For fast food workers dealing with customers is always a gamble. Check out what these workers have to say about dealing with all types of strange, picky or flat-out rude customers and their most absurd complaints.
PSA, Most Burgers Contain Beef
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“I had a customer order a cheeseburger. He ate it and then came back for an order of chili. When he got the chili he complained that there was beef in it and that he couldn’t eat beef because he was deathly allergic and would die instantly if he ate any. I asked if he wanted me to call an ambulance. He asked me why that would be necessary and I replied that he had just ate a cheeseburger. He then turned beat red at his own stupidity and said, ‘No’ and just left in shame.”
“She Said She Didn’t Want Religion Near Her Food”
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“I worked at McDonald’s part-time for a while, a woman once complained because I was wearing a hairnet. She said she thought it was a religious thing, and she didn’t want religion near her food. She didn’t want to associate with me and wouldn’t touch my hand when I offered her her change – she made me put it on the counter and she picked it up from there. I’m a small white atheist with tattoos. I don’t look vaguely pure or religious. I think she wanted to complain about something just to feel in-charge. I remember being really pissed off about it though.”
The Notorious Cheeseburger Scammer
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“Years ago, I was at a McDonald’s in rural Maryland. The guy in front of me ordered a cheeseburger, fries and a coke. He picked up his order and walked away. As I was finishing my order, he walked back up to the counter with a half-eaten burger and shoved it at the cashier saying, ‘It don’t taste right.’ She took it silently and handed him another one.
I finished ordering and paid for my meal. As I was standing to the side waiting for my nuggets, the man came back to the same cashier with the new burger, again half eaten, claiming again that it didn’t taste right. The cashier took it and got him another one again. When my nuggets were up, I said something to her along the lines of, ‘That guy sure is picky,’ and she gave me a sad half smile. She said he did it every day. He was basically scamming a free cheeseburger every day and getting away with it because their policy was just to hand over a new burger if there was at least half left.”
You Can Find These Customers On Taco Bell’s Hate List
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“I used to work at Taco Bell and I have a few different stories about ridiculous complaints from customers.
-Like most fast food restaurants, we would ask people for their name to call out when their order was up. This caused some people to freak out, including one guy who accused us in complete seriousness of being involved with the Illuminati.
-Quite often parents would get the freezes for their kids, but some of the freezes were energy drinks so we’d warn the parents beforehand in case they didn’t know. Some lady berated my then-boyfriend-now-husband because he suggested that she not buy her toddler a large size Rockstar freeze, and later called the store threatening to sue because ‘one of your workers tried telling me how to parent.’
-Way, way too many people who would order 5+ Taco 12 Packs and then complain about how long it took to get their food.
-A woman flipped out and demanded to see a manager because we had forks instead of sporks.
-Another woman demanded to speak to a manager because I wouldn’t accept her money. She was trying to pay with a piece of paper from one of those novelty notepads made to look like $100 bills.
-A mom complained that our high chairs were gray in color and not pretty enough for her daughter.”
Customers Who Proved That It’s Impossible To Please Everyone
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“I worked at a Burger King and this guy came through the drive-thru claiming that his order was made wrong. The manager told him he’d need to come inside and bring the receipt. Then the guy began yelling into the speaker, ‘I have two kids in my car! I am NOT coming inside! I’m going to come in there and mess up your day!’ Then he drove away furiously.
Another time, a woman came in and ordered ‘a cheeseburger with no cheese, and a burger with cheese added.’ I made a burger and a cheeseburger and put them in their respective wrappers. That was wrong apparently. According to the angry customer, I was supposed to put the burger in the cheeseburger wrapper and write down ‘no cheese’ and put the cheeseburger in the burger wrapper and write ‘+cheese.’ So weird and annoying.”
He Literally Complained That A Worker Looked Like A Pickle
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“I work at McDonald’s as the guest service manager, which means I get the joy of handling all our customer complaints. To be fair, 90% of them are what you expect, like people having to wait too long for food, but every now and then, you get some really crazy stuff. I’ve had someone give us a bad score on our surveys because they thought we should carry shrimp fried rice. Another time, someone gave us a bad score because the kid taking his order ‘looked like a pickle.’
I had someone write in and say they had to wait one minute for their coffee to brew but it was at 5 am and we don’t brew it till the first person orders it because it takes literally 2 minutes. If waiting one minute in the drive-thru is going to make you miss a meeting, maybe just skip the coffee today.”
She Threatended Their Lives With Hollywood Actors
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“I was working at the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru and took this one woman’s order. While I prepared her beverage, a coworker of mine, who we’ll call Carly, started talking to her at the drive-thru window. The customer asked for my name and claimed that I had been a jerk. Knowing that this was untrue and uncharacteristic of me, Carly told the customer that that was rude of her to say. She left with her beverage.
About three days later, a customer enters into our lobby, screaming profanities. ‘You better tell that Carly girl to calm down or I’m getting Mike Myers and Chevy Chase to attack her.’ After terrifying customers, she went back to her car. Bewildered, my fellow shift leader and I looked at each other, snickering at such an odd comment. Big. Mistake. The customer comes back into the restaurant and says, ‘Now, I know in my heart of hearts that y’all aren’t laughing at me because I ain’t afraid to come behind there and beat you all up.’ We held back our laughter and she left.
Later that night, we received a call. I happened to answer the phone and it was the woman who had caused such a commotion. She claimed that she had ‘a mental disorder’ and didn’t mean to make ‘such a scene.'”
The Deli Diva
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“When I worked for the local chain of convenience stores in New Jersey, we had this one woman that came in 3 times a week for deli meats and cheeses. Then, she would constantly complain that it’s illegal to cut meat and cheese on the same counter, even though we used a separate slicer for dairy and meat. One day, she absolutely lost it and was screaming she would have me and my coworker fired and then sued. My coworkers simply said, ‘This place doesn’t follow kashrut guidelines. I’m Jewish and can you guess what my parents are? Lawyers. Have a nice day, and don’t come back or you will be arrested for harassment and trespassing.’ She left, and never came in when I or my one coworker were there. Ultimately, we did get a no-contact order against her as she was getting more and more unhinged as days went by.”
Pretending To Know The General Manager Won’t Get You Very Far
“At Chipotle, a guy complained about his food after eating it all. That part was dumb, but not ridiculous. What was truly ridiculous was that he said, ‘Hey man, this wasn’t made right. I used to work here, I worked for Armando and this isn’t right. I need a refund.’ Armando was the general manager, as well as the name printed on the business cards at the register in plain view of customers.
The thing is, literally no one on the staff called him that; we all called him by a much shorter nickname. I asked this guy what Armando’s nickname was and he just stared at me for a couple seconds then clicked his tongue at me, threw his burrito wrapper in the trash, and walked out. Great plan, dude.”
If You Were Really That Concerned About Raw Chicken, Maybe Don’t Eat It?
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“When I worked for Popeyes, there was a promotion for boneless chicken. It was always spicy, and you got a breast, thigh, fries, and a biscuit for around $4.99. The issue was that because there are red spices in the marinade, it colored the chicken a red color that made it look undercooked even after it was fully cooked.
A man came in like half an hour after coming through the drive-thru claiming his chicken was raw. He opened the box, which had half a piece in it and nothing else. I explain to him that the red color is from the spices and the manager denies him a refund because he ate almost all his food and didn’t have a receipt to verify his purchase. He leaves and about ten minutes later and his wife comes in cursing up a storm brandishing the same box from earlier because we didn’t refund her husband. The manager and I tell her what we told the guy earlier and then she proceeds to throw the box across the counter at another cashier who was turned around making an order.
Working there and at Wal-Mart solidified my hate for people.”
There’s A Reason It’s Called A ‘BLT’
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“I was working at a local Wendy’s as a cashier. A mother of two came in. Right from the start, she asked for no-meat items on the menu. I was really tired at the time, so I wasn’t thinking when she picked the BLT snack wrap
Ten minutes later, she returns to the counter, furious about the bacon in the BLT wrap. She’s yelling at me, but not because I messed up, but because the big menu above my head ‘doesn’t say that bacon is in the BLT wrap’.
The sad part is, I didn’t clue in for a while, just nodding and agreeing with her and getting her a meat-free wrap. Only until I told this to my manager minutes later did I realize it.
‘Well obviously there’s bacon in a BLT wrap!'”
Sounds Like A Personal Problem
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“When I worked at Tim Hortons, I had a lady ask me to remake her coffee 3 times because she couldn’t taste the coffee in it. She ordered a large 5 cream 5 sugar. That amount of cream in a large is basically over half the cup, plus enough sugar to make someone’s foot fall off.”
I’m Not Lovin’ It
“I worked at McDonald’s. According to one customer, his shamrock shake was too green and minty. It’s a mint milkshake so it’s supposed to be that way…
A coworker got called an offensive named because she asked for his name for his order.
I got yelled at because we don’t have ketchup besides packets. This customer demanded we dispensed it into containers.”
No Apple Pies At Taco Bell
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“While I was working at Taco Bell, a deaf man came in and handed me a McDonald’s receipt indicating he was owed an apple pie or something. I tried telling him McDonald’s was next door but he was too angry about this missing apple pie to realize what I was trying to communicate. I began pointing at Taco Bell logos on my shirt and on the menu behind me, yet nothing was registering for him. After 2-3 minutes, he realizes his mistake and runs out the door embarrassed.”
A Tantrum So Big You Could Pull Out The Popcorn For
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“I used to work in a cinema. I was serving and a customer asked me for nachos. I asked if he wanted cheese or salsa with them and he said ‘steak.’ I thought he was kidding so I laughed and repeated my question and he requested steak again. I explained we didn’t sell steak and nachos, or steak at all for that matter.
He got into a massive huff about how this was ‘unbelievable’ and all he wanted was some steak for his nachos and that I was being a total jerk. I told him there was a steak house next door and maybe he was confused. He asked to see my manager and had a good rant at him about how appalling it was that we didn’t sell steak and how he didn’t want to see the film if he couldn’t have one.”
The Customer Who Woke Up On The Wrong Side Of The Bed
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“I worked at a Wendy’s. One time, a guy came in and ordered a dollar menu burger. This was several years ago and at that time the dollar burger didn’t come with things like lettuce, tomato, or other ‘premium’ toppings. If you wanted lettuce and tomato on a dollar burger, it was around 15 cents extra. Well, I could understand someone thinking it didn’t cost extra and potentially being a little upset about that realization.
This guy, however, was irate. It was like we ruined his entire day and he could not believe we had the nerve to ask him for 15 cents for the extra toppings. He went on a huge rant. He began screaming about the Jews, saying how the CEO and manager is probably a Jew, and how much their religion sucks. My manager escorted him out immediately.”
Beware Of The Bad-Tipping Gypsies
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“I worked at a Mexican restaurant chain, a fairly nice sit-down place in the US, and when I started I was warned of the ‘gypsies’ that would come in and give servers a hard time and not tip. I thought the waiters were being weirdly racist since gypsies are not a feared group in the US.
Lo and behold I got to know the group, who always ordered the same things, including the most expensive fajita platter on the menu, all of the steak (very, very well done with extra butter, extra jalapeños, extra everything). They would sit in a huge group of 11 or more and take up your whole section for the whole night as they chatted. No matter how many times you ask how everything was, they’d always comment that it was ‘fine.’
However, whenever the check came, they requested to see the manager and would tell him that everything was actually horrible. For some reason, the managers always comped most of their meal and then they’d leave the most miserably small tip. They would literally leave just change on a $100+ bill.”
Please Notice The Golden Arches, Ma’am
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“I’m a General Manager for McDonald’s and we share a parking lot with a Wendy’s. Wendy’s was doing a 4 for $4. It is plastered all over their windows and lawn. We don’t share a lawn either. This lady came through the drive-thru and totally lost it, cussing and yelling at one of my employees because they wouldn’t honor ‘our’ advertising. The poor kid tried repeatedly to explain but the customer wouldn’t hear of it and demanded to talk to me. I told her to go to Wendy’s.”
The Obviously Solution To A “Too Thick” Milkshake
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“I once worked in an ice cream shop. A father came in with his young son and asked for a vanilla milkshake. Easy enough, I put the ingredients in the blender, then pour it into a cup and hand it to the kid. They leave, then come back a few minutes later.
The father complains that the milkshake is ‘too thick’ and condescendingly asks if it’s my first day. I apologize, even though I don’t understand why he thinks milkshakes should be thin and offer to make them a new one. He gives a long-suffering sigh and says, ‘No, we’ll just have a scoop of vanilla ice cream.’ Since that will really solve the ‘thick’ problem?”
“He Told Me I had No Right To Be Working…”
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“I’m 16 and just recently started working at Wendy’s to get some cash ready for this summer. Mind you, I’ve only been working for a few weeks. One night, I was working the back doing drive-thru. A man who was probably mid-thirties, a husky dude with a tattoo sleeve, pulls up and asks about our BBQ chicken salad. I was honest with him and told him I had never actually tried it, but recommended some other items. He straight up cursed me out and told me I had no right to be working at Wendy’s if I didn’t know what the food tasted like. He drove away so fast his tires screeched. The manager heard everything through the headset and was laughing hard when I turned around.”
The Weird Way These Customers Tried To Swindle A Free Meal
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“An older man and his party had sat at my mother’s table while she was working as a waitress at a Cheesecake Factory nearby. My mom had noticed the man was fidgeting around with a loose tooth he had prior to ordering his meal but she didn’t think much of it until he called her over because he supposedly found something in his food.
Low and behold, it was his own tooth that he and his party were trying to play off as someone else’s. The manager knew what they were up to but decided to give him his meal for free to save everyone the trouble of making a big thing out of it. The older gentlemen then proceeded to happily eat the rest of his free meal and leave without tipping. People are so annoying.”
After Dealing With This Fussy Customer, His Manager Stopped Coming For A Few Weeks
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“I worked at Wendy’s and this scraggly looking guy used to come in every day and order, ‘a lite burger, a lite potato, and a lite soda.’ The burger had to be JUST done, not a second over JUST turning brown. He came in every single day and 3-5 days out of the week, he would come up for a new burger because it wasn’t lite enough.
The potato also had to be half done. In order to achieve this, we had to take the ones we were currently baking to give to him. That was really annoying. Even after doing this, he would still come back up and complain that it was too done when it was borderline undercooked. One day, our manager that was especially nit-picky about the meat being cooked literally made 5 or more burgers because the customer kept saying he was burning them. My manager even actually stopped coming for a few weeks because he got so angry.”
Someone Was Not Having A Happy Taco Tuesday
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“We have Sam Adams battered fish tacos at my work. Obviously, the taste of said beverage goes away once it’s in the fryer. Someone actually tossed the taco at me at the counter and said to me, ‘This doesn’t taste like Sam Adams at all, I want a refund.’ Are you serious?!”
The Last Straw Became Her Last Shift
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I quit my last job because of this. I used to work at Panera. A lady and her husband came in asking me for a gift certificate. I said, ‘Okay, I have gift cards right here. Is that okay?’ The lady scoffs at me and said, ‘Seriously, what’s the difference?’ At this point, I already knew this was going to be super fun.
I rang her up for a $50 gift card but did the transaction incorrectly because I was flustered. However, my manager was standing right by me the whole time and asked them to swipe again so we could ring it up the right way as it hadn’t gone through. Next thing I know, the couple is freaking out about how it had gone through and we were lying to them. My manager swiped the gift card to prove it had a balance of $0.00. They still didn’t believe it. Then they start going off about me and saying, ‘You need to have a talk with her. She has horrible customer service, she was rude to us from the beginning. She argued with us about the gift card not being a gift certificate. We should never have come here. Give us your general manager’s phone number.’
I ran off to the bathroom. That was my last shift.”
