86 Hot Tea: Thirty Years of Restaurant Stories I Couldn't Make Up

Thirty years. Thousands of tables. Zero chance she could make this shit up. Jen “J Ho” Howard has spent more than three decades in restaurants—and somewhere along the way, she started writing down the things customers and coworkers actually said and did. Thank God she did. 86 Hot Tea is a collection of true stories from a lifetime spent serving the public: baffling orders, questionable allergies, unforgettable regulars, brutally honest coworkers, spectacular misunderstandings, and the kind of customer interactions that make a server walk back into the kitchen and say, “You are not going to believe this.” There’s the ridiculous. The infuriating. The unexpectedly sweet. And thirty years’ worth of proof that sometimes the funniest stories are the ones you couldn’t make up if you tried. If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, you’ll recognize these people. If you haven’t… you might recognize yourself. Welcome to J Ho’s section. Please don’t order hot tea.