Working around people's food is never easy, but when your clientele is this stupid, it's almost impossible. These people aren't just needy, greedy, rude and crude, they're literally idiots. No one should have to put up with the sort of behavior these folks get away with in public! Servers really do have to put up with the worst society has to offer!
Luckily, these servers were able to let off some steam. They posted their stories on Reddit and we found the very best of the best, or should we say the worst of the worst? Honestly, the pay is definitely not worth what these poor restaurant employees have to deal with! Content has been edited for clarity.
Baby Got Bacon
“When I worked at a restaurant, I had a lady order a bacon cheeseburger with extra bacon. As soon as I set it down and walked away, I saw her take all the bacon and stuff it in her mouth. Moments later, she hailed me to tell me that they had forgotten her bacon and she wanted the burger for free.”
She Couldn’t Believe Anyone Was Dumb Enough To Make That Mistake
“My sister shared this gem with me: A guy walked into the fast food chicken place she worked at. This restaurant was located on a semi-busy street with a bunch of other fast food places. The guy walked up to the counter while fishing around for money in his pocket.
Sister: ‘Hi, welcome to (chicken place), what can I-‘
Man: ‘Double cheese! ‘
Sister: confused ‘I’m sorry?’
Man: ‘Double CHEESE!’
My sister turned to menu board located above the register: ‘Sir, we have-‘
Man: ‘DOUBLE CHEESE! HOW HARD IS THAT TO UNDERSTAND!’
My sister was annoyed by this point, so she just rang up his order for the one thing closely resembling his odd request: two sides of macaroni and cheese. She put the two small bowls on his tray and handed it to him.
Man: ‘What in the Sam Hill is this?! I SAID double cheese!’
At this point, the manager came up to the counter and asked the customer if there was a problem.
Man: ‘Yeah! I asked for a double cheese and got this crap,’ as he pointed to the two bowls of macaroni and cheese.
Manager: ‘This isn’t what you wanted?’
Man: ‘No, I wanted a double cheeseburger!’
The manager, annoyed, started pointing to the board and yelling, ‘CHICKEN, CHICKEN, CHICKEN!’
Man, finally realizing: ‘Oh, this isn’t McDonald’s?'”
How Could She Expect Anyone To Guess What She Really Meant?
“I had a lady come into my coffee shop today who had no idea what she wanted. She told me she was ordering from her son and the conversation went like this:
Her: ‘He wants that Italian soda thing!’
Me: ‘I’m sorry. We don’t carry Italian soda. Do you know anything else about the drink?’
Her: ‘It’s the Italian soda one.’
Me: ‘Okay. Was this a hot or cold drink?’
Her: ‘It was a cold one. The Italian soda!’
Me: ‘We don’t carry Italian soda but maybe you’re thinking of something else. Was it blended with ice?’
Her: ‘No. I know it was Italian soda and no it wasn’t blended with ice.’
Me: ‘Well I think you might have us mixed up with somewhere else because we have never had anything carbonated, bubbly, or resembling Italian soda.’
Her: ‘No! I know it is this location. You guys make it for him all the time!’
Me: ‘Oh, is your son a regular? Maybe someone else here knows his order.’
Her: ‘No. He’s not a regular. He’s been here like four or five times and always has you guys make him the Italian soda.’
Me: ‘Well, the only ice drinks we have are iced teas, juice-based refreshers, or iced coffees. Could it be anything like that? None of them are carbonated.’
Her: ‘It’s none of those things. It’s just like Italian soda except it’s not called Italian soda and you guys know how to make it, so will you please make one for him?’
Me: ‘Ma’am, I can’t make this drink for him if neither of us knows what it is.’
Her: ‘But I know what it is! It’s an Italian soda!’
I almost lost it. She settled on some frozen blended mocha drink instead, but not without chastising us about how it really shouldn’t be this hard to make her an Italian soda.”
All Sweet, No Sour
“I went to dinner once at a Chinese restaurant in Missouri and a woman at the table next to ours yelled at the waiter, ‘Where is the other sauce? We are supposed to get Sweet and Sour Sauce and we only got one sauce!'”
“What?! No Starbucks!”
“I work at a small coffee shop that roasted their own beans/had their own brand.
Customer: ‘Do you sell Starbucks here?’
Me: ‘No ma’am, we roast our own coffee.’
Customer: ‘Well, that’s just bad business!’ …Okay.”
A Little Lesson In Italian
“I work at an Italian place right now. We call our Italian menu items by Italian names with English descriptions. I get a lot of questions but I don’t mind a hair because I get paid to talk about food.
Not too long ago, though, it sort of went slapstick. It’s not that they asked a dumb question, but they kept asking it.
Them: ‘Pollo e penne?’
Me: ‘Oh, that’s chicken and pasta with-‘
Them: ‘Does it have meat in it?’
Me: ‘The chicken pasta? Yes, pollo is Italian for chicken.’
Them: ‘Can I get the chicken but not the pollo?’
Me: ‘Pollo is just Italian for chicken; if you want chicken it’s really good-‘
Them: ‘No, I like chicken but I don’t want pollo.’ I kind of lost it for a split second.”
Hanging Up Was The Only Response He Had For Her
“A lady called to complain about her burnt pizza. I asked for her name but couldn’t find it among the night’s orders. I asked when she ordered and she said, ‘A week ago.’
I asked the obvious question, ‘So why didn’t you call back then?’
‘We went on vacation.’ I hung up.
Whoever came up with ‘The customer is always right,’ must not have worked with actual customers.”
“Sprite Doesn’t Taste Like Coke, It’s Not A Coke Product!”
“Customer: ‘Can I have a Coke?’
Me: ‘Is Pepsi okay?’
Customer: ‘I asked for a Coke.’
Me: ‘Ma’am, we don’t have Coke products here, just Pepsi.’
Customer: ‘Okay, I guess I’ll have a Sprite.’
Me: ‘Ma’am, we don’t serve Sprite here, either, since it is a Coke product.’
Customer: ‘Why did you say that I can’t have Sprite since it’s a Coke product? They taste nothing alike! Now get me my dang Sprite!’
I got her a Sierra Mist.
I got no tip and a complaint letter sent to my manager about how I refused to give her soda and when I did, I ‘sabotaged’ it as revenge, and she got food poisoning from it. She ordered the biggest burger we had and one of the biggest appetizers as well as dessert and ate every crumb. I got fired for that bull.”
Turkey…Ham, Who Can Tell The Difference?
“I worked at Subway when I was 16. A customer asked me the difference between the turkey and ham. I told her the ham was made from pigs and the turkey was made from turkey. She did not like my answer.”
Don’t Know What To Tell You…
“I used to work at Starbucks. I don’t know how many times people would come through and order egg McMuffins, McGriddles, hash browns, basically anything on a McDonald’s menu. And you’d say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, this isn’t McDonald’s. We don’t have those…’
Then they’d freak out and yell, ‘YOU DON’T SELL MCMUFFINS?!'”
A Not So Simple Request
“I’m a cashier at a grocery store and one time, I had a lady ask me if I could ‘tell everyone else to let her go first.’ Like, she expected me to force everyone who had been patiently waiting in line to let her cut them. It wasn’t like she only had one or two items either; her cart was packed.”
When “Massively Allergic” Doesn’t Mean What You Think
“Me: ‘Would you like some jalapeños with your nachos?’
Customer: ‘No, I’m massively allergic. I could die.’
Me: ‘Oh, then you shouldn’t have any of this then, the cheese and salsa dips you asked for both contain jalapeños.’
Customer: ‘Oh; don’t worry. I’m not actually allergic. Just not a fan.’
You idiot, I wasn’t going to force them down your throat. Say ‘no thanks’ and we’re done.”
Right House, Wrong Order?
“A few years ago while I was delivering pizzas, I was fairly awesome at triple checking orders before leaving the store since return trips cost me chances at more deliveries and tips. This guy had to be in his 40s or so and ordered a pepperoni pizza and an order of boneless garlic parm wings. He answered the door, threw a boneless wing in his mouth as he went to get the cash, then came back, furious, saying he got the wrong food. I’m 99% sure everything was correct at least as to my ticket, so I asked him what’s wrong, and he said there’s no way he’d ordered a pepperoni pizza because he doesn’t eat…meat.
This guy had survived to adulthood thinking boneless somehow means it’s not meat.”
Her Attempt To Get Free Food Was Laughable
“Customer: ‘HEY! I asked for light lettuce!’
Me: ‘Oh sorry.’ I remade her sandwich. ‘Here you go.’
Customer: ‘…I don’t get all the rest of my order for free?’
Me: ‘What? No.’
She’d ordered for herself, her mom, and two sisters. She was honestly shocked she wasn’t getting four full meals free from a small mistake.”
When Power Moves Fail
“I saw this happen to my coworker. I work at a fairly nice restaurant as a server. As with any restaurant, we get cheap people who want things for free.
A couple came in on a busy Friday night. They were sat at a table that had just been cleaned. They sat down and my coworker came out to say his greet. Before he got a word out, the guest began flipping out. How dare they sit her at a dirty table. My friend had to actually move around the table to see a smudge from the light reflecting off it.
The woman was now irate that he offered to clean it instead of giving them a free appetizer.
She looks at him, at 7 pm on a Friday rush, and said, ‘If you do not give us our entire meal for free, including drinks, we’re leaving.’ Keep in mind they hadn’t even ordered a beverage yet.
My coworker looked at them and said, ‘Then leave.’
They then tried to backtrack and say they wanted to see a manager. My friend said, ‘No. Get out.’ And they left.
My friend has worked there for 10 years. He went right to the managers and told them, I backed up his story, and we all had a good laugh.”
The Trouble With Onions
“I was working the self-checkout lane when a customer asked me why his onions weren’t scanning through properly. I walked over and saw that he had typed in the word ‘ONIINS.’ He went on to insist that our machine was the problem and that his ‘ONIINS’ should have been free because they weren’t scanning.”
The Grossest Possible Way To Get A Free Drink
“I used to work the front counter of a popular take-out restaurant. We got a lot of free or discounted food. Generally, the only thing we were required to pay for were drinks. They were $1.25 for a fountain drink.
One day, these two guys came in and ordered a pizza. They hit on me several times and made some gross, inappropriate comments. I rejected them and just did my job. They hassled me about trying to get free things included with their order and I shut them down immediately. They got really ticked. Finally, it came time to pay. It was like $13 total for their order. One of the guys handed me $9 from his wallet. He had several really large bills. I saw at least 3 $100 bills, multiple 50’s, and several 20’s. So he wasn’t short on cash. I counted it out in front of him and said, ‘Sir, this is only $9.’
He told me, ‘No, it’s not.’ I counted it out again and showed him and said I need four more dollars. He threw a fit and gave me $3 more! As if I wouldn’t notice. I gave him a ‘Really?’ look and he handed over another dollar finally.
After they paid, they started demanding free drinks. I said no. They said, ‘No one will care. Just give us the drinks.’ I said I could get fired and I wasn’t allowed. They got angry and said, ‘No one is looking. We’re thirsty and want drinks.’
I told them too bad and that they were pretty cheap and they could buy two. Then they asked for water cups. Our water cups were tiny and made of clear plastic. I finally gave them the water cups, knowing they would get soda anyway. I didn’t really care that much. Then the guy threw the water cups at the wall! He said those were too small and wanted soda cups. Then he accused me of being racist. (I’m white, they were black.)
At this point, I was getting upset and called for my manager who adored me and knew I didn’t take crap from people. When my manager showed up, they stopped saying I was racist and became quiet because my manager is very obviously half-black.
My manager asked if there was a problem and they said no and he was going to stay up there with me until they left but there was an issue in the back. Finally, their food came out so I gave it to them. Then they needed my help in the back so I went back there. When I came back up front, the guys were gone.
AND SO WAS MY DRINK.
We watched the video footage later, and it showed the two guys leaving the store, seeing me gone, then coming back in, one of them reaching over the counter, stealing my drink, emptying it out, and then getting a soda.
Jokes are on them because I was in the process of developing a cold. But seriously, what gives? They were that desperate that they stole MY drink? Which I drank out of and paid for?
Gross.”
They Tried Helping Him Out But It Was No Use
“I was on my headset at a fast food place taking drive-thru orders:
Customer: ‘I want a number 3 meal.’
Me: ‘Ok, what drink would you like with that?’
Customer: ‘No drink, but ring it up as a meal.’
Me: very confused ‘Are you sure? It’ll be cheaper without adding a drink.’
Customer: ‘Make it a meal!'”
Victory Is In The Eye Of The Beholder
“I was working at a pub, and this one guy ordered a pint of cider. I told him it was £5 and he gave me a £10 note that he had cut in half and said to me, ‘That should be enough, right?’
When I said no, he looked super confused, as if I had told him that he needed to pay with hair dipped in molten obsidian and sprinkled with amethyst glitter. Anyway, when I said he could either pay for it with real money or leave, he asked to speak to my manager. My manager called him an idiot and asked him to leave.
He then proceeded to swipe the drink and pour it on his face. I doubt he got much of it in his mouth since so much spilled on the floor. What happened next makes me question if he was an idiot, crazy, or a secret genius. He turned to make a hasty exit and just as he opened the door, he shouted, ‘I win!'”
A Lecture If You Do, A Lecture If You Don’t
“I was opening the store in the morning. A woman was waiting at the door. As soon as I turned on the lights, she started rattling the door. I unlocked it and reached for the open sign. She barged in, ‘Are you open? Why is your sign not on?’ Then she proceeded to give me a lecture on how it should be lit if we are open.
A week later, the same woman was waiting for me to open. This time I flipped the sign before I unlocked the door. She came in and yelled for five minutes about how the sign was on but the door was locked.
Sometimes you can’t win.”
Apparently, There’s A Wrong Way To Make A Latte
“I had a customer berate me for not layering her latte (so the coffee floats on top of the milk but under the milk froth). I told her that we had a new roast and it must have about the same density as heated milk because it doesn’t layer well. She scoffed at me that a traditional Italian latte (latte is not a traditional Italian coffee) is layered (nope, layered lattes were invented after a normal latte) because latte means layered in Italian (latte means milk).
The worst part was when my dad, who owned the cafe, came over to calm her down and see what she wanted, spent a good amount of time making a layered latte, carrying it ever so gently to this monstrous cow…only for her to put sugar in straight away and stir.”
Not All Chocolate Is Created Equal
“I work at a bakery. Every Tuesday, we have a deal on brownies where they only cost $2. They’re normally $3.50. Anyway, a woman came in and asked which items were $2. No problem. I was asked that many times throughout the day. I explained that all the brownies were only $2. She said thank you and continued to look around. She ended up buying four chocolate cupcakes, which were $3 each. She was so shocked and angered that the total came up to $12 instead of $8. She asked why and I explained that the cupcakes were $3, and only the brownies were $2. She went on to explain how the chocolate cupcakes should only be $2 because they’re basically like a brownie. You know, because they both have chocolate…I honestly didn’t know how to react to that one.”
Who Gets That Angry Over Coleslaw?!
“In high school, I worked at Burger King which was next door to a KFC. I was at the counter and a man came storming in with a paper bag in his hand; he leaned over the counter and yelled, ‘You gave me coleslaw!’
I was taken by surprise and didn’t really understand what was going on, so I asked him, ‘Sorry, did you say coleslaw?’
He proceeded to yell, ‘I just came through the drive-thru and I ordered mashed potatoes and I got coleslaw.’
It took so much self-control to not laugh in his face. I kindly told him, ‘Sir, this is Burger King.’ His eyes got wide, he looked around, then walked out. I hope he got his mashed potatoes.”
Trusting This Grocery Store Employee Is The Dumbest Thing Of All
“I work in a grocery store. We have a lot of international customers because of location, so we do get asked if we have all sorts of weird things that we’ve never heard of before. So strange questions aren’t uncommon. But by far the dumbest question I’ve been asked was when an Asian gentleman picked up a jar of mayonnaise, walked over to me and held it up and asked, ‘How do I eat this?’
It took all of my self-control to not just say ‘with a spoon.’
I started listing off things you would put mayonnaise on before he nodded and said, ‘Uh huh, thank you,’ placed it in his basket and went off to the registers. I don’t really think he understood what to do with it, but he knew he wanted to try it.
It blows my mind the number of times people pick something up off the shelf without knowing what it is, what it goes with or anything about it at all, ask me, ‘What is this? Is it good?’ And if I say yes, that’s all they need to decide if they want it or not. Usually, my answer will have nothing to do with how to use it, what it goes with or anything and yet they expect that I’ve sampled every product in the store and know everything and therefore I’m a trustworthy source of information.”
Going Bananas Over Bananas
“I was stocking bananas. A woman came up to me and said, ‘I need a bunch of five.’
So I kinda mumbled, ‘Oh, okay,’ and moved out of her way so she can pick and choose her bananas as she likes. I continued stocking and I noticed she had not picked her bananas and she was staring at me. Eventually, she said to me, ‘Just take two off of the bunch you’re holding!’ Like, woman, I’m not confused because I’m incapable of performing basic arithmetic. I’m confused as to why you felt the need to interrupt my work and why you couldn’t pick your own bananas, like an adult.”