Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Billings

I was a server for this company for three months. I worked my shifts and was constantly sent home hours early and constantly having hours taken to the point where I’d be down to ten a week being told there were no hours but they’re hiring new people. Ticket times are consistently running at 45 minutes plus even when the restaurant is not busy. Customer last week sat for two hours with his girl waiting to even get a drink order taken. My last shift on Sunday last I was approached by four servers saying the hostess was stealing from me and attempting to take my tip off my table. They handed it to me and I spoke with management. They spoke with the hostess four times and told her also to not buss tables and she continued doing so so I asked her to stop and said it made me feel uncomfortable due to the earlier situation. She told management she wouldn’t stay because of I got an attitude towards her but she was STEALING FROM ME. then today rolls around and I call before my shift because it’s changed. Now I’m told I lost my job for my attitude towards that girl and another staff member who I’d seen cuss out another new server the day before. I lost my job for my attitude which I’ve never been reprimanded and written up for when four star top tier servers jobs are in tact and they’ve been guilty of bullying and mistreatment and bad attitudes flat out. Might I be clear this is not all of them. There were some great servers there. A few really awesome cooks. But the few poison the work environment and make it negative. It’s outrageous. They say they have no proof but multiple servers came to me about seeing it happen and having experiences with it in the past even. So what proof is needed more then that? Mind you this girl kept her job and I lost mine for my reaction because I wasn’t oozing with kindness at the girl who’d just tried stealing from me again. They don’t treat staff well nor do they provide what they say they will. They’ve got top tier team members and managers bullying others who are new. They have new people stealing and they won’t do anything about it because they don’t wanna lose workers and get behind. Might I add that when I called the general manager called the servers who had saved my tip from that hostess thieves and said “they were stealing too then. “ Guests never being acknowledged or served then firing people for being upset over VALID WRONGDOINGS. I would not recommend it. There are definitely places you can go where you can get the good, friendly, honest service you deserve as customers and honest, respectful employers that you should be met with as a job...

A Study in Spectacular Disservice: The Unicorn That Should’ve Stayed in the Stable

For twenty years, I’ve walked the tightrope of table service—balancing plates, smoothing moods, translating chaos into comfort. I’ve worked the fine china halls and the Waffle House counters. I’ve trained servers in the art of grace under fire. I tip generously, not based on performance, but out of respect for the sacred struggle of serving others. I’ve been the one to say “give them a break” when others griped. So when my wife saw me simmering, she knew. “He must’ve been truly terrible for you to go full Karen.”

Even my father—tipper of twenty-dollar bills at Cracker Barrel—cut him down to ten with the quiet gravitas of a judge saying, “Son, you reap what you sow.”

The show began the moment he sidled up and asked for our drinks and entrees. I asked for a moment. He huffed—a dramatic, theatrical sigh as though I’d insulted his bloodline and challenged his sheep-scented ancestry. He vanished. When he returned, it was only to drop our meals like judgment day bells ringing off ceramic, announcing the death of service. My raised glass of lemonade went ignored, even though our eyes met—his retreat was so swift you'd think I asked for his mother's phone number.

He was no longer waiting tables. He was evading them. A phantom lurking in the side station, peeking out like a guilty raccoon. When I finished my meal, he re-materialized with a check and a subtle shove out the door. “Want boxes?” he asked, code for “Get out.” I asked for lemonade, parched as a pilgrim in the Salt Desert, and was offered a to-go cup as a final insult. My dad hadn’t even finished his meal.

The coup de grâce? That $10 tip. My father had to wave him down, and when he saw it, he fled—as though it were a cursed artifact he should never have touched.

🔚 Final Thought

In all my years, I have never seen such deliberate disservice. I have met forgetful servers, overwhelmed servers, inexperienced servers—but this one was something mythic. Not a mortal failing, but an archetype of antagonism. Like he believed my father and I were the rival clan responsible for his personal downfall. I didn’t just encounter bad service. I discovered a cryptid. A creature so devoid of hospitality that even in my dystopian musings, I never conceived he...

This restaurant is my family's favorite in Billings and we frequent here quite often but today was literally the worst of both food and service I have EVER had there since moving to Billings and going here since 2019. My son ordered the Sunday home style chicken and got the four piece chicken given him instead and it came out so over done I could have thrown it at the wall and put a dent in it. He couldn't barely get the fork through so we asked that the meal be taken off the bill as he couldn't eat it. The biggest issue is now it seems, is that they heat their plates, which is great, but then they put cold food on hot plates and serve it.. my pancakes were ice cold and my eggs and bacon were barely warm enough to be considered that. Our waitress was just not on par today. I'm thinking she is newer working here as I've not ever seen her but she was borderline rude and very, very inattentive. I left a tip because I don't believe in not doing that but oh my goodness. Usually we have great experiences and the food is always spot on with the occasional oops that's quickly corrected and the wait staff have always been wonderful! But I don't know what's going on now with this restaurant and hopefully today was just an expensive fluke but unfortunately for me, we won't be going back for a while. I've heard many complaints over the last few months from people but didn't pay no nevermind because it's always the best place to eat, but with the exception of twice in the last several times we've gone, it's just not...