8x the biggest blunders by hospitality staff
It’s always fun when hospitality staff spill the beans. About what they snack on themselves after closing time, the bizarre requests they receive from guests, or the disgusting drinks they’ve had to mix, for example. This time, they’re baring all themselves and shamelessly sharing their own blunders!
The one with the apple pie
Remember that scene from Friends where Rachel threw a piece of apple pie into someone’s hood? Well, it happened to me. Straight into a guest’s neck, whipped cream and all. Really great.
Ruining someone’s best day of the year
I once threw red wine all over someone. I know, it’s happened to almost everyone who works in hospitality. But in my case, it was the bride, in her beautiful, now not-so-white wedding dress.
Drug deal gone wrong
My biggest blunder was drunkenly asking a guest if he was the dealer. In my own establishment. It turned out he was also the neighbor’s daughter’s son. She brought it up the next day. I remembered nothing. So embarrassing.
Vegetable-free, please
When I was taking the guests’ dietary requirements, a woman told me that she ate vegetable-free. I had quite a discussion with the chef: “Yes, she really does eat vegetable-free.” After two courses, everyone looked incredibly confused because she hadn’t received any vegetables the entire time. Turns out I had misheard her. She eats gluten-free. Oops—in everything I had served her there was gluten. Of course, I apologized like crazy and sheepishly headed back to the kitchen. I can laugh about it now, especially at how we made fun of her: “Who eats vegetable-free anyway?!”
Guinea pig, anyone?
For me, it’s mostly embarrassing slips of the tongue. At the restaurant where I work, for example, we have Venus Oil liqueur from Van Wees. I always misspeak and call it Venus Mound liqueur. I’ve also caught myself recommending the champions soup instead of mushroom soup. When guinea fowl (guinea fowl) was the special, I spent the entire evening talking about guinea pigs (guinea pig). Nice work, mate.
Dusty ribs
I lost my balance and just managed not to drop the entire plate of spare ribs. It was a shame that half of the delicious glazed ribs did slide off the plate, though. I quickly picked them up, put them back on the plate and hurried back to the kitchen. “Shit, I quickly need a new portion of spare ribs for table 2!” I said to the chef. He then rinsed the ribs, baked them a little longer and, just like that, sent them back out with me. Another illusion shattered.
Oysters weren’t exactly an aphrodisiac in this case
It was my first day, and three beautiful women ordered half a dozen oysters. Crap, I suddenly had no idea how many a half dozen was. Three, six or twelve? And as if that weren’t bad enough, I asked the three women! Why didn’t I just walk away and ask a colleague? So stupid.
Bathroom problems
My shift was about to start and I really, really had to poop. Fine, I still had some time. Well… It wouldn’t flush. After vigorously pumping with a plunger for a long time, everything even started coming back up. When the disgusting toilet mixture was almost spilling over the edge, sweat was beading on my upper lip and I was nearly crying, the brown concoction thankfully sank back down. I worked that evening feeling as though everyone knew what had happened. I never used that toilet again.
Read also:
- You don’t have an allergy, you’re just a pain
- This is how to be a dream guest in any restaurant
- These are hospitality staff’s favorite late-night snacks
