anecdotes needed!

[contentlove]

So, I'm writing a short play, and I am looking for some help in the form of your best anecdote about your worst service-job experience...or your best. If you don't want to post it here, send it to me at contentlove at yahoo dot com. When I say "service job" you may interpret that broadly - everything from restuarant to retail, from yard work to

Comments

Just one hole

[strangevibe]

I might be conflating a couple of different days but let's ignore that for now.
I'm working on a landscaping crew planting trees, bushes etc. One day after a pretty hard night of college kid summertime partying I drag myself into work, maybe I'm the last guy to get a spot on the truck on our longest out of town gig ever, an hour ride. The lucky guys have spots in a wheelbarrow, me ... I get to sleep on a bed of pitchforks. Even so, it was blissful sleep on bad suspension.
After a hard morning in the sun we get back to the nursery and the boss would like a few plants put in right there and then. Exhausted, we get to the task - unsurprisingly he finds our productivity alarmingly lackluster and demands that the shovel be handed to him so he can show us how it's done. He vigorously, insanely, frantically digs the whole and throws it down for us to follow his example. Everyone thinks, but does not say - But Sir, that's Just One Hole.

[lassiter]

My first Austin job was at the Fun House Arcade (currently the site of Ken's Donuts at 29th & Guad). It was a pool, pinball, and foosball arcade with a bar that sold burgers, fries and pitchers of beer. Clientele was about 70% frat boys and 30% bikers, with a smattering of teenage runaways working small drug sales and prostitution for both sets of guys

[omegabaphomet]

I go to my local coffee shop for coffee and a taco, its 10:20 am, they close the kitchen for breakfast at 10:30 am, there's two baristas behind the counter, they both have separate cash registers, and just one customer in front of me. No problem right? Wrong. This guy in front me starts ordering ... one bean and cheese; then a danish; then he wants a coffee; (I'm looking at the clock); then he wants a fruit bowl; then a mocha; then a latte; (I finally figure out he's reading off a list). One of the baristas runs away despite my frantic waving and calling. The remaining one tells me the other one will be right back. This guy in front of me wants a frozen chocomocha drink; and a donut; and one of those granola bars; and on and on and on ... the second barista never comes back.

Finally its my turn at 10:45 am, I beg for breakfast food, but of course the barista tells me, "the kitchen closed for breakfast 15 minutes ago."

[austingoddess]

Food service is always good for bad stories

[samajh]

Worst? Whenever you check service jobs there's tons of stories.

Worst boss: I worked for a record store with a notoriously crazy owner. It was par for the course for him to walk in the door, yell at an employee, grab $200+ out of the register and then fire someone for no apparent reason- and then leave. He was often thrown out of hotels and other establishments for being a bum as he dressed in a dirty smelly old trenchcoat when rumor had it he was a millionaire.

Worst co-worker: On my first day of my first "real" job in a movie theater I walked in to be given a gross polyester brown uniform- which went really well with my purple hair. Within half an hour another girl who worked there bullied me into giving her my uniform since she was so big she ruined hers. So I got to wear a uniform that was too small and the pants were so high that you could see my shins from the flood.

I'll have to think on the best story- all of the best parts involve laughing with my co-workers in spite of the crappy jobs we had.