It would be nice if every customer was easy to please, polite, and pleasant, but that's not always the case. Some customers are just downright hateful and live to say and do the cruelest things possible in order to ruin a food worker's day.
(Content has been edited for clarity.)
They Thought They Could Play A Prank On The Drive Thru
“I was working drive-thru when a woman ordered a large orange Hi-C. She got to the window, and I saw there were three other people in the car laughing. I took her money and gave her the drink. About two seconds later, I heard, ‘FIRE IN THE HOLE!’ and saw a large orange grenade in the form of a large cup flying at me. I managed to reach out with my left arm and re-direct the drink back out the window and into her car. The lid came off, and the drink exploded everywhere. She had the nerve to ask my manager for her money back. Needless to say, she didn’t get her money back, and was told less-than-kindly to leave.”
They Had To Clean That Fryer For Hours
“A customer put a dirty diaper on a plate, then put their pizza in it because it didn’t have enough Italian sausage. Then they walked it back to us and dropped it in the fryer. That’s six gallons of oil, gone. We had to sanitize everything extra clean because the dirty diaper exploded.”
Sure, They Got The Wrong Order, But It Was Their Own Fault
“I used to work at Applebee’s. One of my tables was an elderly couple and what I assumed was their granddaughter. They ordered their food (steak, salad, and chicken fingers). In the kitchen, a random server (let’s call him Matt) was running people’s food because everyone was busy. Well, the table next to mine belonged to a server named Ashley. Matt accidentally ran Ashley’s food to my table. He asked the old couple if they were the table that had ordered a chicken penne pasta, onion rings, and a chocolate dessert, all of which were different than what they ordered. They still said yes. Then they proceeded to yell at the manager about how their food was wrong and that I was a bad server.
I hate people.”
Since She Treated Him Like An Idiot, That’s How He Acted
“I used to work at a Midwest-based fast food joint called Culver’s.
On my last day, I had just started my shift in the drive thru. The customer was waiting at the window for a quart of custard (ice cream) with her order. I made that before she got her food because the food always takes a lot longer to make while the custard can be ready right away. I opened the window and tried to hand her the quart, which she refused to take and started to yell at me.
Her: ‘What are you doing? Are you stupid? It’s hot out! You can’t just hand me my ice cream now, it’ll melt by the time I get my food. Did your parents drop you on your head repeatedly when you were born?’ It should be noted that it was only around 80 degrees that day.
Seeing this was my last day, I said, ‘Screw it,’ and whipped out my thick southern accent.
Me: ‘Why, yes I was, ma’am! How did ya know? But ya see here, ma’am, this here pint of custard comes in these handy-dandy refrigerated bags. They don’t melt when it’s blistering hot out, or when it gets stuck in your rolls of fat, where your love life must have disappeared.’
By that time, her food had come, so I threw her food and quart into the passenger seat.
Me: ‘Well, would ya look at that, yer grub is already here. Now, ma’am, you eff off and have yourself a wonderful day.’
She stared at me, dumbfounded, then drove off.”
Those Girls Were Such Terrors, Their Own Friend Turned Against Them
“I was serving a table of three people (two girls and one guy). I had already taken out the food to the girls and was bringing out the curry dish that the guy ordered when I slipped. My shoes are flats that have next to no grip; one slid on the floor, I stumbled, and his food was on the floor.
Of course, I apologized right away and said the chef would make him another dish immediately. The dish he ordered was also one of the easiest things on the menu to prepare, and I knew the chef could have another one ready in about two minutes. The guy said that was fine, and that he understood that accidents happen. I was thanking my good luck that I’d gotten a friendly customer.
And then one of the girls said that if we were re-making his, we’d have to re-make all of theirs because they weren’t going to sit around ‘for half an hour’ and let their food get cold while they waited for us to make another dish for the guy. I started explaining that the new dish would only take two minutes, and the guy started saying that they could go ahead and start eating without him when the two girls flung their ceramic plates loaded with hot noodles and sauce at me. One missed and shattered the glass cover on the table next to them, the other struck me in the forehead. I had a bruise from the plate, mild burns on my face and chest from the hot food, and my nicest (and most expensive) white work shirt is potentially ruined from being hit with a full serving of noodles (I sent it to the dry cleaners. We’ll see if they can save it).
The guy got furious with them and shouted a lot about how stupid they were. He was also nice enough to shout for my boss right away, call an ambulance, help me up, and make sure I wasn’t seriously injured. He even offered to pay for all the damage that the two girls had done. My boss refused that offer after listening to what happened, insisting that the guy had done nothing wrong and that the girl were the ones who would have to pay, not him.
Those girls got banned from the restaurant and had to pay a fair bit for all the damage they did. They’re also paying my salary during this week off for recovery. The guy got his replacement meal free, and my boss told him to come back anytime (without the girls) and we’d give him a nice discount on future meals.”
He Had To Keep Himself From Fighting Back
“I used to work in the deli/bakery department at a grocery store called Kroger. There was a mute/autistic guy trying to order a steamed plate lunch. He wanted a certain piece of chicken, and I kept getting it wrong every time I picked up a piece. He got mad after my second attempt. I even grabbed a pen and paper so he could write down what he wanted in the beginning, yet he declined. He came behind the counter and hit my shoulder. Let me tell you that special people have special strength. His punch sent me back a few steps, and right before I swung to hit him back, security tackled him.”
The Whole Family Came Out To Harass Him
“I delivered an EXCHANGE pizza (first pizza had the wrong toppings). I gave them the correct pizza and asked for the incorrect pizza back. The whole family came out to the front yard and started yelling at me about how they deserved to keep the first, incorrect pizza, as compensation. THEN, they brought out two pit bulls and threatened to send the dogs after me. I told them to go screw themselves, got in my car, and called the cops. I now keep a lead pipe in my car, even though I no longer deliver pizza.”
She Set An Amazing Example For Her Child
“This woman sent her 7-year-old daughter into the store to get the sandwich with a note listing the ingredients she wanted on it. At the cash register, I rang in the sandwich, and the little girl passed me one filled out sub-club card, which was good for a discounted six-inch sandwich with purchase of a 28oz drink, and just stood there.
I cleared the cash and rang it in again, discounting half the sub and charging on a drink. I told the girl how much and she just stood there looking at me.
I asked what was wrong and she said that her mom never gave her any money. I asked if her mom was outside and if she could go get her.
The girl left and came back in, crying, and getting towed behind a raging mammoth of a woman who was demanding to talk to my manager about how she was being disrespected.
I explained to her the usage of the card and pointed out where the details were printed.
She screamed, reached over the counter, grabbed the sandwich I’d just made for her, and then threw it at my head.
My manager later saw the security footage and called me laughing about it.”
His Bigoted Remarks Didn’t Sit Well With Anyone
“The McDonald’s I worked at during college breaks was in a small town in upstate New York. There was a long line at the front counter, and the black girl working the register was talking to the guy working the grill, basically just prioritizing orders, trying to move the line along. At the same time, another cashier was dealing with an angry customer. I was walking by, out of uniform, about to leave, when the angry guy said, ‘Maybe if that n-word would shut up and do her job, we could get some food.’
I grabbed him by his coat and pulled him down on the counter and said, ‘You call my friend an n-word again and we can be on the news tomorrow, or you can get out right now.’ He left and everyone in line laughed.”
He Got So Unreasonably Angry, He Made Her Cry
“I worked at Chick-Fil-A when I was 16. This day, I was a cashier working the counter during breakfast. The manager hadn’t come back with the change from the bank, so I didn’t have a lot of change left in my drawer. I had a line of a few people in front of me, and so did the other girl next to me. I started running out of change, and let the guy know that, unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to take his order at my register.
He got mad and started screaming and yelling at me, telling me how horrible and stupid I was, and how I ruined his morning. He created a scene in front of everyone. On top of this, I was emotional and burst into tears. The owner came out and asked the guy to leave and told him he wasn’t welcome at that Chick-Fil-A any longer.
I moved over to the end of the counter and started portioning out cheesecake while trying to compose myself and a few ladies came up to me to tell me I was doing a great job and to ignore that man. Kind of restored my faith in humanity.”
When He Turned Down A Dirty Proposition From A Customer, She Didn’t Take It Well
“Don’t you just love working at Mcdonald’s? I got mooned in the drive-thru. I had a few sandwiches thrown at me. One night, while working late, a wasted driver plowed through our sign and our glass wall in the front, demolishing everything on that side of the building. My personal favorite, though, was when a lady in the drive-through asked me if I’d come out to the parking lot and bang her. When I said no, she threw a large chocolate shake at me and called me a bunch of names. I told her I couldn’t because I already had plans with her mom after work. She left after that. And that’s why I went to college.”
Everyone Hated It When She Came In For A Very Good Reason
“I work at a Baskin Robbins and we had a ‘regular’ who was never devastatingly mean, but a most unwanted visitor every time she came in. She was an old woman who quite frankly looked like Dolores Umbridge. She ordered the same thing every time and would make snide comments about how her daughter would never work here because that’s where poor people work and the like. Her daughter was actually working at a Pizza Hut. She was just annoying to be around.
One day, she ordered her usual shake (Jamoca almond fudge with Oreos blended in), but she didn’t like it. I made it again, but she still didn’t like it. I made it a third time. She took a sip, looked me in the eye, tilted the cup, and poured it on the ground. Without breaking eye contact, she threw the cup at me, yelling that I was dumb for not being able to make a simple shake. She does this with a line of people waiting behind her. I was the only worker there as it was the early day shift. Luckily, one of the people behind her was a police officer, so it was handled pretty well.”
She Just Wanted To Go Home, But The Customers Had Other Ideas
“McDonald’s always seems to bring out the best in people.
I used to be a manager at one right off the interstate. This was before they went to 24 hours or open late, so we closed at midnight.
Around 11:45 p.m., we had a family come in. Three adults and one little girl who looked to be about 7 or 8 years old. When we saw them come in, we were all dismayed (as we had already started cleaning everything for closing), but we still served them because, well, it was our job and we were still technically open.
When I handed them their food, I already had it bagged up (so they’d take the hint that we were about to close), but they just took the bags of food to a booth, sat down, and started eating. Okay, no problem. Maybe they’ve been driving a good bit of the day and just needed a few to relax. That’s understandable.
Midnight came around and I went to lock the doors. As I went to lock the doors nearest to them, I told them as politely as possible that the store was closed and we needed them to finish their meal as soon as they could, so we could finish our closing routine.
Ten minutes past midnight and they were still eating. At this point, I needed them to leave because I could get into trouble if one of my bosses or the owner decided to drive by (they were weird like that).
Another 10 minutes went by and they were still eating. Most nights, we were done and out of there by then, yet these people are still taking their sweet time. It seemed as if they were doing it at this point just to be jerks and I was starting to lose patience.
I went up to them, explained why I needed them to leave, and asked them as nicely as I could to finish and leave. It’s been a while, so I can’t remember what they exactly said, but the gist of it was, ‘Screw you, we’re customers, we’ll leave when we want.’
I took a deep breath, counted to five, and calmly informed them that if they weren’t gone within five minutes, I’d have to call the police. This set them off. They started cussing at me. ‘Call the police, I don’t care,’ and so on. I felt bad for the little girl, as you could see it in her eyes she was scared and her family was acting like jerks.
While they’re mid-rant, I turned around, walked back behind the counter, and waited for five minutes to be up. Right at five minutes, that poor little girl came up to the counter and said, ‘Please don’t call the cops, we’re leaving.’ My heart went out to this girl, but I could see that her family was finally leaving.”
“I Can Talk To You However I Want, You’re Just A Pizza Girl”
“I had a customer come into my workplace, about six years ago, who was upset because her breadsticks were cold. After putting up with about five minutes of vicious abuse, I finally told her that she couldn’t talk to me that way. She responded with this absolute gem:
‘I can talk to you however I want, you’re just a pizza girl.’
I lost it. I was paying my way through university and was holding down two jobs, as well as my schooling. I was tired and stressed. I didn’t know until this point that ‘seeing red’ was an actual thing. I saw red. I think it was probably my blood pressure. I proceeded to tell her that she was a small, spiteful, stupid woman who would never amount to anything and she didn’t deserve to if she thought the best way to make herself feel good was abusing 19-year-old girls. I also lectured (screamed at) her that work is work, and the act of trying to support myself was honorable in itself. She ran away and sent her husband in. He threw the bread at me and a napkin holder off one of the tables and started yelling. The security guard saw and grabbed him while the manager called the police. He was arrested (released later because I decided not to press charges, not worth the stress). I’ve never been so angry in my entire life.”
She Acted Like She Was So Much Better Than “The Help”
“I worked at Cold Stone in high school, so we had all sorts of people who would walk in our store. On this particular occasion, two women came in about two hours before we closed. Let me say that these women strolled in with these huge fur coats and a bunch of gold jewelry.
One asked for some ice cream but dithered around for about five minutes contemplating on the size. She was apparently getting some for her son, so I offered her a pint. She declined and went for the ‘Gotta Have It’ size, which is a large anywhere else. She then proceeded to fill this crap up with all sorts of goodies. Candy, sprinkles, and cookies.
When I finished with it, it was huge. So I gave her the cup loaded high. This was when the attitude started.
Lady: ‘Oh my God. Don’t you have a lid? How am I supposed to carry that?’
Me: ‘I didn’t realize you needed a lid, let me take that back and I’ll take care of it.’
Lady: ‘Hmm, ok. Well, yeah, ok, that’s fine. Just make sure it’s not messy. I don’t want to get dirty.’
Me: ‘Sure.’
I’m thinking that this order was so huge, I was going to have to put in two cups. I was planning on just putting it in a pint container, but I realized we were out of lids for them, so crap would have hit the fan if she wanted the pint.
Me: ‘I’m sorry, is it ok if I put this in two containers? It will not fit in one with the lid on.’
Lady: ‘How am I supposed to carry two containers?’
Me: ‘Well, we have bags.’
Lady: ‘Yes, and have it spill all over? You must be stupid.’
Me: ‘Excuse me? I’ll just put it in a quart size. By the way, no, I’m not stupid.’
When she called me stupid, I was done with this lady. So I then scooped up 2/3 of the ice cream and put it in its proper, ‘Gotta Have It’ cup and then I smashed that lid down. Ice cream spilled out the sides, but I just wiped it up with a napkin, thus making the sides sticky.
Me: ‘Here you go, ma’am, I managed to make it fit in one cup.’
Lady: ‘You stupid idiot, this is all sticky. I need a napkin.’
Me: ‘Ma’am, if you keep calling me names, I WILL call security.’
Then, the kicker, BOTH of these harpies started laughing.
‘I dare you to call security, you idiot, hahaha!’ She then rants about how much money she makes and how stupid I am. She knows I’m an ‘idiot’ because I work here and all this other crap. So I’m fuming at this point. I started to ring her up and I made sure to put everything she got in there, even the whip cream that she only wanted “a little bit” of. Normally, I would not have given a crap about that. So I tell her the total and it ended up being like $15 for some ice cream.
That’s when she really goes off.
‘What the eff? That is for this ice cream? What did you ring me up for, you stupid cow!’
Me: ‘Ma’am if you call me that again, I will call security.’
Lady: ‘Screw you, you. Stupid. Cow.’
Me: ‘Actually, no, screw you. I am now refusing you service. You’re the stupid cow.’
Then I threw her ice cream away. I went in the back, told the other employee to go out there and make sure the woman didn’t vandalize anything. And then I called security. She left as soon as security walked in, still calling me a stupid cow.”
He Was Old Enough To Be Her Grandfather, But He Acted Like A Toddler
“When I was about 17 years old, I worked in fast food. An elderly man came up and placed his order, which included french fries. We needed to drop some more in the fryer, and it was going to be about a two-minute wait. When I informed him of this, he called me a nasty name, took the rest of his order, and went to sit at a booth in the restaurant. I was stunned to say the least. So when the fries were done, I walked them over to his table, just said, ‘Here,’ gave him his food, and walked back to the counter. He sat and ate for about a half an hour, got up and left. The real shocker came when I went to go clean his booth. This crotchety old sucker had strewn and smeared his food all over the booth and left a handwritten note on the back of a placemat that read, ‘Since you can’t get your orders right, I won’t be coming back to this crappy place!’ Well, good riddance, Pawpaw. The only thing that makes me smile about the whole incident now is that I can take comfort in the fact that he’s dead and rotting.”
Her Snotty Attitude Had Him Seeing Red
“My brother and I were working at Pizza Hut in high school. A lady rolled up to our drive-thru to pick up an order. He passed her the pizza and she looked in the box and wasn’t satisfied with her order. She passed it back in the window to my brother. While she passed it back, she told him she would ‘get him fired.’
That nonsense doesn’t fly. He launched the pizza box back through her car window and told her to get out. She bobbled the box trying to catch it, and it careened off into the passenger seat.
She was shaking like a puppy. She started to yell, but she wasn’t sure what to say. She slammed the gas and peeled out of the parking lot.
She called later to complain to the manager, who apologized to her. Then he told my brother not to worry about it; she was just a jerk.”