I have worked in the food service industry for years--the second job I ever had was at a small restaurant in my hometown of Culpeper, Virginia while I was in high school. I started out hosting and cleaning tables, but eventually I became a waitress and served there for about two years before leaving for college.

About a year has passed since I left that job--college allowed me to shed my previous habits and forget the awful, awful things I experienced in the food service industry. However, like most college kids, I've been broke for a while, which has forced me into the predicament of finding another job. And, being a person who has not yet finished their degree, I'm not qualified for any other jobs except food service jobs.

So, lo and behold, I've found myself in another food service job--particularly hosting and serving--at another local restaurant. And I've come back face-to-face with all the terrible aspects of working at a food establishment: working 12-hour days, slipping and busting your butt on a freshly-mopped kitchen floor, spilling food all over your uniform…..but by far, the worst thing about working in a restaurant are the customers. They can be rude, condescending and come in seconds before closing time to demand seating. If it weren't for the awful people who come into food establishments to basically trash the place and treat the workers as their person servants, waitressing would be a dream. So, here is my open letter to restaurant-goers and customers everywhere:

Please stop yelling at me when I take a few extra seconds to put in your order.

I'm a new worker and don't know the menu from top to bottom yet, and I'm still figuring out where everything is on the system. I promise I will put in your order 100% correctly if you slow down and give me simply one or two extra seconds.

I absolutely, completely, utterly, and entirely don't care if you "take your business elsewhere."

Recently, I had this experience where a customer was going off on me for taking too long to put in her order. And when I say going off, I mean going off--cuss words were flying, she was calling me stupid and basically cursing the entire establishment for life. Before vowing to never visit the restaurant again, however, she threatened to leave and purchase food from a nearby fast food place. I wish I could've told her what I was really thinking: I. Don't. Care. And to anyone else who has used that line on a worker, I can promise you the servers, hosts, bussers or anyone else in that restaurant does not care if you go someplace else. You're free to go wherever you want to buy your food. Hell, I would probably go to a fast food place instead too. I have other things to do and am still getting paid whether you stay or not, so please feel free to go wherever your angry little heart desires.

Stop letting your goblin children trash the place.

Let me preface this one by saying: I respect parents, I really do. I can't even imagine how stressful and unmanageable raising a kid can be, especially when you have multiple. I understand that sometimes you're just tired and can't stop your kid from crying or screaming, no matter what you do. But that's no excuse to let your toddler rip up hundreds of napkins, spill salt and sugar everywhere, throw silverware and smear their food over the entire table and floor. You get to leave the mess and go home, but guess what? We don't. My coworkers and I have to stay and clean up the natural disaster-level damage your child left. It takes up so much of our time and it's insanely disrespectful--so please stop letting your kid run buck-wild and just give them an iPad or something.

Before you get mad at me or your server for messing up your order, consider that you're the reason it's messed up in the first place.

Another recent experience I had was a woman (the same woman from before, unsurprisingly) screaming at my coworkers and I for forgetting a part of her order. She was cursing at everyone, including my manager, and demanded a $20 gift card. But, in trying to decode her predicament, my manager eventually figured out that the meal this woman was missing wasn't even on her receipt. She didn't even order it. Maybe she thought she did, but she absolutely did not. My manager, being the nice person he is, still gave her a $20 gift card--so it was a complete waste of the restaurant's time and money. So my lesson is this: before you flip out on the restaurant for messing up your order or forgetting something, consider that it might've been you who messed it up in the first place.

Don't get offended when I'm not 100% peppy and over-the-moon excited to help you.

There's not a single person in this world who can operate at 100% all the time and be perpetually happy, so why are food service workers expected to be? Try and consider that your host or server has probably been working for 7+ hours straight and has been dealing with rude people and messy, screaming kids all day. Don't take it personally when someone doesn't greet you with the absolute widest smile possible and isn't happy-go-lucky to take your order. It has nothing to do with you, and everything having to do with the job.

Don't go out to eat if you can't afford to tip.

For some reason, this is a hotly debated topic, because apparently food service workers aren't also real people who work for a living. It's insane to me that I even have to make this point, but still: don't go out to eat and demand a server to treat you like royalty if you can't tip appropriately. It's not a crime, because you're still paying for the food, but it's incredibly disrespectful and a complete waste of your servers time. Waiters and waitresses get paid about $2 an hour, so they pretty much completely rely on tips to make money. When you don't tip, that basically means a server waited on you for free. So if you don't have enough money to pay for your food and tip, don't go out to eat at all. Hit up a fast food place instead.

Don't come in minutes before closing and demand to be sat.

Picture this: you're just about to get off work after a grueling 12-hour shift. You're exhausted, hungry and want nothing more to just sit down for the first time all day and go to sleep. But then, 2 minutes before you can do just that, a group of 12 people come in and demand to be sat and served food, when the kitchen has likely already started closing up. Makes you want to cry just thinking about it, right? So imagine how the restaurant workers feel. Unless our kitchen has completely closed up, we can't tell you no. Your servers and hosts are real people, too, and we deserve to work normal hours and not completely exhaust ourselves physically and mentally every shift. When it's late and you're craving a burrito or a burger, don't rush into a local restaurant minutes before they can close--hit up Taco Bell, McDonald's or another 24-hour fast food place--that's what they are there for.

So, if you're an avid restaurateur or have never worked a food service job, I hope this has educated you. If you're someone who has done a few of these things before, I hope even more that this has potentially opened your eyes to the harsh reality of working in a restaurant. When you go out to eat, just think: if I were serving myself, would I want to be treated this way? Would it be worth it? If the answer is no, change your behavior. Remember that your hosts and servers are real people, too, and we would love to be treated as such, for a change.