What does “part of the job” mean at work?

In this short scene, a waitress says rude customers are “just part of the job.” A colleague challenges her: “Why is it part of the job?” Part of the job describes something people accept as a normal, expected cost of doing certain work, good or bad. The scene’s whole point is that some things people call “part of the job,” like being disrespected, shouldn’t actually be accepted that way.

You’ll hear it about anything routine to a role: “Late nights are part of the job for a nurse.” It’s usually neutral or slightly resigned. But this clip uses the phrase to question itself: just because something happens often at work doesn’t mean it’s fair, or that workers have to accept it quietly.