ungrateful the customer might be
“Because of the reaction it's gotten, I made a follow-up post with more stories, and was inspired by so many comments from people to put a lot of my stories into book form, so I am currently working on an ebook that I hope to publish soon,” he said, so definitely keep an eye out for his upcoming publication! “I'm just completely overwhelmed with how much people love these stories. It feels so good to know I brought joy to so many people.”
Nate’s most recent r/pettyrevenge post was extremely popular. It had over 10.3k upvotes and counting at the time of writing. And it seems like the chef has even more workplace revenge stories lined up for redditors to enjoy in the near future. According to r/AngryChefNate, cooking is so ingrained in his soul that he’s “having a great time” even when he hates it. And from his post, it really feels like he cares about what he’s doing. He points out that he’d never do anything degrading to teach his customers a lesson. However, at the same time, he’s not going to let any disrespect fly either.
“I take my career and food safety very seriously. Even if I was livid over a customer, I would never do anything gross, dirty, harmful, etc. to their food, and I would shut down someone else trying to. I prefer my revenge to be petty, but noticed,” the chef explained on Reddit where he draws the lines both for himself and for his customers alike.
The fact of the matter is that the customer is not always right. Ideally, chefs and servers will strike a delicate balance between professionalism and dignity. On the one hand, they’ll always do their best to treat their customers well, even if they’re less than polite. On the other hand, they’ll enforce boundaries when their customers go out of line. Politely. Diplomatically. But firmly.
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It is essential to draw an enforce healthy boundaries at work
As Seth Gerber writes on Food & Wine, “When did it become ingrained in our collective psyche that we should take abuse from complete strangers? Why is it that managers, owners, and staff are too petrified to stand up for themselves? Amidst all the fear, doubt, and desperation, have we lost our sense of self-worth? Allow me to remind you, comrades, that you are in control! You are beautiful! Your restaurant is your home. That means your rules.”
A large part of customer service is about handling stress well, keeping your cool when tempers flare, and looking for compromises instead of escalating the situation further. And if the customer is even partially reasonable, they’ll back down. When in doubt, ask your manager to step in to mediate the conflict. A good manager will hear out both sides and leave everyone feeling like they’ve won. A poor manager, however, often sides with the customer, at the expense of their staff—even if they’re right.
In some cases, however, a dose of petty revenge and malicious compliance is in order. If they’re running you ragged asking for more pickles, get them tons of pickles. If they want more onions, give them a whole onion! Chef Nate seems to have a very good sense of humor. He knows precisely how to get the customers to think about their entitlement.
Gerber points out in Food & Wine that it is absolutely vital to keep your temper in check. “Pushing back against guest entitlement only works if people are, in fact, being entitled,” he explains. What’s more, it’s essential to see the difference between entitlement and awkwardness. You might be dealing with a customer who simply communicates differently. Or they’re awful at social interactions.
Meanwhile, restaurant staff members should avoid yelling, being sarcastic, or passive-aggressive. The patrons themselves should never curse, raise their voices, or invade their servers’ personal space. Boundaries ought to be set as calmly as possible. And verbal smackdowns rarely go the way you envision them in your power fantasies.
Image credits: Adrien Olichon (not the actual photo)
Here's how some readers responded to the chef's captivating stories
