Customers complain about everything, but these are some of the most ridiculous stories employees have heard while working in the food industry.
Ice Floats
“When I worked at Sonic, a girl ordered an ocean water, easy on the ice. When I gave her the drink, she opened it and asked me, ‘I said easy on the ice. Why is there ice on top?’ I was confused as to what she wanted. Then she goes, ‘I want the ice on the bottom.’ Me, still confused, I told her ‘I’m sorry ma’am, but ice floats.’ She was still mad and just drove off; Some people are just pure stupid.”
Say Cheese
“I once worked at a grocery store, and oftentimes at the customer service counter, which typically handles refunds, exchanges, complaints, and other odds and ends like cigarettes and lottery tickets. This man comes up with a block of cheese still in its package. I ask how can I help him. Then, our conversation goes something like this: Customer: This is the wrong cheese. Me: Alright. Would you like to exchange it for another kind of cheese or would you prefer a refund? Customer: I don’t want it. Me: Ok, I’ll put through the refund for you. [I proceed to take the cheese, enter the refund into the computer, and hold out the money we owe him.] Customer: What? Where’s my cheese? I don’t want a refund. Me: So, you want your cheese back? Customer: Yes. [I proceed to ring the cheese back into the computer, put the money back in the till, and give him his cheese back] Customer: Where’s my money? Me: You said you wanted your cheese instead of a refund, so I rang it through again. Customer: But it’s the wrong kind of cheese. Me: So, you want to exchange it? Customer: No. I don’t want to bother with it. I’m just telling you it’s the wrong kind. Me: So…what do you want me to do? This still perplexes me, but he ended up throwing a little hissy fit and took his wrong cheese home again.”
Large Vanilla Shake
“I worked at Burger King in high school. I will never forget this. I was on drive-thru one night, and this lady orders a ‘large vanilla shake, in a medium cup.’ I ask if she meant a ‘medium shake, in a large cup,’ seeing as how physically, I cannot put more liquid in a container than it will hold. She gets INFURIATED and drives up to the window, screaming at me for not listening to her. In a loud, slow tone, like she’s talking to a deaf person, she says, ‘IIII WWWAAANNNTTT AAAAA LLLLLAAAARRRRGGGGEEEE VVVVAAAANNNNIIIIILLLLLAAAAAA SSSSSHHHHHAAAAAKKKKEEEE IIIINNNN AAAAA MMMMEEEDDDDIIIUUUMMM CCCCUUUUPPPPPP. I almost got fired that night. At first, I calmly explained to her that it was impossible for me to put a large shake in a medium cup. I tried using logic, which was my first mistake. She kept telling me I wasn’t listening to her. Then she got angry and started yelling, giving me gruff for working in fast food (I was 15 or 16). She didn’t like it when I started to raise my voice at her, or tell her that a 15-year-old working in fast food was smarter than she was. That’s when a manager tried to diffuse the situation. They calmly walked me away from the drive-thru window, telling me how much trouble I was going to get into for yelling at a customer, and they tried to fix the problem. It ended with my manager yelling at the customer, and kicking them out, and telling them to never come back. And then my manager and I bonded over how stupid this lady was.”
He Claimed He Was Diabetic But…
“I used to work at Tim Hortons throughout university. We had a guy come in once very angry because we messed up his coffee when he came through the drive-thru. Instead of sweetener, we added sugar. This wouldn’t have been a huge issue to fix and generally people are level-headed and realize that mistakes do happen. However, he was throwing a hissy fit claiming he was a diabetic and that a spoonful of sugar would have surely killed him had he ingested more than one gulp of the coffee. Because he was freaking out like a rabid dog, my manager stepped in and offered him any other item on the menu for free (because he wouldn’t accept just a redo of the coffee.) Buddy decides he wants a dozen donuts. No problem. I pack up the dozen, hand it to him. He then proceeds to eat not one, not two, but THREE lard-sugar-fat glazed donuts in front of my eyeballs even though he just claimed he was severely diabetic.”
What Did You Think You Ordered?
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“I work in a burger joint. One particular evening I had a table of college kids. Pretty standard for a Friday night. Anyway, I take their order. Very simple. Single no tomato, double with cheese add pickle, large fry, a few shakes. Lastly, a blonde girl orders one of our specialty burgers, the ‘portobello and swiss.’ A while later I get the food dropped off and when I’m checking back on them, the blonde, visibly upset, is demanding a different sandwich. I ask if there’s something wrong and she tells me her burger has mushrooms on it.”
They Claimed Their Pizza Would Taste Like…
“I am now a manager at a local restaurant/café and this happened just a few weeks ago. It was a pretty busy night, especially for pizzas. It was clear to customers ordering at the counter than we had our hands full. Two women came in with two kids, a young boy and girl. They ordered 2 specialty pizzas, and only those 2 pizzas. They said they would be dining in, and the kids were commenting about how hungry they were. I told them it would be just a bit of a wait but that we would bring the pizzas out as soon as they were ready. The women sat within eyesight of our pizza maker and the oven. They could see the cooks and the pizzas coming in and out of the oven. Again, it was a pretty hectic night and it wasn’t hard to overlook something and make a small mistake. Our pizza maker misread the ticket for their order and thought it was to-go so he had two pizza boxes open and ready to put them in. I saw him doing it but didn’t know it was for their order, otherwise I would have said hey those are for here. He took them out of the oven, slid them each into a box, and put them on top of the oven. WITHIN 30 SECONDS of this happening, one of the women approached the counter and got the pizza guy’s attention, and inquired about the ticket number asking if they had been their pizzas. He checked and saw that it was their order for here and sincerely apologized, saying he would bring them right out. The woman said ok that’s fine, and sat back down. He got out two stands and trays and put the pizzas on them, still piping hot and delicious and melty. Even my mouth was watering. Another server and I carried both pizzas out and set them on their table, and the kids were so excited that the food was there and they were reaching out for it. One of the ladies pushed their hands back and told them to wait, and I watched her sit there and poke the pizza with her fingers. I asked if everything was ok and she said in the rudest tone, ‘Ummm, yeah…we’re not going to eat these.’ I asked why and she said, ‘Because they’re going to taste like box now.’ I couldn’t believe it. I asked her to clarify what was wrong because I couldn’t really comprehend that she was actually saying this, and she said that the pizzas were both going to taste like cardboard because they had been in a box for not even 30 seconds. She didn’t even bother to taste it. The kids started crying and asking her to keep them but she demanded that I take them back and remake them. I had to grit my teeth and bring them back, and they made those kids wait another 20 minutes for them because by that time there were even more pizza orders our pizza guy had to get to. I couldn’t believe how snooty they were, hundreds of pizzas are made to go daily and picked up in boxes and enjoyed at home, how could you possibly believe being in one for not even a minute destroys it?”
I Didn’t Do A Single Thing
“Used to work at Starbucks. A lady ordered a mocha and I forgot to add the mocha syrup. Dumb mistake so I fixed it of course. She put it back on the bar a couple minutes later and said ‘It doesn’t taste right, I want a new one.’ Okaaay I thought, don’t know what else I can do, but sure, I’ll make a new one. I get started on it and she goes to the restroom. She gets back from the restroom before I’m done making it but sees her old drink on the bar that I hadn’t taken back yet and thinks its her new one. She looks at and says ‘ah, it looks better already!’ She takes a big drink and says ‘Now see, that’s perfect’ and then leaves before I can tell her I didn’t do a single thing.”
Getting Crabby Over Cabbage
“We had a sale on organic cabbage for 85 cents a pound, and a week later a woman came in claiming we had our cabbage on sale for 25 cents a pound but she had been charged 85 cents a pound. I told her it had been on sale for 85 cents a pound but I would call the produce department to find out for sure, and sure enough, it had been on sale for 85 cents a pound, and now it was about $1.79 a pound. She wouldn’t have it. She threw the biggest fit ever! ‘Even if I’m wrong, you should give me a dollar back! The customer is always right!’ And I’m just like, what? My assistant manager overhears her yelling (since the entire store could hear her yelling) and decides to appease her by giving her a dollar and a $10 gift card for her troubles. The assistant manager later tells me that no one should have a bad day over a dollar. You know, unless you’re employed by the store. Awarding bad behavior is ridiculous. I wish everyone would unite and not give in to the ridiculous demands given by terrible customers.”
“She Gave It To A Horse”
“A woman comes through the drive thru lane and orders stuff. One of the things is a large diet coke. She pulls around to the window and I look over to see she is driving a full-size van with a live miniature horse in the back. I hand her the diet coke and she gives it to the horse. I’m thinking okay that’s weird. I turn away to make sure her order is ready. I turn back around and she is livid. I ask her what’s wrong and she screams at me and throws a broken coke cup at me. She tells me off ranting about how low quality our cups were. Apparently, the horse broke the cup and it spilled everywhere. I’m like really you gave it to a HORSE. What did you think was gonna happen? The cup even had dirt and hay on it when I got it back.”
Keep Driving
Sobokar/Shuuterstuck
“I’m working at Taco Bell during the Sunday after church rush, and we have a line so long people are waiting outside the store. A family of three make it to the counter. Despite the fact that they had plenty of time to look at the menu board, the parents didn’t know what kids meal to get their three-year-old. Their options were a hard shell, soft shell or bean burrito. They kept changing their mind after I rang it up. I can tell my manager is getting annoyed as she is working the hot table and knows we have a mass of people waiting. I tell the family, ‘if you don’t know what to order please step to the side and let me know when you have decided. I can’t have you holding up the line.’ That set off a storm. Father, dressed in his Sunday best started tearing me a new one in front of the entire crowd. He started calling me a low life degenerate, a college drop out who probably can’t make change, etc. And he wasn’t saying this quietly. I proceeded to wipe his order and start helping the next customer, because screw him. Once his order was wiped, he knocked over our cup display and shouted ‘now listen here you piece of dirt.’ My manager walked from the line at that point and told him to get out of the store or she was calling the cops. He said, ‘Oh yeah, what are the cops going to do?’ The best moment of working fast food was my manager turning to the coral and saying ‘Show of hands, who here just witnessed this guy verbally assaulting my employee.’ Every single customer raised their hand. My manager then told him to get out and not to come back. He tried to come through the drive thru about thirty minutes later. He ordered the same combos and a kids meal. He got to the window and there stood my manager. ‘Not going to happen. Keep driving, jerk.’ My manager was awesome.”
As Soon As We Heard Her Voice We…””
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“When I worked drive through we would have someone (a female and her boyfriend) come through almost every night and order a large iced vanilla coffee with extra cream, extra sugar, extra vanilla (I haven’t worked at McDonalds for almost a year but I could still remember that order if I saw her face). We would hand it to her exactly as she ordered it and then two seconds later she would come up and have her boyfriend tell us that it was made wrong. We would make it again, slightly differently. They would come through again and be all pissed off at us so we would make it how we did the first time (aka the correct way). Then they would leave. It got to the point where as soon as we heard her voice we made up three iced coffees. Two to act as decoys, and the third to hand out. All made exactly the same. She didn’t keep the other coffees either. We made sure to take those away.”
“I Just Laughed”
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“I used to work in a cafe, and had a customer order a croissant and an Americano. She wanted the croissant toasted so I put it in the oven while I made her drink. I handed both of them off to her and she came back moments later and threw the drink and the croissant at me and said the croissant was too crusty and the drink was nothing more than water and coffee. I just laughed and walked away as she complained to my manager about how gross she thought her order was only to be told that’s how those products are. Idiots man. Know what you’re ordering or ask questions. We’re all trained to know what these items are and I’d rather explain what something is than have to have an angry customer.”
“Are You Saying I’m Cheap?”
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“I was 16, working at Burger King. There was this lady who was OBVIOUSLY already angry when she came in. She wanted JUST the whopper but since I was new and trying to rush, I rang her up for a whopper meal only without the fries and drink. By the way, at the time, ringing it up that way was $1.19 CHEAPER for her. Anyway, she got really mad and started yelling about how she didn’t want a meal. To which I replied, ‘Yes ma’am, just the sandwich’ and she went off about how I rang her up wrong and that it says Whopper meal on the receipt. ‘That’s my mistake ma’am but you’re only getting the sandwich,’ I said, trying to calm her down. Needless to say, it didn’t work. She went off on me saying I’m worthless, stupid, and destined to work in fast food because I can’t do anything right. Lucky for me, words have never hurt me. When I explained to her that it was an honest mistake that actually costs her less than what she actually wanted, she took it as if I was saying she’s ‘cheap’ and can’t afford a simple Whopper. She demanded to see my manager. He came out and tried to calm her down and explained to her that he’s OK with accidentally charging her for a LESS EXPENSIVE whopper AND give her a free side (does she want pie or fries). As my manager was trying to calm her down, he was hardly able to contain laughter and was just unable to understand WHY this lady was SO angry about a cheaper whopper. She was only getting worse and worse and ended up storming out saying she’ll never come back to this store again. My manager yelled after her, ‘GOOD’ then we got a standing ovation from the people in line.”
Sandwich Snob
“I worked in a sandwich shop where we sold combos (sandwich, chips, and a drink) for about $6 a combo. One time this lady came and ordered a number one which was like pastrami, white bread, three cheese, lettuce and tomato. Then she asked for some changes to the sandwich (no problem), but by the end she not only replaced every item that goes on the number one, but she managed to make her order match our number seven down to the condiments. I point it out to her and she said she didn’t want a number seven, she wanted the altered number one even though they were the same thing. In the end with all the things she added to her order her came out to about $15 where it could have been $6.”
Friendly Bikers
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“I work at a bar/pizza bistro as a busboy. I always try to smile and say hi to customers, even though I’m not expected to. It makes it easier when I go to take their plates, especially since by then they know that I speak English and can help them with something if their server is busy. So, a couple of days ago we had about 15 bikers come in and more or less fill up the bar. They actually turned out to be really nice guys, but they looked TERRIFYING. The bar is right across from a section of booths, and there was a family eating dinner across from the main group of bikers. The parents were the typical rude customers who by this point had complained that the balls of pizza dough I brought for their kids to play with ‘weren’t big enough,’ and that the water didn’t taste filtered enough, even though they had declined bottled spring water and requested regular tap water. So, one of the bikers was wearing a shirt that had the slogan ‘Two in the pink, one in the stink’ on the back, and the parents were giving it the evil eye for a good fifteen minutes before I happened to walk past them again. The father immediately pulls me aside and says something along the lines of ‘That shirt is really inappropriate and we don’t want our kids exposed to it.’ So, I offered to let them switch to a different booth. Problem solved, right? Nope. ‘No. We like this booth. Go have him change his shirt.’ Really? Really sir? He was dead serious, he wanted me to go ask a huge, muscular, bearded, tatted up biker who had been drinking pretty heavily for a good hour to change his shirt, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RESTAURANT. They glared at me until I did it, so I basically went up to the biker and explained the situation. He stared at me for a moment and I was like, ‘I’m going to die.’ Then he smiled at me and said ‘no problem, I’ll be right back.’ He went outside and came back a few minutes later wearing a leather jacket that obviously covered it up. To make the situation even better, when the bikers left he stopped at their table and said, in a genuinely polite tone, ‘you guys have a great evening, and sir, have a happy father’s day.’ The dad went crazy and demanded I kick the guy out.”
She Really Wanted To Leave A Tip
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“During my sophomore year of college I worked at a Baskin Robbins. While I worked there I gained a little reputation as being the guy who gave double scoops for the price of one. Everyone loved it because ‘let’s face it’ Baskin Robbins is a rip off for the scoop size. Every Friday night around 7:30, wave after wave of parents accompanied by their loud messy children would come in and order copious amounts of ice cream. After about a month of working the same shift I began to recognize the regulars. One larger fellow with his family would come in and order the Banana Royale, with just about everything on it. I mean everything! Nuts, gummy bears, caramel, peanut butter, various fruits, whatever we had. If we didn’t have it out at the front, he would ask if I could check the back for whatever he wanted. Being the nice guy I always checked, even if I knew that the store didn’t have any. During one late Friday shift around 9pm, the larger fellow showed up with his family and ordered the usual. While him and his family ate quietly in the corner. A drunken woman entered the store and proceeded to shout that she was ‘here.’ After announcing to the world that she had arrived, she continued to scan the thirty one flavors. I swear she must have been ‘out of her mind’ because she took about 15 minutes to decide that she wanted strawberry cheesecake, a more popular flavor. Once she had finished ordering her ice cream she asked if she could give me a tip. I directed her attention towards the small tip jar which had been filled throughout the shift. She looked at it for 20 seconds, and then she checked her wallet. After realizing that she didn’t have any cash she asked if we accepted tips through debit or credit. Unfortunately the Baskin Robbins I worked at had a policy to not accept tips through any means besides cash. This was because of previous workers stealing from the people using cards to tip. The woman in her drunken state attempted to convince me that our store policy allowed it. I politely stated that I was fine with not receiving a tip (Let me make it clear the room is filled with children and their parents). A brief moment of silence; it was as if she didn’t comprehend what I had said. The woman then erupted with anger saying that our store accepted tips through debit or credit. She then proceeded to scream ‘screw you’ and ‘I’m reporting this to your manager’. For two minutes she cursed me out; going through the entire list of vulgar words. I stood there listening to every word, attempting to calm her down, while the entire room was in silence. Some parents were beginning to approach the woman. At the third ‘screw you’ I was done with being nice. In the deepest and harshest tone, which I reserve for the jerks of the world, I bellowed ‘get the heck out.’ She screamed ‘what’s your manager’s phone number?’ I ignored her request and continued to tell the lady off. I went through everything that she did wrong; explaining that it was inappropriate behavior, especially in the presence of children. The whole room was silent; even the woman was stunned. In a more calm and collected tone I said ‘get out.’ She collected her things, walked to the door, turned around and screamed ‘screw you’ one last time as loud as she could. Once she left all the parents thanked me for halting the verbal diarrhea that had assaulted everyone’s ears. As I began to start closing the store the larger fellow I spoke of earlier approached the counter and put an extra two dollars in the tip jar; then said proceeded to say that I had ‘done good’. It was single handedly the proudest moment I’ve ever had while working at a minimum wage job.”
Mean Muffin Man
“I was selling muffins at my job, and this guy asked for our last cranberry muffin to be grilled and wrapped up to go. When I got it back from the kitchen, all grilled and buttery and awesome, he tried one bite of the corner and said it was too dry. I just kind of stood there for a second thinking ‘Yeah, you had it grilled.’ But trying to be a good worker I let him know that if he tried the center it would still be very moist. He refused, called me rude, and told me to fix it. So I did what seemed logical and hit it with the steamer (I know that not what you’re supposed to do but it was the middle of the Sunday brunch rush, I was tired and stressed) he saw this, grabbed a piece of paper, crumpled it and threw it at my head while yelling at me that I’m ‘stupid and incompetent.’ I politely asked if there was anything else I could help him with, at which point he demanded I personally pay for his $50 meal. I couldn’t help but laugh a little at which point he called me dumb, grabbed the rest of his muffin, threw at the wall and stormed out. I had a sip of my coffee and went back to work.”
She Made Up This Whole Scenario
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“I was working in a restaurant a few years ago. It was pretty late after closing, and I was waiting for the last table to finish eating so I could clean up (not my table). In the meantime, I was doing some other closing work on the other side of the restaurant, talking to a co-worker, and glancing occasionally over my shoulder to see if they had left yet. The lady at the table comes up to me, demanding to see the manager. I say OK, not really grasping how angry she is, and go get him. She begins to rant about how my co-worker and I were laughing about how she and her friends were ‘dogs.’ In actual fact, my co-worker and I were talking about how he was looking after another co-worker’s pets while they were out of town. In the empty restaurant, they had overheard a few random words and pieced together their own little puzzle that my co-worker and I had nothing better to do than talk about them (says volumes about their self-image I suppose). She unloads on our manager, who doesn’t believe for a second that my co-worker and I would even think, much less say anything like that about these women. Knowing there has obviously been some misunderstanding, he calls us over, and I proceed to explain how we were having a conversation about a co-worker’s pets. I swear I saw a look of embarrassment flash over her eyes, but she just continued flipping out. My co-worker and I left the scene so the manager could cool her down, but after calling us rude names for the better part of 5 minutes she eventually just walked out without paying. Her friends followed her out a minute or two later, saying they aren’t paying for her meal, but that we’ll ‘probably just force it through’ on one of their credit cards anyway.”
It’s Called A Garnish
“I worked at an Italian restaurant and we sprinkled the edges of our dishes with a dried herbs, parsley maybe, I don’t really remember. We had one group of customers send an entire table of food back because the plates were ‘dirty’ and they wouldn’t believe us when we said the parsley was there on purpose.”
Throw In A Little Something Extra
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“I worked at an artisan pizza joint for a few years. I believe it was designed so that people with dietary restrictions could enjoy pizza too. We had this one woman who would call almost every other Friday for a delivery. This woman would make it incessantly clear to me that she had both dairy and garlic allergies, as well as an aversion to several vegetables every other Friday. So every other Friday she would order a large, no cheese, no sauce, pepperoni pizza. Just crust and pepperoni. Then, like a chip was implanted in her brain, she would call me 20 minutes after the driver dropped off the pizza to complain. Apparently a crust and pepperoni only pizza is too bland. She couldn’t understand why we could never do ‘a little something extra because she was a repeat customer.’ I’ve inquired several times and I still don’t know what that means. She pulled this stunt to the point where my manager could no longer offer her any more apology discounts. I would just apologize and say something like ‘we will try better next time.’ I quit that job more than a year ago and still don’t know why we put up with her.”
