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Employee Maliciously Complies And Makes Karen Order The Way She Wants To, She Ends Up Paying 5 Times More
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Employee Maliciously Complies And Makes Karen Order The Way She Wants To, She Ends Up Paying 5 Times More

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When people say that “tastes differ” they mean, among other things, their food preferences. After all, each of us loves to eat something special, and this should be treated with respect. Of course, only when they treat you with the same respect.

Otherwise, there is always a risk of ending up like this story by user u/wastingtimaway on the Reddit MaliciousCompliance community, where the customer’s arrogance and her unwillingness to listen to the employee’s opinion led her to financial losses.

Tex-Mex customer shows her arrogance to employee while ordering special quesadilla and receives some instant karma

Image credits: David Burn (not the actual photo)

The employee suggested she could wrap tomatoes and lettuce in a tortilla and charge the customer over 5 times less

Image credits: wastingtimaway

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Image credits: Denis Dervisevic (not the actual phoro)

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Image credits: wastingtimaway

The customer, however, did not want to listen to any explanations and simply demanded her order served as she ordered it

Image credits: Marco Verch Professional Photographer (not the actual photo)

Employee Maliciously Complies And Makes Karen Order The Way She Wants To, She Ends Up Paying 5 Times More

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Image credits: wastingtimaway

All this led the customer to paying the price of two full-fledged quesadillas, though she ordered them without most of their regular ingredients

So the Original Poster (OP) was once working at a Tex-Mex restaurant, and one day she was asked by a customer to make two vegan, gluten-free, cheese-free quesadillas when the regular price was $12. The author of the post once again clarified whether it was worth removing almost all the usual contents of a quesadilla, and she again confirmed.

In fact, the client just wanted lettuce and tomatoes wrapped in a tortilla, so the author of the post quite reasonably suggested that she pay for those ingredients separately for a total of $4.50 for two servings. But the customer showed her arrogance and did not want to listen to anything. Just two quesadillas without anything non-vegan!

No sooner said than done. Two quesadillas obviously means two quesadillas. Moreover, when the employee gave the client her order, she looked at her with that same classic “You-can-if-you want” look. Instant karma was not long coming – the client was, to put it mildly, surprised to learn that she would have to pay $24, as she would for two full-fledged quesadillas. And here came the moment of glory for the OP, when she reminded the customer that she had offered her an option with a lower bill, but she herself refused!

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You have to give credit to the diner manager – when the client threw a natural fit over this, they completely sided with the employee (this, by the way, is not so common), and the arrogant woman had to pay a full bill of $24 for those quesadillas. As petty revenge, she did not leave a tip, but the story itself and the employee’s moral victory were definitely worth it!

Oh yes, later in the comments, responding to praise from readers, the author of the post said that the customer paid in cash, and the manager simply deleted the transaction, “refunded” the customer the amount of the bill that she actually had, and gave the difference to the Original Poster as a compensation for moral damage. Flawless victory!

Image credits:  Kampus Production (not the actual photo)

“To be honest, I don’t see how a quesadilla without cheese can even be called a proper quesadilla,” says Roman Sardaryan, a chef from Ukraine, who was contacted by Bored Panda for a comment. “Well, a hot dog without sausage is no longer a hot dog, a cheeseburger without cheese is not a cheeseburger. However, the client’s wish is like a law, so they can get what they ordered – however, it will be another dish entirely.”

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“On the other hand, there are many recipes for vegan quesadillas, where, for example, mashed potatoes with avocado replace melted cheese. It’s delicious, it does not cause allergies, and it can already be called a full-fledged quesadilla – because in this case, the taste will hardly suffer. However, if the client in this story did not want to listen to anything, it is unlikely that she would even agree to such an idea,” Roman notes.

Yes, there are actually many ways to make vegan quesadillas that are incredibly delicious, even if you don’t share the idea of vegan food. “These quesadillas were so freakin’ delicious that I’ll never be going back to my simple cheese quesadillas,” Nisha Vora, a vegan chef and food blogger from New York City, writes on her blog. “Sure, they take a little more effort and time than plopping some vegan cheese on a tortilla. But they are SO worth it. And they really don’t take thaaat much effort and time. As long as you’ve got your cashews soaked in advance, you can make these spicy, cheesy quesadillas in a half hour.”

In general, culinary experiments are always great and interesting, especially if you use some special ingredients that become a real kitchen game changer. Like, for example, in this special selection of ours. But even if your experiment ends in failure, do not lose heart, because there are always much more epic kitchen fails. In the meantime, we are looking forward to your comments on this particular story.

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People in the comments sided with the author of the post, exercising wit towards the hapless customer as well

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Oleg Tarasenko

Oleg Tarasenko

Author, BoredPanda staff

Read more »

After many years of working as sports journalist and trivia game author and host in Ukraine I joined Bored Panda as a content creator. I do love writing stories and I sincerely believe - there's no dull plots at all. Like a great Italian composer Joaquino Rossini once told: "Give me a police protocol - and I'll make an opera out of it!"

Read less »
Oleg Tarasenko

Oleg Tarasenko

Author, BoredPanda staff

After many years of working as sports journalist and trivia game author and host in Ukraine I joined Bored Panda as a content creator. I do love writing stories and I sincerely believe - there's no dull plots at all. Like a great Italian composer Joaquino Rossini once told: "Give me a police protocol - and I'll make an opera out of it!"

Saulė Tolstych

Saulė Tolstych

Author, Community member

Read more »

Saulė is a photo editor at Bored Panda with bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design. The thing that relaxes her the best is going into YouTube rabbit hole. In her free time she loves painting, embroidering and taking walks in nature.

Read less »

Saulė Tolstych

Saulė Tolstych

Author, Community member

Saulė is a photo editor at Bored Panda with bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design. The thing that relaxes her the best is going into YouTube rabbit hole. In her free time she loves painting, embroidering and taking walks in nature.

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Lulu Bell Laurie
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love when managers step up and have your back. Happy ending all round, including an embarrassed Karen

WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That needs to be done more often. Karen orders from the list, takes away lots, chocked over to pay the original price!? Listen to the one that works there, I think they know better than any of us eaters :)

Load More Replies...
WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We can't write a*s, but fub in the pictures above is ok? 😅

Jan Dunn
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bots can't proofread pictures.... This is all stolen content and I doubt that there's any real people behind bored panda. BP wouldn't exist without Reddit.

Load More Replies...
Linnoff
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why did the author copy over DarthBeavis' comment? You go through and select the comments you like and decided that one was worth including?

Matthew Fox
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'll wager good money she pronounced it "kayso-dilla" emphasizing the "L."

Marcellus II
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe she assumed there was a vegan cheese option? Not clear to me.

DD62422
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A good waitress/server, whatever, would have simply rang up the cheaper option WITHOUT trying to "teach" the customer the "correct" lingo. Lettuce wrap doesn't sound anything like quesadilla and sounds more like the employer is trying to get the customer to order an entirely different menu item.

Randy Gordon
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People are not very smart treating a server that way. You never know what they may put in your food to get revenge. I seen one woman on TV that said she got so mad at a customer that she picked her nose and put it in the woman's oatmeal. No, not smart to tick them off.

FatKid Games
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This reminds me of how it urks me and also makes no linguistic sense that americans think cheese with s**t in it is "queso" calling it that constantly, when queso is just cheese and cheese alone....

BeepBeepBoopBoop
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think that depends where you get it. Tex Mex near me has stuff in what they call queso

Load More Replies...
Marilyn Russell
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People are car-car crazy these days. And also very stupid. She got to be right though which is all she really wanted. She just had to pay for the privilege. Good for her.

Rasheeda Pennybaker
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me and my family if we are looking for something different we always asked the waiter what they recommend. They ways gives us the cheapest way to order it and we Lea them a nice tip.

Chris M
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's hard to get people to understand this at restaurants. We also usually recommend things that we like, most restaurants don't have specific plates a server needs to suggest

Load More Replies...
Rasheeda Pennybaker
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The manager most likely over heard how the customer was with their employee. But the employees I the past that had this customer either at that location or a different one probably just put the order in the way to make it cost less. This employee decided to make her eat her words. Too many people is getting tired of being run over and talked down to.

ImNotVerySocial
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Karen could've easily asked if the second item would've been what she wanted and to heat it up! I'm a picky eater too(sensory issues) but there's no reason to basically call someone stupid for it. The Karen got what was coming to her

Seadog
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Went to Outback, they had some special, forgotten what but with 2 sides I ended up with 2 salads. Great waitress said she could put both in one big bowl if that was ok. Sure, I'd prefer it that way. She came out with a huge, Jethro Bodine size salad. I even told the manager how well she took care of us and how excellent everything was. Skip forward a few weeks, go to another outback. Order the same thing and ask for salad in one big bowl. Salad came out in a bowl maybe 10% larger than normal, impossible for it to hold 2 normal salads. Manager said that's the biggest bowl they have (not true) and that's 2 salads. I told her to go put it 2 bowls and sure enough she had to add to it to fill the bowls.

StrangeOne
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a pathetic one. Unpopular opinion, but it just seems like a communication barrier and some misunderstanding on both sides. The waitress knew there was the cheaper option to punch in the order and knew what the customer meant. I'm just looking at it this way cos there's been times I ordered customized items and gotten "schooled" by waitstaff for not mentioning the right terms and it does come off condescending, even if that's not the intention. I believe the customer was reacting to a tone the waitress may have given off that she didn't mention. (Remember, the OP can edit and reprise their accounts to make themselves sound like the better one. We don't have the customer's side of the story.) The manager will of course be cool with charging a higher price. That means a gain in profits. I'm getting a notion the customer likely knew just 3 ingredients would cost way less. I would be pissed off too if I got ripped off like that. Just let the customer cool off, come back and try agai

Phyzzi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I do wonder how many "karen" stories are people with invisible disabilities advocating for themselves, and how many more are people who have faced gender discrimination all their lives taking a stand for equal treatment.

Load More Replies...
Liz Clarke
Community Member
1 year ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

The Karen sounds awful, but a no cheese quesadilla isn't that shocking as that's how it's eaten in some areas of Mexico.

Squirrelly Panda
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Isn't queso Spanish for cheese? I always thought cheese was an essential part of a quesadilla. Without cheese it's something else. Tacos, on the other hand, don't require cheese to be tacos.

Load More Replies...
Lulu Bell Laurie
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love when managers step up and have your back. Happy ending all round, including an embarrassed Karen

WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That needs to be done more often. Karen orders from the list, takes away lots, chocked over to pay the original price!? Listen to the one that works there, I think they know better than any of us eaters :)

Load More Replies...
WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We can't write a*s, but fub in the pictures above is ok? 😅

Jan Dunn
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bots can't proofread pictures.... This is all stolen content and I doubt that there's any real people behind bored panda. BP wouldn't exist without Reddit.

Load More Replies...
Linnoff
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why did the author copy over DarthBeavis' comment? You go through and select the comments you like and decided that one was worth including?

Matthew Fox
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'll wager good money she pronounced it "kayso-dilla" emphasizing the "L."

Marcellus II
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe she assumed there was a vegan cheese option? Not clear to me.

DD62422
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A good waitress/server, whatever, would have simply rang up the cheaper option WITHOUT trying to "teach" the customer the "correct" lingo. Lettuce wrap doesn't sound anything like quesadilla and sounds more like the employer is trying to get the customer to order an entirely different menu item.

Randy Gordon
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People are not very smart treating a server that way. You never know what they may put in your food to get revenge. I seen one woman on TV that said she got so mad at a customer that she picked her nose and put it in the woman's oatmeal. No, not smart to tick them off.

FatKid Games
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This reminds me of how it urks me and also makes no linguistic sense that americans think cheese with s**t in it is "queso" calling it that constantly, when queso is just cheese and cheese alone....

BeepBeepBoopBoop
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think that depends where you get it. Tex Mex near me has stuff in what they call queso

Load More Replies...
Marilyn Russell
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People are car-car crazy these days. And also very stupid. She got to be right though which is all she really wanted. She just had to pay for the privilege. Good for her.

Rasheeda Pennybaker
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me and my family if we are looking for something different we always asked the waiter what they recommend. They ways gives us the cheapest way to order it and we Lea them a nice tip.

Chris M
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's hard to get people to understand this at restaurants. We also usually recommend things that we like, most restaurants don't have specific plates a server needs to suggest

Load More Replies...
Rasheeda Pennybaker
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The manager most likely over heard how the customer was with their employee. But the employees I the past that had this customer either at that location or a different one probably just put the order in the way to make it cost less. This employee decided to make her eat her words. Too many people is getting tired of being run over and talked down to.

ImNotVerySocial
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Karen could've easily asked if the second item would've been what she wanted and to heat it up! I'm a picky eater too(sensory issues) but there's no reason to basically call someone stupid for it. The Karen got what was coming to her

Seadog
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Went to Outback, they had some special, forgotten what but with 2 sides I ended up with 2 salads. Great waitress said she could put both in one big bowl if that was ok. Sure, I'd prefer it that way. She came out with a huge, Jethro Bodine size salad. I even told the manager how well she took care of us and how excellent everything was. Skip forward a few weeks, go to another outback. Order the same thing and ask for salad in one big bowl. Salad came out in a bowl maybe 10% larger than normal, impossible for it to hold 2 normal salads. Manager said that's the biggest bowl they have (not true) and that's 2 salads. I told her to go put it 2 bowls and sure enough she had to add to it to fill the bowls.

StrangeOne
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a pathetic one. Unpopular opinion, but it just seems like a communication barrier and some misunderstanding on both sides. The waitress knew there was the cheaper option to punch in the order and knew what the customer meant. I'm just looking at it this way cos there's been times I ordered customized items and gotten "schooled" by waitstaff for not mentioning the right terms and it does come off condescending, even if that's not the intention. I believe the customer was reacting to a tone the waitress may have given off that she didn't mention. (Remember, the OP can edit and reprise their accounts to make themselves sound like the better one. We don't have the customer's side of the story.) The manager will of course be cool with charging a higher price. That means a gain in profits. I'm getting a notion the customer likely knew just 3 ingredients would cost way less. I would be pissed off too if I got ripped off like that. Just let the customer cool off, come back and try agai

Phyzzi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I do wonder how many "karen" stories are people with invisible disabilities advocating for themselves, and how many more are people who have faced gender discrimination all their lives taking a stand for equal treatment.

Load More Replies...
Liz Clarke
Community Member
1 year ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

The Karen sounds awful, but a no cheese quesadilla isn't that shocking as that's how it's eaten in some areas of Mexico.

Squirrelly Panda
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Isn't queso Spanish for cheese? I always thought cheese was an essential part of a quesadilla. Without cheese it's something else. Tacos, on the other hand, don't require cheese to be tacos.

Load More Replies...
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