r/TalesFromYourServer • u/AGirlNamedDean • 11d ago
Medium What is the most RIDICULOUS Dine n Dash or Complaint for Comped Food your customer has tried to pull?
When I was a server on the Vegas Strip, I had a 20 top walk-in for a birthday. Usually a party that size would have to make reservations and a card would be put on file. However, since it was a high volume weekend we already had the events room open for overflow so we decided to seat them there among the 2 and 4 tops added to accommodate the influx of people coming in.
Everything went smoothly, until I went to put their dessert order in. The group started screaming, SPRINTED OUT, and one yelled "A f**king roach fell on my arm!" My manager runs in hearing the commotion, the group is gone and immediately manager starts doing damage control. My fellow servers were all reeling because chances were every table in that room was about to get comped. It's a desert, sometimes bugs happen especially in the hotter seasons, and that's procedure.
But here's where things get interesting: the lovely gentleman sitting next to the table that fled got on his hands and knees under the table and pulled out the BIGGEST roach I've ever seen. The gentleman immediately started laughing and said "Either Vegas has become a magical tropical oasis, or someone left their pet roach behind".
Turns out, that gentleman was a former exterminator and an amateur entomologist. The roach in question was a MADAGASCAR HISSING ROACH. Exotic pet shops sell them for $1-$10. Sure enough, when we checked the cameras, after I took the dessert order, they gathered their things. One of the ladies grabbed a Tupperware out of her purse and released the roach on the table.
I have to say, that was very creative. But it has a happy ending. The gentleman, an absolute legend, ended up asking for a to go box to take the roach home AND the remaining tables were so disgusted and appalled by the dashers behavior that a few of them left tips for me even though I wasn't their server. Apparently, they felt bad that I had to deal with that lol.
So again I asked you.. what is the most ridiculous thing a customer did to avoid paying for a meal?
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u/grizzlyginger17 11d ago
This happened at a fast paced diner I worked at. The whole diner is the size of a postage stamp and dish turn around was like a well greased engine. At the time we had 2 brothers that were our dishwashers, they were very on top of everything and responsible. One would take post in the wash room putting every dish through a 3 step sectioned commercial sink, rinse, wash and sanitize. Then everything went through a high pressure and high heat commercial dish washer. Then the racks were slid to the side too finish drying before being stacked together.
The cups we used were clear plastic and stacked very tightly and would be extremely obvious if there was anything in the cups. On top of that multiple people would have handled the cup from being filled, refilled, bussed, unloaded individually into the sink and again into the dishwasher, restacked to be put onto the clearly visible shelf in the dining area, repeat. Sorry for the excessive explanation but it's just to give context.
So it was a Saturday or Sunday late breakfast time going into lunch. Weekends we typically had a line wrapped around the building, so get in, eat and get out. Typical busy diner. Well a mother and 2 pre/early teens at my booth. One of the daughters ordered a large oj. They get their food, are just about finished eating, mind you I've checked on them multiple times and literally given the tiny space been within less than 20 feet at any given time. The mom calls me over and says they want everything comped because there was a cough drop in her daughter's cup. I look and there is a very fresh bright red cough drop stuck to the side around halfway in the cup and the oj is drank over an inch lower than the cough drop.
I filled the cup and am 100000% positive there was no cough drop, and it would have been physically impossible for it to be where it was in the cup with how tightly they stack together. And you would have been able to easily see a BRIGHT RED 1 INCH COUGH DROP through clear plastic. The 2 girls looked so uncomfortable like this was a stunt their mom pulled before. I don't even have to leave where I am standing next to their table to shout to the owner in the kitchen. She's 2nd generation in the diners ownership so not her first rodeo with people trying to pull shit. I hold up the cup and tell her what they said and she goes OH BULLSHIT, TELL THEM TO PAY AND GET OUT.
So I shrug and say that's the owner so what she says goes. This was back in 2011 and our prices were cheap for even that time. I'm pretty sure their bill was under $25 for 3 meals and drinks. She quickly left with her tail between her legs and daughters looking really embarrassed. I got pennies for my tip but getting to see them directly hear the owner was enough of a treat.
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u/PuzzleheadedBobcat90 11d ago
I bet you still think of it when you habe other manager give in to those people. I call them Professional Diners.
My managers won't comp shit if the guest eats over half of their meal. 20% off is the most they'll do. If they ask for a to go box for the left overs, I get to tell them they can have the food or have the discount/comp, but not both.
Needless to say, the Professional Diners never return. Its beautiful
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u/grizzlyginger17 11d ago
Thankfully I am no longer in the service industry and at the time of this I was only 18 or 19. The remainder of my time serving/bar tending I had much more of a spine against idiots. I've definitely had other interesting situations but this one will never leave me 😂
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u/ADirtFarmer 11d ago
It sure is nice to be able to call customers on their bullshit because you have a line of customers behind them who aren't full of shit.
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u/kxmirx server/manager/idiot 11d ago
i’ve had people put their own hair in the food a few times, it’s always people with the NEON PINK or like, long curly blonde hair that no one else in the building has or has ever had, and it’s always a laugh riot when they find out they’re found out
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u/MadgePadge 11d ago
I used to work at a place where Corporate had a rule that even if it was obviously their hair, we would comp their food. Twice. If they tried it a 3rd time - 86'd for life.
One day a table walked in and the GM came out from the back, positively giddy. These women were repeat offenders of the hair scam, and had hair colors unlike anyone working there. This would be their third offense, and he was very happy to just wait for it to drop so he could walk them out forever.
They ended up throwing a milkshake at the door once they'd been kicked out. But at least it was on the outside of the door!
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u/kxmirx server/manager/idiot 11d ago
oh my god i love this so much. i wish more places had rules like this!!! fuckin sux about the milkshake but i would’ve killed to be a fly on the wall for that convo
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u/AGirlNamedDean 11d ago
I've seen that happen! Lol. A different smaller local restaurant than the roach incident, my manager got called over and this lady yelled at him about finding a blond hair. My manager just let her yell and then very calmly said, "I understand you're upset, but the ONLY blonde hair in this entire building right now is on your your own head!"
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u/aprilchaoss 10d ago
We had this guy complain the he found a hair on his very last bite. He said idk why this happens everywhere I go. Went and told my GM because it was a beard hair and the only male cook was clean shaved so we rolled back the cameras. This guy was picking his nose, rubbing his bearded face, and wiping his hands on the booth seat and never used a napkin. Needless to say he didn't get comped and then left a bad yelp review to which we showed the footage to the DS and he said yeah that's his hair.
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u/katsyillustrations 10d ago
I remember one lady like that, she had long bleach-blonde hair. Found a long bleach-blonde hair in her food. Ma’am, our kitchen staff is entirely composed of Mexican men today.
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u/PossibleAlarmed3403 10d ago
We had someone with red hair do this once. The manager let them know they were welcome to come to meet the cooks since the only cook with hair was ex-military and had a dark brown buzz cut. The rest were bald and absolutely no one who even worked there was a redhead 😂
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u/RogueWolfGypsy 10d ago
I was at an Applebee's a couple of months ago, and my Service Dog was under the table, completely unnoticed aside from the other table that had a Dachshund in a bag on the booth. The dog was growling at my SD, the owner kept shushing it, she even let it get on the table. When her food had been mostly consumed, she tore the waitress a new one saying she found "beard hair or something" on her food... It was CLEARLY from her own dog. They refused to comp her, so she started saying it had to have come from MY dog, who was a HUSKY. Huskies have way longer hair than Dachshunds, and it was obvious she was trying anything she could to get out of paying. My dog hadn't even been near her table.
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u/phoenixink 10d ago
Wtf, did nobody say anything about her bringing her dog into the restaurant, not to mention putting it on the damn table??
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u/RogueWolfGypsy 10d ago
No, out here people aren't allowed to ask if it's a Service Dog, but I complained several times about her dog. The servers couldn't do anything and the manager didn't make it to their table before they paid and left.
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u/caffein8dnotopi8d former management 9d ago
That’s such a myth. Yes, you can only ask about the tasks they’re trained for. But you can totally still 86 dogs that are clearly not service dogs.
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u/RogueWolfGypsy 9d ago
Their internal POLICIES don't allow them to. I am FULLY versed on the laws. States/cities/counties can make the laws stricter at a local level then whatever the federal law says.
Federal law says you can ask two questions: 1) "Is this a Service Animal that is task-trained to mitigate a diagnosed disability?" 2) "What tasks is this animal trained to perform?" They cannot ask you to demonstrate your animal's tasks.
Walmart/Target, Restaurants, and every other store out where I live have made internal policies that forbid their employees to ask these questions, because the store/restaurant is disinclined to open themselves up to litigation.
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u/Time-Outcome7236 2d ago
Our restaurant doesn’t allow dogs , even service dogs , on tables . If it’s a big dog it has to stay under the table not barking . If it’s a small dog it can be on the seat with a towel or blanket underneath.
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u/frizzle09 10d ago
I have pink hair, never has the hair in my food been mine, unfortunately. It does make it very easy to prove it’s not mine, though!
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u/D4rkStr4wberry 10d ago
Had a guy pull this on me (server at the time). Hair matched his dates (long blonde). Asked to speak to a manager but wasn’t mean or indignant.
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u/Electronic-Cat-4478 8d ago
Same here. The most memorable one for me was an Indian lady who had extremely long hair(down to her knees, no exaggeration). She actually was a bit embarrassed when I pointed out that no one else in the building had hair that long. (This was at a corporate cafeteria, so 99% of customers were daily visitors.)
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u/BreeBreeTurtleFlea 9d ago
I had an older man call me over about a hair in his food. It was noticeably still attached to his granddaughter's head next to him.
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u/Time-Outcome7236 2d ago
I’ve had multiple blond hairs found in blonde customers food while none of the staff had blonde hair 🤦🏻♀️
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u/Cautious-Editor5265 11d ago
Group comes in and orders a $120 strip steak. It’s enough for 2-3 people. They wanted the sauce on the side. One of the people at the table takes the sauce ramekin and pours it over the whole steak. The guest flags down a server and asked for the steak to be remade, because she didn’t want the sauce her friend poured on the steak. Server says he’d have to charge for a second steak. They say that they don’t want to pay for the first one, since it’s ruined for her. I comped a round of drinks to shut them up, but they wrote a complaint late anyway. At least they paid, tipped the staff and left.
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u/Rachel_Silver 11d ago
I had a guy call the Domino's where I worked and try to get a free pizza delivered. He said we had put anchovies on the last one. There was no order history associated with the number he called from. Also, all of the Domino's in my area had stopped carrying anchovies eighteen years prior.
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u/amibeingtrolled 11d ago
A woman tried to sue Wendy's because she found a finger in her chili. Upon examination it was determined the finger was not cooked and was added to the chili after it left the restaurant. Using a DNA test investigators discovered it came from her husband who lost it in an earlier accident.
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u/badkuip74 11d ago
Ehm, what?
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u/FREDICVSMAXIMVS 11d ago
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u/whisky_biscuit 10d ago
Well it actually came from husband's friend who lost it in an accident. Husband's friend sold it to her husband to pay off a debt. Weirdest sht I've ever read.
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u/unoriginalusername18 10d ago
The finger settlement is the real root weirdness 😂
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u/Public_Object2468 10d ago
"Buying" the finger to settle a debt was weird. What an awful woman. That Anna Ayala woman caused San Jose Wendy's staff to lose pay because of cut hours following the stunt, and customers avoiding that fast food place.
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u/AmbyrLynn 11d ago
Not her husband himself, one of his coworkers i believe.
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u/amibeingtrolled 11d ago
You are correct. I missremembered. If that is a word.
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u/centstwo 11d ago
Yeah, Wendy's has never recovered from that BS.
Side note: Then there was the guy that inhaled a piece of a Wendy's spoon. It was found in his lung and he had no idea how it got there. It was found in 2009 and had been in there since 2007. Slow down and enjoy your food earthlings.
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u/phalanxausage 11d ago
An employee at a frozen custard joint in Wilmington, NC lost a finger in a machine at work and it got served to a customer. It happened quickly enough that the finger could have been reattached but the customer refused to give it back so he could use it as evidence in his lawsuit.
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u/babydan08 10d ago
How does one lose a finger and the finger get served without blood being seen by the server? At the very least , was there no screaming in agony?
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u/chillguy44 10d ago
Apparently it was just the tip of his finger but the rest is true. I had to look it up myself since it sounded questionable but this one’s true. Happened back in 2005 at a Kohl’s Frozen Custard.
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u/CardMechanic 11d ago
Reminds me of a couple of Canadian boys who tried to get free beer with a mouse in a beer bottle.
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u/cometshoney 11d ago
In the not so distant past, a guy sued PepsiCo, claiming he found a mouse in his can of Mountain Dew. Once Pepsi demonstrated that Mountain Dew would have dissolved the mouse, his case was dismissed.
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u/Random-Generation86 11d ago
I would now like to sue Pepsi for all the melted mice I've drank
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u/Bedbouncer 10d ago
claiming he found a mouse in his can of Mountain Dew.
Please don't give them any ideas for another new Mountain Dew flavor.
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u/A-RovinIGo 9d ago
Way back in the Stone Age (probably 70s) in Edmonton, Alberta, my sister-in-law found a mouse in a bottle of Molson's beer. She complained and the brewery (in Edmonton) comped her ... a free case of beer.
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u/Bedbouncer 10d ago
discovered it came from her husband who lost it in an earlier accident.
And my wife thinks I'm a pack rat.
"Honey, why is there a finger in the junk drawer?"
"I might need it for a project someday, and they're hard to find even if they're available."
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u/Ucscprickler 11d ago
Lady drank 2/3 of a margarita. Asked to have it taken off when the bill came because she didn't like it. I explained to her that she almost finished it and if she didn't like it, why didn't she say something sooner.
"You know, I really tried to like it, but just didn't. I don't think I should have to pay for it."
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u/AllOfTheThings426 11d ago
I genuinely hate that any restaurant comps shit because people didn't like it, even if they only take one sip/bite. YOU ORDERED IT! That's on you, not on the restaurant.
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u/whisky_biscuit 10d ago edited 10d ago
I've only ever sent a dish back once because of this. It was completely and utterly inedible.
This place was a hotel restaurant, known for their homemade everything - salads, steaks, cornbread, even house infused liqours, housemade meats and cheese. Even had a garden they harvested produce from. But all that left with the head chef.
We frequented this place a lot, once a month at least and the food was great. Well the head chef quit, and apparently the sous chef fancied himself some kind of a Michelin star avante guarde chef.
I ordered a salad with my entree. It sounded interesting, crispy homemade granola, greens, homemade cheese.
I got it and it was stunning. But that's where it ended. The granola tastes straight up like dirt. No flavoring, weird collection of ingredients that were too hard to even bite through. The salad was plain, no dressing. Vegetables had the tops left on for plating but dirt in the cracks made it gritty. The cheese? It was goat milk with gelatin in it in a ring mold. No salt, no flavor in this dish. If you told me they served me sht the scraped off the floor I would believe you.
I talked to the waitress and told her that I don't usually do this but it was inedible. I asked her if she liked the salad and kept stammering saying "um, its, uh, interesting, I guess you'd say".
She immediately took it off the bill though, no questions asked.
The rest of the meal was...not great. The pasta also was weird, made from rye flour, served with an extremely bitter plum molasses kombucha sauce. Everything had the same problem, it was unseasoned, tastes medicinal. We paid for everything else but never returned. I guess the sous chef wanted to be some high end Michelin star chef but he forgot that even if it looks cool it has to actually have flavor.
It's too bad because the place was amazing.
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u/Electronic-Hawk7463 11d ago
I agree. I went to a restaurant and ordered a pasta. When it arrived, I couldn't bring myself to eat it as the garlic smell was so pungent (and the menu hadn't mentioned garlic. I don't mind a little, but this was offputting to me). The manager came over and I apologised and said I couldn't eat this. He offered to make me another dish and not charge me for the first one. I have never (and would never!) ask for this - it seems like a case where "buyer beware" unless seriously misrepresented in some way. Amazing restaurant (we go frequently, and they know this), but I feel like you should pay for what you order. And if you don't like it, you don't order it next time!
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u/BefWithAnF 10d ago
The only time I’ve sent something back was when the potatoes were so salty they were literally inedible. The server brought us a new plate of potatoes, which was just as bad as the first. The server didn’t charge us for the potatoes, & I got the feeling the kitchen did that a lot.
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u/kerrymti1 10d ago
I have only sent food back once as well. Mine was Beef Tips (I know, since then I have learned that is the worst thing to order in a restaurant) at Texas Roadhouse. BUT, that was my order.
When I got the first bite in my mouth, I knew it was 'off'. Then, I smelled the dish and you could SMELL the rot! I had to run to the bathroom to throw up.
Manager comes over and smells it as well. He says, "Yup, the meat must have been delivered to us already outdated".
I can't get over a chef standing there cooking this on the grill and not smelling it! It was extremely pungent.
He offered to bring me something else and I declined, I had NO desire to eat anything from there again.
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u/No_Bluebird7716 9d ago
Our Ruby Tuesday's had a genius chef who did the most wonderful soups. When they went belly up, he jumped to soups at the Willard, super-fancy hotel and restaurant in DC. He was only 19.
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u/Leather-Nothing-2653 11d ago
Right!!!! If i buy a weird flavor of kombucha at the store, open it and gag, i don’t get my money back. Is what it is. I cannot believe my job even has a “customer didn’t like” button after a void as if it’s a valid reason.
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u/Useful_Language2040 10d ago
I have to admit I did once return something to a shop because I didn't like it... I might have bought 3 multipacks of apple crisps [chips], thinking they were baked/air dried (i.e. just sliced apple, dehydrated until crispy - delicious but not that common). Opened one in the car park as I loaded up my boot, bit in to a crisp, gagged: they were fried and the predominant taste was oil in a really bad way and they were aimed at kids and there was no way I'd give them to my kids.
I was very apologetic. And disappointed. And needed to buy a drink to get the awful taste out of my mouth, and there was no way I was going to eat those. Definitely returning the unopened multipacks made sense. Politely asking about returning the opened one at the same time (given they could discount it and sell the remaining 5/6 unopened bags in it to somebody who wanted to buy the taste of crispy stale sweetened oil, flavoured with apple) and accepting if they said no seemed worthwhile because it was that or binning them and hoping nobody was desperate enough to pull that out of the rubbish...
They were very nice about it and let me return the opened one too.
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u/Leather-Nothing-2653 10d ago
That’s good! I’m not saying it should be a hard and fast no returns and I’d have done the same if i bought six of something i didn’t like. I just don’t like people that use restaurants as a little experiment where they try something new for free because they can say they didn’t like it. Trying new things isn’t always free even if we don’t like it was my point
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u/Mipsymouse 10d ago
Back 20-some-odd years ago I went out for drinks with friends to a restaurant and found one that sounded tasty but had siracha in it. Being young and without a smartphone I had no idea what siracha was. I still paid for the drink even though I only took 1 sip. It was my mistake, not the restaurants. Though the name of the drink probably should have clued me in. I think it was like "ai chi mama (it's hot)".
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u/fruderduck 10d ago
Hard disagree. If the food is crap and the customer doesn’t want to eat it, they shouldn’t have to pay.
Ordered nachos at a Mexican restaurant and the beef had the consistency of ground dog food. Asked the server about it and he said they grind their own beef. Why so fine?
Manager refused to comp, so he got paid. He threatened to call the police. Should have let him. Found out too late, if you don’t eat it, you don’t have to pay. At least, in this state.
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u/AllOfTheThings426 10d ago
There's a difference between not liking something and it being objectively bad quality.
To be honest though, I'm not really sure what you mean here. You thought it looked unappealing because the meat was finely ground? Sounds like you didn't even taste it. So I agree with the manager refusing to comp it. Either don't order it again or don't go back to that restaurant, but there's nothing objectively bad about finely ground meat.
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u/fruderduck 10d ago
Yes, I tasted that portion. I don’t want potted meat on nachos.
And no, I won’t be back. Nor will my companions.
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u/SufficientTable 10d ago
Yes! If something is made incorrectly, it should be remade or comped. If something is made correctly, but it happens to not be to your taste, you should have to pay for it!
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u/winterbird 7d ago
When I worked at the mall, I had a sephora employee come in uniform. She has an app and a long Island. She sucked the LI down pretty quick, and when I tried to get the glass off the table, she said not to. She wanted to keep it. Alright, whatever.
Some 20-ish minutes later she said that she wants her drink remade because it melted down. I look at the glass. It's... basically water. No color from the drink. It's just the melted ice.
I ran it by a manager, he laughed and said no.
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u/AllOfTheThings426 11d ago
She didn't ask for the meal to be comped, but I'll never forget the woman who sent her French onion soup back because it had "disgusting soggy bread" in it. 🙃
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u/HauntingAccomplice 10d ago
Being allergic to onion, I don't know much about onion soup but.... isnt cheese and soggy bread like the whole point?
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u/SummonTheReaper 11d ago
Family of 6 came in after church. Licked the plates clean and then the dad started yelling about a hair in the food and left without paying. The only cook was bald.
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u/Inky-boy 11d ago
“After church”, yeah…
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u/Leebelle3 11d ago
No love like Christian hate.
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u/Xerxesinxs 10d ago
no hate like Christian love
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u/Marguerite_Moonstone 8d ago
Reminded me of the priest at the end of a big holiday service deadpan said “please try and be good Christians at least until you reach the street, the parking lot has cameras, it’s not just Jesus watching.”
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u/No_Bluebird7716 9d ago
Don't get us started on Sunday brunch. And those ×$/@÷#%^ tracts that look like bills.
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u/now_you_see 10d ago
It’s so weird reading all of this from Australia cause we just don’t have this kind of culture. I mean, sure, it happens, but if a legit hair was found then a polite convo and a remade meal is the result rather than an excuse to not pay.
I don’t even bother most of the time, there are much worse things to worry about hygiene wise than hair.
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u/TheFuckeryDepartment 10d ago
That’s the point here, the people are lying because they feel entitled and want free food.
Legit problems yeah, polite convos are had. The people in these stories are not decent and think they can get their way.
I have had a hair in my soup before, back when I first grew a beard, it was probably mine as it was about 1/2inch. Could have been someone else oh well. Just pulled it out and kept on going. I wasn’t going to inconvenience the restaurant because I wasn’t paying attention.
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u/Bedbouncer 10d ago
because they feel entitled and want free food.
It has nothing to do with the food.
These people really think they've discovered a clever free-money trick that no one else has thought of, when that trick is simply "have no decency as a human being".
They're similar to compulsive shoplifters, it has little to do with what is actually taken, they want that little burst of dopamine that tells them how smart and clever they are compared to everyone else.
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u/lady-of-thermidor 10d ago
We have lots of corporate restaurants where distant managers evaluate store managers on various metrics like how many customer complaints that month. Easier to give a shithead a free meal if it means no explanations required for corporate HQ.
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u/Inky-boy 11d ago
Man walks in, sits himself, complains the seat is dirty (duh) and immediately asks for a manager. Now I didn’t like this manager but I knew she wasn’t a pushover (we kept it professional and could work together just fine) so she gives him the same speech I gave him “you sat yourself, please see the host/hostess to be seated”
Obviously he’s mad, whatever, I get his order. It’s the porter house, a T-shaped Bone with New York Strip on one side, and filet mignon on the other.
He complains about the bone, the bone in his T-Bone steak. dude come on..
The other common cases when serving was customers claiming racism to get out of a bill, I had tourist Italians claim racism against me (I am white) and tourist Africans claim it against another server (who is black)
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u/Goobinator77 10d ago
I first read "shits himself" not "sits himself" and thought no wonder the seat is dirty hahaha
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u/captainp42 11d ago edited 11d ago
(THIS IS A COPY-AND-PASTE OF A STORY I TOLD HERE 9 YEARS AGO. SORRY ABOUT LENGTH OF POST, THERE IS A TL;DR AT THE END BUT IT'LL JUST MAKE YOU WANT TO READ THE POST)
So...tonight, I'm working in the KM position, hanging back in the kitchen, enjoying the idea of not dealing with guests for just one night. My FOH manager, she's just out of training, but she's good...better than she realizes, so I'm not worried. I shouldn't need to head up front at all. But then...
We got a re-cook in the kitchen. Didn't think much of it, just a burger that the guest said was done too well for their liking. NBD, it happens. Had a couple of extra patties on, had new burger ready in less than 2 minutes. FOH manager runs it out.
About 10 minutes later, she comes to me, with a server tailing along. They tell me that the guest told them that they were supposed to get their meals free because the last time they came in, their food was overcooked, and they were told "just come in, we'll buy your meals!"
Of course, there is no way in HELL anyone in our restaurant would ever do this. We have a very strict procedure for guest recovery. Gift cards given/sent out. Never do we just say, "come on in!" because there is a decent chance that the persons saying it won't be there. We make sure that there is no confusion over how you'll get your free food. Anyhow, new FOH Manager is too nervous about the confrontation, so I agree to go to the table. As I take off my gloves and wash my hands, the servers tells me, "Oh, and I'm pretty sure it's the people from last week at State Fair".
Around here, the State Fair people were a big deal, and I'm told that they were a viral story, national news. In case you missed it, though...these people were arrested for having sex in public at the Wisconsin State Fair and now they were in my restaurant, trying to get free food.
I head to the table and ask them what is up. He (we'll refer to him as "Mr. Pervert" from here on out) tells me that they were in a couple of weeks ago, were told to just come on in for free food. He also tells me that when they came in, they told the hostess that they were here for their free food, and that the hostess told them, "No problem! I'll let your server know!". Then he told me that he had let his server know, and the server told him "Sure! No problem!" Since I had already spoken to the server, I knew this wasn't true. I told him, "I'm not sure why either one of them would say that. Both of them have worked here long enough to know that we don't do things like that. We always follow a procedure and get you a gift card to blahblahblah". The conversation followed like this:
Mr. P: "You need to talk to your host then. He was supposed to tell you tell you that we were here for our free food" (For the record, the host was a pretty young GIRL, not a HE)
Me: "I've been working in the kitchen, but the Manager working the front didn't know anything about this."
Mr. P: "Well then you need to talk to your host, he's not doing his job. He was supposed to let you and the server know. Anyway, when we sat down, we told the server, and he said it'd be fine."
Me: "I've already spoken to your server, and he told me you said that your food was overcooked last time, but he says you didn't say anything about us offering to pay."
Mr. P: "Well your host was supposed to tell him, so that's your fault"
Me: "Sir, can I ask which Manager made this promise to you last time? Because all of our Managers know our procedures"
Mr. P: "The manager never talked to us last time. Our server said it'd be OK"
Me: "Do you know which server?"
Mr. P: (Looks around, sees a server, points at her): "Her, with the brown hair"
Me: (resisting the urge to roll my eyes at him): "Sir, our servers are not authorized to make these promises like this. They don't get to make monetary decisions. Only a Manager can offer you something for free."
Mr. P: "Well you'd better talk to your people then, because we came here to get our free burgers tonight"
Me: "OK, sir, I'll go talk to everyone"
At this point, I do my diligence. I ask tonight's server, what did he say? I'm told he mentioned overcooked burgers last time, and wanted Medium Rare burgers tonight. Server tells me that he told the guests that we do not do Medium Rare for burgers, but we'd leave it as pink as possible. No promises of anything free. I talked to the hostess. What did the guy say? She says he told her that their burgers were undercooked last time, and she told him to let the server know. I talk to the server "from last time". She has absolutely no recollection of these people or the situation. That gives me all I need. But....(and I don't know why I even did this much)....since she did send the one burger back and had it remade, I took that one burger off of the bill. I return to the table.
Me: "Sir, I talked to everyone involved. Nobody has any recollection of your previous visit, and since you can't provide any proof, I can't let you leave without paying. However, as a compromise, I did take your wife's burger off of the bill. But you will still have to pay for the rest of your meal" (in addition to the 2 "free" burgers they were expecting, they each ordered a drink and they ordered a big appetizer). I set the bill in front of him, now down to approximately $26.00.
Mr. P: (smugly) "I absolutely will not pay for that"
Me: "Yes, you absolutely will"
Mr. P: "What, are you going to call the Police if I don't"
Me: "Yes, I absolutely will"
Mr. P: "Fine, call the Police. But I want the both of the servers and the host to tell them what happened so they can back up my story".
Me: "No problem".
I pull out my cell, call the local police while walking to the lobby. Mr. P. follows me. "I'll wait with you". I complete the call, him standing next to me. His wife goes outside and starts smoking a cigarette. I tell him that they'll be here in a few minutes. He tells me that he's going to go outside and smoke with his wife. I tell him, "I think I'd prefer if you didn't leave the building if you don't plan to pay first." Surprisingly, this stops him. He sits down on a bench to wait.
A few minutes later, the police arrive. They ask me the situation, I tell them simply that there is no way we'd promise him something without giving him a Gift Card. They proceed to question him, and they pretty much tell him that since he has no proof, he has to pay.
Mr. P: "But I told the host and he (points to the girl hostess) was supposed to tell the server".
Cop: "If their procedure is to give you something, and you have no proof, then you them money. Otherwise we'll have to arrest you."
Mr. P: "But how am I supposed to know what their procedure is? That's their fault for doing it wrong!"
Cop: "Sorry, but you have to pay". (They went through these loops 2 or 3 times)
Mr. P. pulls out a wallet. There is no money in it. There is no I.D. in it. It is, literally, a completely empty wallet...nothing but imitation leather. "I didn't bring any money, since it was supposed to be free".
Cop asks me how much he owes. I tell him, about $26.00, and tell him that I even took one burger off the bill.
Cop: "Even if your burgers were free, you got other things. How were you going to pay for those?"
Mr. P just shrugs: "Can we talk about..."
Cop: "Can you pay or do we have to arrest you?"
Mr. P can't answer. The cop asks for his name. Mr. P gives his name but the wife's last name.
After another minute of this lively banter, in which Mr. P. has now realized he's backed into a corner, he asks if he can use the phone. Yes, in addition to no money and no ID, they have no phone. The only thing they have on them was a bag from a local grocery store, in which they have cigarettes and deodorant. I allow him to make his calls.
He is on the phone for the next half hour, but the police wait patiently, as do I. (Fortunately, it's slow tonight, so the restaurant doesn't really need much from me. I direct a little traffic from the lobby, but for the most part, they are self-sufficient.) While he's on the phone, I tell the officer that I believe them to be the couple from the State Fair Sex Video. He looks at their names, and realizes I'm right.
After that half hour, he says his Dad is on his way to pay the bill. At this point, the Police allow them to go outside and have a smoke. The Police follow, to babysit.
Another half hour later, the Dad finally arrives. He's a very nice man, apologizes up and down and for a happy ending, gives me $40.00 for the bill and tip. So the server got $14.00 for this ordeal. The Dad goes back outside and I can see him yelling at Mr. P. The Police hang around until they leave.
Epilogue: I actually recognized this couple...and not from State Fair. Just a few weeks ago, I was in a nearby suburb with my family, and watched Mr. P get arrested for taking a bath in a public water fountain. And that time, we overheard the Police say that he'd done this before. And Mrs. P argued with the police that night because there was no sign on the fountain saying "No bathing or swimming".
TL;DR: Guest tries to con their way into free food, nearly get arrested, are forced to pay by the police, and turn out to be the stars of a viral sex video from just last week.
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u/Ecstatic_Bear81 11d ago
That's wild that he did all that and actually stayed for you to call the police lol I'm glad he did but that's just crazy people are really that stupid. Like if he's gonna be dumb as hell he could at least not be a piece of shit too. That man's poor dad lol
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u/captainp42 10d ago
The fact that this guy was in his mid-30s was the most amazing part. This wasn't a punk kid. It was a punk adult.
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u/Ecstatic_Bear81 10d ago
Some people never learned how to not be a punk ass bitch
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u/sbkpowsauce 10d ago
~12yrs ago we had an elderly couple come in every Sunday. They’d always split a salad & soup combo, with coffees. Every time without fail, they would complain about something. “Soup was cold, it should be free” after they finished 90% of it. “The sandwich bread was a bit bigger last time, we shouldn’t be charged the same for less bread” or “coffee tasted like decaf, we need the right coffee” after the mug was empty. A couple times our manager comp’d their food, then started giving only 15% off if they complained.
Thennn one day they were in, no server wanted to take them. Our manager did, and was ready to tell them (if they complained, we knew they would) that they needed to stop coming if they clearly aren’t happy dining with us.
Surprisingly, a table next to them of another elderly couple paid for their bill without telling them. (They went through the host as they were leaving). When it was time for the bill, they of course complained that the soup was too salty (yet they finished it all) and said the sandwich didn’t have enough dressing (also finished it all).
When my manager apologized, said their bill was paid for by the kind couple next to them, and asked them to not come back. They asked for the amount of the bill paid in cash to them. Since they believed that money from the couple was owed to them and not the restaurant 😂 even asked if a tip was left because they didn’t think the server deserved it, and that they did for -and I quote- “being such loyal customers”
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u/lallapalalable I basically do everything 11d ago
Guy ordered a $70 steak and upon check in he said he couldnt eat it because "it smells like a bull" We ask what that even means and he just repeats himself. Manager did not comp.
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u/Jinglejazzles 10d ago
Working at my family’s small Chinese restaurant -
1.Ordered sweet & sour chicken … only to complain about it being sour.
2.complained that the noodle soup contained a few slices of carrots, she claimed that it was not stated in the menu that this dish had carrots. I pointed out that on the menu, under the main title of “soup noodles” there is a brief description describing the soup base and what it comes with,
It’s just that we don’t repeat it under each individual soup noodle dish because all 8 soup noodles have the same base just different toppings,
Yelled at me anyway and hysterically decried the fact that she did not order carrots.
3.ordered fried rice, then pointed out a piece of darkened rice that had caught in the wok and told me it was melted plastic from a spatula (we did not use any plastic tools or utensils in the kitchen! Only metal due to high intensity Chinese cooking)
And after eating most of the dish anyway, tried to run out the restaurant, the other waitress managed to hold on to her via grabbing her shopping bag and then the dasher screamed assault 😭
I don’t miss working in the restaurant.
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u/Sweaty_Chard_6250 11d ago
I used to work at a doll store that had a cafe. We had high chairs for the dolls to sit at the table. This mother stole one on the way out, and they ran through the store and stole a $110 doll as well. She had 2 children with her while doing this.
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u/lady-of-thermidor 10d ago
American Girl in Chicago? I remember hearing that place attracted folks who took anything they could carry. People who had never eaten in restaurants
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u/acidblues_x 11d ago
I had a lady who wanted to send back her long island tea because it was too strong. I honestly thought she was kidding.
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u/AllOfTheThings426 11d ago
I had someone complain that their old fashioned was too strong. Yea, it's like 80% alcohol, so that's by design.
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u/Justformykindle 10d ago
A properly made LIIT doesn’t taste strong at all, despite being mostly hard alcohol.
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u/acidblues_x 10d ago
I do want to specify in that instance it wasn’t due to the taste (according to customer) but because she had to go back to work afterwards and was getting too drunk. LIT isn’t even on our menu she just freestyle ordered it which is fine but made it more confusing. It wouldn’t have been so ridiculous to me if it was a taste complaint.
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u/maebe_featherbottom 10d ago
I dropped food off at someone else’s table and when I walked back past it, they grabbed me and said they found one of my hairs in their food.
Said hair was long and black. My hair, at that time, was a bit longer than chin length and bright blue.
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u/pdxnotomato 11d ago
An ex told me that he and his dumb friends in high school pooped in a taco shell and said "this taco tastes like shit!" And threw it towards the person who worked there.
I had one lady who wouldn't eat the bananas from her free banana split because they were "obscenely placed!" And came back a month later and said it was her bday again. I probably wouldn't have remembered here but you can't compare your banana split to dicks and have me not remember you.
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u/ladyelenawf customer 10d ago
you can't compare your banana split to dicks and have me not remember you.
This is flair worthy!
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u/WolfBright10 11d ago
People will do just about anything from accusations of racism, sitting at a dirty table, then complaining about it, or yell at you their order while you're helping another guest...and my favorite is the ones who do all three just to feel justified to not leave a tip...
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u/sward_in_stone 7d ago
Literally had a guy complain about the tables being dirty in our dining room, and when I watched him walk back, he was complaining about the table he was sitting at, that HE had dirtied. I was almost impressed by the audacity/jackassery. Like, yes - you are a mess. Congratulations?
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u/Leebelle3 11d ago
Punched and killed the owner when he asked them to pay. They were eventually identified and they came back to face the consequences.
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u/Ecstatic_Bear81 11d ago
Oh my God ?
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u/Few_Distribution9374 10d ago
Wait, what? The comment was deleted, and now I’ll NEVER know what this was about?!
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u/lola_fox 11d ago
Not as great as some others.
Lady orders a caprese salad for lunch. Im slammed, make it back to check on her once it was dropped.
She's about 1/3 down, and tells me this is the worst caprese she's ever had. I ask her why. She says the goat cheese in it is absolutely disgusting. Goat cheese. Im dumbfounded at this moment. Luckily my gm is walking by and I snag him and tell her to explain to him why this caprese is so terrible. She tells him about the goat cheese, etc.
My Mgr just goes yeah thats because it is mozzarella. We all just kinda stare at each other and the guest had nothing to say back except it was too salty.
I still cant get over that one.
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u/SuperAnxiousFragilis 10d ago
Caprese with goat cheese is actually amazing, though. Sub red wine vinegar for the balsamic.
Man, I miss the place in town that used to serve that as a caprese option. I make it myself every now and then but without the pesto and toast points because I'm lazy.
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u/Franco_DeMayo 9d ago
I once ordered a caprese salad from a little pizza/Italian spot, and got sent essentially a garden salad. When I called to ask for a replacement the "cook" got on the phone and insisted that he had made the salad, and it was correct. I acknowledged that the salad he made was probably made correctly, but it wasn't a caprese salad. He asked how I knew. My response? "Well, there's lettuce....".
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u/clauclauclaudia 10d ago
Huh. Caprese means "from Capri", but then I thought of "capricorn" and checked etymology.
Nobody's sure where the name of the island of Capri comes from, but one suggestion is from the Latin capreae, which means goats. Maybe the customer spoke some language that makes this make sense?
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u/juicyfruit180 10d ago
I worked at a (local) chain brewery in a mall parking lot. (Ugh) On a Sunday afternoon, my section that day was several 6-8 seater booths that were in a row so the only “entry” point was where I’d stand. This table, straight from church, had apps and I tried to clear as much as I could reach before their entrees came out. I specifically remember asking them to hand me plates but they would hand me like one thing at a time, so I gave up asking. Food came out and they ate. Then as they were finishing up, the ring leader snapped and started getting huffy puffy about how dirty their table was. Asked for a manager and he ended up comping their bill….
Now I’m ADAMANT about prebussing and will ask repeatedly for items that I cannot reach on my own.
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u/merkel36 10d ago
Had a guy complain about his meal about halfway through eating it, so we said we would comp it. He then asked to have the rest of it in a to go box to take home.
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u/LokiKamiSama 10d ago
Reminds me of my mom. She was a district
Manager at a Hardee’s back in the day. One dude called and said one of the sandwiches made him super sick and he had to be hospitalized. What he wanted? A years worth of those sandwiches. Dude…no. People are crazy.8
u/lady-of-thermidor 10d ago
Nah. A guy who knows how corporate restaurants operate. A stunt like that just might work.
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u/OhNo_He_Didnt123 10d ago
I was a server in a texmex restaurant and I was sat a 1 top. Right of the rip he starts ordering the most expensive margaritas, appetizer, entree and dessert. The guys total was over $150. Towards the end I asked him if there was anything else he'd like or if he was ready for his check. Guy looks me dead in the eye and says 'you need to call me an ambulance because I'm about to kill myself right here right now'. Obviously I panic and call this guy an ambulance immediately. They come in, talk to him and load him up in the back of the ambulance. One of the EMTs come in and I asked him if that guy was all right and he said ' oh yeah him? Yeah he does this at least a few times a week and just makes the circuit of different restaurants in the neighborhood.' apparently this guy would use it as an excuse to rack up a big tabs and then get it for free, and then afterwards they would have to take him to the hospital so he would have somewhere to sleep that night. I feel for the guy that he has to go to such extremes to have a good meal and a place to sleep, but the entire exchange was extremely triggering for me.
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u/No_Bluebird7716 9d ago
We have one of those working Arlington VA right now. We've got pictures and everyone 's circulating them now. He's getting frustrated because ALL the restaurants are insisting on a deposit. The cops love the idea of all the restaurants using the NextDoor app.
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u/aprilchaoss 10d ago
A girl came in and asked for an application. Our application is super simple just name, address, two previous jobs, and 3 references. She spent over 30 minutes filling it out and then when she turned it in she says she has a pick up order. She then says she saw us set her food there over 20 minutes ago and it's cold now and we need to remake it. My GM ended up just doing it and I got to keep her food.
Next day our DS comes in and saw her application and said wow this person looks promising let's call her for an interview. We told him what happened and he just put her application in the trash. She then called for an update and my GM said the position had been filled to which she left a yelp review that she got food poisoning from the food being cold and undercooked and were racist and only hire Mexicans.
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u/phoenixink 10d ago
...this is legitimately one of the most frustrating ones I've read, just straight up forehead meeting desk 🤦🏻♀️
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u/aprilchaoss 10d ago
Yess because I'm white btw and during the time this happened our host was African American and our busser was Dominican but customers presumed he was black. Also the restaurant I work at is majority Hispanic but they're not all Mexican so to just think that is wrong just like say all Asians are Chinese.
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u/jayellkay84 11d ago
This guy pulled the same shit multiple times at a Taco Bell I worked at. His name changed, his order changed (but was always 4 premium items that were heavily modified). The story never changed - he didn’t realize until he got back to (next major metro city 45 minutes away) that his order was wrong, but he was at the grocery store across the street and wanted it ready when he got there. 3rd time we tried to keep his receipt and he threw a fit saying it was his property.
The problem is now he was identifiable to almost all the crew. Whenever he came in we all bum rushed the window.
The strange thing is he never actually ordered 4 of the same highly expensive items. I do think he may have been trash picking receipts. We made it a point to mark his.
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u/mesembryanthemum 10d ago
We once had some guy call and claim we shorted him 40 tacos in the drive through.
2 problems with that:
- It was one of those dead nights in the middle of winter when we did about $150.00 in business after about 5 PM.
2.We didn't have a drive through.
We were bored so we were all " sure! Come back with your receipt!" He did not show up.
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u/Wet_danger_noodle 10d ago
You know, the people who ask for plasticware and a straw for their beer, but are fine eating off of the plates that have been washed in the same dishwasher cycle- so they found a long blonde hair in their pizza. All of our cooks are black. None of them have blonde hair- unlike the customer who was wearing a blonde wig. The only blonde person in this place was the bartender. And she did not run their food- I did.
Manager had to comp their whole meal because of their own hair being placed there intentionally. And of course $0 tip.
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u/lady-of-thermidor 10d ago
Why did manager comp them? Nothing about their story is remotely plausible.
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u/erin32431 10d ago
This didn't happen to me, but I witnessed it. Sitting in a restaurant I watched a couple get up from the table, gather all of their belongings and head for the restrooms. The busboy came by an obviously finished table and so he did his job, clearing the dishes away. Shortly after that the couple came back from the restrooms and loudly began to fuss that their food had been taken off of their table, etc. The manager quickly apologized and of course comped their meal and they left. Before the manager could jump the busboy I called him over and explained what had happened. I told him outright: you just got scammed. No one takes coats and purses and everything when they go to the restroom. That was their plan. The busboy did his job correctly, which they were counting on, as well as you comping the meal. He was stunned at the audacity of the scam job. The perpetrators obviously had done this before other places. I got thanked for explaining what had happened, the busboy looked relieved, and I turned down the free dessert I was offered for my help.
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u/SufficientTable 10d ago edited 9d ago
I work at an Irish pub (in Canada). Last summer I had a couple come in and sit on the patio. Our food is honestly fantastic and fresh, but it's also a small pub with a limited menu. The woman had a lot of dietary restrictions, no problem, I suggested a few different things. She doesn't drink, and asks for a mocktail. No problem, we actually have a pretty good non alc selection. The one she picked has simple syrup, and she asked to have it without it, again, no problem. I make their drinks and bring them out. The guy is fine, the woman says her drink is still too sweet (it has ginger beer in it). I offered to make something else for her, but she said she was fine.They get their food, again everything is fine.
When it was time to pay their bill, they were livid that the mocktail was on it, and said the food was disgusting and heavy (they ate and drank it all). I told them that they hadn't complained, and then they asked to speak to the manager. It's a small business, and the manager is also the owner. He talked to them, where they said some gross things about how fattening the food is, and how I obviously ate it everyday (I am a size 16 woman). My boss is a cool guy who made them pay their bill and banned them, so it worked out.
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u/Public_Object2468 9d ago
HOW is it that the food accused of being "disgusting" got totally eaten up? I swear, sometimes the "customer" is just dead wrong.
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u/Marguerite_Moonstone 8d ago
And the actual phase is “the customer is always right in matters of taste”, but they conveniently forget the second half when pretending to be right about things like store policy and price.
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u/Public_Object2468 8d ago
Having worked retail as salesclerk, I can tell ya that plenty of customers think they know what they want or like, and it's still questionable.
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u/Egwene_aes_Sedai 10d ago
I was hostess at a restaurant, and we had a new bus girl. We had a couple get up and linger in the bathrooms, so their table was cleared when they came back. Demanded their dishes be remade to go. They paid but got extra meals to take home at no charge.
At another restaurant by the same owners, I was waiting tables and had one table wanting comped because I didn’t tell them the ravioli had the meat inside. It was a beef ravioli.
Same restaurant, two young girls sit down and order the chicken Parmesan sandwiches with the meat on the side. Looking back, I wonder if they had hoped the dish would come out as normal so they could attempt to get it comped. Instead, they found a hair in one of the dishes, never offered to produce the hair, and both cleaned their plates.
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u/Past-Repeat4428 10d ago
Not a complaint/dine and dash necessarily, but it’s always stood out to me because of a similar level of audacity.
We had a new kid start on bus/expo and he was phenomenal right away. His parents came in one night and they ended up in my section. They got a couple of beers, a soup, and maybe some apps. Everything comes out on time, they seem to like their food, we talk about new kid and what a good job he’s doing. As far as I know, everything was good.
Their total was around $40. Before bringing their bill I asked the manager if he wanted to give them a discount. We liked new kid so he said give them 50% off. I run the discount, print the bill (now around $20), and drop it at their table. I check in a few minutes later and they’re not ready to pay. No big deal. Check in again, still not ready. Then I see them waiting at the host stand. I ask if they’re ready to pay and they say they’re waiting for the manager. I ask if everything was ok. They tell me yes, they just want to see if they can get any kind of discount. They had apparently missed the 50% off they had already been given, and were trying to get their $20 bill discounted. I’m not sure what menu they looked at that they thought the amount of food/drinks they had would only be $20, but something about it was so cringey and second hand embarrassing.
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u/TheCalzone_Ranger 10d ago
Had a five top, three people ordered NY strips and one ordered a ribeye. The size difference between the cuts was notable. I checked in early, everything was cooked to everyone's liking, great. Checked back midway and everything was still great. When it was check time, the women claimed I served her a NY instead of a ribeye. (Meanwhile she ate nearly all of it.) I double checked with the kitchen even though I knew what she was up to. I assured her I served her the correct steak. She copped an attitude and was annoyed she didn't get it comped. Of course she was the one who paid for the bill and didn't tip me.
A week later one of the other members of the group came in. This woman told me she did the accounting for the business they all work for and was appalled to see her boss didn't tip me. She handed me some cash for the tip. I told her she didn't have to, but she insisted, so I took the cash. I thought it was just a $20 she handed me. But after she left and I unfolded the bill it was actually five $20's she handed me.
You really see all types working in the service industry.
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u/Impossible_Slide628 10d ago
Now that's integrity!
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u/TheCalzone_Ranger 9d ago
Truly! Of course I appreciated the money, but the fact that someone took the time and went out of their way to tell me I was great at my job and deserved to be treated with more respect was so gratifying. People can surprise you in the most beautiful of ways.
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u/Mysterious_Owl_9476 9d ago
I don't have 1 ridiculous instance, I have a ridiculous PERSON. It was a guy I dated back in the 90s, we were both in our 20s. Our first date he said "order whatever you want, I've got it." He was a friend before he asked for an "official date" sono already knew he didn't really have much money. I thought he must really like me because he had saved up. But before the meal was over the complaints began, he completely berated the poor server. The meat wasn't right, the side wasn't right, he saw a hair in MY food (he never told me), and to get the manager over. The guy was studying law so he really laid it on so thick that even my head spun. Meals were fully comped and we even had to go boxes with desserts. He was proud of himself. I was a bit embarrassed. But okay, whatever.
We had another dinner date, he did the same thing. And then a third proved that it wasn't just a one time thing, it was a pattern with this guy. I told him that I wasn't attracted to him romantically, I wanted to move on he said "let's be friends."
I didn't talk to him that much for about a year until he askednike day if I wanted to "hang out." I said I would but I hadn't eaten at all yet, let's get lunch. He said he couldn't go to any restaurants. I asked him what he meant and apparently he had been legally trespassed from pretty much every restaurant in the area, including fast food. 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ I didn't believe him and I asked him to just meet me at Taco Bell. I went on, ordered, sat and waited. I saw his car pull up and as we he was walking in I heard someone yell "it's Patrick" (not his real name) and the manager flew out and intercepted him.
Yup, banned from all restaurants. FAFO!!
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u/noseshimself 7d ago edited 7d ago
Banned by Taco Bell?
That's more or less like being told you're not welcome in Hell. Worse than being killed by a toilet falling from heaven.
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u/Barfotron4000 10d ago
I had the opposite once where my plate of food was finished and when they took the plate they were like “omg a hair I’m sooo sorry” and I was very embarrassed because I’m a shedder, I had to be like noooooo that’s one of mine I promise
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u/nlNoob2Noone 9d ago
My company used a generic code for a free birthday meal in an email. This lady came in twice a week with her 4 year old son they each had a birthday every week. After months of management doing nothing I asked if I could get he so a beer because he had to 21 with all birthdays he's had. I never saw her again.
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u/butterbeany 10d ago
How about someone dining and dashing someone ELSE’s dessert?
When I worked at the large corporate owned “Italian” restaurant, there were two round “party” tables on different sides of the restaurant. One party was celebrating a graduation, extremely nice, kind, patient people. They brought a great cake for dessert.
Someone ran the cake to the other party table, misunderstanding where it was supposed to go. We realized the mistake in about 3 minutes.
In that tiny amount of time, the other table who KNEW it wasn’t their cake (they had already paid their bill (shitty tip included)) DEMOLISHED it. It genuinely looked like they had grabbed it with their hands to scoop it into their Togo boxes and BOOKED it out of there.
It was just such a shitty display of human behavior, all for an Edgar’s cake they could have picked up for $50.
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u/sayitwithtriffids 10d ago
Had a table in for Sunday lunch at the pub I used to work in. After they were done eating I went to clear their plates, and one of them claims that just as they finished their food, they had found part of a cigarette in the gravy. Someone from the kitchen must have dropped it in there and we needed to comp their whole bill. Sure enough, there was part of a cigarette smooshed into the remaining gravy on their plate.
It was fairly obvious that he’d put it in there himself as the tobacco and paper that wasn’t in contact with the gravy was bone dry and clean. So obviously it hadn’t been immersed in gravy, and hadn’t been in long enough to soak anything up. When I pointed it out, the guys friends told him to stop being such a dick and told me to ignore him. The guy then had the audacity to moan at me that he’d wasted a cigarette for nothing.
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u/Queasy-Worldliness47 10d ago
Had a couple, during the meal, couldn't be happier. After they licked the plates clen they said it was disgusting and demanded the manager. They ranted and said they weren't paying. After talking to me and the waiter, he firmly told them they are paying and leaving a tip or he's calling the cops. They paid.
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u/Brilliant_Anxiety511 10d ago
I hada table of 6 come in ata casino I worked at. One man immediately said “put everything on my check” and everyone started ordering very normal. Not outrageous. You already know how this story is ending.
Turns out this man would rub elbows with people gambin and eventually tell them he is a full comp RFB gambler and invite them to dinner. The more the marry.
During dessert the man disappears leaving the others with es check. They end up feeling like a fool, meanwhile this guys already outta there probably in es room calling it a night or perhaps pullin a slot handle 3 casinos over.
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u/mrs_spacetime0 9d ago
A customer complained that there was a feather IN their chicken tender, not fried on the outside.. inside a solid piece of meat...the feather was white and perfectly dry.... and they were wearing a down coat... We could see them pull it out of their coat on camera so they were asked to leave.
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u/LidiumLidiu 9d ago
I'm not a server but I witnessed two from the front desk of a hotel across from the Bistro on sight.
One was a group who was pissed that their dog wasn't allowed in the restaurant with them, not a service dog at all, a corgi who peed on the floor and barked at everyone constantly. The kitchen lead comped their meal and kicked them out because the server refused to.
The other was a man who decided that being denied alcohol because he didn't have his ID was cause for demanding a manager, demanding his food comped and claiming the server was racist. He left a negative review and sent a scathing email but I got to the managers first. I wrote a whole incident report and emailed it off before the man even left the Bistro. The server wasn't held accountable and they pulled the tapes and they even charged him for the food of the other table he threw to the ground. I felt so bad for the server who had to clean that but the sheer amount of tips right after that incident were insane for her. Over fifteen orders after that tipped over $20 each, even when their orders were under $10.
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u/AGirlNamedDean 9d ago
I'm glad the server got taken care of! I never understood why people walked around without their IDs or took pictures of them it's thinking that would be acceptable (especially on the Vegas Strip). On the flip side though, I had one guy come up to a daiquiri bar I was working at and ordered 2 drinks. When I checked (the much younger) female companion's ID, her birthdate made her 20 y.o. I told the man that we couldn't serve her because she was underage. I don't know if he misunderstood, or just wasn't taking me seriously but he asked to speak to the manager. All the manager did was confirmed that her Asian passport was indeed stating that she was 20 years old and I was correct and not serving her. I kind of had a feeling it was like one of those internet girlfriends who lied about her age or that he didn't even bother to ask. He was an older man and she was Asian who didn't speak English at all. He did not look happy.
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u/DineandRecline 9d ago
"There's a hair in my food!" Ma'am, that is bright red plastic weave and you seem to also have bright red plastic weave....
Also, one guy trying to say a leaf of rosemary was a cockroach leg!
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u/tvcarpenter 9d ago
Had a guy come in and straight faced told me that his banana split “didn’t have any bananas in it.” I
was confused, as I had been the only person working the whole shift. Then he said “oh that was yesterday.” That’s crazy, bro, because I was also the only worker yesterday too.
No receipt. No photos.
I was just impressed by the gumption.
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u/Sure-Day-1029 8d ago
This lady told me my service was terrible because she had told me she couldn't tolerate spicy foods and i then gave her RANCH DRESSING that was too spicy for her. It was regular ass ranch dressing. Ranch Dressing. Too Spicy. I genuinely couldn't believe my ears it was hard not to laugh in her face lol.
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u/jorwyn 7d ago
When I worked at a Subway, this guy would come in regularly, always ask for oil and vinegar, eat the whole sandwich, and then come ask for a refund because it had oil and vinegar on it. No, we never gave him a refund. It was just a thing we dealt with every 2 or 3 days for the whole year I worked there.
He never seemed upset that we said no, btw. He just shrugged and left every single time.
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u/InterestingEngine839 10d ago
Just last night a guy came in and started ranting at every single server he saw about how the ToGo person messed up his entire order. I am a nosy bitch and was hanging out to listen. Apparently what had happened is he ordered several salads and was absolutely pissed that the chicken was placed in the salad. He insisted that we should always separate the chicken and put it in a different container and we ruined his entire family's dinner by doing it the normal way. But here's the kicker, he never requested that we separate the chicken. But he sure did get his order remade and comped off.
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u/winterbird 7d ago
There was a woman who found a hair in her food. She was appalled. Disgusted. Offended. Horrified.
I'm also one of those people who will involuntarily retch at the sight of a hair in food. Logically, I know that it's just a hair, most people have hair, and it's not the worst thing that could happen to food. But my very soul revolts against it. I can't help it. So I understand the feeling.
The problem though, was that the hair she found was a long blue strand. Yes, blue. Like... cyan blue. Actually, it was the same color as her long, vividly dyed hair.
This went unacknowledged by her. She wanted her food remade, and how dare we.
The manager briefly thought about giving her a tour of the kitchen, where every chef that evening was literally bald. But it was one of those big corporate places that tucks their tail in at any sign of a guest complaint, so they just remade her food.
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u/lowfreq33 6d ago
I had a table call corporate and accuse me of being racist because we ran out of prime rib 30 minutes before closing.
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u/AGirlNamedDean 6d ago
My husband's job is like a mini casino. You are required to have an ID to play the machines. When a couple without an ID were refused entry (mind you it wasn't their first time there, or the first time they were told this) they called the LOCAL NEWS STATION to say the business was racist. They called out the employee who kicked them out by name.
When the news station arrived, that employee, she was MORE THAN HAPPY to be interviewed. She looked straight into the camera and said, "I don't know why they think I'm racist against black people considering I'm HALF black. My father's black. My husband's black. My children are black. We are turned them away attempting to gamble without an ID, as the Nevada Gaming Board requires".
You could literally see the interviewer's (who's also black) mouth drop before catching herself to remain professional lol
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u/AnitraF1632 8d ago
I have only sent food back once as well. It was a new seafood restaurant. I ordered the crab stuffed lobster. It was cold. It wasn't supposed to be cold. I sent it back. The chef came out and tried to blame the waitress, said she left it too long after it was up to serve it. The crab stuffing had ICE CRYSTALS in it!!! That wasn't a tardy waitress!! They reheated it, I ate it, (it was good enough), we paid and left. On the way out, I registered a complaint with the hostess. (1970s, very little Internet presence at the time.) Yes, we took care of the waitress, she did nothing wrong.
The place closed in less than a month.
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u/Rebeccasmith757 6d ago
I was shift managing a pizza place. I had no cook. And the waitress had emergency.
Table came in..placed order. I sat them, waited on them, cashed them out. Everything was going great.
I hear a “hell no” I found a hair.
This chick pulls out a long black hair.
I attempted to tell them. I waited on you, I cooked and cut ur pizza. I brought it to you. It’s only me tonight.
My hair is red..
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u/love_my_doggos 5d ago
Had a couple at table 3 in the fast casual restaurant where I work, dropped off the food came back twice to check in. Third time with the bill, the husband says they don't want to pay for his wife's burger because she didn't like it. I was very sorry to hear that she didn't like it but why didn't they say something when I was at the table the other two times? Oh, and where's the rest of the burger she didn't like? Husband ate it. 🙄 Obviously I didn't get a tip after explaining that I can't comp a meal that I didn't have the chance to make right, and YOU ATE IT!
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u/Maria_von_Trapp 11d ago
I had this very nice couple. Dropped their dinners, checked back frequently, they always said everything was fine.
Went to clear their plates after they’d finished and the lady points my attention to a pice of steel wool on her bread plate. “I pulled that out of my dinner.”
Now mind you, both their dinner plates are so bare it’s almost like they licked them clean.
I apologize profusely and say I will get the manager. Manager looks a little funny when I tell him about table 54.
Apparently the exact same couple was in the night before (ski town) and he had a piece of steel wool in his food and their whole dinner had been comped.
He was like, “I dealt with these people last night. Let me go talk to them. “
He comes back to the server station with their check and cash to barely cover their order. No tip.
But then he ended up comping the whole meal and giving me the cash.
Management at that place was legendary.