Do not anger the people who are in charge of your food. Let’s repeat that so even those in the back hear it: do not anger the people who are in charge of your food. Food service employees are human beings and deserve the respect of their customers. Unfortunately, some customers are so rude that they end up practically begging to be given a taste of their medicine.
The restaurant workers of Reddit opened up about the very worst things that they’ve seen done to a customer’s order in a surprisingly honest thread. From waiters and cooks doing horrible things to the food to get their revenge to tales of awful fails on the employee’s part. There’s also a story about pickles being added to random burgers.
Read on for some saucy restaurant gossip and don’t forget to upvote the stories that left the biggest impression on you, dear Pandas. Oh, and if you’ve ever worked in the food service industry, we’d love to hear about the best and worst things you’ve witnessed. Tell us all about it in the comments.
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Wanted extra mayo so I maliciously complied by drenching it. Lady thought I would forget her fake $10 prayer tip the last time she was there.
Redditor u/RegulatoryCapturedMe’s thread on r/AskReddit drew in a large crowd and ended up getting over 33.5k upvotes. The stories were as insightful as they were entertaining, and odds are that they’re bound to make some customers reconsider how they treat waiters and cooks from now on. On the flip side, it’s also a wake-up call for anyone who messes with customers’ food for no good reason.
Before you start putting random things into the meal to mess with a rude customer, remember that this might end up hurting more than just their pride. Food allergies are a very real, very dangerous thing. And they're becoming more frequent. Restaurant staff need to be aware of any potential allergies that customers might have, as well as understand that sticking a dirty finger into someone’s dinner can cause anaphylactic shock if the person is allergic to nuts. They also need to reduce the possibility of cross-contamination between ingredients.
Bored Panda reached out to food expert, pie artist, and author Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin for her take on how to best deal with this danger as a customer and what to do to protect your health when dining out.
At my last restaurant job, my coworker would make very ugly sundaes for customers who were rude. For particularly nice customers, she would painstakingly recreate the sundaes in the menu pictures and give them extra cream and sprinkles.
The polite little kids at my tables always got finely crafted rainbows on their sprinkle pancakes
Some Indian guys came in one time and asked for us to make thier food as spicy as possible. I told them that's going to be extremely spicy and wanted to make sure they knew what they were asking for. They went on a long rant about how Indian restaurants are the only places that actual know what spicy is and anything we bring out isn't going to be close to how spicy they like their food. So I had the owner come over to tell them that we'll try our best but there won't be any refund on this food if it's too spicy. So we made them chicken fried rice with Trinidad scorpion peppers. After 2 bites and about 10 glasses of soy milk later, they ordered something else.
I've seen warning signs at restaurants in Santa Fe that there are no refunds if you order the spicy chili.
Food expert Jessica stressed that there’s never a 0% risk when dining out if you have life-threatening allergies to certain foods. She stressed that the burden of responsibility can’t fall just on the restaurant if something happens, even if the customer is very transparent in communicating with the staff about their allergies. There are simply too many moving parts to control everything, and cross-contamination is a real possibility even if everyone’s a professional.
“Most restaurants will do their best to accommodate guests with specific dietary requests, but for certain life-threatening allergies, it’s not always possible due to the possibility of cross-contamination,” Jessica told Bored Panda.
There are vast differences in food allergies. While some might make you feel uncomfortable for a time, others are a very real danger to your life.
This isn't really bad, but a lot of the times when people send food back and there's clearly nothing wrong with it, the chefs will just rearrange the food on the plate, wait a minute or two and then send it out to the table.
The funniest part is when the customer says that its better.
Or maybe they just don't want to ask a second time and be rude. So yes, it's better, thanks. I just won't come back here again.
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This is the restaurant equivalent of a store employee standing in the back for a few minutes 'looking' for a product they already said wasn't there😑 you gotta do what you gotta do.
Sigh ... OR the people are too embarrassed to send it back again and y'all should get better at cooking if you're having that many sent back 🙄 I know I've felt like i don't wanna be a bother even though I received an overcooked medium steak...even if i paid more than 15$ for it, but i digress.
What kind of steak are you eating if I was eating a $15 steak I would make sure they cook the s**t well to kill the bacteria.
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The only time I send food back is if my steak is overcooked. (I don't want to eat leather)
The only time I did it I was pregnant and the meat was still red/pink. The poor chef came to my table and I explained myself and said I was sorry. He was very understanding and congratulate me.
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Ngl, I'm the type of dude who would NEVER send something back. BUT! If I did, and it came back, I'd say it was "better" even if I couldn't tell there was any difference because I'm not gonna be the guy who sends his dish back TWICE. So, I guess I'm saying that they probably DO notice.
Moving the strawberry two inches to the left can make a world of a difference.
Completely off topic but that salad in the picture looks quite tasty. The only thing I ever send back is steak. I am very clear with the server. I want it seasoned and grill marks on both sides then stick it on the plate,cold center. Anything over that and I don't want it. I'm not spending $60 on a steak and not getting it cooked the way I want it.
Decades people have tried to talk me out of rare beef, or p**n off medium as rare. I have a favorite chop house that, the first time I was there I told the server that, if it didn't flinch when I put the fork in, it was overdone. Got to meet the chef, eat there a couple times a month, always get what I order as I like it; eaten this way from childhood, never a problem health wise.
Load More Replies... It will be really hard to convince me that the vast majority of these are actually discerning customers rather than a-holes pulling a shitty power play.
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Which is why if I have to send something back (rarely happens) I cut the s**t out of it before I return it
This works almost 98% of the time at Dunkin lol people just like to complain and send stuff back because they need to feel that authority over someone lol feels so good when they take the same drink back and love it
Or maybe the customer doesn't want to send it back again and lies about it being better. It's possible they just don't like the dish, not everyone's taste buds are the same and it's possible for any restaurant to make a mistake.
That's probably not the case very often, but I hear your point. I probably wouldn't send my food back twice either unless there was a legit problem both times. To be honest though, I can't remember ever sending food back. The one time I did, I didn't actually send it back. My child was served undercooked (almost raw, center cold and not cooked at all) chicken fingers- but I didn't send it back (you don't get a second chance risking salmonella). I informed the server, showed them the raw chicken, and ordered something else entirely.
Load More Replies... Had that tried with me once as a customer. Thing is, I'm allergic/intolerant against mussels. To a degree that they shouldn't even have touched a dish I'm going to eat. Of course, I had ordered (a super-fancy salad) specifically without them, and of course they brought it with mussels. Sent it back, and they surprisingly had a "new" salad ready after 3 minutes, when the original order had taken some 25 minutes. I explained my condition to them (again) and told them that I nedded a freshly made salad. Took some time but was finally worth the wait.
I was at an Olive Garden and ordered the calamari appy. It came out nearly blackened. No way someone could eat it way overcooked that way. Sent it back with apologies, a few minutes later... either the same, or a newly made order of nearly-blackened calamari appeared. Sent it back too. By that time my meal had come so told them to just take it off the ticket, only for them to leave it on there. They took their time fixing the ticket too. I can imagine the chef in the back rearranging it and sticking it under the heat lamp for a few minutes, thinking I was just a pain. Sometimes it's really just wrong.
My girlfriend found a hair in her pizza, sticking out of the dough, the server touched it with a fork and it broke in half proving it had been baked and not planted, my girlfriend was offered a replacement but declined so we got free meal, only time I have sent anything back, my pizza was great by the way. Another time my FIL tried to send my steak back because he refused to believe I wanted it "raw", it was rare, the way I ordered. On another occasion I was at a guys night out in a curry restaurant and the meal was nearly over when the waiter knocked over a pint of lager into my mate's plate, the lager wave swept up a load of bright red sauce and dumped it in my mate's lap, he had had only a couple of forkfuls left but accepted a replacement meal and a couple of free drinks over a refund, he then burnt his hand on his flaming sambuca.
I dropped a freshly plated poussin on the kitchen floor. Chef caught me chucking it in the bin after asking for another. Gave me one of ‘those’ looks, wiped it on a cloth, put it back on the plate winked at me and said the customer would never know! Customer later said how delicious his meal had been.
Circa 1988...KFC manager, and I quote, "Some people like their chicken a little more rare." His reply to me when I returned to the counter with a two piece dark meat that was literally bleeding in the paper tray. Seriously, actual blood coming out when I cut into it. "Rare chicken? Are you high!?" I replied. (It was only he and I in the store.) He refused to give me a refund. So I snatched my meal back..."Maybe they'd like to see your 'rare chicken' down at the main office in (nearest large town)!" His rare chicken comment has been a family joke ever since. At least I got my two bucks back! 🐔
At a busy lunch counter near my work, I ordered UNbuttered plain dry toast, but the harried, overworked waitress just automatically buttered it. When I handed it back to her, she waited a few minutes and gave me the same toast back again -- only she had flipped the slices of toast upside down so the buttered side was face down. I handed it back again, and this time she just made me two new slices of dry toast. But I never trusted that lunch counter again and took my business elsewhere -- not because she made a mistake, but because she was dishonest about correcting it.
I have had something similar happen, but not when there was nothing wrong - I won't send food back without a damned good reason and have only ever done so a handful of times. But the taste of blue cheese is vomit-inducing for me, and one time I ordered a salad without blue cheese, only to have it arrive with blue cheese. I politely but firmly sent it back to be remade. It was returned to me and it was clear they had simply tried to scrape off the blue cheese, but there was enough remaining that the first bite made me gag. The only time I have ever sent something back twice.
We had this happen several years ago where my other half ordered the lamb shank. It basically came back as a bone with chopped lamb packed around the end of the bone. Of course we sent it back. A few minutes later it came back and the meat had been slightly rearranged but it was still the same thing. I mean the land wasn't terrible but when you order it lamb shank it should be lamb shank and not just chopped lamb packed hard against a end of bone. He ate it but we told the staff that we knew that they just switched it around a little bit and gave it back to us. Never went back to that restaurant I wonder why.
They know it's not better, they just used up all of their courage sending it back the first time. Nobody Wants to send back their food. They only do it because there was something wrong
I ordered Eggs Benedict. The Hollandaise on it was cooked, as was the fresh spinach salad. It must have been sitting under the warmer for eons. I sent it back, they refreshed the salad, but I still had the browned cooked Hollandaise eggs Benedict.
Reminds me of when I was waiting tables and we were out of Rose wine after the owner made a big deal about how good our rose was. Since I never could stand rose, I figured a bit of cheating was in order, so I mixed the House White with a bit of House Red. The customer actually called me back to let me know that was the best rose she had ever had.
This isn't as weird as might be thought. Blending is used in some circumstances post fermentation though not for PDO (protected designation of origin) wines in Europe. It IS allowed for rosé champagne and some new world wines. As it's always a mix of grape varietals maybe you stumbled on a blend that was very similar!
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Some people just have insane control issues and need to feel commanding before they can dine. 🙄
When my daughter was a server at an upscale restaurant, entitled and rude customers would be 'crop dusted' servers pass gas as they walk by.
I have only sent food back when it was the wrong food. It would still be wrong. It's not always the customers fault that you brought me a burger when I ordered the chicken.
Or, they don’t eat or pay, just leave. Have done this once or twice. I like what I like and I am not paying for what I don’t like.
It has to be extreme for me to send something back bc I don't want a phlegm sundae!
I don't like sending back, but there's been times when I sent steaks back that weren't rare, but raw uncooked in parts. I tried not saying about it before and wound up getting sick after eating it.
Lol..presentation is everything..lol..current Icu nurse..OCD over dressings on incisions..lol.former cocktail server/ waitress.I've seen it all
I'd probably say it's better just to move on already. If I get the same damn thing a second time, I'm obviously not going to get what I need from you and I'm barking up the wrong tree.
always works. same as hairdressing when they say its still too thick or not sitting right but deep down you know that's it or it will ruin her hair so you pretend snip and rearrange hair and voila! she is happy!
Was it Michelangelo that was asked to change the nose on a statue, grabbed a handful of dust and did some fake chiseling, then was told it was perfect?
I've seen this done countless times everyone always go back there to see what was wrong with it. Ask people anything wrong with it. Nothing.. ......send back out bada boom it all right
Had this guy come for lunch once a week complained about everything, marinated a veal shaped piece of corrugated cardboard which he said was the only meal he'd enjoyed. Twat
There's a difference between veal shaped meat and not veal shaped meat?
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Never ever send food back. Unless you enjoy moist food that the chefs have spat at.
What the customer really wanted was attention and to feel special. Well, they're special alright. Helmet and short bus special.
I didn’t tamper with food but if you were an a$$hole I would spill water on you. Had a couple of people who came in 3-4 days a week, were nasty mean and never tipped. Every single server they had spilled a pitcher of water on them over a two week period every time they came in. They finally got the hint. Don’t be mean to people trying to do their (stressful )job. Don’t want to tip? At least be kind.
Tampering with food is not that common. I've been in the business a long time and only worked with one girl who spat in someone's food. Another server saw her and she got reported and fired immediately.
The only other thing that sometimes happens is when people get cocky and ask for extremely spicy food the kitchen staff turns into evil geniuses. A guy once asked me for wings so spicy that they would give a woman a miscarriage. I relayed those lovely instructions to the kitchen and I don't know what they did but the sauce was burning my nose and making my eyes water as I carried it out. He was not able to finish his wings.
When customers order like that, make a policy of getting witnesses, preferably the on duty manager, like the story above.
“If you are lactose-intolerant and would like the restaurant to hold the cream sauce on your pasta, that’s likely no problem. If on the other hand, you have a deadly peanut allergy and would like the restaurant to hold the peanut sauce on your chicken satay, well, that’s another story,” the food expert told us.
“The kitchen can’t guarantee that trace amounts of the allergen will not make its way to your plate, and they (understandably) don’t want to be responsible for your anaphylaxis!” she said.
“If your allergies are so severe that they will cause you to have a spectacularly bad time should you come in contact with your triggers, it’s best if you stick to restaurants that have kitchens and menus which already exclude those items,” she explained to Bored Panda that customers with serious allergies need to do thorough research about the restaurant before eating there. If there’s not enough information on the menu, giving the restaurant a call or heading there in person to have an open and honest chat might help.
It's not really bad but still makes me chuckle thinking back. My first job in highschool was at a fast food franchise in a very small town where you would know many of the people that came through.
Whenever a girl came through that this particular female coworker didn't like she would do whatever she could to increase the caloric count of the order. If the item had mayo she'd say put extra mayo. If the order had fries, put extra fries, larger soda/ice cream, extra cheese, etc in an attempt to make them just as little bit fatter out of spite - it was hilarious to witness this ritual.
Cindy, if you're out there I hope you're doing well.
Imagine getting things for free, from somebody who doesn't like for not liking you. Sounds like a win-win for me!
We would call that the "B***h Tax".
You're a b***h? You receive a 3/4 portion
You're a b***h? Have fun with your practically virgin drink
We would never mess with their food, but if you were over-the-top rude then you get less food.
am I the only child who would order virgin margharitas just for the salt? and sometimes a lemonade margharita lol
I worked in a very well known fast food chain for a while. My favourite example of this actually involved nothing. The person who bought food had been rude to staff on multiple occasions. The person serving went to get their food, popped round the corner in a noticeable way, then returned having done nothing. He gave the food to him with a huge grin on his face and said "enjoy". He then watched the person throw it in the bin when he went outside.
Meanwhile, the very best thing that customers can do to prevent restaurant staff from sticking fingers in their food or (God forbid!) overcooking their eggs is to be nice. Be polite. Be gentle. Be witty. You’re dealing with human beings after all. Everyone makes mistakes, and some staff are trainees. And you can’t expect to be treated with a smile like a king if you act like an angry troll living under a bridge.
Bored Panda previously spoke to a server working at a fancy restaurant about her work. She explained to us what leaves a good impression on the staff.
“That huge musician Seal was in our restaurant once and he could not have been nicer. Tipped well, made friendly, genuine, conversation with the staff, just radiated kindness. It was really an encounter I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” she said.
I had a buddy at mcdonalds, a real chaotic type, who every once and a while would say "oh hey, guess what time it is... PICKLE SURPRISE!" and put a whole handful of pickles on a random cheeseburger.
I’ve never f**ked with anyone’s food because thats gross
I did however throw someone’s credit card away after she mistakenly left it behind. Maybe she shouldn’t have stiffed me and been a b***h the whole evening
It's not the worst thing you could have done. You could have left it at the bus stop.
Many many years ago when I was barista if someone was exceptionally rude I'd make their drink with decaf.
Not all customers are as nice, however. Some have physically threatened and even attacked staff members. “Not just over masks and other safety requirements, either. It’s as though the stress of the last year has amped societal entitlement up to a new degree. I spend more time now soothing tantruming adults than I do running food,” she told Bored Panda.
“Just last night a customer followed me out to the parking lot and tried to take down my license plate because I charged him for extra ketchup, (as per our business policy, written on the menu,” the server told us.
“So, the biggest problem with being a server right now is, in short, that many people treat us as sub-human trash. Say hello, look us in the eye when you order, leave a tip, and don’t call us names or threaten us. Is it so much to ask?”
I used to work in fast food ... if you were a douche bag and you didn’t specify a meal or anything just ordering bits and pieces you bet I’m not going to offer cheaper packs with the same stuff! They got each and every individual item. Some guy once order some nuggets and chips and I gave him just that (approx $20) too bad if he was nice I would have offered a drink and saved him like $5 .
And vice versa some guy was having a party and ordering a whole heap of stuff but was such a nice dude I chucked it all into ‘meal deals’ and instead of it being $80-90 it was $50 (he gave me a good lil tip for that!)
ah. Read the signs. Maybe I'll start drinking coke if it makes my food cheaper 🤣
I worked at a popular fast food chain in my younger years, it was my first time with closing shift and we were all doing our part to clean and prep the store.
I see this lady with a mop and bucket come out of the back, slop it on to the griddle and START MOPPING IT. I was appalled. I went and told the manager and she tells me well that’s the quickest way to clean it then scolded me for worrying about things that didn’t concern me.
I quit that job next day and then called the district office and told them what happened. That location closed down not long after. But the franchise still exists.
A designated mop wouldn't bother me in the slightest. BBQ joints use mops to slather too. They're not mopping up the floor after tho.
Worked in restaurants for over 10 years. It’s pretty rare that you see people mess with someone’a food but it does happen occasionally. The most memorable was once when a customer made a waitress cry complaining about their food and sent it back. The chef farted on the remake. It got a lot of laughs.
More common is if a customer is an a**hole, when they order dessert, you find the smallest slice of cheesecake you can.
At the core of being a good server, according to the professional, is making sure that everyone leaves the meal having had a nice and memorable time.
“I’m always on the lookout for anything extra I can do to make the night special for our guests. If I overhear a birthday mentioned, we bring out a piece of cake. If someone comes in wearing a Dolphins jersey, we’ll turn on that game if they’re playing. We take pride in our work,” she told us.
She also urged customers that see servers being mistreated at other tables to consider stepping in or saying something. Especially if the servers being mistreated are young.
When I was a pizza delivery driver, when habitual non-tippers ordered I wouldn't cut their pizza all the way through.
This is why tipping is a bad idea. In my country they pay you a living wage and anyone demanding tips gets told where to go. You get delivery drivers on 20 bucks an hour demanding tips. They don’t get them
Worked at a high end steak house. The dirty secret is many of their streaks were frozen and thawed out at the restaurant. Honestly, this didn't bother me. Anyway, that's not the story.
So it was the last hour or so of the night. The cooks were getting steaks out for the next day to be thawed. One of the steaks fell on the ground. Of course this can't be saved, but since it's frozen and not hurting anything it's just left to the can get to it. So for most of that last hour this filet mignon was being kicked around like a hockey puck. It was defrosting and starting to stick and honestly was gross, but shit had to get done and it would be cleaned up when then mopped the floor me
5 minutes before close this absolute a**hole of a woman comes in and demands she be seated and wants a filet. So of course she gets that filet. It's picked up, washed off, and put in the rapid defroster (microwave) and then thrown on the grill till "done".
Everyone just watched and tried to keep a straight face.
She left after drinking a bunch of wine and taking her own sweat time to finish, about 1.5 hours after close. She didn't leave a tip. Paid cash, and literally paid with exact change.
Anyway, yeah, don't piss off the cooks.
My record was 2 hours and 20 minutes after close because the server overserved the hell out of his last table and let them stack pitchers. When they finally left, that server had clocked off and left me, the dishwasher, and the night manager to clean up that mess. He just ghosted. I have NEVER forgiven him for that.
The worst thing i did was to this one guy that I already didn't like and he was being kind of an a**hole, I overcooked his eggs.
“The server may look unbothered, but that’s because it’s their job. ‘The customer is always right,’ is one of the only pieces of training many of us get. It is literally our job to be sure tables leave happy. We cannot argue with you. So, just because they’re smiling on the outside doesn’t mean they’re not offended, or even feeling unsafe, on the inside,” she said.
“If you’re not comfortable saying something to the abusive customer directly, just find a manager and quietly inform them of what’s going on, they’ll take it from there. A lot of servers are students who are too nervous about losing the job or looking unprofessional to ask for help. And, as someone eating in the restaurant rather than working there, your words will carry far more weight with the harasser than ours would anyways.”
Not a restaurant but sometimes if a customer at my grocery store is being an a**hole I’ll put their bananas or bread on the bottom of the cart so they get squished
I was taught to pack groceries myself - goes faster, you make sure you got everything, and it's just nice to help the cashier, they get enough trouble!
One table were extremely racist to my colleague so I was given their table and they were so nice to me. So I overcooked their free brownie so it was burnt in some spots, put too much chocolate topping on their brownie so it was sickly sweet and very hard to eat
If they had complained I wouldn’t pleaded ignorant about burning it and would’ve said I was being nice with the extra topping
Some people have the sign "we have the right to refuse service to anyone" and i feel that would be a legit reason to use it. Poor guy.
If you are a b***h to baristas at Starbucks, you will get decaf espresso shots in your latte/cap/frap what ever. If you ordered tea, they will not shake it.
This is the way.
I worked for Applebee’s for 7 years, and not until my last year did I witness this act. One of the cooks would drop down to one pair of tongs for the grill station for closing. He used the same tongs for raw chicken, beef, seafood, and cooked food. He would swish the tongs in his sanitizing solution, that looked like soup since he never changed it, claiming that it was “good” after that. I called him out on it and he told me that he never told me how to cook, so I should let him be. I told management too and it was swept under the rug like everything else. I quit shortly after, but that was the only time I witnessed something f**king disgusting like that.
Worked at a movie theatre for a while. Our pizzas came frozen in a large bag of many pizzas, so the contents sometimes got shifted around during shipping.
One dude was acting like it was the end of the world because he got there late, hungry, AND had to wait in line. He ordered a pepperoni pizza, so my coworker went to the freezer, pulled out a pizza with ONE slice of pepperoni on it, and tossed that sucker into the oven.
The guy eventually got a refund, but that must have felt good to see the reaction from him.
Saw a coworker throw a hot dog onto a greasy floor, step on it, throw it back on the grill and then serve it.
The customer was treating one of our waitresses like total garbage (continually hitting on and demeaning her.)
He did clean the grill and utensils after.
I was 14/15 and didn't really see a problem at the time.
Guy was being an a**hole at the drive thru, so I gave him no onions instead of extra onions
Was over 10 years ago, I worked at a golf course restaurant, one of my female co-workers had some crude shit said to her by one of the old golfers. Something along the lines of "with an a** like that you shouldn't be in the kitchen, you should be on the course serving us beers!" Then he ordered a ham sandwich on the turn to the back 9. She licked the f**k out of that ham before putting it on the sandwich, then wrapped it in saran wrap, punched it, and went out and handed it to him herself.
Hate to say this but that old dude would probably have tipped her for the saliva. Yeugh.
Friend used to work at a small local grocery store, and apparently the owner would open a bag of chips, eat a handful, use a coffee hot plate to reseal the bag, and put it back on the shelf.
Pour the whole tray of drinks over a guest - twice. International trade fair with students as waiters. First time was an accident, second time she was so nervous she was practically shaking and spilled the drinks again on the same guy.
I saw a waiter pour an orange juice, take a big swig with his lips on the rim, top it up then take it to the table.
One time I ordered a liter of cola and the kid working the register secretly poked a hole in the cup.
Note: this post originally had 38 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Food tampering is a felony that carries a possible maximum sentence of up to twenty years in prison. If I'm your boss and I catch you doing it, you're fired on the spot. No ifs, ands or buts and no second chances. Clock out and get out. Give me any lip on your way out the door and I'll also report you to the authorities. Rude customers are no excuse for committing a criminal act that could cause harm to my business.
Okay. Having worked in the service industry for many, many years, and having to live off tips, I still find this disturbing. Messing with food like some of these claim is not only disgusting but illegal. There are a lot of jerk customers out there. There are better ways to deal with them. I don't care if you "accidentally" dump a water in someone's lap (been there) but good heavens. That's a bunch of petty BS right there.
Never tamper with people's food. Never. It's both illegal and dangerous. Over the years I worked in restaurants I never saw anyone doing it, but I did hear of those who had been fired on the spot for it. On the other side, if this thread makes you worry about going to restaurants then the solution is to not be rude to the staff. Clearly, there are some out there that are willing to break the law and risk their jobs.
Same here. When I go out, even if I'm not feeling great, I will still be courteous. It doesn't cost anything to just be polite. Don't have to be all chipper & cheerful, just polite.
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Honestly, I don't see the point in acting like you're getting revenge when the rude person has no idea you've messed with their food. It's not going to change their rude behavior in the slightest, so you're basically being rude to them for no reason...just like they were to you.
Always been polite and when I started working for a living, I became a good tipper. Can't recall any problems.
Yeah, that's how I feel. I'm a polite customer and friendly but I've found it doesn't take much to piss off the staff. I've had one female server get really snippy with me because I ordered a virgin cocktail and asked about customizing an order ( a simple request, really). Maybe she was having a bad day? I don't know what the issue was but she came back and said someone else was gonna be our server. The new server was a bit nicer but still had this guarded attitude. Like, geez, sorry for coming to the restaurant to eat.
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Nice or not, good tipper or not, it makes me second guess going out for food.
I had gotten a lot of abuse working at Tim Hortons (there's rumors going around they put some sort of highly addictive additive in the coffee to make people act like addicts going through withdrawals). Never have I ever seen anyone purposely messing with anyone's food. I have heard of people getting banned and kicked out. We've had to call police a few times. All in all I'm a pretty nice customer, myself, and do tip (very well if I'm impressed with the service) and I've still experience shitty employees that want to "suck it to me" for unknown reasons. Because they hate their job and perhaps the item I ordered was their least favourite to make? Who knows. I don't work a stellar job, either, but I put pride in what I do and my goal is to always try to make someone's day brighter.
I can't imagine the type of person who would be rude immediately like what could possibly warrant that? The only times I've been less than nice, though still pretty nice just not leaving as big of a tip, were at the end of the meal. I usually give them the benefit of the doubt that if something is slow, it's not their fault because the server doesn't cook the food. But the times I've been less than nice are like, when I went to a bar and they never asked me if I wanted a second beer when they came around to take my plate. Or the time I sat there for 30 mins with an empty plate and nobody took it so eventually I had to go up to someone and ask for my bill.
Couldn't you simply ASK for another beer??????
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I worked at a big corporation at 16. First ever job, the manager was an a*****e and one time as a "joke" put his balls on the head chef's food. He didn't tell him and the guy ate the food. He also would take all our tips at the end of the day with some excuse about the floors not being clean enough or us not working fast enough, every day. One day he got this pack of skittles and he was so happy that he had them, while everyone was busy he was seperating the colours on the bar counter (I have to clean that s**t) he kept going on about how purple was his favourite. Then he left to do something... My friend ate every single purple one then put the skittles back in the bag. He seperated them again to find no purple. Another coworker took the blame cause they were mates and he found it hilarious. Manager wasn't impressed. By the way, me, my mate and 3 others quit in the next month because of the conditions there.
DO you EAT Skittles??? I thought they were things you knock down with a bowling ball!
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As explained above; a lot of servers have to pay out at the end of the night- based on the table $$ amount. They also pay taxes on an average tip. So if you don't leave a tip then that server is actually paying out of their usually min wage salary for your table. Yes, the restaurant industry is messed up in the US. They should get paid way above min wage to put up with the general bulls#%t that most customers give them. But to take that out on a hard working server is not the way to go about it. I always tip 20%. Servers work hard regardless if you see it. If the server didn't do a good job then instead of taking it out of their income- tell a manager. I doubt if you mess up you get your pay docked.
I sell cars and I promise you any mistake is taken as purposeful deception and ends up costing money. "What are you gonna give me?" I don't know, how about I just correct the mistake and we call it a day? Why do I have to give you a free remote start, which takes away from gross profit which takes away from my commission?
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I worked at a fast food joint, the one with a smiley star, as a closing manager. Had a fresh-faced cashier, maybe 17, second day of training. Had a repeat offender return a sandwich, claiming it was cold. I came out of the back, was working on prep, and looked at the sandwich and reciept. Dude ordered the dang thing at noon rush, and it is now almost 6 pm. A**hole proceeds to yell, so I go and tell him I will "personally" make his food, but I want him outside in his car, as he is disturbing others. I then proceeded to go get a fresh patty going, but not before bathing it in the seasoning blend, standard salt/pepper blend (you know, grey). This fresh, pink patty is now grey with seasoning, and I poured a nice spoonful of jalapeno juice over the top, and send it through the charbroiler. I then do the same juice on his bun. Safe to say, MFR never came back. Please be considerate of new people, and don't return food 6 hours after you order it, saying it's cold. We aren't stupid.
Last year had a table call me the n word twice. After the first time they said it I politely told them not to call me that then they did it a second time and laughed telling me I was being sensitive. What they didn't know is I was already contemplating quitting. So I went to my manager in the office told I quit and told her why then proceeded to shred their order I had written down and hung out with my manager for an hour before clocking out and leaving. When I visited her a couple weeks later she told me they waited for two hours before being banned and leaving hungry. Don't mess with people who handle your food. Most servers won't tamper with it they will just make you wait. But don't be rude to anyone in customer service because depending on your state you could live in an open carry state and get a gun pulled on you. True story 😬
You guys should screen these a little more for obvious fakes. Several of these came literally from TV shows or movies
Everyone is here for a laugh. Does it matter where it came from?
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20 some odd years ago when I was 18 or 19 I was working at a restaurant that used to host large parties and banquets. I was waiting on this walk in party of 20 plus who all order the fish. I was the only waitress and it was afternoon so my boss was hanging around per usual. She was hovering over me the entire time and I was so nervous. I am bringing out massive platters of fish and she pulls me to the side to make sure I wrote down a Mic Ultra that I had just served. I take a few steps balance my load and pull out my pad, and as it comes out a shower of loose tobacco from my half smoked cigs comes with it. My fish is covered, I panic, my boss is right there, I cant send it back I will loose my job. So I served it, they didn't say anything and everything was eaten. Now obviously I would do something very different, I still feel bad about it.
Food tampering and food theft. It's so petty. When kids or parents are rude, I don't mess with their education.
Not food service, but I used to work in the optical industry. When I worked for an optometrist, I would do pre-testing (that's the person you see before you see the actual doctor) which included using the tonometer, the air puff machine. Any time I had a rude patient, I would give them extra air puffs: "oops! You must have blinked that time! Oh looks like we missed it again!"
Pettiest thing I've ever done. I greeted a table and asked how everyone was doing. The "leader" interrupted one of the other gals as she was giving me her drink order and demanded water with extra ice and extra lemon for everyone. I politely looked around and everyone looked down and agreed. I went to the back to fill the waters. I took an ice pitcher used to refill out on the floor, I filled a cup with extra lemons on the bottom of the glass then poured ice over the top. I poured the ice water from the pitcher in said glass so the ice wouldn't melt. Everyone else got an extra cup of ice and lemons on the side while the b***h was served the ice water glass. I wanted to make sure she understood she was acting like a €#nt. She tried complaining to my manager (he'd dealt with my petty shenanigans before and is on my side 99% of the time. This was one of those occasions) and he acted confused on what she was complaining about. She got what she wanted!
Another thing at my old job, the chef was complaining that the kitchen was too hot and his butt was chafing. So his collegue told him that flour is like baby powder and would help... The head chef then put flour down his ass IN THE KITCHEN DURING WORK HOURS which worked like paper mache and he essentially glued his ass together
A waitress came into the kitchen when I was a kid. She was livid. Shaking. She said she was going to cook, then she handed me a bun and told me to go in the back and do what teenage boys do. I still have no idea what they did to her.
Not necessarily. Many people just don't think they should have to tip so they don't. That or they tip a dollar for a 50 dollar order. It's definitely not always the fault of the server. Most of the time,people who depend on tips try to do their best and be nice because they know they need those tips.
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Food tampering is a felony that carries a possible maximum sentence of up to twenty years in prison. If I'm your boss and I catch you doing it, you're fired on the spot. No ifs, ands or buts and no second chances. Clock out and get out. Give me any lip on your way out the door and I'll also report you to the authorities. Rude customers are no excuse for committing a criminal act that could cause harm to my business.
Okay. Having worked in the service industry for many, many years, and having to live off tips, I still find this disturbing. Messing with food like some of these claim is not only disgusting but illegal. There are a lot of jerk customers out there. There are better ways to deal with them. I don't care if you "accidentally" dump a water in someone's lap (been there) but good heavens. That's a bunch of petty BS right there.
Never tamper with people's food. Never. It's both illegal and dangerous. Over the years I worked in restaurants I never saw anyone doing it, but I did hear of those who had been fired on the spot for it. On the other side, if this thread makes you worry about going to restaurants then the solution is to not be rude to the staff. Clearly, there are some out there that are willing to break the law and risk their jobs.
Same here. When I go out, even if I'm not feeling great, I will still be courteous. It doesn't cost anything to just be polite. Don't have to be all chipper & cheerful, just polite.
Load More Replies... Honestly, I don't see the point in acting like you're getting revenge when the rude person has no idea you've messed with their food. It's not going to change their rude behavior in the slightest, so you're basically being rude to them for no reason...just like they were to you.
Always been polite and when I started working for a living, I became a good tipper. Can't recall any problems.
Yeah, that's how I feel. I'm a polite customer and friendly but I've found it doesn't take much to piss off the staff. I've had one female server get really snippy with me because I ordered a virgin cocktail and asked about customizing an order ( a simple request, really). Maybe she was having a bad day? I don't know what the issue was but she came back and said someone else was gonna be our server. The new server was a bit nicer but still had this guarded attitude. Like, geez, sorry for coming to the restaurant to eat.
Load More Replies... Nice or not, good tipper or not, it makes me second guess going out for food.
I had gotten a lot of abuse working at Tim Hortons (there's rumors going around they put some sort of highly addictive additive in the coffee to make people act like addicts going through withdrawals). Never have I ever seen anyone purposely messing with anyone's food. I have heard of people getting banned and kicked out. We've had to call police a few times. All in all I'm a pretty nice customer, myself, and do tip (very well if I'm impressed with the service) and I've still experience shitty employees that want to "suck it to me" for unknown reasons. Because they hate their job and perhaps the item I ordered was their least favourite to make? Who knows. I don't work a stellar job, either, but I put pride in what I do and my goal is to always try to make someone's day brighter.
I can't imagine the type of person who would be rude immediately like what could possibly warrant that? The only times I've been less than nice, though still pretty nice just not leaving as big of a tip, were at the end of the meal. I usually give them the benefit of the doubt that if something is slow, it's not their fault because the server doesn't cook the food. But the times I've been less than nice are like, when I went to a bar and they never asked me if I wanted a second beer when they came around to take my plate. Or the time I sat there for 30 mins with an empty plate and nobody took it so eventually I had to go up to someone and ask for my bill.
Couldn't you simply ASK for another beer??????
Load More Replies... I worked at a big corporation at 16. First ever job, the manager was an a*****e and one time as a "joke" put his balls on the head chef's food. He didn't tell him and the guy ate the food. He also would take all our tips at the end of the day with some excuse about the floors not being clean enough or us not working fast enough, every day. One day he got this pack of skittles and he was so happy that he had them, while everyone was busy he was seperating the colours on the bar counter (I have to clean that s**t) he kept going on about how purple was his favourite. Then he left to do something... My friend ate every single purple one then put the skittles back in the bag. He seperated them again to find no purple. Another coworker took the blame cause they were mates and he found it hilarious. Manager wasn't impressed. By the way, me, my mate and 3 others quit in the next month because of the conditions there.
DO you EAT Skittles??? I thought they were things you knock down with a bowling ball!
Load More Replies... As explained above; a lot of servers have to pay out at the end of the night- based on the table $$ amount. They also pay taxes on an average tip. So if you don't leave a tip then that server is actually paying out of their usually min wage salary for your table. Yes, the restaurant industry is messed up in the US. They should get paid way above min wage to put up with the general bulls#%t that most customers give them. But to take that out on a hard working server is not the way to go about it. I always tip 20%. Servers work hard regardless if you see it. If the server didn't do a good job then instead of taking it out of their income- tell a manager. I doubt if you mess up you get your pay docked.
I sell cars and I promise you any mistake is taken as purposeful deception and ends up costing money. "What are you gonna give me?" I don't know, how about I just correct the mistake and we call it a day? Why do I have to give you a free remote start, which takes away from gross profit which takes away from my commission?
Load More Replies... I worked at a fast food joint, the one with a smiley star, as a closing manager. Had a fresh-faced cashier, maybe 17, second day of training. Had a repeat offender return a sandwich, claiming it was cold. I came out of the back, was working on prep, and looked at the sandwich and reciept. Dude ordered the dang thing at noon rush, and it is now almost 6 pm. A**hole proceeds to yell, so I go and tell him I will "personally" make his food, but I want him outside in his car, as he is disturbing others. I then proceeded to go get a fresh patty going, but not before bathing it in the seasoning blend, standard salt/pepper blend (you know, grey). This fresh, pink patty is now grey with seasoning, and I poured a nice spoonful of jalapeno juice over the top, and send it through the charbroiler. I then do the same juice on his bun. Safe to say, MFR never came back. Please be considerate of new people, and don't return food 6 hours after you order it, saying it's cold. We aren't stupid.
Last year had a table call me the n word twice. After the first time they said it I politely told them not to call me that then they did it a second time and laughed telling me I was being sensitive. What they didn't know is I was already contemplating quitting. So I went to my manager in the office told I quit and told her why then proceeded to shred their order I had written down and hung out with my manager for an hour before clocking out and leaving. When I visited her a couple weeks later she told me they waited for two hours before being banned and leaving hungry. Don't mess with people who handle your food. Most servers won't tamper with it they will just make you wait. But don't be rude to anyone in customer service because depending on your state you could live in an open carry state and get a gun pulled on you. True story 😬
You guys should screen these a little more for obvious fakes. Several of these came literally from TV shows or movies
Everyone is here for a laugh. Does it matter where it came from?
Load More Replies... 20 some odd years ago when I was 18 or 19 I was working at a restaurant that used to host large parties and banquets. I was waiting on this walk in party of 20 plus who all order the fish. I was the only waitress and it was afternoon so my boss was hanging around per usual. She was hovering over me the entire time and I was so nervous. I am bringing out massive platters of fish and she pulls me to the side to make sure I wrote down a Mic Ultra that I had just served. I take a few steps balance my load and pull out my pad, and as it comes out a shower of loose tobacco from my half smoked cigs comes with it. My fish is covered, I panic, my boss is right there, I cant send it back I will loose my job. So I served it, they didn't say anything and everything was eaten. Now obviously I would do something very different, I still feel bad about it.
Food tampering and food theft. It's so petty. When kids or parents are rude, I don't mess with their education.
Not food service, but I used to work in the optical industry. When I worked for an optometrist, I would do pre-testing (that's the person you see before you see the actual doctor) which included using the tonometer, the air puff machine. Any time I had a rude patient, I would give them extra air puffs: "oops! You must have blinked that time! Oh looks like we missed it again!"
Pettiest thing I've ever done. I greeted a table and asked how everyone was doing. The "leader" interrupted one of the other gals as she was giving me her drink order and demanded water with extra ice and extra lemon for everyone. I politely looked around and everyone looked down and agreed. I went to the back to fill the waters. I took an ice pitcher used to refill out on the floor, I filled a cup with extra lemons on the bottom of the glass then poured ice over the top. I poured the ice water from the pitcher in said glass so the ice wouldn't melt. Everyone else got an extra cup of ice and lemons on the side while the b***h was served the ice water glass. I wanted to make sure she understood she was acting like a €#nt. She tried complaining to my manager (he'd dealt with my petty shenanigans before and is on my side 99% of the time. This was one of those occasions) and he acted confused on what she was complaining about. She got what she wanted!
Another thing at my old job, the chef was complaining that the kitchen was too hot and his butt was chafing. So his collegue told him that flour is like baby powder and would help... The head chef then put flour down his ass IN THE KITCHEN DURING WORK HOURS which worked like paper mache and he essentially glued his ass together
A waitress came into the kitchen when I was a kid. She was livid. Shaking. She said she was going to cook, then she handed me a bun and told me to go in the back and do what teenage boys do. I still have no idea what they did to her.
Not necessarily. Many people just don't think they should have to tip so they don't. That or they tip a dollar for a 50 dollar order. It's definitely not always the fault of the server. Most of the time,people who depend on tips try to do their best and be nice because they know they need those tips.
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