Waitress confronts a slacker coworker Dana, standing up for herself after spending months covering her tables by refusing to pick up her slack: 'I don't even feel bad about it'

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Feb 22, 2026 4:00 PM EST

Working double sections without double tips? No thanks. 

Working in a restaurant is a brutal business. On their feet all day, slinging trays and reckoning with the stubborn, yet mysterious sauce stains on their apron, servers suit up for battle every day before a shift. If they're lucky, they'll score a grip of cash in the form of tips, and if they're unlucky, which happens more often than not, a coworker will call in sick, and they'll be in the weeds for the rest of the shift. 

Walk a mile in these non-stick shoes, and you'll see exactly why their polite smiles are so well-rehearsed. 

Advertisement
  • Female server standing up for herself on shift.
    via reklamar

    Female server standing up for herself on shift.

    (Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.)

  • A waitress worked at a normal restaurant, handling busy tables and minding her own business, until one day, her coworker started slacking off, showing up late to shifts, disappearing from work for 30 minutes at a time, and leaving the rest of the restaurant stranded. At first, the waitress tried to help her out, but after a year of being taken advantage of, she'd finally had enough. 

  • I finally told my coworker I've been covering for her for almost a year and I don't even feel bad about how it went
    via Top_Expression7580
  • There's this woman at work, let's call her Dana. Sweet person, genuinely, but she has a habit of disappearing for like 20-30 mins and leaving her section completely unattended.
    via Top_Expression7580
  • I work in a restaurant so that's kind of a big deal. For months I just quietly picked up the slack because I didn't want drama and I felt bad for her, she mentioned going through a rough patch at home.
    via Top_Expression7580
  • But last week she did it again during the busiest part of our shift and I got chewed out by the manager in front of everyone because her tables were a mess. That was kind of my breaking point.
    via Top_Expression7580
  • Woman placing an order for customers at a restaurant.
    via reklamar

    Woman placing an order for customers at a restaurant.

    (Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.)

  • It had been nearly a year since this waitress was covering for her so-called friend. Without as much of a ‘thank you’ or even a sideways glance, the coworker let her take the fall with management. Although managers should have clearly noticed that it wasn't even her section that was turning into a dumpster fire, the chastisement from Captain Clueless in the break room was enough to make this server snap. 

  • I pulled her aside after our shift and told her straight up that I've been covering her disappearing acts since basically forever and that I'm done doing it. I wasn't mean about it but I wasn't soft
    via Top_Expression7580
  • either. She got teary and defensive and said she didn't ask me to cover for her which like... ok fair but also what was I supposed to do, let the whole section fall apart?
    via Top_Expression7580

  • Nobody wants to make a coworker cry; that's terrible. However, there comes a time when the employee shouldering 100% of the responsibility deserves 100% percent of the table tips at the end of the night instead of a slap on the wrist from managers. Imagine how much this slacking coworker would have cried if she had lost her job due to inadequacy or if management realized her buddy wasn't covering for her? 

    At least the waitress told her, because now, the ball was in her court. Would she decide to step up to the plate and work harder during her shift? Or would she crumble under the pressure of full-time employment? 

  • She's barely talked to me since and part of me feels guilty but a bigger part of me doesn't. I've been trying to get my life together lately, eating better,
    via Top_Expression7580
  • finally got some money saved on the side, little things but they add up and I just dont have the emotional bandwidth to carry other peoples weight at work anymore.
    via Top_Expression7580
  • Idk. Just needed to say it out loud somewhere.
    via Top_Expression7580
  • mayathinks ngl holding it in for almost a year first?? you have the patience of a saint tbh lmao
    via mayathinks

  • Let's be honest, any of us who have worked in the restaurant industry (raise your hand if that's you, too), wouldn't have lasted five minutes before telling this coworker off. Perhaps the woman in this story is far nicer than me, but if someone in my workplace is repeatedly expecting me to cover for them, draining dining room niceties on double the customers, you better believe I would have said something immediately. 

    If you need a hiatus from work, you need a hiatus from work, not a coworker who will walk 14,000 steps a day to make sure your job gets done in your absence. It's time for them to man up, so to speak, and pull their own weight around the workplace.

  • Brilliant-Ring-76 Wooo! Go you! Don't feel bad, some people need a push to better themselves. And sometimes it comes like this, where an enabling force. disperses and forces them to buck-up.
    via Brilliant-Ring-76
  • AnlMayonnaise Isn't it funny how the people who should be thanking you are always the ones who blame you instead? Feeling anger as a reaction to shame is a serious character flaw, but unfortunately very common.
    via AnlMayonnaise
  • skypira You did the right thing.
    via skypira
  • cardamomgrrl I think... if I had started doing it without mention, I'd just have stopped doing it without mention and let the chips fall where they may
    via cardamomgrrl
  • Local_business_disco You've been covering her section for 20-30 minutes at a time for an entire year and she's never asked you to do that? So why are you just continuing to do it? Is she returning to finish up those tables and then take the tip? Or are you taking over her entire section and making money off of it? If that's the case, then she wouldn't be making any money and this wouldn't have gone on for a year. I can't imagine any manager allowing you to take all the tables for both sections s
    via Local_business_disco

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

employee servers waiter coworkers restaurant waitress
Scroll Down For The Next Article