“I worked at a fine-dining restaurant in Seattle. There were dead mice clogging dish sinks, a pipe from the upstairs bathroom toilet dripping onto the flat-top grill...and an old fish that wouldn’t sear properly because it was diseased, and the chef said, ‘Just keep using it.’”

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"That said, most of the food was fresh and made with decent ingredients. It was worse for the staff, who had no toilet, had to work 14-hour shifts, and couldn't get through to the manager on any issue."

"At my last location, I never made it through a single shift without at least one person in tears. Please boycott. Seriously."

"The reasoning was always 'better have too much than not enough,' which I guess makes a little sense, but when I am throwing away dozens of pounds of tenderloins, center-cut fish, and shellfish per night, it's too much. Mind you, this is one department of one grocery store."

"One time, a shard of glass in an ice cream dish went to a 4-year-old because my co-worker was completely inept. (Chef said, 'He's a warm body, we need him.'). Oh god... the things people don't know about restaurant kitchens."

"It’s a hard job, my feet always hurt, and something in the store is always broken, but the people who stop, have conversations, and ask about your personal life are what make my job worth it. And I’ve got a boss that believes in living wages — means a lot."

"A popular seafood chain in our city with the name of a color in its name found a giant rat behind some of their equipment a few weeks ago. He said he had never seen a rat that large in his life."

"Don’t get me wrong. Both of these were delicious, but at $8 a slice and $20 a meal, I would rather just buy a big box or even start a collective of sorts."

"If I recall correctly, they'd lock the dumpsters at night, which was especially sad because I worked in a rougher part of town with a homeless population that could have really used that food."

"Also, I saw people that were sick sneezing and coughing on products. Never saw a floor scrubber go through the warehouse during the entire three months I worked there, and I was doing alternating double shifts! The only time I saw a broom was if there was shattered glass."

"We get unbelievably slammed around the holidays, too, and it's hard to keep a smile on your face when customers tell you how lucky you are to work there, when you've been running around and on your feet for hours, putting out fires. I'll literally have sweat POURING off me and a million things going on at once, I just got yelled at by another customer, and a customer will tell me how fun my job must be. It's, like, weirdly demeaning."

"Enjoy your next cheap pepperoni pizza."

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.