In this day and age, Karens are unavoidable. You will see them almost anywhere—at malls, parks, playgrounds, you name it. But the one place you'll surely run into them is at a restaurant. Food-service workers, therefore, have it the worst because they cannot avoid them even if they wanted to. From having to fulfill gross demands to getting stiffed on tips, here are some blood-boiling stories from food-service workers of dine-in Karens on their worst behavior:
1. All Yolked Up
Once, when I was working at this insanely popular breakfast joint, this seemingly adorable old couple walked in. After I ran them through our specials at their request, the woman ordered the duck hash, and the man ordered two boring poached eggs on toast. All was good...until I brought them their food. The guy started freaking out, and when I asked him what was wrong, his response made my blood boil.
Apparently, he was upset that I didn't bring him a tablespoon for his eggs. Granted, he didn't ask for one, but according to him, everyone knows that poached eggs are supposed to be served with a tablespoon. I've been a waitress for nearly a decade and I've served many poached eggs—yet I never heard this rule. Nevertheless, I apologized profusely and told him I would go grab him a spoon.
I thought that would be the end of it, but I was wrong. He proceeded to yell, "No! My breakfast is ruined now!" Then, he threw his plate of food at me and stormed out. His wife gave me a sympathetic smile as she slinked out behind him. I had to work the next eight hours with egg yolk stains all over me.
2. A Recipe For Disaster
I worked part-time as a busboy when I was in high school. We had this family that would come in—a man, his wife, and their two small kids. They seemed like the most ordinary family, but they were actually the destroyers of tables and they always left a disaster. There would be fries everywhere and stuff all over the floor. I sat and watched as one of the kids put the salt and pepper shakers into a glass of milk.
I was already annoyed at that point, but when the dad called me over, I almost lost it. He asked me: "Hey, can junior have a new milk? He had a little accident".
They would scream the entire time with zero reaction from the parents. It was chaos for the entire hour they were there, every time. I had to clean up after them over a dozen times before the hostess asked them not to return. They threw a fit but at least they didn’t come back.
3. They Left Me With A Sour Taste
Once, I had a big group come in on a Sunday. They sat down and ordered the endless chip appetizer. No drinks, just glasses of water all around. They even asked for extra lemons. They stayed for a few hours, and I had to wait around on them for my entire shift. But that's not even the worst part—their total bill came to only $6, and they tipped me a mere 50 cents.
4. Sweet Revenge
I had been working at this Thai place in my town for about eight months. I had seen the same teenage couple come in every Sunday and leave 0% tip regardless of service. One day, my boss decided enough was enough. She told me, "I don't care whose turn it is, you will take them next week, and you make sure you earn that 0%". I did a bit of a double-take—she couldn’t possibly have meant what I thought she did.
I said, "You mean"? She nodded and gave me a smile that was equal parts devious and smug. A week later, five minutes into my shift, they came in. My boss sat them in my section, smiled at me, and told me to do my worst, so that is what I did. I waited a good five minutes before going to greet them. They were ready to order, but I told them I didn’t have a pen and would be right back.
I went out back and had a small break instead. They were my only table, and I wasn’t handling food yet, so I didn’t wash my hands and I reeked of smoke. I took the girl’s order, and as the guy went to open his mouth to tell me he would have the same, I shut him up in an instant—I gave him the "just a minute" finger and pulled out my phone. I texted my fiancé and asked if he wanted to get dinner from my place or his tonight.
I somehow misunderstood and wrote down extra bean sprouts. Their food came up while I was telling my boss and the other waitress a story about my cat. After a long conversation with them, I finally brought out their food. I walked away as they were starting to complain about the sprouts. About five minutes after they got their food, I got a second table. It was a friend of mine from a former job, and we spent a few minutes catching up.
The zero-tippers were trying to signal me, but I ignored them. I came back to take the other table's order and started tending to them for every minor thing. As I was walking over with their appetizers, the zero-tippers stopped me and asked for boxes. I told him I'd grab them right after I dropped off this food. I then played a game on my phone for a bit before bringing them one small box.
They asked for two bigger boxes and the check. I promised I would be right back and asked my boss to keep an eye on the table while I went to take another break. When I came back, my boss told me the zero-tippers came to her for boxes and to pay. They also told her they were never coming back. But the cherry on top? My boss voided their check, gave me the $20 some dollars, and told me I earned it.
5. She Had Me Tongue Tied
I worked at a quick-service restaurant, and my store location was near some sort of convention in Ottawa. The city is pretty bilingual, but not everyone is. I am most certainly not—I grew up in the prairies, where French is NOT a mandatory subject. Anyway, during one of my shifts, a woman was trying to order but she was speaking French. Although I can get the gist of things if I hear certain words, she spoke rather fast, so I was having trouble.
After a couple of minutes of back and forth trying to answer her questions, I turned to a bilingual co-worker and asked her to help. That's when the woman gave a response that made my face turn red. She said, in totally PERFECT English with as much disdain as she could muster: "This is Canada. We speak French AND English". My mouth dropped. Not only because of the comment but because SHE UNDERSTOOD ME THE WHOLE TIME AND DIDN'T TRY TO HELP.
I couldn't wrap my mind around why someone would do that. All I could do was stare at her for a few seconds and walk away.
6. My Manager Had To Tip Them Off
I used to work as a busboy at TGIFridays. One day, we had a huge group of about 20 people come in. At the end of their meal, they received the bill. Everyone put in money for what they ordered. They sat there for a while doing the math and finally figured it out. They called their waitress over and one of the guys spoke to her. He said the dumbest thing she's ever heard: "We ain't order no gratuity. Show me gratuity on this table".
They continued to argue and at one point, the waitress gave up and cried. The manager had to be called in to explain what gratuity was.
7. She Was Whining For No Reason
A lady and her husband came in. Before sitting down, they told us that she was highly allergic to white vino, saying, "If you feed me white wine, I will die". So I ran around double- and triple-checking recipes, ensuring the kitchen was ready so that her food would be safe when she ordered. Her husband ordered the special.
I made sure to tell her not to eat any of his meal because it was dressed with a beurre blanc sauce that was made with white vino, and I would like her to survive her dining experience. I brought out their food, and the first thing she did shocked me—she took a big ol' forkful of her hubby's special. I cried out in dismay as she shoved it in her mouth. While chewing, she said, "Oh, one bite won't hurt".
She also single-handedly weeded every server on the floor by forcing them into inane, inappropriate conversations while they were trying to take care of their busy sections. She also cornered another guest in the tiny corridor leading to the bathrooms to aggressively tell him that he was being too loud.
8. She Was A Mutton For Punishment
I waited tables at a country club. I had a couple come in once, and as they were sitting down before I had even introduced myself, the woman was already complaining that they had to wait five minutes while we reset their table. She started off by telling me every time she gets the filet mignon, it is awful and cooked wrong. I suggested she try something else, but she declined and ordered it again.
I gave the kitchen a heads up to make sure it was perfect, as to save us all a headache. Her steak came up, and it seemed fine. I dropped her plate in front of her, and I could see she had a smirk on her face indicating she was not amused. She grabbed her butter knife and hit the top of the steak with the flat part three times. At that point, I knew she was about to go off...big time.
She hadn’t even cut into it or tasted it before saying, "This is disgusting". She had me take it back and bring her a new one. So, of course, we did, and she got her new one. She ate half of it and took the rest home. Before leaving, she wanted to talk to a manager. She complained profusely and got her whole meal free, along with a dessert, and left me a garbage tip.
9. They Were A Bunch Of Turkeys
I had a family of six come in on Thanksgiving. It was already tough to be working on a family holiday, knowing my tribe was at home enjoying themselves, this family made it 100 times worse—they ended up dining and dashing, causing me to miss out on what should have been a good tip was just salt in the wound, and, at the end of the night, I just cried.
10. Never-Ending Nightmare
I was a server at Olive Garden for two years. It was a typical busy night during our “never-ending pasta bowl” time of year. One of my first tables of the evening was a family of five—a mom, dad, two sons, and a little girl around two or three. They were all exceedingly overweight, and the daughter had on a dirty shirt and no pants, just a diaper.
When I checked back with them, I noticed an overwhelming scent of poo lingering around the table. I returned with some refills, and the odor was just as intense as before. On my way around the table to pass out beverages, I passed the high chair and noticed the little girl had her hand in her diaper. Her next move almost had me sick—I watched her pull out her mess and throw it on the floor to join an even larger one that was already there, slightly covered by a napkin.
I could not hide the disgust on my face. I don't remember exactly the words I used, but I turned to the parents and said, "Umm, your daughter has a situation going on over here". The mother replied, "Yeah, I know I threw that napkin over it", then continued to devour her third refill of never-ending pasta. I was in disbelief.
Not only were there two pieces of fresh Honey Boo-Boo style poo on the floor, but the girl’s hands were obviously covered in it, and not one family member seemed to care in the slightest. One of the brothers even asked me for another Dr. Pepper while I was standing there still in shock. I immediately told the manager on duty, and she didn't believe me.
I told her to go see for herself. She politely asked the mother to clean it up immediately and even gave her disinfectant wipes. That's when mom blew her top—she claimed it was not her job and she felt discriminated against that we would ask her to do such a thing. She demanded everything to be paid for. She picked it up, but she didn't wash her hands, didn't clean up her daughter, and continued to finish her meal.
I thought it was over, they would pay and leave, but as I was dropping the check, the mom said, "Uh, it's my son’s birthday. Don't y'all sing and give us dessert"?
11. Get A Handle On It!
I worked as a bar back. I accidentally dropped a fork on a very sloshed dude's foot. He got angry, shook his head, and grumbled about it. Bits of food fell on the ground as well, so I grabbed a towel to clean it up. I looked the man in the eye to let him know that I was on the floor cleaning next to him. What he did next was unforgivable—he proceeded to stand up and step on my hand as he walked to the bathroom.
I yelled out in pain. He didn't acknowledge it at all but instead chuckled as he walked away. Sadly, there wasn't much I could do. I had to walk to the back to calm down.
12. Short-Changed, Short-Tempered
I had a group of girls come in and order a side of fries and a lemonade. We would round to the nearest dollar instead of dealing with coins. When I gave them their bill, the difference was $0.13. I thought they'd be okay with it, but I was so, so wrong. They flipped out, so I went into my bag to scrounge up some change. They spoke to my manager who refunded them everything, and they proceeded to call me names as they left their table.
13. I Wanted To Ice This Guy
I was a bartender at a theater. On an incredibly busy night when we are well understaffed, an old guy ordered a Jack Daniels, then proceeded to blank when I asked him, "Would you like ice with that?" Instead, he sat there chatting with his friend while other customers were desperately clamoring for my attention. After some thought, I put ice in as it's the more popular option.
He then turned back and looked at his drink. His reddened face said it all—angry and disgusted, he complained, "What on Earth is this? I don't want ice". Flustered, I fixed his drink while apologizing profusely. He still continued to look at me like dirt, paid, scoffed, and walked off.
14. The Baconator
I used to work at Subway. There is one legendary customer that we only refer to as the "Crazy Bacon Lady" whenever we tell this story. She was an older woman who had come in one day and asked how much a six-inch BLT was. We told her it was $3.50 plus tax. She then proceed to yell at us, saying it was $2 when she had come in the day before...even though she hadn’t.
It was the first time she had ever even been in our store. Not to mention, the BLT was never at $2 in the three years I had worked there. She barked out her order the whole way up the line saying such gems as "I am a good Christian woman. I don't deserve to be treated this way. For $3.50, that bacon better be fresh! The service here is terrible! I'M NEVER COMING BACK, YOU HEAR ME!"
But the absolute best one of them all was when she got to my co-worker who was manning the cash register. He told her that the total, including tax, was $3.68. She said, "You people are workers of the DEVIL"! She plopped down the exact change, snatched up her bag, and stormed out the door.
15. Tossed Out Of Target
When I had just graduated college, I did a stint at Starbucks as a manager. We made this woman's iced tea wrong. It was a silly mistake and it would have taken all of thirty seconds to remake it. Instead, she reacted in the most appalling way—she threw it back across the counter, turned to her daughter, and said in the nastiest, never-worked-a-day-in-her-life, soccer mom, "trophy" wife voice: "See, this is why we finish high school".
Being the manager, I refused her any further service. She thought she had me by the hair when she went to get the Target store manager. She didn’t know that the Starbucks I was working in was inside the Target I had previously worked in. A number of other customers backed up my story, and she was removed from the store altogether.
16. I Got The Short End Of The Stick
I was new to the job and still finding my way when a guy totally ruined my day. His words to me were nasty—he insisted that I "wasn't capable" of the job due to my dwarfism. He kept complaining about "inclusivity being bollocks" and stuff. What was most frustrating about the situation was that I was not a good waiter, but it was due to reasons unrelated to my dwarfism—poor memory, anxiety, coordination, etc.
He doubted my competence before I had even shown any of these issues. It was purely based on how I looked. That experience got to me for a long time.
17. In Hot Water
The worst issue I ever had occurred when I was waitressing at a Waffle House. One evening, I was working a 6 pm to 2 am shift. Around midnight, the tipsy people come in. They are usually inoffensive, but on one occasion, there was this one dude who was anything but. His shirt was unbuttoned except for one button over his chest, which was in a hole three spots too high for it, and he only had one shoe on for some reason.
Our chef immediately declared that he needed to get out. The customer decided to demonstrate his disagreement with the chef's decision in a most peculiar way. It made everyone's jaw drop—he somehow managed to climb his way onto the bar, standing right in front of me at the dishwashing sink, and immediately dropping his pants to show he was missing underwear as well.
I panicked, grabbed the nearest available thing, and shot the man in his junk with the hot water hose we used on the dishes. Anyone who's worked in a kitchen can probably attest to just HOW HOT the water coming out of that hose is. The man doubled over, screaming and grabbing his crotch. He toppled over backward off the bar, hitting his head on one of the chairs on the way, and rolled across the floor towards the door, maintaining his fetal position the entire way.
After that chaos, we called the authorities. They came and got him, took statements, laughed for perhaps an unkind length of time, and took him to the hospital. Some months later, I found out he had plea-bargained to a couple of hundred hours of community service for public intoxication and disturbing the peace.
18. She Was An Endless Stream Of Problems
When I was working at an ice stand, I had a lady come to the window with her two children. It was busy, and the line was long. I took the order for her daughter, and then her son said he had to pee. So, she took her son to the side of our building and had him pee there even though there was a perfectly good tree about a few feet away...AND we had a bathroom that we allowed kids to use.
She was taking a long time, and the line was wrapping around the building. So, I took the next customer while she allowed her son to let loose all over our building. She then came back and stepped in front of the lady, saying she was ready. I asked her to give me a minute since I was almost finished with the customer that she had just stepped in front of. That's when she went into a deep red rage.
She started to yell really loud about how unprofessional I was and how I had terrible customer service. I then explained to her that while she had her son pee on the side of the building, I decided to try and get the next person out of the way. She went on to deny her son peeing on the side of the building and she said she would like to speak to my manager.
I gave her his number and wrote down my name for her to tell him, which angered her even more. She waited to get her stuff— screaming the whole time as I was making it—then huffed off. The people behind her each apologized for the way she acted, and they all told me I was doing a great job.
19. My Shift Was Turned Upside Down
A group of 10 came in to have drinks and sing karaoke for a birthday. I went around the table asking what each person would like, and I got to the “princess” of the group. She asked me for a drink menu, and I told her I had a brew list but not a cocktail menu. It was a dive bar, after all. She asked about pineapple drinks, and I told her we could do rum and pineapple, called a "Pineapple Upside-Down" drink, etc.
She was still trying to figure it out when I had two more tables sit down. I was trying to speed it along, offering her more options, and she just kept asking, “Well, what other things do you have with pineapple?” So I told her, "You can pretty much make your own drink”. Her facial expression immediately changed, and at that moment, I knew I had messed up...big time.
She took that as me saying she should go back and make her own drink. She got incredibly angry and started making a scene, spewing expletives at me and calling me incompetent. So I backtracked and said, "What I mean is we can start with a spirit and add pineapple and whatever other fruit or liquids you want". She FINALLY just got a Pineapple Upside-Down drink.
The night went on, and everyone in her group was super chill, except for her. She had daggers on me the entire time. They finally cashed out, and I gave her her bill, which was $5.01. The place was cash only, so I asked if anyone needed change. Everyone said they were good and left. I looked at her ticket, and she left me a $5 bill. Nothing else. She owed me a penny.
20. Mint Moocher
I had been in the industry for over 15 years and I have seen a lot. However, my favorite incident occurred when I was the manager at a steakhouse. My host at the time was a smart-alec 20-year-old who had a good sense of humor. As a customer was leaving, he scooped at least 50 mints in his arms, so the host said, "Enjoy the mints"! This infuriated the guy, and he started yelling and cursing.
I heard this from the front of the restaurant. As I was walking up to see what was going on, I saw a guy dressed in business casual attire holding a bucketload of mints two feet away, yelling at this kid. My host just had a huge smile and was saying, "No, I'm not apologizing". I calmly asked if I could help the gentleman out while being completely lost as to what was going on.
He yelled that he wanted me to make the host apologize. I asked him to please calm down and let me talk to the host to see what happened. The host told me, "I told him 'Enjoy the mints'”! I then turned to this guy, and his face was priceless. It was now completely red, and he was so mad he was shaking. The mints were practically falling out of his arms. I just couldn't take it.
I was trying so hard not to laugh in his face, and all I could manage to say was, "Sir, please enjoy your mints". Needless to say, he left in a hissy fit, called corporate, and then I had to explain it to my boss. We got written up, and we had to give this guy and his wife a free meal.
21. Goodbye And Tallyho
On one particular night, we were closing up and the tables were empty except for the bar. I was sitting at the end of the bar, resting my legs. The manager, who was also the bartender and a good friend, was behind the bar. This guy was sitting two seats away from me with an old British lady, and two of the cooks were sitting at the other end, speaking Spanish. The guy and the old British lady were trashed and belligerent.
The British lady started yelling at the cooks, saying, "This is not your country. Go back to wherever you belong. You guys are useless". I don't tolerate prejudice, so, naturally, I got livid. I made sure to put her in her place. I started yelling at her saying, “Who are you to say that you are better than another person. You're an immigrant yourself, hypocrite”. Then she started mumbling jibberish back at me, and I told her to get out and never come back.
22. Crying Over Fried Rice
I was a waitress at a gas station/restaurant. I had a trucker get upset because his rice pilaf wasn't made with white rice. He took his reaction to an entirely new and unnecessary level—He yelled at me, my coworker, and the cook, and caused a huge scene in front of a full house. He screamed at my coworker the most because she wouldn't put up with his crybaby nonsense. He asked for two bowls of rice and he was upset about both of them.
This could've easily been solved by giving him a new side of rice. However, it seemed like he just wanted to yell at the cook about "serving food that does not look good" while we were busy with other customers. I just ignored him the rest of the night and let him pout and glare. We discounted him and at least he did leave me a tip. However, I was embarrassed to be this grown man's waitress.
23. Wet And Wild
I accidentally spilled a small glass of water on a lady who was dining alone. The place was packed, and a customer had banged into me, making this happen. I apologized profusely, but she was absolutely vile. She was shouting at me so loudly the whole restaurant could hear. When she finished, I walked out into the kitchen and explained what I had done to the manager and my co-worker.
They started laughing, and I started crying. I told them how vile she had been and that I would usually laugh too, but I couldn't this time. As I was telling my manager how terrible she was, I could see him getting angrier and angrier until he said, “Where is she”? We left the kitchen, I pointed her out, and he marched over to her. I don't know what he said, but it involved escorting her out while the customers who overheard applauded.
24. I Wanted To Deck Them
I had a large party that took up my entire section on the patio. It seemed like a family celebration, and after everyone arrived, they needed tables in another server’s section as well. They ordered lots of food and drinks, and they ended up staying for seven hours, which meant they had a hefty bill. It was over $800. They took over the patio and were there for my whole shift.
However, when they finally cleared out, I noticed they had done me dirty. They didn't tip me anything. I cried the whole time I cleaned up their huge mess because I had to tip out a percentage of their bill to the kitchen and bar. This meant I had worked my whole shift and was now going home with less than minimum wage.
Many of my coworkers were supportive and told me similar stories that had happened to them, but it was less comforting and more painful to think about how frequently it happens.
25. Clinging To The Vine
I worked at a vineyard where we got the occasional limo full of sloshed people. We do not allow them in because we are not a bar and do not serve trashed people. Occasionally, the manager is away from the door, and that is when these people will attempt to sneak in. I had to approach one of them and tell them politely that their party had too much to drink and had to leave.
Her response made me clench my fist: "I'm not going anywhere". I assured her that my staff would not serve her, so it was pointless to insist on staying. I told her if she didn’t leave within five minutes, she would be escorted out by an officer. She didn’t believe me, so I called the local officer we have on-call right in front of her and said, "He is on his way. I suggest you leave if you want to save yourself the embarrassment".
As I was going out the side door to get the number off the limo’s plate, she followed me into the back office. Her next move had me livid. She pushed me into a filing cabinet and said, "WE AREN’T LEAVING". Then, her group came back, grabbed her, and they sped off in their limo. The officer arrived a minute later, and I gave him the plate number to give them a little scare. All this for a glass of vino. It happens at least three to five times a year.
26. Holiday Humbugs
It was Christmas, and everybody was getting ready to go home after cleaning early. Then, the phone rang—a family was coming in. They wanted a full meal half an hour before close. That meant a full tray of pre-meal tea and biscuits needed to be carried over to them. They were sitting at a table located at the furthest point away from the drink prep area. It was the longest walk possible.
Suddenly, the totally unexpected happened—my feet went whooshing out from beneath me, and I landed in a pool of hot tea and shattered porcelain. I got up and went into the kitchen to plug my numerous new bleeding orifices with happy hippo Elastoplasts. I cleaned my blood off the walls, restocked the tray, and shuffled back across the floor. I deposited the tray in front of the smirking customers and didn’t even get a tip.
27. Bad Vibes
A guy was out on a date with his lady, who seemed meek. I brought them their food and drinks. There was an obvious hostile vibe going on between the two of them. Halfway through the meal, I came back and asked if everything was going OK, and she looked like she was about to burst into tears. A “get out of here” vibe was strongly radiating from the dude.
I came back at the end of the meal to ask about drinks and dessert, and he was redfaced mad that I had the nerve to come up to the table again. He gave me the most disturbing warning: “Bring me the check now, and if you disturb us anymore, I'm gonna use this blade on you”, and he held up his steak knife with his right hand and pointed it at me. I remember looking at her, but her head was sunken down, and she would not meet my eyes. I brought them their check, and they left.
28. What A Cheap Puck
I used to work at a bar/restaurant that was inside a hockey arena. It was a cool place, and the people who worked there were fantastic. However, the arena was home to a now-defunct OHL hockey team. On the surface, it was pretty cool, but the players were just awful when they would come in after the games. Most of them were 18 to 20 years old at the time. They never had any money, and they acted like they owned the place.
One night, after a game, a player—a top-five NHL prospect—came in. He ordered a pizza, ate, got the bill, and waited until I was out of sight to leave the book on the table. Then he left. When I approached the table, I assumed he had left cash. Nope. Instead, he left me the most useless items ever: five promotional hockey cards that the team gave out that night, and one of them was the mascot.
I went and told the manager, who said that I was going to have to cover the $12 for the pizza. I, a 24-year-old waiter, was irate at having to pay for a meal for a kid that was getting ready to sign a huge NHL contract. I threw a huge hissy fit, and eventually, he agreed to void it. The guy ended up playing in the NHL and had a pretty solid career. I should have just paid for the pizza and had him sign his dumb card.
29. Holiday Heartbreak
I worked at a very popular seafood place in a resort town. One night, a vacationing family came in—a dad, mom, and two young boys, around seven years old. I got a weird vibe from them, so I immediately thought I was not getting tipped from their table. I went over to greet them and offered them one of our featured drinks that night. The mom immediately said yes to the special drink, and the dad interrupted her and quietly whispered something.
I didn't think anything of it until I returned to their table with the drink order. I was shocked at what I saw—I suddenly realized that this lady was absolutely trashed. I quickly went back and got her a dummy drink. As the dinner went on, I noticed that the lady had a flask as well and that her husband was subtly begging her to stop drinking. The kids began to realize that something was up and were clearly upset.
They were not saying a word and just sat in silence, looking down. As the woman kept getting worse, the husband asked for all of their food to go. I wrapped everything up, they paid their check, and as they walked out, the woman ended up getting lost and going into the kitchen. The husband had been walking ahead of her with the kids, so he thought she was still following him to the exit.
I had to go and get him and tell him—in front of his kids—that his wife was lighting up in the kitchen and that he had to go and get her out. The kids immediately started crying, and the one young boys said, "Why does she do this, daddy"? I wanted to die. I felt so bad for this man and his children. He was able to get his wife to leave the kitchen, and she finally exited the restaurant.
30. Looking For Trouble
I waited tables for three years, and one time, I had customers who seemed to be enjoying themselves. I was nailing my job with promptness and politeness. When I inquired how things were going, they responded with pleasure and thankfulness. Halfway through the meal, when I had left the table, one of the customers went and sought out a manager to complain, specifically about me.
What she asked the manager to do was awful—she requested that I be fired. Her reasons were inconsequential lies. She used her own experience in the food industry as her support. There probably would have been severe consequences for me that evening if the "cool" manager wasn't working. Her meal was comped, and she stiffed me. I still get upset when I think about it. It was as if their mission that night was to go out and get a waiter fired.
31. Discount Divas
It was a busy dinner shift, and I had a table of six—two middle-aged couples and an older couple. At the beginning of the service, I noticed they were very inquisitive, to say the least. They all ordered their meals, received them in a timely fashion, and had no initial complaints. I stayed on top of their refills and requests seeing that they were a bit needier than your average table.
When it was time to pay the bill, the lady in the middle told me it would be three separate checks and handed me one of our “Buy one entree, get one entree 50% off” coupons. She said that it would apply to all three checks. Confused, I informed her that she must have two more coupons if she wished to receive the discount on the other two checks.
She then said that the coupon said "One per check" at the bottom and that I was mistaken. Immediately, she asked to speak to a manager. I said OK and went to inform our manager of the situation. The manager arrived at the table and proceeded to tell her the exact same thing I said. She did not look happy...but it gets even worse. The old man at the table then blurted out that he was a veteran and that did not receive his veteran’s discount.
Our restaurant doesn't offer those kinds of discounts, but eager to get them out, my manager gave him a 10% discount on his bill. Now he was mad that the discount was not applied to the entire table and said, "I go to Waffle House and get 15% off my whole bill". Our restaurant was a lot fancier than Waffle House. At that point, they were standing up in the middle of the dining room, being loud and obnoxious at both my manager and me.
They were causing a scene in front of other patrons and employees. Then this lady came up right to my face, puffed her chest out, and said, "What are you, some kind of idiot? There's no discount on my bill at all now"! To avoid the stream of obscenities that was itching to escape from my mouth, I instantly turned around and walked away to deescalate the already deteriorated situation.
I went to the back and was visibly upset. My general manager was standing there, saw I was upset, and got loud with me, telling me to calm down. I tossed my drink tray and walked out the back door because I felt as if I was being tested. After my other manager explained the situation and the actions of the nightmare table to the general manager, nothing ever came of the confrontation. After they paid their bill, the manager handed me their credit slip. I got stiffed on $120.
32. Opening Day
On the first day our bar opened, we were slammed. We were using a point of sale system that was brand new, and it was garbage. The kitchen staff didn't know how to handle the rush. I was the assistant manager, so I was addressing all the servers' problems while running a 24-seat bar/getting drinks for the servers’ tables. One giant meat-headed man ordered wings.
I had to keep asking him to repeat the order because the point-of-sale system was terrible, and employees kept asking me questions, ruining my train of thought. He also wanted a different channel put on the TV in front of him. There were 42 TVs in the store and no master controller, so I would have to dig to find the correct remote while slammed. Then, he wanted extra sauce, so I forgot to try to get his stupid channel changed while running the bar.
That set him off instantly. He got up and yelled so loud that the restaurant went silent. He said, "This is the worst experience I've ever had at a restaurant. You guys are awful". I had repeatedly reiterated that this was our first day open and there would be bumps along the road, and I asked people to be patient. I couldn’t take it and quit that night.
33. Trouble Was Brewing
I worked in a pretty busy restaurant, where weekends were a living nightmare with over 250 guests for dinner. We would be packed until close. We had a system where every waiter had his own area. One of them was larger than the others and had two waiters servicing that area instead of one. One Saturday night, we were understaffed.
My manager decided to put me in the large area by myself, as the others couldn't handle it. It had happened before and was usually not a big deal. There were two round tables in that area, one with six and one with four seats. Both tables had families seated at them. As the evening went on and the restaurant got busier, so did my area. Therefore, my service slowed down a bit, and the tables had to wait longer for their food.
I apologized and explained the situation to every table. They all understood and told me not to worry about it...except for the father at the round table. He had been drinking quite a bit already and was obviously buzzed. He started getting angrier every time I walked past. At one point, his table was waiting for dessert, and his next move made me lose it. He stood up and poured his full glass of brew all over me as I was serving the food to the family at the table next to them.
At that point, I had no idea what had just happened, so I didn't know how to respond. Luckily for me, one of the bartenders saw this happening and stormed toward the guy at the speed of lightning to kick him out—almost literally. The only positive thing that came from this was that all the other tables felt so bad for me they didn't mind about ticket times at all anymore.
34. He Created A "Hostel" Environment
I worked in a fairly nice bar at a hostel, so there were many different types of people coming and going. The worst I could recall was a British guy who was traveling alone. He sat at the bar and started a conversation with two other travelers. He seemed like a pretty funny guy, so all was good. I opened up a tab for him, and he proceeded to buy himself and the two others drinks all night.
I could see him getting more sloshed by the minute, so things quickly went downhill. This guy started yelling at the people he was talking to, telling them they were not drinking enough. He was eating chips and had half of them fall out of his mouth onto the floor— which I had to clean. He broke more than four glasses that weren’t his, including one of our nicer drink glasses.
That's when I started to get really mad. I had already warned him a couple of times. He went to his room and passed out for half an hour. I still had his credit card and an open tab. When he came back, he clearly forgot to put his underwear on under his pants because he was displaying his rear to everyone seated as he leaned over the bar to ask me for another drink.
I gave him a glass of water and told him to go back to bed. He got mad at me and demanded another drink since he had already paid so much that night, to which I reminded him he hadn’t even paid yet. I swiped his card with the total amount, which was almost 100€, and handed him the machine to put his pin in.
Because I was already furious at that point and just wanted to get rid of him, I didn't realize the payment didn't go through. I only found out through my manager the next day. Luckily, since we were a hostel, we had his details and charged the bar tab directly to him.
35. All Tricks No Treats
When I was in college, I worked at a small-town restaurant in Texas. It was one of those chicken-fried steak-type places. It was Halloween night, and when all my friends were all out partying, I had the last shift in the restaurant all to myself. It was totally empty that night, and I had very few tables. Just before I was about to close up, a really trashy family of eight people came in.
I'll never forget one of the guys in that group—he was dressed as Fred Flintstone and covered his well-done steak in ketchup and soy sauce. They were rude, demanding, and worst of all, incredibly loud for no reason whatsoever. After I tolerated these absolute slobs for a couple of hours, they finally left. For my tip, they left me a soiled diaper and a handful of small change ON the table.
36. She Had A Long List Of Problems
It was Christmas, and I had a customer who wouldn't accept that her three-minute-long order, which took a sheet and a half of paper, wouldn't arrive before the drinks and appetizers. Not more than 10 minutes went by, and anytime I came near that table, she grabbed my apron, demanded to speak to a manager, or called me incompetent. Her poor family was quite embarrassed.
Things spiraled even further when her food arrived. She started pointing out all the things wrong with it. As I pulled out the page and half ticket this woman ordered for a surf and turf, I explained everything on her plate. She lost her mind and screamed at me to get the manager again while pounding on the table, then hitting her plate off the table. Her husband had to restrain her and drag her out of the restaurant kicking and screaming.
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37. Finger Licking Fool
When I was 16, I had an after-school job at Kentucky Fried Chicken. I was working the counter one evening, and we were packed. A guy got up to the register, ordered food, then handed me a check. We accepted checks, and usually, people would just fill it out for the total. I rang up the total, placed the check in the register, and closed the till without looking at the check because this was a fairly common occurrence.
The guy said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, honey, I've got some change coming to me"! I was perplexed and asked him what he meant. That's when he just totally ripped into me. He started screaming at me in front of everybody that he had given me a traveler's check for $100 and that he had money coming to him. I calmly explained that I hadn't realized he had given me a traveler's check.
We did not accept traveler's checks, and I told him I would need to get the manager to open the register to return it to him. I was 16 years old at the time in a small Texas town, and I had never seen one, so the situation was just naturally confusing for me; I was young. This guy looked me straight in the eye and said, "God, you are so stupid". I may be many things, but stupid isn't one of them.
I looked him straight in the eye right back and told him very loudly to go and take a hike while everyone, including my manager, looked on in silence. I never heard a word about it or even got scolded.
38. Read The Room—We’re Busy!
A 40-something-year-old, heavy-set woman was seated at my table. The first thing I noticed was that she was alone and had a really thick novel with her. I approached her in a timely manner and asked her what she would like to drink. The first thing she told me was that she was waiting for one more person, but she went ahead and ordered her cocktail anyway.
I let her know the bar was kind of backed up, so it may be a little longer than usual for her drink. Her drink came out, and I brought it to her. The other person still hadn't arrived. She then asked me why her drink took so long. I apologized and said the bar was backed up with drink orders. I walked away to check up on my other tables and about two minutes later, I came back to her table and asked her if everything was OK. Something just seemed off.
She complained about the drink and wanted to order something else from the bar. She told me what she wanted and then said, "Please don't let it take as long as the last time". I calmly told her again that the bar was unusually busy, but I would get it to her as quickly as possible. The other person still hadn't arrived. I brought the drink out, and she got tired of waiting for the other person and placed her food order.
Everything came out in a timely manner and correctly, so there was nothing to complain about. She then asked for the check, and I brought it to her. She paid with a credit card and left. I looked at the credit card slip. She left $0.00 for a tip. So, I looked around the table for cash but couldn't find any. However, I did notice that she left her novel.
I went to a secluded area of the kitchen with the novel in hand and proceeded to tear out the final chapter of the book. I then walked to the host stand with a smile on my face as she was coming back to reclaim the novel. I handed it to her and told her to have a nice evening.
39. They Were A Special Breed Of Rude
I worked at Friendly's when I was 16. It was my first serving job. One day, I served a group of 10, two of which were counselors, and the rest were special needs adults. As soon as I introduced myself to the table, one of the counselors cut me off and said, "They all want Cokes. Bring them an extra cup with ice so we can pour in a little at a time". No problem.
I came out with eight Cokes and eight glasses of ice. One of the clients got excited and grabbed my arm, causing me to spill the drinks on the floor. All of the clients at the table started laughing, and the counselor told me that I needed to "be more careful". After I cleaned everything up, I got the food order, which had many dietary restrictions. Then, it happened again.
THE SAME CLIENT WENT FOR MY ARM as I started running the food out. I was able to avoid his grasp, but the counselor hissed, "Watch yourself" like I had done something wrong. The table ate and got ready to leave. The counselor left me a 72-cent tip on an $80 bill. On the way out the door, she grabbed my arm and said, "Someone peed the seat. Wear gloves when you clean it up". I have worked at several restaurants, but that was still my worst experience.
40. Finally Free
I used to have this couple come into the coffee shop I worked at in the early 90s, before all restaurants in my state became smoke-free. He was a man in his fifties, and his wife was in her seventies and in a wheelchair. They were both always dirty, smelly, and vulgar, and they only sat at a table to drink coffee. The man was disgustingly filthy. He never bathed, changed his clothes, or brushed his teeth.
His stink would make me want to vomit when he came to the register to pay his $2 coffee bill. The woman only ever wore a housecoat and slippers, and you could see the catheter coming from between her legs with a clear bag of urine hanging off the side of her wheelchair. The husband would often bring her to the cafe, set her up at the table with her coffee, then leave her there for two or more hours. I tried my best to be welcoming, but they still managed to get on my nerves.
She would sit and cry but then yell at anyone who tried to help her. So, we left her alone and kept her coffee full, hoping the catheter bag held out. They seldom ate, but because they didn't really cause any trouble, and the restaurant wasn't busy most of the time they came in, the manager didn't feel compelled to ever do anything about them. They stopped coming in the day after our state enacted no-smoking laws in all restaurants.
41. Wedding Woes
I had a customer who ordered a full-sheet wedding cake with whipped cream in the middle of summer. When the whipped cream melted in the heat, it damaged the box and got onto her backseat, so she got mad. The funniest part is she became further ticked off that I—not a cake decorator— couldn't fix it. She demanded a manager. The manager, in turn, asked her why she wasn't more accommodating in giving me access to her backseat while I was trying to put a large and heavy cake back there.
She wasn't given a discount.
42. Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Cheese
I had a guest who ordered a cheese plate to go along with their vino. The cheese plate was pretty big with lots of different kinds of cheese on it, some rather expensive. So I set them down in front of her, and she asked me what they were. It was written on the menu card, but she seemed to want to hear it. However, I could only recall the names of some.
She rolled her eyes at my lacking knowledge and proceeded to ask if I at least knew where the cheeses came from and how they were made before insulting me for not knowing. But that's not all—she then complained to the restaurant manager about my "not knowing what I serve". I even went to the kitchen and asked the already furious cook, but he didn't know himself either.
43. Pasta Prima Donna
I worked at an Italian family restaurant that was locally owned and basically a staple of the area. My very first day on the floor without a trainer was on Mother's Day. A lady ordered gnocchi, and I wrote down her order. I got over to the computer and couldn’t find gnocchi anywhere, and for a good reason. It turned out we didn’t serve gnocchi.
I went back over to the table to let the lady know we didn’t sell that here. Her reaction was something else—she started screaming at me that I ruined her Mother’s Day, and the entire day was ruined because I didn't know we didn’t serve gnocchi. I could understand her being a little irritated at me. I really should have known that, but she should have looked at the menu.
44. Facebook Fiend
One Christmas, I was serving an older man who came in during a rush. I helped him like any other typical customer. The cooks had messed up his order, and I mistakenly hadn't noticed. The dude was mad. He cursed me out in front of multiple other people and my manager and filed a complaint. That was just the beginning. The guy found my Facebook and messaged my parents, saying how much of a mistake I was.
The only good thing that came from it was that another customer saw how terrible he was to me and left me $20.
45. Carousel Crybaby
I worked at an ice cream parlor with a moving carousel. The carousel seated twenty, and the rest of the restaurant had seating with booths and tables. Customers would usually seat themselves. We didn’t take reservations for the carousel because it was in high demand. However, people could have a birthday party at the place, and the cost of that would get them the marquee and the carousel for one hour.
I was walking around refilling water during one of those parties, and a middle-aged man was pouting that he and his family couldn't get the carousel. I explained that there was a birthday party, and he replied with a snarky comment that made me scoff: "Well, it's my birthday too"! His family was enjoying themselves regardless, so I didn’t care.
46. Well-Done
I was a server at Applebee’s. One Friday night, just after the happy hour had started, I had one table come in—a father and daughter. Things took a bad turn real quick. I got their drinks, brought them to the table, and began to take their orders. The father ordered our Southwest steak salad—which only comes medium rare and is clearly stated on the menu—and the daughter ordered the same thing.
The daughter, however, asked if she could get the steak medium-well. I informed her that it was the restaurant's policy that it only came medium-rare but that I would talk to my manager to see if I could make it happen. She said, "No, that's alright. I'm good with medium-rare". Her father then told her to shut up and began to ream me on how all of our food is pre-cooked and that it's ridiculous that we couldn't further cook the steak on that salad.
I took it like a champ, apologized, and told him that I would speak with a manager right away and make sure we got the steak done medium-well. I left and talked to the manager, who gave me the "okay" to get that steak cooked medium-well. When I came back to the table to deliver the good news, the father was face-to-face with a gentleman—a regular—from the table I was serving directly behind them.
They looked like they were going to come to blows. I ran over and tried to diffuse the situation, as it was not something we wanted happening right in the middle of the busy restaurant. Apparently, the gentleman who was a regular overheard how the father was speaking to his daughter and told him he needed to treat the two of us better and with more respect.
The father then got upset at this statement, fired something back at him, and the two stood up to exchange words and undoubtedly fists. The situation escalated quickly as I tried to offer to move their tables and let them know that we couldn't have them acting this way in the restaurant. Nothing worked. I ran to grab my manager. When we returned, the two were brawling on the floor. We broke them up, had to kick them both out, and I then had to finish the last three hours of my closing shift feeling rattled and out of it.
47. His Grossness Was Nothing To Sneeze At
I was a barista. One day I had a mammoth of a man walk in five minutes before closing. His clothes were covered in giant sweat stains, and he stunk. I managed to keep a smile and serve him his coffee. However, as I was making the coffee, I noticed a great big ball of snot dripping out of his nose. He wiped it off with his hand, and this was where my mistake happened.
This dirty human being did not even bother to wipe the snot off his hand as he handed me money for his coffee. As I took the money, he got my hand covered in green gloopy snot. I almost gagged. Somehow, I kept my composure and kept going until he left. I must have washed my hands 14 times when I ran back into the kitchen.
48. Lunchtime Loser
I was seven months pregnant and working at McDonald’s. Some customers would ask for orders to be brought to their table, which was fine. Some people are slightly disabled or have big orders and would rather watch their kids than wait for their food. I was carrying a big tray of food. That, along with my belly, meant I couldn't see my feet.
There was a small stool in the middle of the floor that I didn't see. I tripped and fell and partially landed on my belly. As I slowly got up in shock, my colleagues ran to make sure I was okay. However, the customer had a more disturbing reaction—she stood over me and berated me for dropping her lunch and insisted I personally pay for a replacement.
49. Garlic Lovers Surprise
Every so often, this woman and her sister would come into the pizza place I worked at. They always started off the phone call with how much they loved our food, how fantastic the service was, etc., then would say that we also never put enough garlic on the crust. There were five minutes of buildup just to tell us she wanted extra garlic.
I told her we would make sure to put extra garlic on the crust. They came in, got their food, and left. Five minutes later, they were back. She started grilling me on how there was almost no garlic on the pizza. I took a look at it, and there was considerably more garlic than average on that cheese disc. Not only did she get a free pizza, but she kept the one she complained about!
This happened a few more times, each time with more and more garlic. She got about three free pizzas total. I remembered the name that came up whenever they ordered, so a month later, when they called, and I saw her name come up, I prepared myself. I took their order, went through the garlic spiel, and ended the call. My manager and I were both fed up with her by that time.
The garlic bottle needed to be refilled, but it still had enough garlic for about six pizzas. My manager said, "Hey, watch this", and his next move made me gasp. He dumped the garlic on the entire pizza, not just the crust. It was an apocalypse of garlic. Lakes were forming on the pizza's cheese, and the crust was stained a bright, sickening yellow-orange.
It soaked through the box and stained the table underneath it. It was truly an unhealthy amount of garlic for anyone. Had I seen it without context, I would likely advise not eating it. The woman showed up, opened up the box, and seemed satisfied. She paid for her order and left. I was dumbfounded. I was seriously concerned about her well-being. She hasn't been back since.
50. Just A Coke And A Smile
A man came in alone. He looked to be in his late 50s or early 60s, and he gave me a bad impression from the get-go. He snapped at me to get my attention, and before I could speak, he said, "Coke. With a lemon wedge". We were a tiny little cafe without the funding for a machine or the attention for a sponsorship, so we didn't serve soda. I told him that, and he said, "I don't think you heard me. I want a Coke with a lemon wedge".
I was pretty confused because I made it pretty clear we didn't have Coke. It turned out he wanted me to walk next door, buy him a Coke, and then bring it in and serve it to him. I told him as politely as I could that this was absolutely not happening. His reaction made my jaw drop. He picked up the porcelain tea cups we put at each place setting and threw them on the ground, shattering them and cutting open my ankle just a bit.
The whole cafe went very quiet. I just kind of stood there looking at the mess of broken china. These were beautiful, rare cups that were impossible to replace, and I just didn't know what to do as an 18-year-old facing up against an aggressive older man. Fortunately, just a few seconds after the cups hit the floor, a man got up from his table across the cafe and walked over.
He then reached into his back pocket and showed the man his badge—he was an off-duty officer. The guy did not get his Coke with a lemon wedge or any food, but he did get taken into custody and administered a ticket for making threats and breaking public property. He didn’t let up, yelling, "I JUST WANTED A COKE! IF THIS LITTLE GIRL KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT SERVICE, I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO SET HER STRAIGHT".
Later, I learned he was the town looney who had done something like this at several other locations in town.
Sources: Reddit,
