In the world of fast food, workers often find themselves at the receiving end of peculiar and bewildering customer requests. From outlandish burger customizations to bizarre condiment combinations, these brave employees have seen it all. Get ready to delve into the entertaining and sometimes baffling tales of dumb customer requests in the fast food industry.
All stories have been edited for clarity.
Gimme A Break!
“There’s this one regular customer who tests my patience every single week. He comes in with his wife, attempting to bargain prices as if our establishment were a pawn shop. We often have a 2 for 5 deal for out sandwiches, but the type of sandwich is different each week. So, the man tries to reason with us and say, ‘It’s the same thing but on a bagel instead of a biscuit!’ Without fail we politely inform him that our prices are fixed and there’s nothing we can do to accommodate his requests. Yet, he remains persistently rude about it.
One Saturday was different, though. When I told him once again that our prices weren’t negotiable, something in him snapped. He knocked over almost everything on the counter. Then he started screaming and cussing at me before he stormed out of the restaurant. As he left, the man slammed the door with such force that it cracked the glass and chipped the building’s brickwork. The sound was deafening, prompting a poor baby in the lobby to burst into tears.
As if that display of anger wasn’t enough, he flipped us off in the parking lot before speeding away in his car. It was the stupidest thing. Of course it was our fault that the 2 for 5 deal was off that week. From now on, every time I see him, I just brace myself for the worst.”
A Perfect Day For Ice Cream
“I work at Dairy Queen. One day is was one hundred degrees outside and we were extremely busy. We had a person order over a dozen blizzards. Then the car behind him ordered an ice cream Sunday with extra with hot fudge and peanuts. To keep the line moving, we asked him to pull up because the car behind him only ordered a cone.
The man got upset we moved him forward but still did it. After I handed the next car the cone and finished the other guys extra hot fudge Sunday, I made my way out to give it to him. Now If you’ve never seen this item, it has several layers of hot fudge in the parfait and then some on the top. This man’s was loaded with a lot of fudge, but not enough to completely melt it. He normally would have had a few minutes before that large amount for hot fudge would cause anything. So I got out right after it was handed to me and gave it to the man. That’s when wife asked for a extra spoon. As soon as I open the door to go back outside, this 6 foot two-hundred thirty plus pound man was waiting towering over me and cussing me out.
‘You moved me up on purpose just so you could give me melted ice cream!?’ he yelled. ‘You are freaking stupid. I want a new one right now!’
He said some more cuss words and threatened me in front of the many other customers in the lobby.
Now if its one-hundred degrees out and you are in a hot car and you have extra layers of hot fudge of course it is going to melt. I went inside and we redid it for him and a manager took it out. I refused to deal the man after he threatened me over freaking ice cream.”
A “Rare” Burger
“One day during my shift at Burger King, a woman came inside during our lunch rush. When it was finally her turn, she came up to the counter and made small talk for a second before asking me if we could do a ‘special request.’
Thinking she had some kind of food allergy, I said, ‘sure.’
Then the woman asked me how much it would cost to buy one raw Whopper patty.
‘Excuse me?’ I asked.
‘I want one patty but don’t cook it. It’s for my husband and I want to make it fresh for him when he gets home from work,’ the woman explained. She was one hundred percent serious. ‘How much would something like that be? I don’t see it on the menu.’
‘That’s because we don’t serve raw burger meat,’ I said, not even hiding how appalled I was. Never in the six years I had worked fast food had someone asked me for uncooked food. That’s when this kind woman transformed into an irate crazy person with a strange sense of entitlement.
‘But you said you could make accommodations!’ She hollered.
‘Ma’am,’ I said. ‘We legally cannot give you raw meat. That is a health code violation. If you want raw burger meat you can go to the grocery store up the street.’
My last comment sent the woman into a full on temper tantrum. I was half expecting a camera crew to come out telling me I was getting ‘punk’d’ or something. Eventually she left and I went on a fifteen minute break to process what the hell just happened.”
Not Pretty Enough!
“I recently quit my job at Starbucks. One story that comes to mind happened during a rush. It was a hot summer afternoon and people were piled inside and wrapped around our drive thru. We were making drinks as fast as we could to keep up, so it was already a very stressful shift. One drink that gets a lot of attention during the summer is the Strawberry Cream Frappuccino. Now I will admit that it’s a fun drink to make and it’s pretty to look at, but most baristas make it wrong.
After blending the drink, baristas are supposed to pour a little of the strawberry base at the bottom of the cup then pour in the drink so it gives it a ‘strawberry swirl’ affect. Then the drink is topped with whipped cream and nothing else. Well, some baristas put extra whipped cream at the bottom and the strawberry base, others put whipped cream, some strawberry base, and the freeze dried strawberries, (the ones we use for the Strawberry Acai and Pink Drink,) on top to make the drink extra special. While we do want to make customers happy, when baristas add an extra ‘flair’ to their drinks, it often causes confusion when customers come in after seeing someone else with a drink that was made wrong and they accuse of making it wrong or with ‘less ingredients than normal.’
Well, this one lady came in and ordered a Venti Strawberry Cream Frappuccino. Now I made the drink the traditional way in less than no time, but when I handed it to the girl, one look at her scrunched up face instantly told me she was about to complain.
‘Why isn’t there and strawberry topping on it?’ she demanded.
Not wanting to argue, I apologized and remade the drink adding the strawberry base and ‘real’ strawberries on top. It set me back by a few drinks, but I was happy to hand over the drink to the woman so I could catch up. This time, the woman made an audible sound of disapproval that made me stop again in my tracks.
‘You must be new,’ the woman said. ‘This is nothing like how this drink is supposed to be.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I began. ‘Did you want more strawberries? The drink normally doesn’t come with that but I can add more.’
‘Oh yes it does!’ the woman snapped. ‘There’s supposed to be red stuff drizzled all around the cup and more whip cream at the bottom. This is just wrong!’
I immediately started another drink. This time I went all out and added extra strawberry base, whipped cream, etc. When I handed the woman the drink, she snatched it up and mumbled something to herself before storming away. By then, I was behind by several cups so I asked one of my coworkers to help me out. About five minutes later, I had to bite my tongue because the same woman was back with the drink I just made. I intentionally ignored her this time, not wanting to deal with her. It was the store manager who was summoned to assist her. I heard the woman urgently talking to my manager. Then my manager calmly walked over with the drink and asked me to stop working so we could ‘talk.’
So, I dropped everything and asked, ‘What’s up?’
‘That woman over there complained and said you keep making her drink wrong,’ the manager began. She already knew what was up just by looking at the drink I made using extra ingredients. ‘Can you just remake this one again?’
So I did, adding the same ingredients but with ‘extra flair.’ Once I was done, the woman looked at the drink very annoyed then said something that almost made me snap.
‘This drink is just not as pretty as the one I had last time,’ she complained.
Then it hit me. She wasn’t concerned about the taste, but how it looked. I looked down at her phone still open on the camera and just sighed.
‘Can you maybe add some more of the red stuff?’ the woman asked.
So I poured more strawberry base on the drink then put the lid on top. The woman then stood there taking five or six pictures before picking up the drink then leaving. It took me a long time to shake off how annoyed she made me.
I’m so glad I don’t work there anymore.”