To send love to hospitality staff at this time of year?

[WandyAgain]

Yegods it's hard work, so physically draining and your mind buzzes after shift, so you don't sleep for hours despite achy feet and body.

Customers at large tables who when you head over with hands full of hot plates, tell you what they've ordered rather than calling indicating they've ordered with what you've got in your hands

Lechy, touchy drunk men.

Guests who treat you as lesser.

Guests who click their fingers or whistle 😲 at you

Guests who are intolerant of a slightly longer wait in a heaving restaurant.

Guests who think they're the only guests in the house. I've got 7 other tables that I need to distribute my attention to.

Guests who forget what they pre-ordered. And only think about it when you're standing there with hot heavy plates to distribute and another load waiting tin the kitchen to head out.

Guests who throw their cracker waste in to the floor.

Guests who whisper.

Guests who allow children to have ipads blaring. Or run around while we're walking with hot food or trays of drinks.

Guests who query supplements on Festive menus which are clearly stated in bold.
Guests who want to play individually by card on a table of 31 😭.

Thank you to all the guests who make eye contact and are polite we absolutely cherish you.

And a big shout out of appreciation for retail staff atm, you're champions!

Feel free to add any more irks I've missed.

<<Off to soak my feet in Epsom salts>>

Work in retail and I honestly have to change jobs. Body broken after a long ten hour shift today and have same tomorrow. Between work (five days in a row until Christmas) and kids I won’t have had one lie in all December until Christmas Day when obviously I’ll get up excitedly😉😅 Stephens day have guests so need to fit in cleaning. Well done to everyone and remember it’ll get easier. So I keep telling myself

eta I love my job and the people, body is just a bit broken and I miss weekends off

No. We will extend the same privilege to Sue who pops in for a glass of wine every week. 😂

Most people, who work in hospitality, do it because they have no other options. Hospitality is literal hell, quite often.

Swearing is allowed on mumsnet too :).

I imagine the industry and staff are partly suffering because they can’t afford enough staff.

I had my work xmas lunch which we pre ordered and i had to cancel my main as it still hadn’t been server 1hr10 mins after seating and i had to go. The staff were clearly prioritising smaller tables and walk ins and no apologies for the delay until after i had left.

I'm a hotel receptionist and I just LOVE all the people booking a room after a works do and drunkenly booking it for next year by accident, and accusing me of changing the dates when they weren't looking

Thank you for your service! 😄 My heart goes out to the hospitality and retail workers at Christmas, I find it stressful enough just shopping and eating out!

And I love that you call it Stephen's Day - of course, 'on the feast of Stephen!' Sang that for years without realising it was Boxing Day...

100% hear you
I've worked hospitality and retail, at Christmas time. Sheer hell on Earth and you encounter so many rude people!
Yes yes to leaving a tip, I once got tipped £15 on Christmas eve I honestly felt so rich it really was so genuinely appreciated

YANBU - I worked in hospitality when I was a student and it's brutal at this time of year!!

Hope you manage to get some relaxation at some point!

I have family that work or have worked in hospitality, hats off to you all at this time of year. I work public facing ( healthcare) and people are so much more entitled and rude this last few years, can imagine how bad it can be right now.

Just because @WandyAgain (and others) can list lots of things like her op doesn’t mean hospitality isn’t for her. Most of us could do exactly the same with our own professions. They could also do the reverse list too.

My FIL was a chef and worked every Xmas day for 30 years. Every year he would complain about the big groups who would turn up late for their booking, not just a couple of minutes but an hour or so and then moan that they have to wait for their food as the chefs are busy serving the other customers who bothered to turn up. This has such a knock on effect for all the other customers and the staff who might then have to work later than planned.

Yes love from me to hospitality staff🎄💕

Yesterday we went to Pizza Express next to Southwark Cathedral late afternoon - when we arrived it was busy-ish when we left an hour or so later it was heaving!

Lovely friendly staff on the go non-stop. It's on two floors and I was full of admiration for the guy who was serving the tables on the lower level as he was trotting down the stairs with two huge plates on one arm and another in his hand on the other side!

Borough Market was extra heaving, all the bars around were packed and outside tables in courtyards were full, even though it was a bit chilly.

So an extra big thank you to these workers who make for a great night out.

I agree with everything in the OP.

Also when you take out their food balancing three plates and they say,
"But we ordered onion rings and extra chips as well!"
Yes i know but I'm not a fucking octopus.

I actually really disagree about serving regulars first, I would never do that I think it's really rude if another customer is there first.
I love a lot of our regulars, but I can't stand the entitled ones that think they own the place because they are in twice a week and start bossing other customers around and being rude and demanding to staff.

I haven't worked in hospitality for many years but because I did I love and appreciate you all! Its bloody hard work and some people forget their manners that I do know. 🤗

Hats off to you @PrioritisePleasure24 healthcare is bloody hard too, same issues as with hospitality or retail of lack of resources and staff hammered by increased demand - but with more at stake. The pressure must be immense.

And absolutely to your last paragraph, people seem to think that if you're in a job like that you should actively enjoy the negative aspects of it or you're in the wrong job. I don't suppose many people enjoy being shouted at, treated badly, abused, doing 2 people's work or ridiculously long shifts or any part that has a negative effect as most jobs do, no matter their job or profession, but if you're in hospitality or retail seemingly you're not allowed to talk about the negatives or even admit they happen - we are people - humans- too and we don't simply exist to serve others and vanish out of existence when not needed, and you're right there's a positive side too, but that doesn't mean there isn't a negative one or we shouldn't acknowledge it.

I can’t see why it isn’t the right profession for the OP, she is stating pure facts. Everyone should be made to be a waiter or waitress as part of a national service. Then they would have a bit more manners. The people who can’t remember what they bloody ordered 20 minutes earlier or continue talking when you are standing holding hot heavy plates. Or the ones who put chewing gum under the tables. People have got awful to retail and hospitality workers.

I’m a firm believer in everyone doing a stint in either retail or hospitality in their late teens.

I think it will make us nicer customers as a nation.

Definitely. That and delivery driving. It’s not really a middle aged persons game though. Starts to get a bit tiring for most people and they can’t deal with the aches and pains.

Lockdown made us realise who was actually an essential worker. It’s why people go out so less now as it’s expensive and not actually necessary

No they're not, and not essential as covid taught us, which makes it all the more baffling when people behave like the world has ended or you've ruined their lives because they wait a little while, or they don't get the experience they believe they should.

If it's not that important of a job in retail or hospitality, then the service provided itself isn't that important surely?
So why the strong reactions to less than perfection of something that's not actually that important?

Yet these staff need body cams and signs up stating abuse won't be tolerated - why abuse someone over something that's actually not that important anyway?

The guests that tell you they can't possibly eat the 2 thin slices of turkey on their plate and ask you to remove one of them or cut it in half. No, I can't. I haven't got time, I haven't got a spare knife on me and where do you think I'm going to put the other piece of meat - in my pocket maybe? All this whilst balancing another two scalding hot plates or veg tureens on your arm.

Im in retail. Its hellush now. People are so rude. Thankfully not them all though

I'd argue that cooks are important. Waiters are not.

Maybe because the abusers are reaching for the low hanging fruit?

I thought Nursing in winter pressures was as hellish as a job could get but I think you beat me OP. Hope you have a peaceful Christmas!!