Is there dining karma?

• Flickr: jdiggans
• Is fate at work in the restaurant business?

When I was a server, there were occasions where one table continually got the short end of the bread stick. I was late putting in their order. I messed up a drink order. The kitchen failed to fire all of the dishes on the ticket. And just like that, my tip and their evening were both headed south.

Sometimes it was a table of rude diners; often it was just bad luck or the fact that I was not a particularly gifted server. But everyone has friends who seem to always be the last to be served or invariably have something wrong with their entrees. Is it a small sample size bucking the odds or is there such a thing as dining karma?