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“They Somehow Thought Free Spaghetti Was A Reasonable Request”: 45 Of The Most Peculiar Requests Waiters Have Ever Heard
There’s never a dull moment for the waiting staff out there. They’re constantly on their feet, making sure every client is well taken care of and content with everything that falls under their responsibility. That includes dealing with their peculiar food-related requests. Whether it’s a dietary restriction or a side of whatever-it-is-that’s-on-their-mind, waiters are the ones to make sure the clientele gets what they asked for.
Some of the best stories about clients’ bizarre requests were told by the ‘Ask Reddit’ community members. The user evil_snow_queen asked the waiters and waitresses in the group to share what was the most ridiculous order someone had placed and how they dealt with that. Their answers cover everything from unusual food combinations to unheard of allergies, among other things. Scroll down to find them on the list below.
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#1
I worked at a national pizza chain for a while as a manager. We used to get this guy who would order all the time. He was lactose intolerant so couldn't have cheese, and had severe heart burn when he ate red sauce. He would order an XL Supreme with no sauce and no cheese. I told the guy if i did that, the toppings would just fly all over the box but he didnt care. We ended up just baking the dough separate from the toppings and put the toppings in a small wing box on the side for him. Guy said no other pizza place would do that for him and he turned out to be a great repeat customer who always tipped well.
#2
Barista here. We had a Narcotics Anonymous convention in town once. I had someone order a 16oz cup with as much espresso as would fit. It was something like 18 shots, cost about 25 bucks, and he downed it at the counter and went "woo!" Another NA guy wanted a 16oz cup with half vanilla syrup and half espresso. A lady regularly asks for a cup of regular coffee with a large spoonful of butter stirred in. We do breakfast sandwiches on bagels and croissants, and a businessman with a group of his colleagues had ham/egg/cheese, but he wanted it on a chocolate croissant. I think my favorite incident, though, was a lady that wanted a latte with half nonfat and half soy, a triple shot with one regular shot, one decaf shot, and one half-caff shot, heated to a specific temperature, double-cupped, one Splenda an one Equal stirred into the shots. The works, basically. The guy behind her thought it was as ridiculous as I did, and he loudly asked for a "mocha b******t drink" with one third goat's milk, one third cashew milk, and one third giraffe milk, cooled with a chip of ice from a Norwegian glacier and topped with nutmeg and gold flake. Then he said, "wait, is your giraffe milk fair trade? Ok never mind then, I'll just have a cup of coffee." He still comes in; I love that guy.
#3
I had a lady tell me it was impossible to make the dish too spicy. When I told the cooks they took it as a personal challenge.
I don't remember what they put in it, but I do know that someone ran to a grocery store for another ingrediemt. It was literally the spiciest thing I have ever smelled. Just being an arms length away from it for 30 seconds while I delivered it had me coughing and treats steaming down my face. Guests at nearby tables complained about the smell; just so much capsaicin in the air that people 15 feet away were uncomfortable.
But....
She ate everything. She ate every single bite and then scraped up the remaining sauce and ate that too.
Edit: Obligatory holy cow thanks for the gold.
Edit2: I know that I said treats steaming down my face, but I'm not correcting it. You will just have to deal with my autocorrect just like I do.
Pan Narrans 1 year ago
From the net: Some people inherit fewer of the capsaicin-detecting receptors that typically line your mouth and throat, making them less sensative to the irritating compound in spicy foods. When binding with capsaicin, these receptors send “Hot! Hot!” signals to the brain via the trigeminal and vagus nerves. The receptors also exist in other mucous membranes, such as the eye, and send similar signals that make your eyes water when you eat something spicy.
#4
I had a 4 top once that one of the gentlemen was ordering and asked for extra onion, and he made extreme emphasis on EXTRA ONION. So I go to put the order in and I have to talk to the chef to make sure he understands EXTRA ONION. So when the order comes out, I get a side plate of a cut WHOLE ONION. I giggle and take the order to the table. I put the orders of food in front of all the other guests and leave onion man for last. I set his plate of food and extra onion down, he looks up at me and starts laughing. The whole table is now laughing. Im like dafuck? Apparently wherever they go, no matter what he always has to ask for MORE onion, and this time my snarky chef nailed it.
Soph the Loaf 1 year ago
I for one would be delighted at having this whole EXTRA ONION to take home. Could probably cook something with it as the base
#5
Oh how I miss my old regular.
We are not a fine dining establishment, it's a small family style Italian restaurant.
This lovely gray haired gentleman would call ahead so that we could put a salad bowl in the freezer for him. After that I would go to his spot at the bar (or the closest one open to it) and set a large dinner napkin down (that he placed his salad/meal on). I would then place an empty wine glass with a napkin over it (per his request), just in case the dinner napkin didn't specify that the seat was taken.
Once he got there I would go to the back and make his specific salad: Very little lettuce, extra mushroom, extra tomato, extra onion, no shredded cabbage, and no cucumber.
That would be after I get him two ice cold beer glasses for his 70/30 sweet/unsweet tea mixture with an extra glass of ice.
He would then attempt to engage in a 5-10 minute conversation about our specials for the evening, and how he could alter them.
The guy came in between 3-6 nights a week and always tipped fairly. He was the kind of nice old guy that would get you and your wife birthday cards because that stuff was important to him.
He then moved 45 minutes away and we never see him anymore. Miss the hell out of that old man though.
Moezzzz 1 year ago
So, for me anyway, if you're nice to me, I'll be super nice to you and go out of my way. This is the kind of customer I always liked. Even in healthcare, if we have a nice patient come in and need something done, like say- faxing a form to their boss or searching for a sooner appointment with a specialist. Normally, we leave that up to the patients, as we are a clinic and are a primary care office. But, I will, and do regularly, go out of my way after hours to help them fax documents or look to see if something opened up sooner. Some people just don't have the capacity to use a computer or have access to fax machines. Mostly these are the older population, but as long as you're nice and not demanding, I'll go out of my way for you.
#6
Not a waiter, but when I was a kid my little brother hated cheese but loved pizza. He was only 4 or 5 at the time and didn't fully grasp the concept of pizza yet so when we ordered a pizza my dad would always have to order a "plain" pizza. One time we were at a Pizza Hut and my dad ordered a "plain pizza" and the waiter responded "okay, so a large cheese pizza." My brother immediately started crying so my dad started winking at the waiter going, "No, a large *plain* pizza". Evidently there was a breakdown in communication between my dad and the waiter and we ended up getting a circle of dough covered in sauce.
Edit: My dad is catching a lot of flak, rest assured when we got home he put my brother in a burlap bag and beat him with reeds, which was standard protocol for situations such as this.
#7
I used to work at Whole Foods as a juicer and this one guy would come in everyday and order 12 ounces of garlic juice to go (which is like 20 dollars btw). After a couple weeks of seeing him order the same thing I asked him to drink it in front of me because I didn't believe it was humanly possible to ingest that much garlic. He downed it all in front of me and said this "along with much garlic comes much loneliness" i laughed and he said "no seriously I work from home".
#8
I worked for a while in a vegetarian/vegan-friendly buffet restaurant. Now, the great majority of people were actually really nice, not particularly haughty about their diet or anything, but I had two customers that were, let's say, different.
The first one came up to me with a plate already filled with various salads (that she, being a buffet, had personally selected). She showed me the plate and asked me: "Do your salads have any raw ingredients in it?" And before I could answer: "Because I'm pregnant, see, so I can't eat anything raw." While still showing me her plate of definitely-raw, various-veggies-and-fruits salads.
I was so dumbstruck that all I could say was "Let me ask the kitchen to make sure". And I actually did, because "is salad raw" is one of these questions that make you question even the most basic things, such as what a salad is, or what hats are. I asked the chef if our salads had raw ingredients in them, he looked at me and said: "Is she familiar with the concept of salad?"
We ended up switching her plate for another one because yes, our salads had raw ingredients in them. However, all in all, she was really nice about it and didn't mind waiting a bit more for us to fix her plate.
The second one was, however, a bit more rude. She came up to me and told me that she could only eat raw, vegan stuff. I thus directed her to the salad buffet (because, hey, now I was pretty sure they were made of raw ingredients), and that's when she scowled at me and said: "Uh, yeah, but I'm getting a bit tired of salads, you know?"
You tremendous twat - you bestow upon other people the task of finding you food that fits your incredibly narrow criteria and then you b***h that it's a tad unoriginal? She later complained that we didn't didn't have any raw cake (the cake was already vegan, mind you, but yeah, we had baked it).
This is the only time I really thought "You are an insult to natural selection".
fair_weather_rose 1 year ago
I would very much like to know what "raw cake" is. I know there are some no-bake deserts, like pie or brownies, but can you make cake without baking or cooking it in some way, or is raw cake just cake batter? I am very confoozled.
#9
Not a waiter but a cook. Had a lady order her tofu scramble burnt. So I cooked it hard. She sent it back because it wasn't burnt enough. So I cooked it harder. She sent it back again and the waiter said she really wants it burnt. So I got a wok super hot, put too much oil in and proceeded to burn the c**p out of it. My chef came by and lost his s**t. I explained it to him and he watched me burn just ruin the thing. It was black and smelled like a tire fire. She ate all of it and said we were the only place to get it right. She came back every weekend for it and we had to train new cooks how to burn the living f**k out of her food for her. I still can't comprehend why she would eat that.
#10
It wasn't so much the order that was disturbing, but the post order request. He asked me to chew up the food and put it back onto his plate. No medical reason. No missing teeth. Not old. Just creepy as f**k. He got very upset when I declined.
#11
I also am an og alum. We had a old woman that would come in and say "for every bean I find in my minestrone soup I'm deducting 10 cents from your tip" even after you explain that it's pre made she would say that the server has to pull them out. Then she would separate out all the beans and show them to you before she ordered her next bowl and be like "look, you lost $2.20 on that bowl". Not in a nice joking way but a rude bitter old bitch way. Most servers just gave her as many beans as they could in the bowl.
#12
Had this skinny guy order two full lobster plates and a ribeye steak. I just sat back and watched him dominate it all.
#13
I worked at a pizza parlor, and the most ridiculous request was one that could have been so simple.
A lady calls and orders a "small pepperoni pizza with no pepperoni" I clarify and ask her "So just a small cheese?" To which the woman, clearly annoyed by my lack of understanding , says "NO. A small pepperoni with no pepperoni." I again clarify and ask "You want a pizza with sauce and cheese only?" "Yes." "Ok so a cheese pizza." "NO I WANT A SMALL PEPPERONI WITH NO PEPPERONI."
We made her a cheese pizza. She didn't call and complain. Still not sure what the f**k she thought she was ordering.
Sasy 1 year ago
this could be a herb thing? I have ordered a cheese only pizza and ended up with oregano poured all over it and YUCK, I would not have even thought to ask for no Oregano. So this may have been her no extra things way of ordering because a Pepperoni pizza is only that.
Yoga Kitty 1 year ago
My thought as well. I am sure she has her reasons because the request is so specific. And she is either sick of explaining why or fears that explaining it will ruin the desired effect. That is why I, for example, order pizza without cheese and just very little sauce instead of focaccia - because focaccia always has loads of oregano on it...
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Gawaget The Object Thingy 1 year ago
There is a good chance this was me. My son is autistic and will only eat pepperoni pizza but will eat pepperoni pizza with out the pepperoni. He will not eat cheese pizza if he hears me or the dominos guy say cheese
Ann Coffman 1 year ago
I hope you charged her the higher price for the pepperoni pizza. (and just typed in on the order "no pepperoni")
Anne McKinney 1 year ago
That's like the guy in the other post that wanted a cheeseburger with no cheese. Absolutely did NOT want a hamburger. He wanted a cheeseburger with no cheese.
Shyla Bouche 1 year ago
It makes me think of Good Pizza, Great Pizza. It's a game where you create the pizzas the customers ask for, and many of the requests are ridiculous. One of them is sausage pizza without the sausage.
ValdaDeDieu 1 year ago
Sometimes people's brains get stuck on something. Like a broken record. They don't realize it. And it's often the simplest things.
athornedrose 1 year ago
the only time i've ever had someone do this while working in food was when we had pepperoni specials. like we'd do 2 for one pepperoni pizzas when someone ordered too much or the pepperoni was going to expire soon, and people would pull this for the price. but other than that, wth?
Ken Beattie 1 year ago
Was a small pepperoni cheaper than a small cheese? Or for that matter did the small cheese use more than one cheese? One place I went to used four different cheeses for their cheese pizza, not just mozzarella.
Nikkie Nothing 1 year ago
I saw an exchange like this go down at a burger place once. The lady ordering said she wanted a cheeseburger without cheese so the girl working the counter said "ok, one hamburger, can I get you anything else" the lady got all irrate and said "No, I want the cheeseburger with no cheese" the girl "right, so a hamburger" ...... This interaction went on far longer than it needed to until the girl just parroted back "cheeseburger with no cheese"
Nightshade1972 1 year ago
I wonder if there was a price differential. Granted, a plain cheese pizza should absolutely be cheaper than "pepperoni pizza, no pepperoni," but who knows, maybe she ordered that way because it made her feel special to pay *more* for just cheese. Like, only poor/low class people order a plain cheese pizza, and since she's neither poor nor low class, she "has" to order her pizza that way. *Eyeroll*
Diplodocus Dinosaur 1 year ago
”Yeah, give me a cheese sandwich without cheese, and no bread. No, I said a cheese sandwich!”
#14
Customer asked for a spaghetti with a side of more noodles and extra sauce because they were going to share. So, I said "you'd like one spaghetti and then an additional order of spaghetti?" They told me I wasn't getting it and they just wanted extra noodles and some sauce on the side. I told them we would have to charge for extra noodles, and they ended up not wanting it. They somehow thought free spaghetti was a reasonable request.
#15
I had someone ask me how many wings are in your 10 count wings. I simply replied somewhere between 9 and 11.
#16
I worked in fine dining for a while.
I had one lady order creme brulee french toast with a fruit loops crust and a bottle of champagne with 2 carafes of orange juice.
We made it. Actually we made a whole batch and the workers ate it. It was actually really good.
It was a hotel restaurant
#17
This is my thread! I don't care if this gets buried, I love this story.
I used to work at Olive Garden. At Olive Garden, there's a dish called the "Five Cheese Marinara". You know, essentially a plate loaded up with cheesy magic with a little bit of pasta thrown in.
One day, a stupid man with his stupid wife come in, and the man says "I want the Five Cheese Marinara, but I don't like cheese." I look him dead in the eye and say "Then don't order that, you're not going to like it." Instead of being a sane, rational person, the man says "Oh, can't you just have them take some of the cheese off?" Again, I repeat "You will not like this, it's almost all cheese." But he insists. I just accept it, curse this stupid man, ring the dish in, and immediately run to the kitchen. I let the kitchen, and my manager, know that he's going to send it back. Of course, my manager is the nicest man in the entire world and refunds his ENTIRE MEAL and brings him a new one once he, unsurprisingly, sent it back because it was "too cheesy". He left me four cents as a tip. Stupid a*****e.
#18
I had a customer send back well done prime rib 3 times because it wasn't "well done" enough. The cooks said fuck it the 4th time and dropped it in the deep fryer for at least 5 min. Then the customer asked for a side of ketchup.
#19
I worked at a restaurant/fishmarket type of establishment, where we sold raw product but would also prepare the food on the spot. One day I was helping an old asian lady out and she told me had never had a whole lobster and would love to try one. As she was shopping in the fishMARKET portion, I assumed she wanted it live. So we went over to the lobster tank and she picked the happiest little lobster out there. I asked her if she wanted to pay $16.99 for it alive or $22.99 for us to cook and serve it to her. She decided to take it alive, so I took some time to weigh it out, and wrap it up in a takeout box for her to take home. I put it down on the table and walk away. A minute or two later I hear a commotion and come out to see this little asian lady with a knife trying to cut off the claw of the lobster... Apparently she thought that she was supposed to eat this thing live. I cooked it for her.
**TL:DR Asian Lady didnt know you had to cook lobster before eating...**
EDIT: I'm aware that lobster sashimi is a popular dish, but typically in that scenario the lobster is freshly killed and the meat is presented to the consumer un-cooked. This lady was not eating it "sashimi" style, but rather trying to fight with a lobster in order to eat it. She clearly had no idea what she was doing.
#20
Worked at Red Lobster, we had three frequent customers with specific needs that we always catered to.
The Lemon Man: Always wanted a bowl full of lemons. Normally we don't give people multiple lemons because they just use it to make lemonade. This guy used lemons on everything from his biscuits to desert.
No-Garlic Lady: Always wanted the cheese biscuits without the garlic/butter coating on top. We would make a whole batch just for her.
Crispy Biscuits: This lady wanted her biscuits extra crispy, or she'd turn them away. Only a few people were ever able to make them to her satisfaction on the first try, and you prayed to God they were working that day if she walked in.
All three of these customers were of the elderly kind and tipped extremely well. Can't say there was any "how did you deal with this" other than just doing it. Never understood why the managers let this be a thing.
#21
2 come to mind
1. I had to wear glasses for a couple of weeks from a hit I took to my eye. 1 top I was serving asked if he could use my glasses to eat because he had a hard time seeing. I said no because I'm using it for medical reasons. He then starts flipping a s**t about how the customer gets what he wants. I wave my manager over and she pretty much heard the whole thing and her response was priceless, "sir I understand that you have bad eye sight and this unfortunate but he needs those glasses. Besides, would you ask to borrow someone's underware if you weren't wearing a pair? Glasses are the underwear for the face." He apologized.
2. This woman saw that we had ahi tuna (also know as yellow fin tuna) and rice. She demanded we make sushi. I told her that's not on our menu. She said she heard the table over got a request they asked for that's not on the menu. That request at the next table was to use unmarinated chicken. Just regular seasoned chicken, no problem. She ranted that we were discriminating her (strange hearing that coming out of a white persons mouth). I get fed up, told my manager and chef. They both are about to bleed out their ears on how dumb this is. Chef cut the tuna and just pressed the rice togeather. It just looks like flat slices of tuna just topped with rice and nothing else with it. It brought to the table and she says, "you didn't even try! Where's the seaweed, cucumber, avocado, and Wasabi? Are you trying to get me to walk out?" My manager just stares for a second and says "Yes. BECAUSE SUSHI IS NOT ON OUR MENU! This is a steakhouse and we serve American style dishes." This lady had the gall to say "you all are bigots, you ruined my dinner and I'm reporting your whole staff." Fast forward a week or 2, the GM mentions that a woman called and mentioned we were being bigots and discriminating her and treated her unfairly. We let out a huge laugh, GM looks confused and we explain what happened. The GM starts laughing his a*s off and says what a crazy lady blah blah blah. This woman comes in later that night demanding I be fired for how I treated her. My manager tells her to leave or we're calling the police. She storms out to the entrance and starts screaming that this is a racist restaurant. How we promote white power (remember that this crazy is white) and don't care about our guest and how we're turning back time. A huge crowd is just staring at her with wtf is this b***h talking about faces. She was really trying to start a rally and take this place back for the people. Wtf? Shortly after the police arrive and the next day we all get free, dope as f**k, steak dinners because we handled it so well.
#22
Over the summer, I had a customer who came in for Sunday brunch and ordered a spinach and feta cheese omelet. She then adds that she would like it made without eggs. I clarified that she wanted an omelet WITHOUT eggs, not made with egg whites which is quite normal.
We made her a spinach feta salad and the customer was happy.
#23
Had a lady order our filet mignon, when it was brought out to her she said with disgust that she had ordered the filet, not a steak. She proceeded to argue that a filet mignon was a type of baked potato rather than a steak.
EDIT: Damn this blew up, and when asked how she wanted it cooked she looked puzzled and said "regular" which I took as meaning medium.
#24
I once had a guy place his order, and then say "And give me one of those spaghetti appetizers."
I had been working there for a couple months, and we had no pasta dishes whatsoever on the menu. I politely tried to clarify this, but he wasn't having it. He just kept getting more irate. He insisted that he eats here all the time, and he always gets the spaghetti appetizer.
Eventually, he gets up from his table, storms over to another one, and points at what he wants on another diner's table. He was pointing at their cole slaw. And yes, as far as he was concerned, I was still the a*****e for not knowing what he was talking about.
Edit 1: Our slaw was a southern style slaw, where the cabbage is shredded. So, the cabbage is in strings, but you would still have to be some sort of weirdo to confuse it with noodles. And a few people have mentioned a Dane Cook bit. I'm not familiar with that joke, but after doing some googlin', it appears that is a joke about messing with staff at a restaurant. This happened in 1994, and the customer was an older, well dressed guy out to dinner with his wife. I'm positive he wasn't f*****g with me, he was just an obnoxious a-hole that expected me to know what his confused mind was talking about.
#25
I had someone send back a salad because "it's not festive enough". I couldn't believe that that was her complaint. So I sent a manager to her table and yup she tells him the same thing. I had no idea that salads could be festive in the first place, much less have degrees of festivity in which our salads were lacking.
So we put more tortilla strip, sweet corn, and bell peppers on the same salad and she was thrilled. Weird people, man.
#26
The strangest request! When I worked for Starbucks, I helped open the first drive thru store in the area so it was a learning process for some customers.
A lady orders in the drive thru lane an iced venti vanilla latte with 22 sweet n lows.
Me: 22 sweet n lows, like two two??
Customer: *sigh* yes 22 sweet n lows.
Me: OK, please pull up.
Now at the drive thru we put the extra milk and sugar in the drinks for the customers, when in a cafe they would add it on their own. So, the person working the bar looks at me like for real this lady wants 22 packs of sweet n low in her latte? That's what she said so that's what we made her.
They lady pulls up and pays for her drink. I hand it over and tell her to have a nice day. She stops and says "oh, can I get those sweet n lows now?" I just looked at her and said that they were already in her drink, boy was she pissed!!
She wanted us to hand her 22 packs of sweet n low in the drive thru so that she could take them home.
#27
Well, I don't even remember all the specifics, but I once had this old lady come into Olive Garden and order something and literally customize every ingredient. We had one promo entree that contained risotto. She asked me what risotto was, and then asked me to switch it out for plain brown rice and squash. Neither of which we had. We made all our sauces in house, but they weren't made on the spot for each order. She even tried to customize the ingredients in the sauce. And the end of everything after I ran around trying to make her happy, she complained to management that I was incompetent for not being a magician and changing how a restaurant works.
#28
My aunt, one day, she had two guys in suits show up. They sat down at the counter. One guy, tall and skinny, wanted dry white toast, nothing on it and nothing to drink. Meanwhile, his fat brother wanted four whole fried chickens and a Coke. What a bunch of crazies.
Edit: this is awesome! XD sitting on a long, uncomfortable 18 hour bus ride, this put a smile on my face. Also my highest upvoted comment ever! Everybody needs somebody, and I need you, you, you!
Edit, Part II: Well, when I last updated this, it was 400 upvotes and I was supposed to have 2 hours left in my trip. Aaaaaand then we got caught behind a 7 mile traffic jam that didn't move for about an hour. These replies have not only entertained me, but you've provided wholesome entertainment to my fellow band members.
GlamourGhoul 1 year ago
It's 106 miles to Chicago we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.
#29
I went out to eat with a coworker at a bar/restaurant and she ordered a "blackened Cajun chicken sandwich, no blackened, no Cajun". The waiter says "so you just want a chicken sandwich?" And she was annoyed and says "NOOOO! I want a blackened Cajun chicken sandwich, just no blackened or Cajun". She got a chicken sandwich and I got the right to make fun of her for the past 7 years.
#30
I worked at a coffee shop and a girl ordered a hot cocoa. We have milk, dark or white chocolate, so I asked her which she would like- it was a very standard questions that we asked everyone. Then this happened...
"None of those, I just want oreos on top." -girl
"Oh... um... do you just want warm milk with whipped cream and oreos?" -me
(Disgusted look and tons of sass) "No. I want *hot chocolate* with whipped cream and oreos on top." -girl
"Okay great, so for us to make hot chocolate, we melt these little chocolate chips into milk. We have milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate chips, which would you like us to use?" -me
"No. You don't get it. I want hot chocolate with whipped cream and oreos on top. I don't want those chocolate chips" -girl
I just gave up trying and used milk chocolate. She was at least 15 too- seriously kid? Ugh.
#31
Had a guy send one of our servers to the kitchen about 7 times, which is down the stairs far away from her section, to inquire about the weight of different hamburgers...all of them were the same yet he insisted she go down and check and would watch to make sure she did.
He sends her away to mull it over for a while and you can see him snickering with his equally douchey looking two sons. Finally the guy decides he wants a 24oz grilled "burger" with nothing else but the patty, no seasoning or anything. Not like some hulking bro trying to get extra protein, just an old a*****e who wanted to f**k with the poor server. Ate a bite, said he didn't like it and ordered another burger. Tipped a very solid 0% after telling her "it'd all be worth it!"
This is why we're all mildly functioning alcoholics.
LittleWombat 1 year ago
And yet another reason no one should have to rely on tips as their income!!
#32
10 years in the service industry checking in:
At the Italian restaurant I worked at as a server/bartender/manager for 5 years, we had a lot of regular customers come in and had some strange requests. Most were nothing too special, but one guy would come in 4-5 days a week, and he would never order anything on the menu unless it was a busy night and we wouldn't have time to "get crazy". On the slower nights though, he would order things with sauces we didnt normally make, or special dessert concoctions (even though we prepared desserts daily, and did not make them to order).
The craziest thing he ever ordered though, was a Doughnut Explosion. To be clear, we did not nor know how to make doughnuts. However, there was a Dunkin Donuts next to our location, and he sent one of his favorite servers next door to pick up a dozen random doughnuts. When he came back, the customer told me which ones he wanted on his dessert, and I proceeded to go back into the kitchen and whip up his dessert to his specification. It consisted of 2 doughnuts, topped with vanilla ice cream, layered between the brownie cake that was our house specialty, and topped with Chambord and a port wine fig sauce that we put on pork chops. This was one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen in a restaurant, but he let me try a bite and it was f*****g amazing!
Needless to say, he ordered it a few more times before I left that restaurant.
#33
Used to be a waiter. Had a family come in and eat. Little boy eventually orders dessert. Vanilla ice cream and ketchup.
Yes, he put the ketchup on the ice cream. No, I didn't stick around to watch. I would've thrown up.
#34
Ahh I'm late to this party... But when I worked at a hibachi/sushi/Japanese place this family came in with an adult son who had some kind of mental disability and only wanted to eat breakfast food. The mom asked if we had bread, we didnt, she went to the gas station next door and bought bread, and came back and asked me to toast it. Now, there is no toaster in the restaurant, and I had to explain to the 100% Chinese barely English-speaking kitchen to cook three eggs rare on one side (sunny side up) and bread medium rare (toast).... It worked out and everybody was happy, chefs were super confused as to why anyone would want that.
#35
At McDonalds you can order extra bacon. I watched someone order a Reece's McFlurry with extra bacon. They whipped the bacon right into the dessert. My best friend and I stepped up and ordered the same thing. It was delicious!
#36
I had a woman call me back to the table because I didnt place her nachos close enough to her. She asked me to push them closer to her.
EDIT: There was nothing wrong with her. She was just fat, lazy, and ignorant. Heres some extra icing on the cake. She was in a group of 5 people and when the bill came she said she would take care of it (to the cheers of her friends). $5 tip on $75 check.
#37
Lady ordered mac and cheese, sent it back because tbere was cheese, I asked her. Verbatum "what did you expect?" Apperently she didnt like looking like a dipshit infront of her peers
Susan Bosse 1 year ago
I was a manager and had a couple who ordered spinach artichoke dip. They ate it ALL except one chip. ALLLLL. The server said they never complained, loved everything. Until the bill came. Suddenly they hadn't like the dip. Why, you may ask? Because it tasted too much like spinach. Uh. Yeah. Hence the name of the dish. I figured they didn't have enough money and needed it off the bill but, c'mon. Spinach artichoke dip is "too spinachy"??? Lmao
#38
Boyfriend was a cook at a restaurant, guy asked for a rare steak. Proper rare wasn't rare enough and he sent it back multiple times. Boyfriend got pissed, put a steak on the grill for five seconds each side and sent it out. The guy said it was the best steak he ever had and gave a huge tip.
Princess Jade 1 year ago
It's called a Blue steak (at least here in Australia). I knew someone who like it like that too, he'd heat his pan up, the steak would be room temp, I few seconds on either side and done!!
#39
After 9 p.m., we have all-you-can-eat pancakes, and some dude ate 17 pancakes.
#40
"I'll have a cold grilled cheese please"
-so, uncooked?
"no, cook it, just serve it cold"
Soph the Loaf 1 year ago
Hey, there is a certain appeal in eating food cold like leftovers straight out of the fridge!
#41
One couple in particular made the chef rage so hard she just walked out. Wife orders some meal and makes a ton of changes to it. She gets the plate takes one bite and sends it back because she doesn't like it. Husband orders $60 lobster plate. The lobster tail comes with pepper sprinkled on top. The husband sends it back and wants a whole new one with no pepper on top. Apparently his wife wanted to try one piece but doesn't like pepper.
#42
Pickle pizza. Yes, dill pickles on pizza. Blew my mind. It was cubed pickles, not wedges or the rounds you'd use on a sandwich.
I tried it later that day.
Surprisingly delicious.
Velveteen Worm 1 year ago
I just got a pickle pizza today I get it every week.. taste like fried pickles and cheese
#43
this is from back in the day but I remember it as an example of how ridiculous people are.
salmon quesadilla. except, no tortilla, no cheese, sub chicken for salmon, add green peppers, no mushrooms, double extra black beans and can I that with rice?
so basically chicken and blackbean stew with rice? bitch please. we aren't your personal chef. menu or gtfo.
PrettyJoyBird 1 year ago
Gasp* another curse word got thru edit wall of security. Lively tonight BP, party time!
#44
Not a waiter, but a cook. I worked at an upscale pan-asian restaurant. We were asked to make an almond chicken, with the sides, *but* the entire contents of the plate had to be put in a blender to be made into a shake for a woman who had recently had her jaw wired shut.
We made it... It was actually quite tasty.
#45
I had a woman ask me to microwave a milkshake she ordered. She claimed she was allergic to cold things. Is this even possible? When I told the management (we're supposed to tell the managers if anyone has an allergy) we all kind of just sat there for a minute and thought about what was just said, laughed a little, then microwaved her shake.
What do you think ?
Brittania Kelli 1 year ago
I had a chef make a change on my order without informing me. Ordered a vegetarian bacon cheese burger, they were out of vegetarian bacon so dude thought it was A.O.K. to put pig bacon on a veggie burger. Douche canoe.
Diplodocus Dinosaur 1 year ago
Yeah, because veggie is just a word, right? 🙄
Load More Replies...
Peryton 1 year ago (edited)
One time, when I worked at SushiGo, a man that looked like the flesh-and-blood incarnate of Ned Flanders came in and ordered a Dynamite Roll. We made him the roll and I brought it out and he got angry and said "I told you I wanted a Dynamite Roll". I carried it back and checked with the cooks if it was a Dynamite Roll. It was, so I brought it out and noticed the man had a few friends join him at his table. I asked his friends if they would like to order and the man interrupted me and told me that I had a weird accent (we were speaking French). He told me that he and his friends were French teachers and that my accent was bizarre. His eyebrows furrowed down in confusion almost as if he was meeting an alien for the first time. Then he looked down at his roll and his confusion increased. What the hell was this roll? Finally, I gave him the picture menu again and he selected a different roll. He seemed happy with the new one. He and his friends left and I continued my shift.....
Peryton 1 year ago (edited)
...butchering the French language past comprehension (apparently). This man came in three more times in the several months I worked there, ordered the Dynamite Roll, freaked out, pointed out my accent, and then sheepishly ordered a completely different roll.
Load More Replies... Diplodocus Dinosaur 1 year ago
Me and a friend used to go to a pizzeria regurlarly. We would chat with the owner, and he knew what we liked to eat. One day we were sitting there eating when a man came in and ordered a ”Choo-choo”. (It was not on the menu.) The owner said that they didn’t have it, but if he would tell him what topping to put on it, he could make one just like it. The man told him. The owner said, OK, I’ ll make one like that. No, the man said, it must be a Choo-choo! The owner explained again, patiently, that he could make the equivalent of what he wanted, but no, the man said it must be a Choo-choo and nothing else. The owner tried to explain again, very patiently, but the man stormed out and went to his car. After a little while he came back and asked for a Choo-choo again. The same argument, and the same reaction. In the end the man left, very upset. We laughed together with the owner, and after that, every time we came we shouted ”Choo-choo!” and the owner answered ”Choo-choo!”.
AndThenICommented 1 year ago
I’ve come to regard my hospitality days as both a blessing and a curse.
Colin 1 year ago
This for sure. Worked in the back, dish pit and cooking, love and hate it. Tried serving once, not for me.
Load More Replies... Pan Narrans 1 year ago
The only thing I would ask for in restaurants is - only in Indian restaurants- onion Bhaji like his mother used to make if it isn't on the menus. Every cook has everything he need in stock, it's easy to make, and it's just like apple pie, everyone has his own recipe.
EmBree 1 year ago
My worst was a "me" problem. I was 14, the manager left the restaurant and I was working alone. A mother walked in with a hungry toddler that was allergic to almost everything we had in the restaurant. It was the only restaurant in town so she had nowhere else to go. No matter what I tried to serve the poor kid there was always something in it that she was allergic to. In the end I found a bag with frozen peas that she could eat. I made a bowl and refused to charge the mom for it. The manager was upset that I didn't sell the mom a whole meal and lied about what was in it. I told her exactly where she could go and burn. You never mess with peoples food. Never. It was a s**t place to work in, but it was close to my school.
Joe Publique 1 year ago (edited)
Public Service Announcement: You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat their waiting staff/ bar staff. Be nice, people. Just be nice. And never, ever, p155 off the person who cooks your food, otherwise I guarantee they'll be the one laughing all the way home and not you.
Irma 1 year ago
I had a customer saying he wanted Weizen. We didnt serve that. Now i am a woman and i look younger than i am so maybe it was that but he started explaining what it was. I still said that we didnt have that and what i did have to offer. He said it was probably before i started working here. I started that restaurant and before that there was a lunchroom that didnt serve alcohol. I told him this which i probably shouldnt have cause at this point i wanted to be right. Which was mostly because his tone was so arrogant and acted if i did not know what i was talking about which i get often for looking quite significantly younger and it honestly bothers me that i do not get taken seriously. He again tried explaining what he meant and told him that i knew that and that i selected and bought all the beer we sell. He went inside to ask my 'boss' which was just my bartender who was male and older than i am, not my boss at all. Th walk of shame back to his seat with a different beer was hilarious.
Whitney White 1 year ago
Deep fried Oreos are DELICIOUS, and I totally recommend that you try them ASAP!!
Chicken Nugget 1 year ago
I worked at an ice cream place in high school. I took a lady's order (I was still training, so a manager was supervising me the entire time) and asked if she wanted the whipped cream on it, like we did every time someone ordered a sundae. She asked the manager questions as I got it ready ("Oh, she's just weighing it to make sure it's the right amount of ice cream.") and the manager even told me the lady was keeping an eye on me. I went to hand it out and she goes, "I wanted an ice cream sundae, not a whipped cream sundae." I closed the window and repeated it verbatim to the manager, probably in her line of sight.
Chicken Nugget 1 year ago
Later I had a guy (who was obviously high) order a walking taco with onions and no tomatoes. I repeated it back to him. Yup. Handed it out, he wanted tomatoes and no onions. I'm sorry, that's what I wrote down and what I repeated back, and you agreed. He keeps complaining. "Would you like me to go get a manager?" He called the manager a dummy (seriously, dude, that's the best you can come up with?) and was like, "I don't like--I'm allergic to onions!" He didn't get a new walking taco. The manager admitted it was because the guy was so rude.
Load More Replies... Pie 1 year ago
I worked a graduation dinner for 15 people with only two menu options: steak or chicken. If they ordered steak, I asked the cook. Chicken, move on. Get to the last guy, he wants chicken. About to leave and he very angrily calls me back and demands to know why I didn't ask how each person wanted their chicken cooked. Not like baked or fried, he wanted to specify the internal temperature cook of his chicken. I even laughed, thinking it was a joke. Nope. He was very serious and very upset. Think he chose "medium". I then had to awkwardly go back around the table, everyone quiet and weird about his outburst, and ask each person who chose chicken what cook they wanted. Everyone else just looked helplessly at me and said "I want my chicken... done?" The kitchen thought it was hilarious. Guy was a nightmare the whole night.
Brittania Kelli 1 year ago
I had a chef make a change on my order without informing me. Ordered a vegetarian bacon cheese burger, they were out of vegetarian bacon so dude thought it was A.O.K. to put pig bacon on a veggie burger. Douche canoe.
Diplodocus Dinosaur 1 year ago
Yeah, because veggie is just a word, right? 🙄
Load More Replies... Peryton 1 year ago (edited)
One time, when I worked at SushiGo, a man that looked like the flesh-and-blood incarnate of Ned Flanders came in and ordered a Dynamite Roll. We made him the roll and I brought it out and he got angry and said "I told you I wanted a Dynamite Roll". I carried it back and checked with the cooks if it was a Dynamite Roll. It was, so I brought it out and noticed the man had a few friends join him at his table. I asked his friends if they would like to order and the man interrupted me and told me that I had a weird accent (we were speaking French). He told me that he and his friends were French teachers and that my accent was bizarre. His eyebrows furrowed down in confusion almost as if he was meeting an alien for the first time. Then he looked down at his roll and his confusion increased. What the hell was this roll? Finally, I gave him the picture menu again and he selected a different roll. He seemed happy with the new one. He and his friends left and I continued my shift.....
Peryton 1 year ago (edited)
...butchering the French language past comprehension (apparently). This man came in three more times in the several months I worked there, ordered the Dynamite Roll, freaked out, pointed out my accent, and then sheepishly ordered a completely different roll.
Load More Replies... Diplodocus Dinosaur 1 year ago
Me and a friend used to go to a pizzeria regurlarly. We would chat with the owner, and he knew what we liked to eat. One day we were sitting there eating when a man came in and ordered a ”Choo-choo”. (It was not on the menu.) The owner said that they didn’t have it, but if he would tell him what topping to put on it, he could make one just like it. The man told him. The owner said, OK, I’ ll make one like that. No, the man said, it must be a Choo-choo! The owner explained again, patiently, that he could make the equivalent of what he wanted, but no, the man said it must be a Choo-choo and nothing else. The owner tried to explain again, very patiently, but the man stormed out and went to his car. After a little while he came back and asked for a Choo-choo again. The same argument, and the same reaction. In the end the man left, very upset. We laughed together with the owner, and after that, every time we came we shouted ”Choo-choo!” and the owner answered ”Choo-choo!”.
AndThenICommented 1 year ago
I’ve come to regard my hospitality days as both a blessing and a curse.
Colin 1 year ago
This for sure. Worked in the back, dish pit and cooking, love and hate it. Tried serving once, not for me.
Load More Replies... Pan Narrans 1 year ago
The only thing I would ask for in restaurants is - only in Indian restaurants- onion Bhaji like his mother used to make if it isn't on the menus. Every cook has everything he need in stock, it's easy to make, and it's just like apple pie, everyone has his own recipe.
EmBree 1 year ago
My worst was a "me" problem. I was 14, the manager left the restaurant and I was working alone. A mother walked in with a hungry toddler that was allergic to almost everything we had in the restaurant. It was the only restaurant in town so she had nowhere else to go. No matter what I tried to serve the poor kid there was always something in it that she was allergic to. In the end I found a bag with frozen peas that she could eat. I made a bowl and refused to charge the mom for it. The manager was upset that I didn't sell the mom a whole meal and lied about what was in it. I told her exactly where she could go and burn. You never mess with peoples food. Never. It was a s**t place to work in, but it was close to my school.
Joe Publique 1 year ago (edited)
Public Service Announcement: You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat their waiting staff/ bar staff. Be nice, people. Just be nice. And never, ever, p155 off the person who cooks your food, otherwise I guarantee they'll be the one laughing all the way home and not you.
Irma 1 year ago
I had a customer saying he wanted Weizen. We didnt serve that. Now i am a woman and i look younger than i am so maybe it was that but he started explaining what it was. I still said that we didnt have that and what i did have to offer. He said it was probably before i started working here. I started that restaurant and before that there was a lunchroom that didnt serve alcohol. I told him this which i probably shouldnt have cause at this point i wanted to be right. Which was mostly because his tone was so arrogant and acted if i did not know what i was talking about which i get often for looking quite significantly younger and it honestly bothers me that i do not get taken seriously. He again tried explaining what he meant and told him that i knew that and that i selected and bought all the beer we sell. He went inside to ask my 'boss' which was just my bartender who was male and older than i am, not my boss at all. Th walk of shame back to his seat with a different beer was hilarious.
Whitney White 1 year ago
Deep fried Oreos are DELICIOUS, and I totally recommend that you try them ASAP!!
Chicken Nugget 1 year ago
I worked at an ice cream place in high school. I took a lady's order (I was still training, so a manager was supervising me the entire time) and asked if she wanted the whipped cream on it, like we did every time someone ordered a sundae. She asked the manager questions as I got it ready ("Oh, she's just weighing it to make sure it's the right amount of ice cream.") and the manager even told me the lady was keeping an eye on me. I went to hand it out and she goes, "I wanted an ice cream sundae, not a whipped cream sundae." I closed the window and repeated it verbatim to the manager, probably in her line of sight.
Chicken Nugget 1 year ago
Later I had a guy (who was obviously high) order a walking taco with onions and no tomatoes. I repeated it back to him. Yup. Handed it out, he wanted tomatoes and no onions. I'm sorry, that's what I wrote down and what I repeated back, and you agreed. He keeps complaining. "Would you like me to go get a manager?" He called the manager a dummy (seriously, dude, that's the best you can come up with?) and was like, "I don't like--I'm allergic to onions!" He didn't get a new walking taco. The manager admitted it was because the guy was so rude.
Load More Replies... Pie 1 year ago
I worked a graduation dinner for 15 people with only two menu options: steak or chicken. If they ordered steak, I asked the cook. Chicken, move on. Get to the last guy, he wants chicken. About to leave and he very angrily calls me back and demands to know why I didn't ask how each person wanted their chicken cooked. Not like baked or fried, he wanted to specify the internal temperature cook of his chicken. I even laughed, thinking it was a joke. Nope. He was very serious and very upset. Think he chose "medium". I then had to awkwardly go back around the table, everyone quiet and weird about his outburst, and ask each person who chose chicken what cook they wanted. Everyone else just looked helplessly at me and said "I want my chicken... done?" The kitchen thought it was hilarious. Guy was a nightmare the whole night.
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