While everyone's palate is a little different, some people's preference in food is downright disgusting. From food combinations straight out of purgatory to incredible displays of gluttony to just downright chaos, these food industry workers have seen their fair share of disgusting customer requests.
The Grill Scraping Sandwich
“I used to work at a D’Angelo sandwich shop. A regular who came in two or three times a week for lunch would ask for a grill scraping sandwich. Basically, scrape all the burned crud and junk stuck to the grill into a pile, throw on three slices of American cheese, and scoop it into a sandwich. That’s all he ordered every time and never ordered a drink or chips. We’d just give it to him for free.”
The Regular Known As Skeletor
“We have a regular who we call ‘Skeletor.’ She orders 10 — yes, 10 — scrambled egg whites, cooked in Pam, extra well done, and chopped extra fine. No sides, no vegetables, nothing but a huge platter of burnt up egg whites. She chases this with water so thoroughly saturated with Sweet ‘n’ Low that it is cloudy. We’re talking ~12 packets in one glass. This is all I have ever seen her order, and she’s been coming in at least weekly for the last year. One wonders how she’s even still alive.”
At Least We Know He’s Not A Vampire
“I used to work at Whole Foods as a juicer and this one guy would come in everyday and order 12 ounces of garlic juice to go (which is like 20 dollars by the way). After a couple weeks of seeing him order the same thing I asked him to drink it in front of me because I didn’t believe it was humanly possible to ingest that much garlic. He downed it all in front of me and said this ‘along with much garlic comes much loneliness’ I laughed and he said ‘no seriously, I work from home.'”
“She Squeezed Into The Booth, And Proceeded To Order…”
“When I was bartending, a very tall, large woman comes in one day. She had to be 6’4” and close to 275. She squeezes in to a booth in the bar. When I approached, she proceeds to order the following:
—Diet Coke
—20 extra hot wings — fried extra hard with extra bleu cheese.
—Double cheeseburger With triple cheese, extra mayo, ranch, bacon, no vegetables, with fries.
—Two pieces of cheesecake with hot fudge topping.
Now, you might say, ‘this isn’t too out of the ordinary.’ But I watched her eat every single thing that I brought out to her. All of it. From practically drinking the remaining hot sauce and bleu cheese on the wing plate, to licking the hot fudge off her dessert plate. I was astonished. In fact, I was almost hesitant to serve her the cheesecake on account of the possibility of her heart exploding right then and there.”
“He Offered To Sign A Waiver, But We Had To Stand Firm”
“Once I had a customer order a rare hamburger with peanut butter, ketchup, and mayo on it. I believe we were not allowed to serve him the burger rare because this was around the time when Jack in the Box had some hamburger problems in the ’90s. He offered to sign a waiver to receive his rare burger, but we had to stand firm.”
“Even On The Conservative Side That’s Over 4000 Calories In One Meal”
“This isn’t exactly food, but this guy used to come into this bar I frequent and every once in a while he would order a polar bear fight.
A bear fight is an Irish Car Bomb chased with a Jagerbomb.
A polar bear fight is the above combination chased with milk.
I consider myself a pretty well-established drinker, but that was freaking disgusting.”
“It Was Fascinating, Funny And Disgusting All At Once”
“When I used to work at an ice cream place, we had a guy who had some sort of mental disorder come in 2-3 times a week. He had a catch phrase which was, ‘How ya doin?’ which he said to everyone he saw, yelling at the top of his lungs in an excited little kid voice. He was short, fat, and always wore some weird T-shirt + sweatpants, like an uncharismatic Bruce Vilanch. His order wasn’t weird – a slice of chocolate cake and an extra-thick chocolate frappe. What was gross was that he insisted you give him the slice of chocolate cake while you made the frappe. He would then eat it in one bite at the counter, and while trying to chew and swallow, he would talk non-stop about whatever he had seen or done that day, simultaneously greeting every single customer who walked in the door, spitting frosting and crumbs all over everything the whole time. He would then not wipe his face off, pay in mostly change, and leave the store with his face covered in chocolate frosting, happily sipping at his frappe. It was fascinating, funny, and disgusting all at once.
How Refreshing
“I own a fried chicken/pizza/fried seafood restaurant and one of the regular customer always get a glass of gravy to drink with whatever he orders.”
They Ate It, But Did They Like It?
“I heard this story from my dad. He was in an Asian restaurant, happily eating his meal, when a woman and several children entered. They sat down, and the woman ordered something for herself, a large bowl of white rice, and a can of orange soda for each kid. When the drinks and rice arrived, she opened each can and poured the soda into the rice. The kids ate every bite.”
“It Was Black And Smelled Like A Tire Fire”
“Not a waiter but a cook. Had a lady order her tofu scramble burnt. So I cooked it hard. She sent it back because it wasn’t burnt enough. So I cooked it harder. She sent it back again and the waiter said she really wants it burnt. So I got a wok super hot, put too much oil in and proceeded to burn the heck out of it. My chef came by and lost his stuff. I explained it to him and he watched me burn just ruin the thing. It was black and smelled like a tire fire. She ate all of it and said we were the only place to get it right. She came back every weekend for it and we had to train new cooks how to burn the living heck out of her food for her. I still can’t comprehend why she would eat that.”
“I Almost Refused To Make It”
“When I worked as a barista I had a man order TWO large double vanilla double hazelnut double caramel sauce breve (made with half and half instead of the 2% we would usually use) lattes with extra whipped cream. A regular large flavored latte would have 4 pumps of syrup in it, these each had 22. I almost cited personal moral objection and refuse to make it.:
“It’s Like A Philly-Soup With The Meat Existing In The Disgusting Mix Of Sauces”
“I work at a bar in Blacksburg, VA where lots of Virginia Tech students go. We have a group of our football players that come in to get our sandwich special. One of the ‘more famous’ players always gets a Philly Cheese Steak, no vegetables, add ranch, extra ranch, extra mayo, add honey mustard, add Tabasco. Dipped in more ranch. It’s like a Philly-soup with the meat existing in this disgusting mix of sauces. Oh, and they never tip.”
“I Was Gagging From The Smell As I Brought It To Him”
“I work as a baker at a cupcake restaurant, and one night when they were busy, they asked me to take a table. This grown man orders a sandwich with peanut butter, bacon, apple slices and BUBBLE GUM frosting. I sort of stared at him and asked, ‘Do you mean you want a frosting shot on the side?’ No. He wanted it on the sandwich. I was gagging from the smell as I brought it to him.”
This Won’t Be The Special Of The Month Anytime Soon
“I used to work at a Dairy Queen, and one day a very unusual request was made. Now if any of you are unfamiliar with the ‘flamethrower burger,’ it’s a normal burger with a spicy hot sauce on it. This guy wanted one of those…in a blizzard. Dude was completely serious and I had him rung up before the manager said something about ‘cross-contamination’ or something like that. Oh, how I wish I could have made that Flamethrower Burger Blizzard”
“It Wasn’t The Order That Was Disturbing, But The Post Order Request”
It wasn’t so much the order that was disturbing, but the post order request. He asked me to chew up the food and put it back onto his plate. No medical reason. No missing teeth. Not old. Just creepy as heck. He got very upset when I declined.
“No, I Didn’t Stick Around To Watch. I Would’ve Thrown Up”
“I used to be a waiter. Had a family come in and eat, and the little boy eventually orders dessert. Vanilla ice cream and ketchup. Yes, he put the ketchup on the ice cream. No, I didn’t stick around to watch. I would’ve thrown up.”
“It’s Been A While Since I Had Meat In My Mouth”
“Okay, so this ‘eight top’ comes in and one the girls around ~16 has her mouth wired shut because of a skiing accident. She asks for her fruit mixture to be blended and strained, no problem mission accomplished. She then asks for her med rare 5 oz filet, topped with crumbled blue cheese and walnuts to also be blended, challenge accepted.
I drop a perfectly cooked filet in the the blender with all of the above mentioned fixins’ and pulse away until completely blended. I strained the product and gave it a taste. Tasted like all of the above meat but in liquid form, just not quite right. The customer enjoyed and thanked me saying, ‘it’s been a while since i had meat in my mouth.'”
“It Got To The Point Where We Felt Guilty Serving Her”
“I used to work in a bar that served some pretty decent bar food (Paninis, wraps, pizza, etc.) I had an older gal who would come in almost every day order a chicken strip wrap on a jalepeno tortilla. Normally, our wraps come with lettuce and any veggies you like. Not this chick’s cup of tea. She wanted it made with four chicken strips, bacon, extra cheese and ranch. The thing would barely stay together. For a side, she wanted a double order of cheese curds (easily the most caloric and fattening thing we served.) Top this all off with one of our specialty drinks, an ice cream blended pina colada. This. Almost EVERY DAY. When I first started working, the woman was just a bit chubby. But we could see her gaining weight. After six months, it was like she had gained a person. It got to the point where we felt guilty serving her.”
That’s Not How You Eat Steak…
“The most disgusting thing I’ve watched at my restaurant. Some lady ordered her steak ‘warm in the center.’ She would take a bite of the steak, suck the blood, and spit the meat out on the plate.”
“I Was Mortified”
“I was a cashier at Panda Express. This guy came in alone and got 6 entrees — All shrimp (which is extra), two large orders of rice, one large chow mein. Two, I say again, two large drinks, and 3 egg rolls. I was mortified. He ate it all. Right there. Alone. I still don’t know why he got two large drinks. Completely baffles me.”
“It Was The Weirdest Thing I’ve Ever Made”
“Back when I worked at McDonald’s, somebody wanted a McFlurry made with chicken nuggets in it. It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever made.”
At Jimmy John’s, The Customer Can Make Any Disgusting Sandwich They Want
“I used to work at a Jimmy Johns in college. If you’re not familiar, it’s a pretty good sandwich chain that carries a sandwich called the gargantuan — basically a sandwich with all the meats we carried on one sandwich. One day while working the register, a guy came in and ordered a ‘gargantatron.’ There’s no gargantatron on the menu, so I asked, ‘do you mean gargantuan?’ He said, ‘no, I mean gargantatron. A gargantuan with double meat.’ The guys working the line could barely close the thing without destroying the bread. I’m glad I didn’t get to witness the guy eating it.”
“We’re Talking Well Over 4000 Calories In One Meal”
“I used to work at Macaroni Grill. The Spaghetti Bolognese, if you’ve never had it, has something like 2000 calories in it — without the meatballs. The bread, which is freaking delicious, has 800 calories per loaf. So, this guy would come in maybe once or twice a week and order the Spaghetti Bolognese, with extra meatballs and extra meat sauce, consume it along with three loaves of bread and maybe 6 or 7 cokes. We’re talking well over 4000 calories in one meal. Freaking disgusting.
“A Minute Or Two Later I Hear A Commotion And Come Out To See…”
“I worked at a restaurant/fish market type of establishment, where we sold raw product but would also prepare the food on the spot. One day I was helping an old asian lady out and she told me had never had a whole lobster and would love to try one. As she was shopping in the fish market portion, I assumed she wanted it live. So we went over to the lobster tank and she picked the happiest little lobster out there. I asked her if she wanted to pay $16.99 for it alive or $22.99 for us to cook and serve it to her. She decided to take it alive, so I took some time to weigh it out, and wrap it up in a takeout box for her to take home. I put it down on the table and walk away. A minute or two later I hear a commotion and come out to see this little asian lady with a knife trying to cut off the claw of the lobster…Apparently she thought that she was supposed to eat this thing live. I cooked it for her.”