Dec. 2, 2025

Episode 1: I Can't Turn It Off!

Once you've worked in restaurants, you're cursed with server vision forever. That relaxing bakery date with my husband? Yeah, that became me mentally reorganizing their display case, tracking every customer interaction, and catching the exact moment their cashier's soul left their body during the morning rush. In this debut episode, I explore the blessing and curse of restaurant worker hyperawareness – why we notice every table, hear every order mistake, and can spot bad tippers from across t...

Show Notes
Transcript

In this debut episode, I explore the blessing and curse of restaurant worker hyperawareness – why we notice every table, hear every order mistake, and can spot bad tippers from across the room. From silently overhearing every conversation to knowing exactly which customer is about to complain before they even open their mouth, we literally can't turn it off.

Welcome to Bitter Waitress, where we see everything, judge silently, and tip appropriately :)

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Hi, my name is Yasmin, and I'll be your server today.

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I'm a full-time waitress at a casual dining restaurant.

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I'm on foot for 10 hours a day, and I serve hundreds of customers each week.

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And these are my customer service stories.

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Hi guys, thank you so much for joining me today.

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Today I will be talking about being hyper-aware of your surroundings as a server.

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So anybody who's a server or a bartender, or even if you're in the customer service industry, you know how easy it is to be so super aware of your surroundings.

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When you're dealing with customers, you have to be really observant about their body language and their reactions and their tone of voice.

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Um, and also, especially if you work in a kitchen, just being very aware of your surroundings all the time because there um are a lot of potentials for injuries if you're not looking where you're going or um things of that nature.

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So definitely I feel like the customer service industry has changed me.

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I don't know if it's for the better, I don't know if it's for the good, but I definitely just am so observant when I go out to another business, to a restaurant, a cafe.

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I can't help it.

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I don't know what it is.

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I'm just always looking around, taking it in.

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Um, I definitely don't mean to, but you know, I do eavesdrop because I can't help but listening to what other people are are are saying.

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So in this story, um, it's about this cute little Turkish bakery that my husband found.

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So one day he's like, babe, we just we gotta we we gotta go somewhere.

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I'm like, where are we going?

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Where are you taking me?

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Why are you kidnapping me?

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Where are we going, man?

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And he's like, Oh, I found this place that serves baklava.

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And what you have to understand about my husband is that man has a sweet tooth.

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So, I mean, we all we all have something in our lives, but he definitely likes his cookies and candies and pastries, loves pastries.

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So he found this local place and he was just so excited to go, and he's like, Oh, I looked up the hours, and we're just we're gonna go on your day off, we're doing this.

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So he takes me um to this little bakery, and shout out to Nurse Bakery in um Grimsby, Ontario.

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They are a really cute bakery, such a lovely little cafe.

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If you're you know, if you've never tried Turkish coffee or if you've never tried buckleba, like you have to go.

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You have you must, I'm telling you.

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So we get there, and the one thing about this bakery is that it's got um this LED open sign at the front, and it's not, you know, like one of those paper signs that you flip like open close, no.

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So you're you uh will turn the sign on when your business is open, turn it off when it's closed, and there's also business hours underneath that are lit up with the LED.

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Um, and as we were walking up to the bakery, the one thing was it was a very, very sunny day.

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So if you looked at the open sign from you know a certain angle, it didn't look like it was turned on, so um, but you could clearly see people in the window, like it is it is a small bakery, there's probably like three, maybe four tables in there, and you can definitely see from the window that it's open, and we walked in, and we um, as we walk in, so I'll just give you a better appreciation for this adorable bakery.

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It honestly reminded me of my granny's house.

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I love my grandma, I love my grandma, but it was like you know, those plates.

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Um, I don't know if everybody's grandma does this, but my grandma does this.

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She collects plates and they've got like uh patterns on it, and flowers and paintings, and like that's what it was.

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It was just it was just all this dishware, but it was on the walls, like it wasn't on the tables, it was decorating the walls, all this dishware, these cute little like Turkish coffee cups everywhere as decorations, doilies.

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Oh my god, I thought only my grandma had that many doilies, like you guys.

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This on the tables, it was like crocheted, like little uh table coverings and like little doilies everywhere.

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I'm like, oh my gosh, like I just I I felt a little bit like I was in a museum or something.

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I'm like, don't touch nothing, okay?

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I don't know why people are eating on that table, don't touch nothing, it's just too fragile.

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It's too fragile in here, but it was so cute, I loved it, so adorable.

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It was like honestly, just you know, you very cozy.

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Like, you just want to sit there and chit-chat, drink your coffee, which is obviously the point of it.

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And we walk up to the counter and uh we get in line, and you could see just in the case.

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Oh my gosh, it looked so good, just all this buck lava.

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It was just dripping and just syrup and pistachio all over it.

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Just like I'm telling you, I'm telling you, just amazing, amazing, amazing.

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So we're standing in line, and you know, being like the nosy server that I am because I don't know, this business has changed me.

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Um, I'm I'm hearing this conversation that people are having in front of me.

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It's this gentleman who's ordering something, and then the really nice guy behind the counter is taking his order, and the customer goes to him, your open sign isn't on.

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Just like that.

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Like just not hi.

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Oh, where where I just want to ask you, where did where did manners go?

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Like, not even like hi, how are you?

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I'd like to order this.

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Nothing.

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Like the guy just walks in, your sign isn't on, your open sign isn't on.

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Buddy, you're in the bakery, clearly, it's open.

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Like, do you do you not do you not see everybody eating at the tables?

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Like, there's a guy at the cache, like, obviously, we are in an open establishment.

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Like, I I don't anyway, so his comment, your sign isn't open, and then you know, the worker behind the counter, I I I can't be certain, but I feel like it might be a family business.

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Um, and the gentleman who I'm sure probably opened the restaurant that day and probably turned the sign on himself, obviously having to be polite.

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He's talking to a customer, he's like, Oh, you know, no, I'm I'm I'm pretty sure it's on.

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He's like, No, your sign isn't on.

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And I'm like, what is sort of what sort of crow?

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I feel like I'm in the twilight zone.

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Like you are in the bakery.

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What what does it matter?

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And it was sunny that day.

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Okay, maybe from a certain angle he couldn't like see that it was like lit up.

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I don't know.

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Check Google check check Google.

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Google will tell you the hours of all businesses, and sometimes they don't update understandable, so just call the business.

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But you can clearly see from the street, there are people in the bakery, so I I I I don't get it.

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Anyway, so again he repeats like sign isn't on, and then like the guy's like dumbfounded, the worker, like, what are you supposed to say to that?

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Twice, he's like pointing this thing out, and then the customer gets into okay, I want XYZ, whatever he was ordering, and he's like, pack it to go.

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I'm in a hurry this time, this time, excuse me.

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So you've been there before, so you are a returning customer.

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You came back.

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Here's what I don't get.

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If you like a restaurant or a cafe or a bakery or a certain local business, don't be rude, like you know, make friends, you know.

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These these people, okay.

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Here's the thing I want to emphasize about local businesses.

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Local businesses open because they want to serve their community.

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I don't get it.

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Like they want to share their, you know, um, if it's their authentic cuisine, if they want to share, um, you know, their love for cooking for people with you, with the community.

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Like, you don't you we can we can be friends, we can be we're not enemies, we can be friends, like we can talk nicely to each other.

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So I don't know why this customer was so just hung up on this sign, hung up on the sign, and it just ruined his day.

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I I mean like the smallest, the smallest things.

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So, um yeah, I was just eavesdropping on this, and you know, like it's a small place, like I can't even, you know, whisper, whisper on my husband, and I'm sitting there, like just just looking at my husband, and he's giving me this look like why why are you staring at me?

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Like, what's going on?

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I couldn't even tell him a story.

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I had to keep it in, I had to suck it in until we left the bakery.

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I couldn't say anything, and then you know, the guy like takes his order and go, but wow, I just I'm like, I and and you know what?

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Kudos to the worker because he was just so just nice and professional and you know, accommodating, and like here's your order, sir, have a nice day.

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And I mean, gosh, like sometimes.

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So I work in a restaurant, like I work for somebody, and there are days when I tell myself, I'm like, man, if this were my restaurant and somebody talked to me like that, I just tell them where to go.

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And like he was just so like this this worker was just so calm, cool, collected.

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It was just like really like refreshing, just just to see that just really cool personality.

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So good job on on dealing with someone who just I felt just could have just been nicer that day.

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And so we go up, super super chill guy, super nice guy.

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We're ordering some stuff, some bak lavas, and um I was like telling my husband I uh because my son had asked me the day before, I don't know why he brought probably because my husband was talking about this bakery to him because he got all excited about it.

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He's like, Mom, like my husband, my my son is is 10.

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He's like, Mom, I really want to try Turkish Delight.

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And like I've tried Turkish Delight in the past, and it's very I mean, it's not for everybody, it's not for everybody.

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Turkish Delight is a little bit chewy, gummy, and I just not for me.

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I'm Turkish, so you know, not for me, but that's okay.

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But my son wanted to try it, and we were standing at the counter, and I was like just chatting with my husband.

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I'm like, you know, like uh Riley, that's our son.

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We wanted to try some Turkish delight, and there was some in the case, and I'm like, maybe we should get him one.

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I don't know, but like I felt like my son wouldn't like it, but anyway, so the the the worker was like, you know, go have a seat, I'll just I'll call you up when it's all packaged up.

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So we're like, okay, so we're sitting, we're sitting, I feel like I honestly felt like it was my granny's house.

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I swear to you, like, we're sitting on these, um, on these like little little couches, and I'm just staring at this little circle coffee table with a doily on it, and I'm like, oh my gosh, it just it just made me miss my grandma.

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It made me miss my grandma and we're waiting and we're waiting.

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And again, I couldn't help, I couldn't help, I couldn't help it guys.

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Eavesdrop on people's conversations because like I said, it's just this industry.

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This industry just makes you so just uh needing to be uh aware of your surroundings because sometimes you'll be passing by a table and they'll just like it's just like a little or a little gesture movement, like they need your attention, but they don't want to be rude.

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Like you just have to be so like in tune with your environment at all times.

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So I couldn't help it.

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I'm like in this bakery, I feel like like oh my god, I'm at work, and I'm just overhearing this conversation.

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I couldn't turn it off.

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I could it's like it's just this like thing I just can't turn off in public anymore.

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And it was this this older lady, she was so adorable.

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You know what she said?

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She goes, Okay, she was talking to her friend on the phone, she was there with like another two ladies, and they were talking amongst themselves, and she was on the phone and she was talking to someone, and she goes, she goes, and have you ordered from Amazon before?

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Sorry, have you ordered from Amazon before?

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Is what she said, and it was so oh my god, I can't, I'm crying because it's it's so adorable, it's so adorable.

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I loved it.

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I'm like, there are people in the world that haven't ordered from Amazon, and it was likely maybe like a friend or someone who is like you know, maybe an older generation that isn't as comfortable with technology, and now I'm just like like my eyes are huge, like saucers, and I'm just like looking over at my husband, just holding in the giggles because it was so cute, it was so cute, and she's on the phone talking about teaching her friend or whoever was on the other end ordering practices off Amazon, and she's like, it's okay if you don't know, I'll get them to deliver it to me.

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It was so cute, it was so cute.

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So I'm like, man, I just I need I need to be able to just not just just I don't know take a break from being so aware of my surroundings in public.

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Like I need a break from it sometimes.

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And then finally, finally, we went up to the to the counter, our stuff was ready, and you know what the guy did?

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I have to tell you something.

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You know what good customer service is.

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I appreciated this so much.

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So the worker, I guess he overheard me talking to my husband about the Turkish delight and like not really being sure if I should get like a piece for my son or not, and they packed it in free of charge.

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Can you believe that?

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Just like lovely, lovely, like you know what I mean.

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Like, it's like that, those small gestures, and you're like, I will be back here.

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I'm coming back.

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You care about people, you care about people, you take shit from people in the most polite way.

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With your sign is an on guy, you are trying to make people's dining and cafe experiences lovely, like lovely establishment, like hats off to you.

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Love it, love it.

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So he was like, bye guys, have a great day, and and we left.

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And it was just this like really interesting experience because now I just I feel like I'm just hearing things from all angles, you know.

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I see this interaction, I hear the customers talking, it's almost like um, like like having these like spidey senses, and you just want to just shut it down sometimes when you just go out.

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That's why honestly, okay, I have to be honest, I hate going to restaurants.

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Not only do I have like severe dietary restrictions where I can eat a lot of things, but I'm just too attuned to all the stuff going on around me, and it drives me bananas.

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So then we walk out and I'm like, Oh, we got Turkish Delight, that was so sweet of him.

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And then, um, and then and then as me and my husband get closer to the car, I burst out laughing because I had to tell him about Sign Guy, I had to tell him about do you order from Amazon?

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Like it was just it was too much, it blew my mind.

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It blew my mind, and we were in that cafe.

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How long were we in that cafe for?

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I think it was a total of 15 minutes, like, and I just I just heard and saw everything.

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It was just a nightmare.

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So I don't know.

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You tell me what you guys think, all my servers, my bartenders out there, if you work um, you know, um at a hotel behind the counter, if you work, you know, doing some sort of customer service, does this happen to you?

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Are you just so just hyper aware of everything going on because of the nature of your job that you cannot turn it off when you go somewhere else?

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Is this you?

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Um, anyway, I really appreciate you guys being with me today, listening to my stories.

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What do you guys think?

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What do you guys think of Complainer Gym?

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What do you guys think of the um lovely gesture of the worker at the cafe?

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Please leave a review, a rating, let me know if you have had anything similar happen.

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Don't forget, subscribe to the podcast, share, it would really, really help me out.

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Thank you for listening.

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This is your bitter waitress signing off.