Cafe worker reveals the one question from customers that shows complete lack of respect

A cafe worker has revealed the one question they've been asked time and time again by customers that shows a complete lack of respect.

I'm certain in saying that anyone who has worked in the hospitality industry will agree that it's certainly no walk in the park.

Whether you're waiting on tables, working as a chef, or serving pints to rowdy punters, it's an industry that requires patience, perseverance, and a lot of hard graft.

I can personally vouch for this anyway, as someone who worked as a bartender throughout their years studying at university.

Sadly, it's also common knowledge that hospitality workers don't always get treated with the respect they deserve - something cafe worker Liam Heitmann-Ryce-LeMercier has decided to speak out about.

Liam, from Melbourne, Australia, has penned an article for The Age to discuss exactly what life is like working in the industry.

Comparing working in a restaurant to 'being in a boot camp', Liam explained how he's been in and out of bar jobs and cafe gigs for nearly eight years.

A cafe worker has decided to speak out about the way in which hospitality workers get treated by customers. (Getty Stock Image)

'It taught me a lot about people'

"It taught me a lot about people, and the lack of respect some believe you deserve when wearing an apron," he said.

While he acknowledged that most people won't even realise they're doing it, he delved into the lack of respect hospitality workers face on a daily basis, pointing out how there seems to be an assumption that: "Wait staff above a certain age are where they are because they lack the skills or gumption to get a 'proper job'.

"It’s an unwinnable contradiction: wait staff occupy the unskilled peripherals of the workforce, yet there is hell to pay if we fail to magic up 12 espresso martinis the moment they’re asked for," he said.

"The bloke behind the bar and the girl clearing your plates aren’t as dense as you think they are."

Liam then pointed out the one question asked by customers that shows the utmost of disrespect.

"The lack of respect some believe you deserve when wearing an apron." (Getty Stock Image)

Why the sudden interest in education?

"Of all the jobs I’ve had – creative agencies in London, content creator for a produce supplier in San Francisco, a digital marketer in Melbourne – nobody has ever breathed a word of interest in where I went to university," Liam elaborated. "Except when I worked in hospitality.

"Customers in restaurants have a fanatical interest in the level of education achieved by the people serving them.

"In the odd instances where I would have time to talk to a diner about something other than the day’s specials, I would always be asked what I did at school. What did I study? Did I complete a master’s degree? Good grades?"

He went on: "The prevailing assumption about service workers is that we’re wiping tables because we are poorly educated.

"I could never tell if diners were surprised or disappointed when I disclosed I had a first-class honours degree."

The person pulling your pint on a Friday night is probably trying to make a living while studying at university. (Getty Stock Image)

Working to simply make ends meet

Liam pointed out how 'long-term service workers are often those who can’t afford to study at uni full-time or undertake the unpaid internship with the investment bank'.

"Yet, the people with those privileges are, from my experience, usually the ones showing the most disrespect towards hospitality staff."

It's important to remember to not judge a person for what they do for a living, and that hospitality workers (just like everyone else) are simply trying to earn money and live their lives.

Plus, manners don't cost a f**king penny!