Waiters and waitresses have an incredibly demanding job, one for which most of them go unappreciated. Remembering the menu and all the orders, staying friendly even in the face of screaming children (and adults), and everything else they have to deal with adds up to a job that can be downright nightmarish.
Not that there aren't occasional benefits: meeting new people, maybe making good tips, etc. But by and large waiters and waitresses have a difficult and not greatly rewarding job. Some servers have even dealt with customers that were absolute monsters in their level of rudeness, the kind of people most of us would probably just walk away from. But, these servers continued to be polite and professional.
Here are stories from waiters and waitresses about the worst customer they ever had to deal with, so we can all sympathize with them and (some of us) can learn how to treat wait staff better.
1. Nice Try, Dumb Guy
Early 2000's.
Working in an Italian restaurant, this one cat insists he needs lime juice for his meal. As we're an Italian restaurant, we don't have any on hand for our menu items, but the bar should have some. Thinking out loud I mention that the kitchen doesn't have any, but the bar throws those into bottles of Corona, so I might be able to get some there.
Customer: Are you going to charge me for that?
Me: No, I think I can get a garnish for you.
So I come back with the lime and he looks confused.
Customer: Where's the Corona?
Me: I'm sorry - you said you wanted the lime? Did you want to order a Carona as well?
Customer: Yeah I want one, you said you wouldn't charge me.
Leading into a back-and-forth wherein he's upset I didn't bring him a free Corona with his free lime because he misunderstood me.
2. My Three Cents
We had one regular who was a horrible gross old man. He would constantly request to be changed into the section of a particular waitress (who hated him) so he could make inappropriate comments to her. I would never honor these requests (screw you, gross old dude) but my manager also wouldn't let me kick him out (screw you, crappy manager). One day he offered to pay me three cents to change tables. Three. Cents. Uh... no?
3. You Don't Give Away Free Food?
Some old woman got mad at me because I told her that I wouldn't substitute the side on her meal for ANOTHER MEAL. Like she wanted $16 Meal A, and for her free side, she wanted $18 Meal B, but with absolutely no upcharge.
She was like "Wow really, you're not going to do that for me? Are you serious?!" I was busy and didn't have time to play stupid games so I just said, "No, I'm not going to do that for the price of one meal. You can order both meals if you'd like." She started up again until her daughter was like, "Mom KNOCK IT OFF."
Bonus story about requesting only female servers: Another guy always refused a male server and requested a female one. If all of them were busy he would demand the female manager wait on him. He was always creepy and he'd try to play word games with us, presumably because he was lonely and miserable. He'd make up his own names for the dishes we served and refused to tell us what he actually wanted.
One time I had him, he kept telling me he wanted a "large bistro-style salad", something that's not on our menu. I was sick of his nonsense, so I said, "Sure thing, Frank, I'll go get it right now" and walked away. He was like "wait!" because he obviously knew we didn't have such a thing. I just kept walking and told my manager I wasn't serving him anymore. She went over and chewed him out in front of a full dining room, so that was cool.
4. The World Is Your Oyster
"I want oysters!"
I explained we are a burger joint, no oysters. He takes off his coat, talks to his date, then stares at me for a second.
"Oysters!"
I explain again, no oysters.
"Two dozen! Oysters!"
After a third and fourth time where he barks an order at me, then acts all busy so he 'can't hear' my response, I stop and stare at him. He asks again, I just stare, he asks again, I just stare. He finally makes eye contact with me. "Sir, we are a burger joint, no oysters." He is finally forced to acknowledge me.
"So go get some!"
We were in a casino, we were the only restaurant open at 2 AM. He knew this but expected me to run around to some closed restaurant and grab raw shellfish them just happen to be hosting during closed hours.
5. Touchy Principal
He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. He was trying to flirt, but I was not having it. I asked him to not touch me and moved on to get him drinks. He insisted he was just trying to cheer me up because I looked upset. I was having a great shift, and smile too much always because I'm a happy person, so we know that's a lie. I said, "I looked upset? I'm smiling at you."
When I came back, he had his son, maybe ten years old say to me: "He wants you to know he's sorry."
Sure, it's not my job to parent other people's kids but I could not with that BS. I replied, "No, he's a grown-up and if he wanted to apologize, he would have told me he was sorry. You don't need to apologize for him." I had already alerted my manager to the inappropriate touching, but this was it for me. I knew I could no longer serve this table.
So I went back to my manager to let him know, and what do I see? The harasser is talking to a different manager. He told her I was rude, yelled at him, and threw things at him. Luckily my management staff knows me well enough that I didn't face any repercussions. But of course, he felt like I was rude. He doesn't like being faced with consequences to his actions.
Then, of course, the most corporate nonsense ever happened. They moved him to a new table with a male server and comped all his food. I wish I was not a poor student so I could quit this job.
Turns out the man is a principal at a local high school. The school system will be hearing from me tomorrow.
6. It's YOUR Fault I Parked Illegally
Our worst regulars were 2 old ladies who ordered very little, drank only water, tipped very little. Stayed for way too long. They insulted the female servers more than the guys, but we all hated them.
I saw them pull in and park illegally. The only reason they fit was because the car in the spot next to it was a small 2-door.
When they're seated they tell me they are in a hurry because they're going to a show. No problem, I'd like them gone ASAP anyway.
Midway through their meal, everything was going as usual, and I see through the window that the car next to them was leaving. Suddenly I have a wonderful, terrible idea.
I asked one of our dishwashers to move his huge beat-up king cab pickup into the open spot and be sure to block in the other car. Done and done -- and once he parked it, there was like 2 inches between them. But the pickup was legally parked.
They finish, pay, tip their usual 5%, and head out. I can see them stop in their tracks, walk around their car like there's some magical way to extract it, then storm back in.
The next few minutes went just as you'd expect. They're yelling and screaming, my manager is asking them, "What do you want me to do? You parked illegally, it's a busy shopping area, I can't move the truck. It could belong to anyone in a 10-block radius."
Now they're yelling from the hostess station to see if anyone in the place owns the truck. No response. I suggest they should call an Uber or taxi but they don't have Uber and don't want to spend the money on a taxi.
After about 25 minutes someone comes and picks them up. I'm pretty sure they missed their show. Once they were gone we moved the truck.
And yes, they left a crappy review on Yelp that service was so slow we made them miss their show. They were half right.
7. How Can You Resist That Charm?
I work bottle service at a high-end club and some of the stuff I hear is so offensive I can't even believe people say it.
I was working a party for a bunch of investment banker/hedge-fund types and this guy comes up to me and asks me to dinner. I politely decline and say no, that I have a boyfriend. He then looks at me and says, "I don't give a [bleep] about your boyfriend. And you shouldn't either. We're young and I just like to bang all night. Interested?" He spent the rest of the night being this charming. I don't know how I resisted such class.
Had a guy leave a $200 tip and then ask me for my number. When I said I had a boyfriend (I don't, by the way). He grabbed my arm and said, "I just left you a $200 tip sweetie, you're giving me your number." Security escorted him out.
8. The Worst Customer Is The Owner
The owner of a coffee shop I worked at came in during a particularly busy rush on a Sunday which was one of our busiest days. After serving him he told me he wished he could go back in time and break my parents up so I was never born because it was the worst service he had ever had.
Mind you I paid extra attention to his table because he's the owner. After telling him that he needed to be a little more patient because I was the only server and it was very busy he said that if he was a paying customer he'd make me pay for the meal and then said something like he couldn't believe I could tie my shoes in the morning considering how bad I was at serving. I told him to fire me then and he balked. I worked there for another year without a word from him.
9. Who Brings Their Daughter To Hooters?
This happened to me at Hooters the other day. A guy orders a Blue Moon seasonal beer, so I bring it to him. I don't pour the drinks myself so I trust its correct. I know what Blue Moon draft looks like, so I thought the seasonal looks a lot like it (same color).
Later, the same guy orders another one, and the beer the bartender gives me is a dark beer instead of the orange-colored beer I gave him earlier. So I knew the bartender accidentally poured a regular Blue Moon earlier. I bring the correct beer to the table and am about to explain the guy he had gotten the wrong beer earlier, that here was the correct one now, and I would have the charge for the first beer gotten rid of.
Before I can say anything, the guy holds up his first glass (with a little bit of the orange-colored beer in it) and says, "Excuse me miss, but do you really think these are really the same drink? Do you need to learn your colors? Let's go back to Kindergarten. This color is ORANGE and that color is BROWN!"
He went on like that; I let him embarrass his 14-year-old daughter as much as possible.
10. Give Me Your Sweater
I had a guy complain that his wife was cold, while they were sitting on the patio. I suggested moving inside but no, "We want to sit outside and she's cold. What are you going to do about that?"
"Sir, I'm sorry I can't do anything but offer to move you inside."
"Well, you're wearing a sweater. Aren't you even going to offer it to her?"
"No, sir, I'm not going to give your wife MY sweater."
So he asked to speak to my manager who had to spend ten minutes explaining that he was not going to require me to hand over the literal clothes off my back and that we have no control over the weather.
11. Smile For Me, Sweetie
Let me paint the picture that I have burned in my memory of these 3 Greek jerks. They're friends with my boss, and they always sit right near him. They are sweaty, covered in dark hair peeking out of their semi-unbuttoned and awful striped shirts. I try and be a sweet waitress, but they refuse to give me any kind of human emotion in return.
They order 3 very expensive steak and egg plates. Knowing that there are similar things on the menu that cost far less -- I double-check to make sure their order is correct. Obviously, it wasn't. So I had to explain to my boss why I wasted $40 of his food, which likely would be coming out of my tips for the day.
I finally finish dealing with these obnoxious men and am so overjoyed to finally get to hand them their check. For their entire meal, I had given myself a courteous waitress poker face. Not quite a smile, but in no way was I scowling or angry looking. As I lay their check down, one of them looks me in the eyes and says, "Hey. How about you give me a pretty smile before I pay for this."
I'm a little taken aback by that request. I look back at him and stammer, "What?"
He repeats in a far creepier voice, "I want to see you smile. Or I'm not paying this."
I turned to look at my boss, who gave me a 'freaking do it' kind of look. These men proceeded to make me lean in and smile like I was at the dentist or something. And then they laughed as I walked away.
It was just such a degrading and miserable moment in my life. Screw that.
12. The Wet Booth
I used to work at a local dive bar/restaurant. Small town kinda place. Every Wednesday we served all you can eat Walleye. And every Wednesday there was a rather (for lack of a better word) obese woman who would come in by herself and sit in one of the booths.
She was an angry old soul, the kind who literally snapped her gums in anger every time she spoke. She would get no less than 5+ extra plates of Walleye and God forbid if you put ice in her iced tea, which she also drank to great excess to the point where we just started saying screw it and left a pitcher on the table. Oh, and she also never tipped anything over 7 cents, usually in pennies, but every now and then she'd leave a nickel.
Now I'm sure you're all thinking... That's not really all that bad, the woman just likes her deep-fried fish, lukewarm beverages and was a crappy tipper. Who hasn't seen a crappy tipper a time or two?
Unfortunately, the icing on the 'screw this, I quit' cake was that she also liked to wet herself. In the booth. A booth that had many, many crevices. Never said a word either. She'd eat, drink, pee, and then waddle out the door.
13. So Bad The Customers Lost Their Jobs
To set the scene, this restaurant is a local “upscale” sushi bar with dim lighting and high booths. Working as a server here we also act as hosts, bussers and bartenders. It’s also important to note that the owner is also the manager and is at the restaurant 24/7 (literally, he lives there) and that these ladies all worked for a local business in which they had their work shirts on.
This particular day we were dead for lunch and both me and my coworker were in the office talking to the owner. Three ladies walk in and seat themselves, ignoring the “Please wait to be seated” sign.
The phone rings so my co-worker leaves the office to answer and it happens to be the three ladies sitting at the booth calling to get someone’s attention. Which is fair enough, a little annoying but effective.
Coworker apologizes for the wait takes their order and goes about business.
These ladies call her over to complain that they are on lunch and the food is taking too long. She apologizes and assured them it shouldn’t be much longer. They then make a remark about having to call to get anyone’s attention.
This particular coworker is not someone who messes around. She has worked at the restaurant for years and is not the type to kiss butt in these types of situations. Still, she kept her cool and walked off.
The ladies get their food, then proceed to walk up to the sushi bar to talk with the owner about how rude coworker is. Coworker overheard, and walks over to join the conversation which ends in yelling and 2 of the ladies asking her to “go outside.”
I eventually am asked to bring them the bill, they pay, stay and talk for a second and then leave.
When we went to clean the table, these ladies had crushed up sushi rolls, left noodles and meat ALL over the table covered in teriyaki sauce with a note on the receipt that said “dumb [bleep].”
The owner then proceeds to call their work and explain to the manager what they had done. The best part was they all paid separately and with debit cards so we knew all of their names.
A couple of hours later a woman walks in, hands my coworker $50, apologizes for their behavior, and explains that she is the business owner who had worked her way through college as a server. She then lets her know that she did not want those kinds of people representing her company and they had all been let go.
This is one of my favorite stories from this crazy job and I have an enormous amount of respect for the owners of both businesses involved!
14. As Soon As I Can
Had a tray balanced on my shoulder full of food as I was setting down hot plates on the table. Grandma shook her half-empty glass of tea in my face and asked why she couldn't get any service.
15. The Egg Spoon
Once, when I was working at this insanely popular breakfast joint, my first table of the morning was a seemingly adorable old couple. After going through our specials, at their request, she ordered the duck hash special, and he ordered two boring poached eggs on toast. All good.
I bring them their food and the guy starts freaking out. You see, I didn't bring him a tablespoon for his eggs. Granted, he didn't ask for one, but according to him, everyone knows that poached eggs are supposed to be served with a tablespoon. I've been a waitress for nearly a decade, and I've served a LOT of poached eggs, and I've never heard this rule.
Nonetheless, I apologize profusely and tell him I'll go grab him a spoon. "No!" he yells. "My breakfast is ruined now!" And then this grown adult throws his plate of food at me and storms out.
16. Situation On The Floor
Typical busy night. Never ending pasta bowl time of year... yay. It was one of my first tables of the evening. Family of five: mom, dad, two sons, and a little girl (probably two or three). They were all exceedingly overweight, and the daughter had on a dirty shirt and no pants, just a diaper.
On a check back, I noticed an overwhelming scent lingering around the table. I don't judge, I have no idea what's going on in their life. I just tell myself someone probably farted and I just walked up at the exact wrong moment. Well, I return with some refills (the smell is still just as intense as before). On my way around the table to pass out beverages, I pass the high chair and notice the little girl has her hand where it shouldn't be.
I then proceed to watch her pull out a piece and throw it on the floor to join an even larger one that was already there, slightly covered by a napkin. I could not hide the disgust on my face. I don't remember exactly the words I used but I turned to the parents and said: "Um, your daughter has a situation going on over here."
The mother replies, "Uh, yeah, I know I threw that napkin over it." Then she continues to devour her third refill of never-ending pasta.
17. No More
Waitress here. Had a large bruise (size and width of a hand) on my upper forearm, super swollen, and purple. Had a guy grab my arm and ask, "Does this hurt?" before squeezing HARD. He spent the remainder of his visit making abuse jokes and talking about how he was going to "take me home and give me more."
18. Dislike Does Not Equal Allergy
A lady and her husband came in and before sitting down told us that she was deathly allergic to white saying, verbatim, "If you feed me white I will die." So I run around double- and triple-checking recipes and ingredients and making sure the kitchen is ready so when she orders I know her food will be safe.
Her husband orders the special and I make sure to tell her not to eat any of his meal as it is dressed with a beurre blanc made with white and I'd like her to survive her dining experience. Well, I bring out their food and the first thing she does is scoop a big ol' forkful of hubby's special. I cry out in dismay as she shoves it in her dumb mouth and says while chewing, "Oh, one bite won't hurt".
19. Why Keep Having It?
I wait tables in a country club. Had a couple come in once and, as they were sitting down, before I had even introduced myself, the woman was already complaining since they had to wait five minutes while we reset "their table."
She started off by telling me every time she gets the filet mignon it's awful and cooked wrong. I suggested she tried something else. Nope. Goes for the same thing again. I gave the kitchen heads up and make sure it was perfect and save us all a headache.
Steak comes up, seems fine. I drop her plate in front of her and I can already see that smirk people get when they aren't amused. She grabs her butter knife and legit slaps the top of the steak with the flat of it three times and goes "this is disgusting". Hasn't even cut into it or tasted it. She has me take it back and bring her a new one.
So, of course, we do it. She gets her new one. She eats half of it and takes the rest home. Then she wants to talk to a manager. Talks up a storm, gets her whole meal free, plus dessert. Leaves me a garbage tip -- even if she didn't include the free steak and dessert.
20. Filling Up On Chips
The worst was a big group that came in on a Sunday. Ordered endless chip appetizer, waters all around, asked for extra lemons (you can see where this is going...). They stayed for a few hours, and their total bill? Like $6. I got tipped 50 cents for having to wait around on them for literally my entire shift.
21. Hands And Feet
I accidentally dropped a fork on a dude's foot (he had obviously had too much of something), who got angry and shook his head and grumbled about it -- shocking I know. Bits of food fell on the ground as well, so I grabbed a towel to clean it up. I look the man in the eye to let him now I'm on the floor cleaning next to him. He then proceeds to stand up and step on my hand as he walks to the bathroom. It hurt, and I yelled out in pain. He didn't acknowledge it at all but chuckled as he walked away.
22. Flying Chowder
I was working behind a dessert bar. We had a homeless lady that would come in to get drinks, but you have to have food so she would get clam chowder. She would ask for it to be reheated every 10 minutes but never touched it. The server started to ignore her requests to reheat the dish, so the lady took her bread and slammed it into the chowder spraying it all over the customers and my area.
23. Devil's Sandwich Makers
There was one legendary customer that we only refer to as "Crazy Bacon Lady".
She was an older woman. She came in and asked how much a six-foot BLT was. We told her it was $3.50 plus tax. She then proceeded to yell at us saying it was $2 when she came in yesterday.
She didn't come in yesterday. In fact, this was the first time she had even been in our store. Plus, the BLT was never at any point $2 in the three years I had worked there. She barks out her order the whole way up the line spewing such gems as:
"I am a good Christian woman, I don't deserve to be treated this way."
"For $3.50, that bacon better be fresh!"
"The service here is terrible! I'M NEVER COMING BACK, YOU HEAR ME!"
And the best one of them all, when she gets to my co-worker who is manning the cash register and he tells her the total of $3.68 (tax and all) she says:
"You people are workers of the DEVIL!"
She plops down exact change, snatches up her bag, and storms out the door.
24. All Over 13 Cents
Had a group of girls speak to my manager and call me stupid over $0.13. Basically, they ordered a side of fries and one maybe got a lemonade. Anyway, give them their bill and they gave me just enough to cover it since we round to the nearest dollar instead of dealing with coins. The girls flip out over $0.13, so I go in my bag to scrounge it up. They speak to my manager who refunded them everything (stupid) and they proceed to call me names as they leave their table.
25. Don't Speak With Your Hands
This guy tries to get my attention, but instead of saying "excuse me, miss" he intentionally grabbed my backside and then apologized with, "Oh sorry, I was going for your hip." I know I've got a lot going on down there, okay, it's not hard to miss. He got kicked out after that, as it wasn't the first time he's done this to a server in our restaurant.
26. Like A Domino
One time at my family's barbecue shop, a woman asked me my "nationality". She really meant my race, so I just told her I was black and white. She made the biggest stank face, and then said: "Oh, whatever makes you happy, I guess." I didn't get a tip, but she did write "Deuteronomy" on the paper. Wish I were religious enough to know what she meant.
27. Truly Vile
I accidentally spilled a small glass of water on a lady who was dining alone.
The place was packed and a customer had banged into me making this happen. I apologized profusely but the woman was absolutely vile. She was shouting at me so that the whole restaurant could hear. When she finished, I walked into the kitchen and explained what I'd done to the manager and my co-worker. They started laughing; I started crying and told them how vile she'd been and that I'd usually laugh too but couldn't this time.
With each word, I could see my manager getting angrier and angrier. Finally, he said, "Where is she?" We left the kitchen and I pointed her out. He marched over to her, and I don't know what he said but it involved escorting her out while the customers who'd overheard her applauded.
28. Pineapple Princess
A group of ten came in for a birthday to have drinks and sing karaoke. I start going around the table asking what each person would like and I get to 'princess'. She asks me for a drink menu. I tell her I have a full list list because we only cater to certain beverages. She asks about pineapple drinks. I tell her we could do a few different things. So she's asking her friend: "No, that's not it. What did I have that one time that I loved?"
So two more tables sit while I'm trying to take her order. So I'm just trying to speed it along. I tell her we make a pineapple drink but unblended. She just kept asking, "Well what other things with pineapple?" So I tell her, "You can pretty much make your own drink. What kind of base do you want?" She took that as me saying to go back and make her own drink. So I backtrack and say, "What I mean is we can start with a base and add pineapple and whatever other fruit or liquids you want."
She FINALLY just gets the first pineapple beverage I recommended .
So the night goes by, everyone in her group is super chill. We're having a great time, but she's just got daggers on me the entire time. They finally cash out. I give her her bill, which is $5.01 because of weird tax. It's cash only. I ask if anyone needs change. Everyone says they're good and leaves. I go look at her ticket and she left me a $5 bill. Nothing else.
29. Arm Grabber
I worked at Friendly's when I was 16. First serving job. One day, I sat a ten-top, two of which were counselors. The rest were special needs adults.
As soon as I introduce myself the to table, one of the counselors cuts me off and says, "They all want Cokes. Bring them an extra cup with ice so we can pour in a little at a time." No problem. Come out with eight Cokes and eight glasses of ice. One of the clients gets excited and grabs my arm, causing me to spill the drinks on the floor. All of the clients at the table start laughing and the counselor tells me I need to "be more careful."
After I clean everything up, I get the food order (lots of dietary restrictions.) As I start running the food out, the same client goes for my arm again. I am able to avoid his grasp, but the counselor hisses, "Watch yourself." Like I had done something wrong. The table eats and gets ready to leave. The counselor leaves me a 72 cent tip on an $80 bill.
30. "Poisonous" Shellfish
I had a couple order two bowls of mussels, take each mussel out of its shell and then cut them up before eating them. When they saw the black stomach of the mussel, among other gross looking inside bits, they started yelling that I, the cooks, as well as the restaurant were trying to poison people. They would not believe that mussels really do look as awful and horrifying as they honestly do and under no circumstances should be cut up or analyzed too closely.
31. Smeared Burger
When I was in high school, I worked at a Johnny Rockets. It was maybe my second day waitressing, and a guy with his family ordered a plain burger. I put the order in, but put it in slightly incorrectly so it came out with none of the toppings, but it did have thousand island dressing. Honest new kid mistake. The guy was totally furious, made such an angry face that I can still recall it 13 years later, and then, out of nowhere, smeared the burger all over my chest and walked out.
32. No Coke Here
Man comes in alone, looked to be in his late 50s or early 60s, and snaps at me to get my attention. Before I can speak he says:
"Coke. With a lemon wedge."
We were a tiny little cafe without the funding for a machine or the attention for sponsorship, so we didn't serve soda. I told him so, and he said:
"I don't think you heard me. I want a Coke with a lemon wedge."
I was pretty confused because I made it pretty clear we didn't have Coke. Turns out, he actually wanted me to walk next door, buy him a coke, and then bring it in and serve it to him. I told him as politely as I could that this was absolutely not happening, and he picked up the China tea cups we put at each place setting and threw them on the ground, shattering them and cutting open my ankle just a bit.
33. Temperature Overreaction
Had a guy throw his plate back onto my tray, effectively getting his food all over me because it wasn't hot enough. Owner of the place nuked it for six minutes and sent me back out with it. Old man couldn't touch it until everyone else at the table was done.
34. Glove On The Other Hand
I experienced what it is like for girls to be creeped on and now I have a whole new understanding of what it is like.
This guy who owned a gay bar in Leeds was talking to me. My bar was empty and he was a small, older gentleman who wouldn't stop saying how I'd be great there and that he would pay way more money. Also, that "at 11pm everyone takes their tops off and at 12pm their bottoms too, but only if you want to." I was polite and all that but it was creepy.
When it came time for him to leave he went to shake my hand but then pulled it over and gave it the sloppiest kiss I could imagine.
35. No Gnocchi
I work at an Italian family restaurant that is locally owned and basically a staple of the area. My very first day on the floor without a trainer was a Mother's Day. Yes, in hindsight that was pretty foolish of the owner.
A lady ordered gnocchi and I wrote down her order. I get over to the micro-fridges and can't find gnocchi anywhere and for good reason... turns out we don't serve gnocchi. I go back over to the table to let the lady know we don't sell that here and she starts screaming at me that I ruined her Mother's Day, the entire day was ruined because I didn't know that we didn't serve gnocchi. I can understand being a little irritated at me, I really should have known that, but lady, look at the menu next time.
36. Paid For Trickery
Once upon a time, I took care of a family of four and it was the husband's birthday. They were my last table, so I had tried very hard to give them good service. Being that I worked at this restaurant for years, I was in pretty good with the managers, so I could get people upgraded food items for free. Got this guy a free add-on salad and a large chocolate Sunday for his family to share. Dude asks me, "Do you play the lottery? Because you just won." He proceeds to hand me a scratch-off ticket with 50 dollars in winnings as a tip.
Go to the gas station to cash it in the next day, dude had already cashed it in. We paid 3% on our table's totals so I ended up paying like $5 for this guy to eat out and get a bunch of free stuff on my behalf.
37. Birthday Selfishness
A lady who was having a party took one of the tables on the floor for presents and whatnot. The rest of the tables and booths are in a section that requires going up a few stairs. Party lady only had maybe two carousel tables full. An older lady with a walker comes in and requests the smaller table on the floor for obvious reasons. I tell party lady and she blatantly refuses because "we're having a party". She was rude about it even though this lady needed a floor table. I've never felt so bad in my life.
38. The Epitome Of Uncaring
I was seven months pregnant and working at McDonald's. Some customers ask for orders to be brought to their table. This is fine— some people are slightly disabled or have big orders and would rather watch their kids than wait for their food.
So I was carrying this big tray of food and that plus my belly meant I couldn't see my feet. Turns out there was a small stool in the middle of the floor that I didn't see. I tripped and fell and partially landed on my belly. As I slowly got up, in shock and as my colleagues ran to make sure I was okay, this lady stands over me and berates me for dropping her lunch, insisting that I personally pay for a replacement.
39. Secret Mission
They appeared to be enjoying themselves. From a personal perspective, I was nailing my job with promptness and politeness. Halfway through the meal, when I left the table, the woman went and sought out a manager to complain, specifically about me. She requested that I be fired. Her reasons were inconsequential lies. She used her own experience in the food industry as her support. There probably would have been severe consequences for me that evening if the "cool" manager wasn't working. She was comped. She stiffed me.
It is years later and this incident still upsets me. It was like their mission that night was to go out and get a waiter fired.
40. Christmas Dinner
I once had a really rude woman demand to book a reservation for Christmas day. We were only a small family run restaurant so we weren't going to open on Christmas day. She promptly turned and shouted, "What do you expect me to do? Cook it MYSELF?" She stormed out slamming a door and in the process smashing a pottered plant.
41. Serving Order Screaming
One day, during a busy rush, I had two tables come in simultaneously and sit right next to each other. I brought menus over to both and took drink orders. Table #1 was a man alone who declined a drink and informed me he was waiting for his wife. Table #2 was a foursome who ordered drinks right away. When I brought table #2s drinks over, they ordered their meals right away.
As I brought out Table #2s starters a few minutes later, I saw #1's wife arriving. As the tables were right next to each other, I was able to greet her and check if I could get her a drink immediately.
Her husband flipped. Stood up shouting about how he was here first and I shouldn't have served the other table before him. In the midst of his screamfest, he took a swing at my face. I felt the air brush past me but somehow he didn't quite connect and my boss and other patrons tossed him out.
42. Forking Upset
I work at a certain pancake place. One day we're busy with like two servers working, when two men come in -- perfectly normal and nice. One of them orders a french toast and the food/drinks come out no problem. Because we were so busy, we had no silverware pre-rolled, so I asked them to give me about 30 seconds to roll some for them. They agree to it and I go roll.
As I was leaving he asks the other server for a fork and she says that I went over there to get him one. He gets up and throws his plate onto the counter and says, "You guys can eat this, I don't want to eat food from here." The guy with him ended up staying and finishing his meal while the other sat there angrily.
43. Dragged Away
On Christmas, a customer wouldn't accept that her three-minute long order which took a sheet an a half wouldn't arrive before the drinks and appetizers. Not more than 10 minutes went by, and anytime I came near that table she would grab my apron and demand to speak to a manager. Or call me incompetent.
Her poor family was so embarrassed. And when her food arrived she started pointing out all the things wrong with it. As I pulled out the page and half order this woman had placed for a surf and turf, explaining everything on the plate, she lost her mind and screamed at me to get the manager again while slapping her plate off the table. Her husband had to restrain her and drag her out of the restaurant kicking and screaming.
44. Insulting Over Unspilt Milk
I used to work in the Rothschild Manor restaurant as a waitress. A large group sat over two tables and ordered five teas, four coffees and two earl grays. We serve two tiny milk jugs per teapot.
I brought out all the tea/coffee first and then, on my last tray, the two earl grays and the milks. Well the "funny guy" of the table begins to mock me: "Stupid girl, don't you know earl gray is taken without milk?" Cue the entire group laughing.
Despite me explaining the milks were for the nine teas and coffees they ordered, he continued to mock me until my manager took the table over and asked them to leave.
45. Honest Mistake Repaid
It was one of my first days working in a full-service restaurant. I had never really served mixed beverages before and had received minimal training. I had a table that ordered a bottle, so I opened the bottle and served it. I had forgotten to give a taste to the gentleman who opened the bottle, instead just pouring a glass for each guest.
The next day, the man came into the restaurant and told his server to make me come over. He asked for my manager and made her sit at the table with him. He then ordered a bottle, made me go through the steps of service, and berated me about how I had embarrassed him in front of his friend. We were in front of my manager and other customers, and I left the table crying after about twenty minutes of belittlement. He told me he wanted me to feel embarrassed in front of my friends, as I had done to him.
46. Too Many Legs
I used to work at Red Lobster. I had a kid (around eight-years-old) come in for a celebratory meal with his family. Dad said he could get whatever he wanted, so naturally, the kid orders enough snow crab legs for 17 people. He proceeds to eat everything. Dad is very proud.
Then, a few minutes later, he starts vomiting. All over the table. He managed to aim it into a bowl after the first few seconds, and then proceeded to hand the bowl to me, asking for a new one.
47. Fast As Could Be
I was working at Chili's a few years back when a table of two adults and seven kids in soccer uniforms come in. The woman tells me that they are in a hurry because their movie starts in 45 minutes. Oh, and also there are three more adults and eight more kids on their way. I say it could be tight but if you get all the orders ready we can cook the food on the fly and get it out ASAP.
Because the kids weren't ready with their food orders yet, I took their drink orders first. I got the nine drinks ready and returned to the table to find the three additional adults and eight more kids. But all the kids decided to switch seats with each other. So I had to get it all sorted out and take the new kids' drink orders, the old kids' food orders. The new kids didn't even have their food orders ready and that took another 10 minutes.
When I finally get the new kids' food orders, its already been 20 minutes and the first adult starts yelling at me that I'm not fast enough. She says that she needs to get all the food to-go. One of the ladies that came with the second batch left earlier than the rest of them and left me $10 on the table. Once I finally got all the food out after 30 minutes, the first lady asked to speak to my manager, told my manager I was the worst waiter she's ever had, didn't leave a tip, and took the $10 dollars the other lady had left for me.
48. Not An Expert
One guest ordered a cheese plate with their drink. The cheese plate was pretty big, with lots of different options, some pretty expensive.
So I set it down in front of her and she asked me what these are. It was written on the menu card, but she seemed to want to hear it. Still, I could only recall the names of some.
She rolled her eyes at my lacking knowledge and proceeded to ask if I at least knew where the cheese came from and how it was made, before insulting me for not knowing everything and complaining to the restaurant manager about me "not knowing what I serve".
I even went to the kitchen and asked the already furious cook but he didn't know himself.
49. Sing Like You Mean It
Worked at Carrabba's in south Atlanta about 10 years ago. One time, this guy wanted all the waiters to sing happy birthday to him. So, because we suck, we did. Then, after we finished and began to disperse, the guy yells to my friend, "Hold on a minute... that fella right there didn't act like he meant it. I want him to sang again, right here in front of me."
Really creepy.
50. It Obviously Works
I was working at a Mexican food place and I just brought chips and salsa to the table. I'm taking the drink order and one of the guests decides the chips need more salt. He tries the salt shaker but nothing is coming out of it. Without saying a word to me (I'm talking to another guest at his table) he opens the salt shaker and starts pouring the salt onto the floor by my feet.
I was dumbfounded. I don't know why he did that or why he thought it was okay. This wasn't a steak house with a "fun" throw your peanut shells on the floor atmosphere. We worked really hard to keep the place clean and looking nice, and he just poured salt on the floor right in front of me.
51. Burn It Black
I work at the Cheesecake Factory. I once had this lady scream at me because her Miso Salmon wasn't "burnt" enough. She literally wanted it black on the outside. She then proceeded to ask management to have her entire $400 bill comped for her inconvenience.
52. Not A Mind Reader
St. Patrick's Day two years ago. The other server had quit three days prior, so I was the only one working for the entire day. Me versus 30 tables, with anywhere between four-to-eight people per table.
A table had been waiting for about five minutes before I was able to make it over to them. I greeted them and apologized for the wait. I informed her of our specials on beverages. I gave her multiple options and then said the different ways we can serve them.
She replied with, "Yeah. We'll have that." I wanted to clarify which one she wanted. Again, I was polite and friendly. She told me I should know what she wanted. Okay cool, I'll choose for her then. I asked her which size she would like: small, medium or large. She said, "That'll work." Now, I have a ton of other customers to serve. I'm trying to be professional yet efficient. I ask her to clarify the size. She let out a deep sigh and turns to me.
I fool you not, she says, "Do I have to carve the word stupid into your forehead?" I just did an about-face and put the order in.
53. Dark Heart, Mean Mouth
At the time, I was an 18-year-old male waiter working at a small town Mexican restaurant. A middle-class 50-year-old woman orders the chimichanga. She doesn't like it, and I offer to make it right by getting her a free drink while the kitchen makes the fix.
Needless to say, she has a blackened, toxic heart, and starts spewing horrible things at me: "This food is bad and I bet your home life is bad too." "I hope your romantic life is horrible." "Who could possibly like you?" Stuff like that. And it went on and on. Her children, who were in their 20s, apologized profusely.
It made me cry. It wasn't like I gave bad service, she was just a cold, mean lady.
54. License Not To Serve
It was just after midnight and we were only licensed to sell drinks until midnight. We were closing up just after setting breakfast up for the next morning when a party of six came back from a wedding down the road. A lady instantly barked at me for three glasses of something, which I explained was not possible due to our license which I pointed out on the wall.
As I was closing the shutter on the bar, she launched over the bar to grab me! Needless to say, I was super scared! Thankfully the manager appeared and took over!
55. Sugar Water Man
Do you remember the alien in the human body in the Men In Black movie that likes to drink sugar water? Well, we had a regular that looked just like that come in on a regular basis. We nicknamed him Sugar Water. He was always super dirty and smelled really bad. He would order the messiest food and it would get everywhere. We would fight about who had to handle his money after he left because it would be just as dirty as him with bits of food on it. We would sanitize his area after he left.
56. Good Boss Makes It Better
I work at a very expensive fine dining restaurant in San Francisco. I was a new employee at the time of this story and was bringing a guest their dinner with a few other employees. We do a synchronized service and were dropping food for a party of ten, so there are waiters in suits all around the table.
I was behind a gentleman so I said "pardon me sir" as I was preparing to place his steak on the table. He, while talking, suddenly violently scooted his chair back into me, causing a small amount of sauce to spill on his sleeve. This guy began to berate me and curse at me calling me an idiot (and much worse). On and on he went, causing tables near his group to look up at the commotion.
He called me a moron, a waste of space, and told me he hoped I got fired and couldn't find another job. Shaken, I reported to my general manager what had happened. He immediately went to the table and very smoothly and politely took the offending guest aside. After carefully explaining to the guest that he was the one who caused the incident, my manager further explained that if he even looked wrong at me again they would have to step outside to have a different conversation.
In an industry where we professionally take people's attitude, management that has your back when people are cruel is satisfying beyond belief.
57. Vampires Aren’t Real
Worked at a Wendy’s when I was a teen. Guy who worked the grill was a self-styled vampire. Our patties were fresh, not frozen. This guy would cut open the sleeves that the beef was shipped in and then guzzle the blood that accumulated in them. Disconcerting as all get out, not to mention unsanitary. One time a customer saw him do it. That was a fun time.
58. Missing Kid
When I worked at McD's we had to clean the shake machine every so often, and the way the machine works is it turns this liquid mixture into the soft serve or milkshake textures. So while emptying the liquid cream trough, we got to the bottom and found a baseball cap and plastic glove.
59. Tastes Like Chicken
Had to explain to a customer for 5 minutes why we didn't sell any fish burgers in a KFC. Once the manager repeated what I said, she claimed that she was going to take this up with the head office. Not sure how successful that was for her.
60. Too Bad For Baby
I worked at a Subway in high school and a few weeks before I started the place was robbed. The robber forced the only employee who was working (a pregnant woman in her early 20s) into the walk-in freezer and moved a huge metal prep table in front of it so she couldn't get out. Eventually another customer came into the store and figured something was up, he was able to get her out of the freezer and she was totally fine.
Maybe 2 months later we were robbed again, after the store was closed. The only thing they took was a jar of money we had pooled to buy gifts for the same employee's baby shower. Poor girl.
70. Short And Stout
Embarrassing story here: I worked for an up and coming toasted sandwich chain in Chicago. We used to have these stupid in-store meetings for new product roll outs etc. We also had the biggest witch of a GM in history. If you came in late to these 7-8 AM meetings, she would make you get up in front of everyone and sing/dance to "I'm a little teapot." One time our prep guy, a 40ish year old Mexican man who spoke little English, had a family and worked three jobs to support them, came in late. He had to sing that stupid song to all of us. We were appalled, he was humiliated. She eventually got fired for being a jagoff. Everything went better than expected after that.
71. Mixed Bag
Worked at Wendy's when I was a teen. Had a guy with a grill spat with several pieces of grilled chicken stacked on it drop them all over the floor. He simply picked them up and put them in the holding bin to be served.
My then boyfriend - now husband was attempting to fix the frosty machine because it wasn't spinning properly. Dummy sticks his finger up in the dispenser and the thing started spinning again. Chopped of the tip of his finger.
We also used to have a gentleman come in that was mentally handicapped. He would order 1-2 extra meals for his "friends" and then proceed to sit down and put the meals in front of empty chairs. He would then carry on a conversation, often heated, with his imaginary friends.
72. Slow Food
I work at Burger King and a lady came through the drive thru and ordered a small order: just a bacon cheese burger and fries. She stopped at the first window to pay and we asked here to sit there because we were having issues with the registers at the second window and we were going to hand her food out the first window. Her response to being asked to wait there was "no I want my money back since you're making me wait." Now keep in mind the lady had been in the drive thru for less than three minutes at this point and we were in the process of bagging her food. We bagged it and took it back to her and her response was "I don't want it because I had to wait. Give me my money back."
73. Some Like It Hot
I worked at Starbucks. A woman ordered her coffee at 140 degrees in the drive-thru. She walks back in the cafe after pulling out and complains that her coffee was 139 degrees because she has a thermometer in her car and she demands it to be remade. I laughed at her and asked if she was joking and she demanded to see my manager. My manager remade it but I didn’t get in any trouble. She was ridiculous, but Starbucks’ policy is to remake anything if a customer asks for it.
74. He Didn't Choose The Pub Life
I was working at a pub shortly after college. During the evenings, things would always get pretty stressful and hectic. People would be snapping at each other, or saying mean things, or arguing, or whatever. Pretty standard stuff in a high-stress situation like that.
One day, though, in the middle of dinner, the other cook (my immediate manager, but not the restaurant manager) apparently just had a bad night. Suddenly, a waitress came back and whined that one of her tables was complaining because the food was cold. First, the manager responded by telling her that if she'd come get her orders when they were done, they wouldn't be cold, but when she made some comment back, he snapped.
He picked up a hot pan from the stove, and I was terrified for a second that he was going to throw it at her. Instead, he swung it as hard as he could at the entire stack of clean plates and knocked almost all of them off the table, shattering them on the floor. Then he literally tore off his apron and stormed out, but not before knocking a tray of full out of another waitress's hands.
Weirdly enough, the store manager was going to let him keep his job if he'd admit to being out of line. She brought him in during lunch the next day to talk to him, and instead of apologizing, he smashed a coffee cup against the wall and left. All told, it was probably for the best.
75. Going Nowhere Fast
I had a rough-looking guy in a beat-up truck try to use one-year-old coupons. I refused to take them. That was a mistake. He held up the drive-thru and screamed and screamed at me. Including this gem: "Smarten up son, or you're going nowhere in life!" Made me feel like crap until I realized that someone like that who is screaming those things at a 15-year-old running the drive-thru hasn't gone anywhere in life.
76. Keep The Confetti
Worked at Wendy's for two weeks. Wasn't bad until someone spread poop all over the men's restroom and they wanted me to clean it up. It was on the ceiling, toilet, all the walls. Like someone had a poop-confetti bomb. Just rubber gloves and no mask. I said screw it and quit.
77. These People Have No Fillings
I was a waitress at a pizza place. One night, an older man and woman flagged me over. They just started yelling at me, going on and on about how they found metal in their food. And she's showing me and yelling and I am trying to apologize and saying we can make you a new pizza, I am sorry, I have no idea where it came from. After several minutes of yelling the man shuts up and goes, "Oh, I lost a filling." Then they tried to be all nice and laugh it off. I just wanted to say screw you for treating me like crap.
78. He Couldn't Catch It All
I supervise at a BBQ restaurant and the other day I had an employee get sick while on his lunch in the break room. I'm going over time-sheets and out of the corner of my eye I see him run to the trash can with what looked like some sort of brown liquid in his hands and casually toss it in. I'm under the assumption that he maybe spilled his lunch in the break room and was cleaning it up. So I go to investigate the situation only to hear a loud lurch followed by a loud splat onto the floor. I find said employee holding an impressive amount of vomit in his hands and all over the break room is corn tortilla scented bile.
I make sure he's okay and send him to first aid to make sure he's not dying. Then I glove up and begin the process of cleaning the chunky mess that he managed to spread across the break room and doors. I also find a nice trail of vomit leading to the trash can, and despite his best efforts, he only managed to get his vomit onto the SIDE of the trash can. Had just about finished cleaning the vomit when the guys comes back saying he "usually feels better after a puke a lot."
I'm getting ready to send him home when, SURPRISE, he decided he wasn't done puking. He looks me in the eyes and says, "I think I need a trashca-" and vomits all over the just mopped and sanitized floor. He then runs to the only hand-washing sink and decided it would be great to puke in there. I send him home and spend the rest of my shift mopping and scooping chunks of hot water and vomit from a terribly clogged sink.
Hey, I wanted to be the boss right?
79. Paging Officer Farva
I worked at McDonald’s part-time while I was in college. One day, I was working the drive-through, and this guy ordered a lot of drinks. One of them was low on soda syrup, but instead of just telling me about it like a rational person so I could give him a replacement drink, he threw the extra large drink at me. Of course, the lid came off and I was soaking wet.
The manager, who was actually pretty good as far as fast food managers go, saw this happen. He took off running into the parking lot, flagged down the driver before he could leave, and told him to never come back. Then he came back in, found me a dry uniform shirt, and let me have a few minutes on the clock to sit in the break room and calm down.
80. Deep-Fried Special
Worked at McDonald's as my first job at 15. The worst thing I probably saw was one of the guys working the fryer tripped and when he reached out to stop himself falling, he ended up with half of his hand in the fry oil. I think the entire store heard my, "OH [BLEEP]!!!"
81. Face Fulla Bicep
I worked at a popular Canadian coffee franchise almost ten years ago. One day, a drive-thru customer had some sort of altercation with a pair of pedestrians who had been walking through the drive-thru. The way I understand it, the customer had almost hit the pedestrians, a man and his mother, and then had started shouting. This is what I heard over the drive-thru headset: "YOU WANNA FACE FULLA BICEP?!?! I'LL GIVE YA A FACE FULL OF BICEP!!"
82. Of Creepy Men And Carhops
I was a carhop at Sonic drive-in through most of high school. I was the only guy that was able to use the roller skates. An extremely creepy old man in a vehicle that might as well have been in a scrap yard called me back to his car after I started to go back inside. Gave me a $15 tip because "that butt needed a second look."
83. Back To Work
Last week, I was on the assembly line at my McDonalds, making sandwiches, when my manager ran up to me and gave me a phone saying there was someone having a seizure in our men's bathroom. I run into the bathroom with ketchup and grease still on my fingers to find a 60-year-old homeless man having a stroke on the floor with a bunch of blood coming out of his mouth. I sit there for six minutes with this dying guy while on the phone with the 911 operator until finally, some help arrived. Then I go back, wash my hands, and go right on back to making sandwiches.
84. The Customer's Always Complaining
I used to work at Sonic. On rainy days, especially when it was pouring, people would intentionally park across the lot (the spare spots that weren't covered by their famous awning), and make the car hops walk the food out there to them. We'd be standing there outside their car window with the food on a tray, waiting for them to roll down their window. They'd take their sweet time getting out their cards or cash while we were getting drenched. All the while, there were plenty of open spots under the awning, closer to the restaurant and out of the rain.
By the time they took their food from us, they would demand the meal for free since it was wet. Mind you, not wet enough to give back the food, just wet enough to demand a full refund while they shoved the offending fries in their mouth. Those people also never tipped.
Also, we had people who would make us go back inside and replace their 44 oz drink four and five times, even when you insisted it was the right drink. "This ain't diet." "Sir, I poured this drink myself, I can assure you it's diet. "I want you to go back in there and do it again, and I better not have to send this back a third time."
85. Elderly Entitlement
I worked at Braum’s for a bit. Went to hand an elderly lady her ice cream cone. She took it from me, pulled her arm into her car, took a lick, and then dropped the ice cream down her door. I genuinely felt bad for her and offered to give her another one and clean it up if she would pull around. It’s 100+ degrees out and I’m in full uniform.
I begin wiping the side of her door when she throws a plethora of insults my way. “This is why your generation is so messed up. You saw I had braces on my wrist. You knew I had arthritis. Never have handed me that cone. You should ask if I want a cup instead. You’ll probably only ever be a fast food worker. It’s people like you that make everyone’s life hard.”
The heat and anger got the best of me. I threw the dirty napkins in her lap, told her to shut up, reminded her I was doing her a favor, advised her to order correctly next time, and told her to clean up her own mess. I walked back inside and explained to my manager what I did.
Sure enough, in comes this lady playing her “I’m a good, sweet Christian and would never disrespect someone” card. My manager just told her to call corporate.
86. Welcome To The Poop Show
Was 15 and working for the golden arches in a big two-story, city location. An elderly lady came in to use the upstairs toilet and when she came back down, she had poop caked all over her hands, which she dragged down the banister she used to steady herself on down the stairs. She then went and sat at a table for a moment before leaving. She clearly had dementia, although I didn't recognize that at the time.
I was sent to the bathroom to investigate the damage and it was a literal poop show. I reported back to my manager, who told me I had to clean it all up. No thanks! I quit on the spot. I was not cleaning up poop for $4.85 an hour.
87. That's Not Lemonade
I worked at a movie theater one semester in high school. I was scheduled as a porter, which basically means I was responsible for sweeping up the theaters between shows and throwing out the trash. When I got to the back row, there was a cup in the cupholder without the top on. It turned out to be filled with urine.
88. The Customer Played Himself
I worked at Carl's Jr. and this one elderly man ordered a full-sized thickburger meal and specifically asked for no cheese on it. He repeated this multiple times.
So when we finish the meal and take it out to him he goes to the dine-in area and we continue about our business. The old guy comes back five minutes later all red and extremely angry. He's cursing like crazy and is yelling about how there's cheese in his burger. My coworker and I made sure there was no cheese in his burger so we told him there couldn't be any cheese on it but he insisted that there was.
He opened the burger box and turns out what he thought was cheese was the mustard. We show to him that it's just mustard and he realizes he messed up for not looking. He loses his mind and throws a perfectly good burger and fries straight down the trash and kicks the door on his way out while cursing at us.
89. Mobbed For McDonalds
I worked in a small McDonalds during the Sydney Olympics. I was about 15 at the time. There were a series of big screens at Circular Quay showing live Olympic events so there were always large crowds down there. This store was around 500m or so away from my store and because of the demand we occasionally had to take things down there.
Our store was closing and they were running out of buns at the busy store so they sent me down with a big trolley of buns (those pre-split ones). Easy right? I get about 20m from the store and there’s a giant crowd between me and the store. So I start asking people to move and most people are nice until one guy rips open the bag of bags and starts throwing them up in the air, screaming out “Free burgers, free burgers!”
The crowd lurches towards me. Some police notice this and come over and tell everyone to back off and have a few heated words with the free burger guy. They guide me through the crowd and to the store awaiting the buns. I get grilled about arriving with one less tray of buns, but once I tell them the story it’s all good.
90. Powerade-Less
I went to hand a drink out the drive-thru window and the jerk in the car threw a large blue Powerade all over me. My manager said if I went home early due to being soaked, I was fired.
91. There's No Crying In Subway
I used to work for a Subway. It was a really bad fit for me, as I'm not good at interacting with people. My store was slowly losing customers after the owner fed a guy a moldy sandwich (I swear that was the turning point), so I would often be the only person on staff after the lunch rush, which was even more stressful for me.
One night, I was crying while making the sandwiches and the customer complained. The boss pulled me aside the next day and wanted an explanation. I told him how miserable I was. He said to me, "You need to learn to accept your place in life." Accept my place. Making $9 an hour with no sick leave, vacation, or insurance. Screw that. I got angrier and angrier throughout my shift, and come 3 pm, I was the only person running the store again.
I called my fiance and told him to come pick me up, locked up the store, and texted the boss that I quit and that there was no one running his store. He called me back before I even left the parking lot and begged me to reconsider. I told him to screw off.
92. Soda With A Side Of Mold
I had a very short stint working at the golden arches. The soda machine was literally never cleaned. On my first closing shift, I went to take the nozzles off the soda machine and there was mold literally caked around the inside of each nozzle. The manager told me that the constant stream of soda kept the machine clean so it wasn't necessary to remove the nozzles. Bull crap. I can't drink soda from McDonald's or any other fast food place anymore.
93. Don't Eat The Calzone
I work at a pizza place and one time the cook making the pizzas for the customers lost his bandaid inside of a pizza but didn’t know which one. This guy seriously wanted us to serve the eight possible pizzas that could’ve had a bloodied bandaid in them and just wait and see if someone complained. Yeah, no way.
94. The Real Secret Sauce
I don’t know if any of you remember the grilled onion cheddar burger that McDonald's used to serve, but we used to keep the grilled onions in a heated tray in the grill area. One of the guys I used to work with at McDonald’s came in one day all mad. He used to chew tobacco while working which was gross enough as it is. Well, he got caught on camera spitting his chew into the grilled onion tray. I think he got away with doing that almost his whole shift until someone saw the tape in the manager's office. He was fired on the spot. I’m not sure what they did about the burgers that went out served like that.
95. Krispy Kreme Katastrophe
I worked the night shift at a Krispy Kreme. It was always just me and the manager.
She never helped. She'd just go in the office to do "paperwork," and leave me alone for eight hours to make everything. Because I knew she'd leave me alone, I'd take the trash out multiple times a night and smoke up while I was out there. Well, one night I come back in from smoking and notice the conveyor for the OG glazed is starting to rattle pretty badly. There are several things you needed to turn off prior to stopping the conveyor (glaze fountain, heating elements, dough ejector thingy). So I turn all of those off, but for some reason, the conveyor is in a weird "dieseling" state, where it continues to run, but is disconnected from power. I start to panic asthe conveyor keeps going and continues to get more and more loud.
I start pounding on the manager's office door, but she won't answer. Stuff is starting to fall apart, and my baked butt can't handle this. I finally shoulder charge her office door down, screaming "WHAT THE HECK?! I NEED HELP!" But she isn't in there. I look on her security screens and see that her car isn't even in the parking lot. Once I realize that lady was gone, the conveyor finally went. The motor took out one end of the conveyor line, and gallons of 100% pork lard fryer oil covered the floor of the entire kitchen. I called the off duty manager, told him what just happened, quit, and just left.
96. The Shrimp Skimp
At the pizza place I worked at, we had a pizza that came with shrimp, but only if people specifically asked for it. So naturally, barely anyone ever ordered the shrimp on their pizza. In the pizza prep area, the shrimp would just sit there for days on end, getting frozen every night and thawed out every morning. And whenever someone would order the shrimp pizza, they’d get like two-week old shrimp on their pizza. Makes me wonder what kind of iron stomach these people have.
97. Loud And Proud Litter Bug
I was working the drive-thru and gave this lady her food. Not 15 feet down the lane from the window there's a trash can and a sign that says "please do not litter."
You can probably guess what happened next. She threw her wrapper on the ground right in front of me. As she goes to drive off, I say, "Are you kidding me?!"
Next thing I know I hear a screech of tires and a car door slam. She walks back to the window and starts to curse me out. "What did you say? You throw your stuff on the ground too, don't lie to me!"
I just point to the sign and say, "No, I throw my trash in the trashcan like a normal human being. Have a nice day." And I shut the window. Luckily, my manager was pretty chill and didn't care. I just went about the rest of my day.
98. Assault At The Drive-Thru
One of our managers started choking a coworker in the drive-thru window, in full view of customers. Said coworker was supposed to be my relief but she was 20 minutes late and apparently the two of them exchanged words immediately before the incident.
That manager had a history of aggressive behavior. She tried to tackle me, literally, on my first day; I’m pretty sure only being short and hippy and thus having a low center of gravity saved me from going into the fryer. But after this, she was immediately fired, though they didn’t press charges. Afterward, the fired manager called everyone who worked there to cry about how it was all our fault for not supporting her and getting her fired.
She was hired to manage a Burger King two weeks later.
99. Overdue Oil
The fry oil at our place never changed once in the approximately five months that I worked there. By the time I left, it was almost black. Needless to say, I never put anything from that fryer close to my mouth.
100. Holy Health Code Violation
The Wendy’s I worked for blatantly ignored cross-contamination protocol. Grill operator had one spatula for laying, flipping and distributing the meat. One spatula that would lay a raw patty, squish the juice out of it, then immediately lift and serve a cooked patty. I regularly could see drops of red on the bun being served up. I brought it up with the manager and she said that’s how she learned it, so that’s what she wants us to do. A few days later I quit after trying to argue my case and making no progress.
101. But The Five-Second Rule
I worked at McDonald's. Once, my coworker dropped a whole tray of burgers on the floor, picked them all up, put them back in the tray, and made orders with them. Anyone who's worked there knows how disgusting those floors are. I never ate McDonald's again, and that was eight years ago.
102. Pickles With A Side Of Nicotine
A former coworker of mine couldn't eat pickles. He couldn't even come close to them without getting queasy. The story behind it is that as a teenager, he worked at McDonald's. They had one old guy in the kitchen who had been working there for ages. He was a big time smoker, and one day he called my former coworker over and said, "Hey, watch this." Then he took his orangey nicotine hands and plunged them into a bucket of pickles, sloshed them around for a few seconds, pulled them out, and voila...squeaky clean hands! He then slapped the lid back on the pickle bucket and put it back under the counter.
103. Fast Food Workers Aren't Peasants
I was working at Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits. My best friend was working with me, and we had the same shifts because we carpooled since we were both 17 years old and broke.
The day in question happened to be a day when my regional and general manager were at our store. As we closed up for the evening, I realized my wallet was missing. There was only $5 in it, but that was dedicated to the empty gas tank we had to fill to make it the 15 miles back home. My friend and I searched everywhere, but to no avail. Both my regional and general manager were outside waiting for us to close and just talking at one of their cars.
When we finished up, we went over to both of them and asked if we could borrow a couple of dollars to get home. We had both been working there over a year and were exemplary employees, so we figured it wouldn’t be a big deal. My regional manager said sure, reached into his pocket and threw a handful of change at me. Seconds later, my general manager did the same thing at my friend.
He and I bent over and started picking up the change as they watched and laughed. It was one of the worst moments of my life. To this day I’ve never felt that kind of shame and embarrassment. My friend and I VOWED vengeance. Revenge of the nature that made sure nobody would EVER mess with us again. We didn’t do anything.
104. Unwarranted Customer Critique
I was 16, working front line (cashier). A man walked up and instead of ordering, he started talking about how his daughter was in vet school. I smile, nod, say something like, "That sounds nice." He then responds with, "Yes. She did something with her life, unlike you."
105. But Why Is It On The Menu?!
While working at Panera Bread, this lady came up to the counter to order broccoli and cheese soup but we were out. Upon hearing this she goes, "THEN WHY IS IT ON THE MENU? WHY IS IT ON THE MENU? WHY IS IT ON THE MENU? THIS IS FREAKING RIDICULOUS, I CAME OUT OF MY HOUSE FOR THIS SOUP AND Y'ALL THE ONLY PANERA WITHIN DRIVING DISTANCE FOR ME. WHY IS IT ON THE MENU?"
16-year-old me was the only person at the counter, and I started laughing. That just made the lady even more upset. Eventually we had to call the cops. She struck one officer and I got to witness another officer flip her clean over a booth.
106. What A Butt
I worked at a McDonald’s when I was 15. One of the managers there was a 25-30-year-old guy who seemed to thrive on flexing his managerial power over the young men who worked there and also hitting on all the underaged female employees. This McDonald’s was situated between two busy roads and had a long access road from the further one up to the back of the building.
One day, in the middle of the summer when it was 95 degrees and humid, he decided that I should have to go out and walk this road picking up the cigarette butts that people had thrown out on the road. About halfway through my journey, he drove by waving and smiling at me with one of the girls in his car. Next day, I called him a creep and quit.
107. That Would Be Great
Had a dude puke all over the floor. His wife came up to me and said, "My husband threw up on the floor, so, if you could clean that up... that would be great." They moved tables and continued eating their lunch and watching while I, lucky fast food employee, cleaned up fresh vomit. They weren't remotely apologetic or concerned. Unbelievable.
108. They Never Tip
I worked at a pizza place with my then girlfriend, and some lady had a walk-in order. She tells me what she wants, I tell her the price, she gives me money. I look down and I don't have a key for the till -- my girlfriend does, so I get her and come back. By this point, the customer is ranting that I stole her money. We argue for a bit and she starts pulling out her phone. Her money was on the counter under her purse THE WHOLE TIME. She just stopped arguing and paid for the pizza. Didn't even apologize for needlessly accusing me. And of course, she didn't tip.
109. Drive-Thru TMI
This woman was graphically describing sex she had just had while in the drive-thru. She ordered and continued a phone call with her friend. She didn’t realize that we could hear everything that she was saying while she waited for the line to move. A few highlights were...
“But his genitals was so WEIRD looking.” Also, “And I just couldn’t take it in my butt!” When she pulled up to the window, my friend working the money window says, “Heck of a night, huh?” Nothing can ever equal the embarrassment on her face when she pulled up to me. I handed her the ice cream cone and said, “Careful! That ice cream is WEIRD looking.”
110. Geyser of Grease
I worked at Whataburger for a little over a year. One night, something on the roof had broken. None of the staff were aware, but grease was apparently spraying like a fountain from the top of the restaurant for a while. Of course, a guy came through the drive-thru in a convertible right as this was happening. You can probably assume the rest.
111. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
At McDonald's of course. I was one of the first assistant managers. We had a kid who was just promoted to shift manager. He was a very good employee and he knew his stuff. We had high hopes for him.
His very first shift, five minutes in the shift, he does a walk-through of the dining room. He asks a girl who was seven months pregnant to change a trash bag and she tells him that she can't do it. So he walks to the back of the store, gets the trash masher (basically a mop handle with steel plates on the end to compact the trash) walks to the garbage bag, and mashes the trash. He then takes the trash masher and knocks the girl out with it while screaming, "I'm the freaking boss and everyone better do whatever I tell them!"
He continued to yell at everyone about how she needs to be fired for insubordination and no one else better ever test him. Dude was arrested in the store while trying to argue with the police officers that he was in the right. The girl had a major concussion but she and the baby were thankfully ok.
112. Hush-Hush Harassment
My boss (late 30s) made me put my hand down his pants. I was 16. He grabbed my arm/hand while I was getting something in the back and just put it down his pants. I didn’t know what to do -- I was shocked, I guess -- so I did nothing. The look on my face must have spooked him because he told me I could go home early.
The next day, $50 was missing from my till and I was told by the franchise owner (different guy) to make it whole or I would be fired. I didn’t do it and I didn’t have that kind of money so I quit. I never told anyone until now.
113. Sweet And Sour Attitude
I once had some yeehaw country dude rolled up in his rusted out truck asking for more sweet and sour sauce. I told him I had to charge him for it, and he proceeded to cuss me out and rant about “$15 an hour.” He finished it off with “no wonder you work at McDonalds you inbred moron.” At the time, I was 16-years-old and hadn’t quite developed my “customer service voice.” I politely informed him he was short a few teeth and closed the service window.
114. Trail of Terror
I was working as the cashier. Boss came up to me and told me to grab a mop as someone made a mess in the female bathroom. She gave me no other details. She told me I could go home once I was finished. It was still early in my shift and the lunch rush just ended so I was intrigued. I investigated to see what I was up against prior to grabbing the mop and bucket.
There was a diarrhea trail from the bathroom door entrance to the first stall. It had the consistency of chewed up Snickers bars. And when I say trail, I don't mean a smear. Imagine a paint can tipping over. The seat was still down with the poop still undisturbed. I concluded that they hover-pooped from the doorway, across the sink area, to the first stall then over the already lowered seat.
I also learned that day that fast food restaurants have hazmat bags. You know...just in case.
115. McRude
I had just started working at McDonald's and had only been there about a month. At this point, I had only been trained to work in the kitchen. One day the person who was supposed to be out on the lobby wiping tables and all that had called in sick and it was quiet so they got me to do that. Which was fine -- it's not exactly rocket science.
About two hours in, a woman comes up to me and mumbles something about something disgusting outside. Without asking again what it was, I said, "Thank you for letting me know. I'll go out and have a look at it in a minute once I'm finished changing these bins."
After changing the bins, I go outside to discover a perfect log of poop sitting in a chicken nuggets box with a BBQ dip and a note that said, "Mc screw you."
116. Let's Talk About Sex, Baby
One time I was working the register at Burger King and a buff bald dude with his five-year-old daughter came up to order. He angrily goes, "I want THREE rodeo burgers, and make sure there's extra BBQ sauce! And then I want a Happy Meal with a girl's toy!"
So I say, "Alright, sir, three rodeo burgers and a kids meal." Angered, he says, "With a girl's toy, right?" I tell him he doesn't have to worry because the toys are unisex. His eyes bulge and he yells, "WHAT ABOUT SEX?!" I explain to him the meaning of the word, and he mumbles "Okay... Just don't mention sex around my daughter again."
Just one of the many horrific experiences I had working there.
117. Sassy For Salad
I had a dirtbag customer once working at McDonalds in high school. Their "premium salads" had just been released, and the chicken used in them was the same as the grilled chicken sandwich. It took 8 minutes to cook, and we typically didn't keep very many cooked and in the warmer because they didn't sell fast.
At noon on a weekend, during a very busy rush, some entitled lady rolls up in the drive thru and orders 6 of these salads. When some product isn't ready, the practice is to have them pull up into a parking space and we'll run the order out when its ready, so the guy behind her who just ordered a large Coke doesn't get trapped in the drivethru. She refused to pull ahead and forced about 9 cars behind her to wait for between 10 and 15 minutes, even after we explained that this is what was happening.
So inconsiderate.
118. Still Waiting On That News Crew
When I was 16 I worked a pizza place taking orders and doing cashier work. Our credit card machine took a 2% surcharge and there was nothing we could do about it because that was the way that machine operated, it did that since it was a small business and we couldn’t just eat up the cost to run the card. A Karen paid for her food and when she looked at the receipt she yelled “what is this?”. I explained it was the surcharge to run her card. She got angry and demanded a manager. My manager came over and said she would not be issuing a refund because on the counter was a sign that said “all purchases done with a credit card will have a 2% surcharge” so it was labeled.
She then went on to tell us it was illegal to do that and the news had a thing about it last week in California and blah blah blah. She said if we didnt refund her money in full she was going to go to the police and the news about the pizza place, a well known and fairly liked pizza place in a city of ~72,000 people.
She didn’t get a refund and no police or news station came.
119. Immature Adult
I just started about a month ago at the place with the chicken sandwich. I was pretty lucky to avoid the baddies until this past Monday. She came in with her husband and 2 little children. She orders her, and her husband's meals and all is well. Then she orders the kids meals (this is where it begins). At our particular estabolishment kids meals come with nuggets or strips, not sandwiches. She proceeds to order them with sandwiches and then I tell her we don't do that. I tell her I can ring them up separately, but it would cost a bit more. She said it was fine and I checked her out.
I handed her recipt then she immediately pulled out her phone calculator and got at it. A minute later she came up and told me she would have saved money if she just bought the adult meals instead. (No kidding I told you that). At this point I was beyond stressed and didn't know what to do so I got my manager. Thankfully he worked out the rest of it in around 5 minutes. He came to me later and said "she wasted 8 minutes to get a refund and then re-order to save 75 cents."
The rest of the time she was dining she would just glare at me whilst I worked. Thankfully It wasn't as bad as some other encounters, but sadly I have a feeling this won't be my last.
120. Can't Please Some People
There was this guy who always ordered his coffee "muddy water". I don't know if it was a really thing or just a thing in this guys head, but he had to explain it to everyone. Muddy Water = Black Coffee with 1 drop of milk.
And the guy would complain a ridiculous amount of the time that he was either given too much or too little milk. And he would cuss out whoever made his drink wrong with every bigoted or insensitive slur you could use. All because his 1 dollar coffee was "ruined."
It was always early in the morning before proper managers were in as well, so it was just staff at the time, most of us teenagers who he just scared the pants off of.
He refused the actual solution of 'take it black and we'll give you milk add your own amount" because "I can't get the mixture right myself either."
After way too long they finally let us just refuse to serve the guy and his stupid drink. But it was crazy.
121. Just Can't Win
My most disturbing story is that I am treated as if I am completely replaceable as a human being. Even though I work hard and make a difference at my place of employment, I still can't afford basic health care. I work too hard to get government assistance, yet I don't work in an industry with any respect for it's workers, from either the customers or the owners of the business.
Even though I provide people with affordable and quick meals, with healthy options available, I am the lowest rung on the ladder. Food service is a valuable service to the community, but food service employees are treated like dirt.
I treat food service with respect. I pay attention to quality of product and service. I pay attention to personal hygiene and proper food service guidelines, yet I feel as if I am treated as a being with no value.
I used to like it, and now I hate it. I'm going to have to trade in a faded passion for a soul sucking job with health benefits. I'm feeling like the future is pretty hopeless at this point.
Food service is a disturbing story.
122. They Scream For Ice Cream
I used to work at a theme park in the UK in a fast food area, and, twice a year, the day after the derby at a nearby racecourse, we used to get hoards of a certain type of people visiting to cause trouble, so much so that the theme park used to ban booze sales and introducing x-ray scanners on those days only. These days brought the most absolute nightmare customers I've ever met. I spent most of my time at either a Ben and Jerry's ice cream hut or working in another hut which made giant (like 2 foot across) pancakes. My favourite lines were:
"This pancake was too big for my child to eat. I want a refund for the half he didn't eat."
"That queue was too long. My meal should be free for the inconvenience."
"My daughter is diabetic so you need to give her the ice cream for free."
And of course, the people who wanted to try a tiny scoop of every single flavour of ice cream. But the absolute most Karen-move was when I refused to take her coupon for a free tub of Ben and Jerry's from a supermarket chain as payment for a cup of ice cream at a hut in a theme park which was in no way affiliated with the supermarket chain, the moment I turned my back to rinse off the ice cream scoop, she tried boosting her child over the glass ice cream display to try and grab the ice cream cup I had made for them. Security were called and she screamed that they were abusing her the whole time as they escorted her out of the park.
123. No Disrespect Intended
I was working at this oldies restaurant that used to be on Staten Island, clearing the table for this gaggle of old dudes. I was moving too quickly and dropped a fork on the head of the littlest old man. This guy's eyes turned into the black eyes of a shark. The hostess and the owner both came out of nowhere, apologizing, while this old-timer waiter, Sammy, scooted me off into the back of the restaurant. I couldn't figure out why he was making me hide back there.
Turns out he was some massively important guy, somebody my boss was afraid of. My boss thought I was going to get fitted for a pair of concrete shoes or something.
124. From The Restaurant To Facebook
Last Christmas I was serving an older man who came in during a rush. I served him like any other normal customer. The cooks had messed up his order and I mistakenly hadn't noticed. The dude was ANGRY. He cussed me out in front of multiple other people, cussed me out to my manager, filed a complaint...
That was just the beginning. The guy then FOUND MY FACEBOOK AND MESSAGED MY PARENTS SAYING HOW MUCH OF A MISTAKE I WAS.
125. Picky And Sticky
I worked at a coffee shop for while. Now, many people are very particular about their coffee and complicated orders were something we dealt with on a daily basis.
This one woman however, came in every day asking for a “large sugar free vanilla latte non fat milk add 4 equals at 200° no foam double cup”. Fine. No problem. Except there was ALWAYS a problem. As soon as we set the drink on the bar she would take the lid off to check for foam. If there was even a hint of a bubble she would want it remade. No matter how many times we told her it was just a few air bubbles from whisking the drink and pouring the super hot milk, we were always wrong in her eyes and deserved to be insulted.
One day she came in for her usual drink. She took the lid off in front of us to check for foam and it was surprisingly satisfactory on our first try. Yay! Until about 20 mins later, when she calls us from the bagel shop down the street to tell us that we didn’t put her lid on correctly and her scalding hot coffee has now been dumped all over her and the interior of her Jaguar. Even though we know she was the one who took off and replaced the lid, even though we had surveillance camera evidence, even though she made it to her car and a mile down the road to the bagel shop with no lid issues, it was somehow all our fault. So she came in and screamed at all of us about how we burned her so badly and how she would be scarred forever and her beautiful car would never be the same. Corporate ended up paying for her dry cleaning, a professional detail of her car, and an undisclosed amount of money. And by the way, she still came in everyday.
126. Throw Down At McD's
My best friend worked at a McDonalds for several years in high school, and there were two stories she told that stuck with me.
One day her McDonalds experienced some sort of malfunction with the machine that produced milkshakes. Apparently they were coming out pretty much melted. A customer demanded a chocolate milkshake, and said he didn't care if it was melted. She did one up for him, and handed it to him so he could get a look at how melted it was. He freaked out on her for "ruining his milkshake", and threw it at her. She was completely covered in chocolate, and yet was expected to stand there and finish the rest of his order.
The second story is an experience she had as a manager. One cold winter day a hobo walked into her store and went to use the washroom. He came out about ten minutes later, and politely provided the dollar whatever needed for a cup of coffee. She gave it to him at no charge, and told him to enjoy the rest of his day. That pleasant phrase threw him into a rage, and he ended up throwing the hot coffee at her. She ended up calling the cops on him, as he refused to leave the restaurant after doing this.
127. This Is The Worst
This doesn't have to do with McDonald's food, as the store I worked in was fairly sanitary and I never encountered anything gross happening. Then again, I worked the morning/day shift and the people seemed to be much cleaner and more diligent than the afternoon and night crew.
However, I had put in my two weeks notice because I got a different (nicer, thankfully) job. One of my last days of work something extremely messed up happened. A young woman brought her two children with her to the store. Not an unusual thing. The same day a large group of senior citizens from a local retirement home were there as well. One of the old ladies walks up to the counter and tells the boss that one of the bathroom stall doors was locked and she could see a woman's legs on the ground. She knocked on the door to no response and therefore told us. Our managers got in there and found the woman passed out on the ground and she was apparently turning purple and not breathing. She drank a bottle of bleach that she brought with her and left her two kids in the play area while she tried to kill herself in our bathroom. These children were about 3/4 years old. All of the employees were freaking out, crying, etc. The paramedics and police came and there was a huge commotion. Everyone thought she was dead. However, the paramedics were fortunately able to revive her (I'd like to believe it was an adrenaline shot through the heart Pulp Fiction style, but I honestly have no idea how) and she was sent to the hospital. Needless to say, I made sure I never stepped foot in that bathroom again.
128. How To Ruin Pizza Forever
Back in college one summer, I worked at a pizza place in Ithaca, NY.
The sanitation was pretty questionable, and while there were timers hanging above the pizzas to symbolize that we were supposed to throw pizzas away after being out two hours, those were just decorations for the health inspectors.
Anyway, I'd get a free slice of pizza during my break. I'd normally go for the cheese, since it was almost always fresh (and thus the least likely to kill me), but I decided to go for the baked ziti pizza one day, because pasta on pizza fulfilled a carbo-load dream of mine.
So I throw the pizza in the oven for a few minutes, take it out, and take a few bites...only to realize something was WRIGGLING in the pizza. Between the gooey, saucy ziti pieces were a half dozen or so larvae who were rather alarmed at having just been thrown in a 500 degree oven.
Management always left the door open in the summertime, and apparently that invited fruit flies that laid eggs on the pizza. After gagging and spitting and contemplating what possibly was wriggling down my esophagus, I showed the wormy slice to my boss, who claimed it was just "garlic," and then yelled at me for throwing the slice away. It was a long time before I ate pizza again.
What's was almost as disconcerting, however, is that one time a customer (drunk Cornell frat guy) got a wormy slice and came to the counter. Instead of asking for a refund, he asked FOR MORE PIZZA.
