Certain customers are always finding ways to squeeze a free meal out of a restaurant establishment, and the more extreme of these guests will find reasons to complain about their food that are downright bizarre.
Below, servers share the absolute weirdest reasons someone has tried to get a free meal from them.
(Content has been edited for clarity.)
All Pig Everything
He replied that he wasn’t and that he would give him some extra cash if my dad helped him since it would be kind of weird, but a personal thing he wanted to do. My dad agreed.
The funny thing is that I had the honor of serving them and as soon as I came back to the kitchen I cried and laughed so hard you can’t imagine. And so did the to-be bride. She hugged him and cried tears of joy telling him how cute he was and all that.
I’ve never seen a thing that weird ever after. An, in fact, I’ve never seen them either ever after.”
Someone About To Get Slapped
“I once worked as a host in an Italian restaurant. I was the only male host there, with four other beautiful girls as my coworkers/hostesses.
One woman wanted her entire meal comped because she claimed her husband wouldn’t stop staring at a hostess throughout their entire meal.”
Cool And Collected Wins You The Battle
“Once, when eating in a nicer restaurant, I couldn’t help overhearing what went down when the neighboring table got their check. The guy called the server back over and pointed to the dessert item they’d had (which was fresh berries with a minimal preparation, maybe some cream poured over, but dead simple). He told the waiter, ‘It was just berries. I can go to the farmer’s market and pay $2 for what you served me. That price is unreasonable, and I won’t pay it.’
The waiter demurred with something like ‘well, we have other costs too sir’ but the guy was having none of that. He said, ‘I come in here all the time; the lunch was fine, but I won’t pay what you are charging for the fresh berries’ like he knew he’d get his way. And the waiter, sure enough, comped it.
The thing was, I’ve seen people complain about their food or the prices in an angry, seething way that is disproportionate to the harm done. It’s like they want the waiter to think that things will escalate alarmingly if they don’t get their way. But this guy was just calm and assertive like he knew this would be resolved in his favor.”
No Respect, No Respect At All!
“I had a regular who was known as a huge jerk that would not tip. She would complain about every meal, hair in her food, wasn’t cooked right, and anything else under the Sun. After wasting my breath the first couple of times explaining it was her hair, that is how the dish had to be prepared, etc., I gave up.
This particular time she kept spouting all the same reasons and asked for the check. She left most of the money but was about $8 short and didn’t tip. The next time she came in, she was all smiles and I was not. She kept spouting these same reasons again and said she went to our place all the time and asked what the manager would say to me not giving her a discount. Luckily the manager on duty was also the owner of the restaurant. I asked him what he would say and he smiled and said, ‘come with me, I’ll tell her what I have to say.’
He told her to get out and never come back. She asked what the owner would say to that. He stated he is the owner and has the right to refuse service, and once again said to get out and never come back.
Being A Regular Has Its Benefits
“My husband and I go to this one local hole-in-the-wall once a month. We always sit in the same area with the same waitress and order the same thing.
One time, the waitress forgot to leave the pickles off my burger, and I didn’t think about it; just pulled ’em off and enjoyed. She saw them sitting there and almost panicked.
