If you’ve ever wondered about the wackiest food orders people have made, you’re in for a treat! These are orders that went way beyond the norm, making workers wonder what in the world was going on. A customer requesting a pizza with pickles and peanut butter, or someone asking for a burger without the bun but with a dozen extra slices of cheese. These are the kinds of food orders that make you do a double-take and then burst out laughing.
So, get comfy with your snack, because we’re about to share some funny and downright crazy tales!
I had a woman ask me to microwave a milkshake she ordered. She claimed she was allergic to cold things. Is this even possible? When I told the management (we’re supposed to tell the managers if anyone has an allergy) we all kind of just sat there for a minute and thought about what was just said, laughed a little, and then microwaved her shake.
I had a lady tell me it was impossible to make the dish too spicy. When I told the cooks they took it as a personal challenge.
I don’t remember what they put in it, but I do know that someone ran to a grocery store for another ingredient. It was literally the spiciest thing I have ever smelled. Just being an arm’s length away from it for 30 seconds while I delivered it had me coughing and treats steaming down my face. Guests at nearby tables complained about the smell; just so much capsaicin in the air that people 15 feet away were uncomfortable.
But….
She ate everything. She ate every single bite and then scraped up the remaining sauce and ate that too.
I had a 4 top once that one of the gentlemen was ordering and asked for extra onion, and he made extreme emphasis on EXTRA ONION. So I go to put the order in and I have to talk to the chef to make sure he understands EXTRA ONION. So when the order comes out, I get a side plate of a cut WHOLE ONION. I giggle and take the order to the table. I put the orders of food in front of all the other guests and left the onion man for last. I set his plate of food and extra onion down, he looks up at me and starts laughing. The whole table is now laughing. I’m like the f*ck? Apparently wherever they go, no matter what he always has to ask for MORE onion, and this time my snarky chef nailed it.
I had a lady come in and order a fudge sundae. Fudge sundaes from Mcdonald’s are the easiest thing on the menu to make: ice cream in a cup with one pump of fudge on top. I did so and handed it to her. “Um… What the heck is that?”
“A fudge sundae…?”
She disgustedly put it on the counter. “No, it most certainly is not. It looks nothing like the picture on the menu. Remake it.”
I remade it 6 times, each time she sent it back and wouldn’t tell me what was wrong with it other than it didn’t look like the picture on the menu. Eventually, she explained to me she sent it back each time because the little swirl at the top wasn’t perfect enough. She ended it with every fast food worker’s favorite phrase, “Seriously. How hard is your job?” Eventually, I made the swirliest swirl that I’ve ever seen and she finally shut the f*ck up and took it with a sneer.
I worked at a restaurant/fishmarket type of establishment, where we sold raw products but would also prepare the food on the spot. One day I was helping an old Asian lady out and she told me had never had a whole lobster and would love to try one. As she was shopping in the fishMARKET portion, I assumed she wanted it live. So we went over to the lobster tank and she picked the happiest little lobster out there. I asked her if she wanted to pay $16.99 for it alive or $22.99 for us to cook and serve it to her. She decided to take it alive, so I took some time to weigh it out and wrap it up in a takeout box for her to take home. I put it down on the table and walked away. A minute or two later I heard a commotion and came out to see this little Asian lady with a knife trying to cut off the claw of the lobster… Apparently, she thought that she was supposed to eat this thing live. I cooked it for her.
Not a waiter but a cook. Had a lady order her tofu scramble burnt. So I cooked it hard. She sent it back because it wasn’t burnt enough. So I cooked it harder. She sent it back again and the waiter said she really wanted it burnt. So I got a wok super hot, put too much oil in and proceeded to burn the crap out of it. My chef came by and lost his sh*t. I explained it to him and he watched me burn just ruin the thing. It was black and smelled like a tire fire. She ate all of it and said we were the only place to get it right. She came back every weekend for it and we had to train new cooks how to burn the living f*ck out of her food for her. I still can’t comprehend why she would eat that.
Over the summer, I had a customer who came in for Sunday brunch and ordered a spinach and feta cheese omelette. She then adds that she would like it made without eggs. I clarified that she wanted an omelet WITHOUT eggs, not made with egg whites which is quite normal.
We made her a spinach feta salad and the customer was happy.
The customer asked for spaghetti with a side of more noodles and extra sauce because they were going to share. So, I said, “You’d like one spaghetti and then an additional order of spaghetti?” They told me I wasn’t getting it and they just wanted extra noodles and some sauce on the side. I told them we would have to charge for extra noodles, and they ended up not wanting it. They somehow thought free spaghetti was a reasonable request.
Had a lady order our filet mignon, when it was brought out to her she said with disgust that she had ordered the filet, not a steak. She proceeded to argue that a filet mignon was a type of baked potato rather than a steak.
I worked at a coffee shop and a girl ordered a hot cocoa. We have milk, dark or white chocolate, so I asked her which she would like- it was a very standard question that we asked everyone. Then this happened…
“None of those, I just want Oreos on top.” -the girl
“Oh… um… do you just want warm milk with whipped cream and Oreos?” -me
(Disgusted look and tons of sass) “No. I want hot chocolate with whipped cream and Oreos on top.” – the girl
“Okay great, so for us to make hot chocolate, we melt these little chocolate chips into milk. We have milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate chips, which would you like us to use?” -me
“No. You don’t get it. I want hot chocolate with whipped cream and Oreos on top. I don’t want those chocolate chips” -the girl
I just gave up trying and used milk chocolate. She was at least 15 too- seriously kid? Ugh.
I worked at a national pizza chain for a while as a manager. We used to get this guy who would order all the time. He was lactose intolerant so couldn’t have cheese, and had severe heartburn when he ate red sauce. He would order an XL Supreme with no sauce and no cheese. I told the guy if I did that, the toppings would just fly all over the box but he didn’t care. We ended up just baking the dough separate from the toppings and put the toppings in a small wing box on the side for him. Guy said no other pizza place would do that for him and he turned out to be a great repeat customer who always tipped well.
Well, I don’t even remember all the specifics, but I once had this old lady come into Olive Garden and order something and literally customize every ingredient. We had one promo entree that contained risotto. She asked me what risotto was, and then asked me to switch it out for plain brown rice and squash. Neither of which we had. We made all our sauces in-house, but they weren’t made on the spot for each order. She even tried to customize the ingredients in the sauce. And the end of everything after I ran around trying to make her happy, she complained to management that I was incompetent for not being a magician and changing how a restaurant works.
I worked in a restaurant for many years. We had a regular who would come in his order was perogy fries but with many caveats. The hardest thing was to ensure it met all criteria and he was very particular about the crispiness of the ingredients and in some cases would send the order back when to any normal human being the order was prepared better than expected. The dish can be found below it required exact detail or else he would send it back.
Ingredients:
Half a large onion thinly sliced
6 tablespoons of butter
4 cups of Wedge cut potatoes (skin on)
Canola oil for deep frying
1/2 cup of sour cream
8 crispy pieces of bacon chopped
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar
Putting it all together:
Prepare and cook bacon until crispy. Add butter to a saucer, medium to high heat. Add onions, and cook until caramalized and crispy. Deep fry wedge-cut potatoes until crispy and brown. Allow fries to breathe so they do not become soggy. Add fries to a basket (not a plate) otherwise, the insulation from the plate will conduct too much heat. Ensure you use a wax paper bottom. Top with caramalized onions, and cheddar, then finely chopped bacon. Add sour cream then a bit more cheddar. Ensure all items are supper crispy but not too crispy (the ambiguity was the death blow) or you will face the ire of a very particular guest. I am now a functioning alcoholic.
I once had a guy place his order, and then say “And give me one of those spaghetti appetizers.”
I had been working there for a couple of months, and we had no pasta dishes whatsoever on the menu. I politely tried to clarify this, but he wasn’t having it. He just kept getting more irate. He insisted that he eats here all the time, and he always gets the spaghetti appetizer.
Eventually, he gets up from his table, storms over to another one, and points at what he wants on another diner’s table. He was pointing at their cole slaw. And yes, as far as he was concerned, I was still the a**hole for not knowing what he was talking about.
I worked for a while in a vegetarian/vegan-friendly buffet restaurant. Now, the great majority of people were actually really nice, not particularly haughty about their diet or anything, but I had two customers that were, let’s say, different.
The first one came up to me with a plate already filled with various salads (that she, being a buffet, had personally selected). She showed me the plate and asked me: “Do your salads have any raw ingredients in them?” And before I could answer: “Because I’m pregnant, see, so I can’t eat anything raw.” While still showing me her plate of definitely-raw, various-veggies-and-fruits salads.
I was so dumbstruck that all I could say was “Let me ask the kitchen to make sure”. And I actually did, because “Is salad raw” is one of these questions that make you question even the most basic things, such as what a salad is, or what hats are. I asked the chef if our salads had raw ingredients in them, he looked at me and said: “Is she familiar with the concept of salad?”
We ended up switching her plate for another one because yes, our salads had raw ingredients in them. However, all in all, she was really nice about it and didn’t mind waiting a bit more for us to fix her plate.
The second one was, however, a bit more rude. She came up to me and told me that she could only eat raw, vegan stuff. I thus directed her to the salad buffet (because, hey, now I was pretty sure they were made of raw ingredients), and that’s when she scowled at me and said: “Uh, yeah, but I’m getting a bit tired of salads, you know?”
You tremendous tw*t – you bestow upon other people the task of finding you food that fits your incredibly narrow criteria and then you b*tch that it’s a tad unoriginal? She later complained that we didn’t have any raw cake (the cake was already vegan, mind you, but yeah, we had baked it).
This is the only time I really thought “You are an insult to natural selection”.
My boyfriend was a cook at a restaurant, and a guy asked for a rare steak. Proper rare wasn’t rare enough and he sent it back multiple times. The boyfriend got pissed, put a steak on the grill for five seconds on each side and sent it out. The guy said it was the best steak he ever had and gave a huge tip.
Lady ordered mac and cheese and sent it back because there was cheese, I asked her. Verbatim “What did you expect?” Apparently, she didn’t like looking like a dipsh*t in front of her peers.
I worked at a pizza parlor, and the most ridiculous request was one that could have been so simple.
A lady calls and orders a “small pepperoni pizza with no pepperoni” I clarify and ask her “So just a small cheese?” To which the woman, clearly annoyed by my lack of understanding, says “NO. A small pepperoni with no pepperoni.” I again clarify and ask “You want a pizza with sauce and cheese only?” “Yes.” “Ok, so a cheese pizza.” “NO, I WANT A SMALL PEPPERONI WITH NO PEPPERONI.”
We made her a cheese pizza. She didn’t call and complain. Still not sure what the heck she thought she was ordering.
I used to work at Olive Garden. At Olive Garden, there’s a dish called the “Five Cheese Marinara”. You know, essentially a plate loaded up with cheesy magic with a little bit of pasta thrown in. One day, a stupid man with his stupid wife came in, and the man said “I want the Five Cheese Marinara, but I don’t like cheese.” I looked him dead in the eye and said “Then don’t order that, you’re not going to like it.” Instead of being a sane, rational person, the man says “Oh, can’t you just have them take some of the cheese off?” Again, I repeat “You will not like this, it’s almost all cheese.” But he insists. I just accept it, curse this stupid man, ring the dish in, and immediately run to the kitchen. I let the kitchen, and my manager, know that he’s going to send it back. Of course, my manager is the nicest man in the entire world and refunds his ENTIRE MEAL and brings him a new one once he, unsurprisingly, sent it back because it was “too cheesy”. He left me four cents as a tip. Stupid a**hole.
I used to work at Whole Foods as a juicer and this one guy would come in every day and order 12 ounces of garlic juice to go (which is like 20 dollars by the way). After a couple of weeks of seeing him order the same thing I asked him to drink it in front of me because I didn’t believe it was humanly possible to ingest that much garlic. He downed it all in front of me and said “Along with much garlic comes much loneliness” I laughed and he said, “No, seriously I work from home”.
I work at a deli I had a customer order bacon egg and cheese with no cheese which I replied by saying “So you want bacon and egg? Correct” She says “No I want a bacon egg and cheese with no cheese” so I go and make the bacon egg and cheese with no cheese and when I hand it to her and she goes to eat it she come back complaining that there is no cheese in the sandwich… she was like 20 cmon people get your sh*t together.
A bartender in a cocktail bar. We work mainly at night, and late afternoon is usually quite slow.
So one day, two girls come in, sit down at a table and start looking at the menus. After three minutes, they come to the counter with their phones and show us some pictures, saying “Hey our boyfriends are on some exotic island and they got those cocktails, could we have something that looks cool too so we can send them pics ?”.
Now, the bar I work in makes FANTASTIC cocktails with AMAZING decoration: only fresh fruits, and a load of them, arranged in such ways you wouldn’t believe. The primary reaction of customers when we put the glasses on their tables is “Woah what the f*ck lemme take a picture of this”.
But we decided to take it up a notch. We carved a watermelon so we could make the cocktail in it, sculpted the thing, and basically planted a jungle on top of it. I even had to run to the beach to get some sand, so we could place the watermelon in it so it wouldn’t roll over.
They sent pics to their boyfriends, who replied “Okay you win”. The smile on the girl’s faces…
As a waiter at a coastal restaurant, we occasionally had dolphins come into the harbor right to where people would eat. These two old ladies came in and before they placed their orders, demanded I release the dolphins for their amusement. It took a good 10 seconds of silence before I realized they were serious. I passed this request on to my manager and then continued to eat free jumbo shrimp.
The strangest request! When I worked for Starbucks, I helped open the first drive-thru store in the area so it was a learning process for some customers.
A lady orders in the drive-thru lane an iced venti vanilla latte with 22 sweet and lows.
Me: 22 sweet n lows, like two two??
Customer: Sigh yes 22 sweet and lows.
Me: OK, please pull up.
Now at the drive-thru, we put the extra milk and sugar in the drinks for the customers, while in a cafe they would add it on their own. So, the person working the bar looks at me like for real this lady wants 22 packs of sweet and low in her latte? That’s what she said so that’s what we made her.
The lady pulls up and pays for her drink. I hand it over and tell her to have a nice day. She stops and says “Oh, can I get those sweet and lows now?” I just looked at her and said that they were already in her drink, boy was she pissed!!
She wanted us to hand her 22 packs of sweet and low in the drive-thru so that she could take them home.
We are not a fine dining establishment, it’s a small family-style Italian restaurant.
This lovely gray-haired gentleman would call ahead so that we could put a salad bowl in the freezer for him. After that, I would go to his spot at the bar (or the closest one open to it) and set a large dinner napkin down (that he placed his salad/meal on). I would then place an empty wine glass with a napkin over it (per his request), just in case the dinner napkin didn’t specify that the seat was taken.
Once he got there I would go to the back and make his specific salad: Very little lettuce, extra mushroom, extra tomato, extra onion, no shredded cabbage, and no cucumber.
That would be after I get him two ice-cold beer glasses for his 70/30 sweet/unsweet tea mixture with an extra glass of ice.
He would then attempt to engage in a 5-10-minute conversation about our specials for the evening, and how he could alter them.
The guy came in between 3-6 nights a week and always tipped fairly. He was the kind of nice old guy that would get you and your wife birthday cards because that stuff was important to him.
He then moved 45 minutes away and we never see him anymore. Miss the heck out of that old man though.
I was waitressing at a banquet once, and the meal was over, now time for coffee and speeches. I pour coffee for a table, and a man points at his cup and says, “I’ll need a refill in 7 minutes.” So, I set my timer and returned in 7 minutes. “7 minutes again?” I ask, and he nods. So, I returned every 7 minutes and topped off his coffee for the rest of the banquet. At the end, he hands me his business card – owns a personnel placement agency. Says, “If you ever need a job, call me!” You just never know who you might be serving.
A customer ordered a ‘triple Grandpa burger’. This is a common mistake customers often make with us. A Grandpa burger is a triple patty burger, so they often say ‘triple Grandpa burger’ when really they just mean the one 3-patty burger.
But after this one guy, I always clarified that was what they wanted because this guy actually wanted a 9-patty burger.
I asked him twice to make sure I wasn’t hearing wrong but no, that’s exactly what he wanted. Not only that, he wanted cheese on every single patty.
So that’s nine 5 oz. beef patties AND nine slices of cheese. Plus, you know, condiments and the like. This wasn’t even a big guy. Looked fit as a fiddle, handsome, about 25 years old. And he was alone so it couldn’t have been a dare. I guess he was just really hungry.
So I had the cook make it. And we stood behind the counter and watched as he ate Every. Single. Bite. I wasn’t even sure how I was supposed to react when he was done, but he seemed quite pleased, thanked us, and left.
I worked at Subway in high school. A guy came in and told me to put a lot of Chipotle sauce on his sub. He said, “Put it on until you think there’s too much, and then double it.”
His sub became a bread bowl filled with several cups of Chipotle sauce. He paid for it, I gently handed it to him, and he walked away. In the deli paper and plastic bag, it felt like a warm, very full diaper.
A family of 4 comes into an upscale pizza place every Sunday. I’ve served them every week for a year.
3 waters, no ice. 1 unsweetened iced tea, with ice. Pitcher of it on the side, no ice Order of whole wheat dough knots. No brushed butter or cheese. Oil on the side.
Pizza 1: large. Whole wheat crust. No sauce. Pickles, double mahi-mahi, portobello mushrooms, crimini mushrooms, red onions, yellow onions, roasted red peppers, bell peppers, zucchini, spinach, roasted tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, diced tomatoes, basil, rice mozzarella, no butter brushed on crust
Pizza 2: small: whole wheat crust, no sauce, double pickles, scallops, both mushrooms, both peppers, both onions, all three tomatoes, spinach, basil, oregano, rice mozzarella, no butter brushing on the crust, well done
Pizza 3: small: cornmeal crust, crushed black beans as sauce, double mahi, double pickles, only crimini mushrooms, eggplant, roasted tomatoes and peppers, no cheese, and no brushing of butter on the crust.
All four of them with individual sides of oil, garlic powder, and oregano. That’s separate. So 12 little sides for the table.
They take advantage of the Christmas gift card specials of free $25 for every $100 gift card. They buy $400 in gift cards, getting a free $100.
It got to a point where, if the veteran pizza cooks and I (server) were working, this family could sit down and not say a word. We’d have their order already going.
The only change would be to sometimes order beer-battered pickles.
Three years of serving here. Currently working at a Thai bistro that offers a ton of options for vegans, vegetarians, diabetics, or anyone with food allergies. I could go on about strange or complicated orders.
However, this one will always make me chuckle. While working at Cheddar’s, a casual American-style restaurant, two very rude and very overweight women are sat in my section. They order two ice waters with “a ton” of lemons. I’ve seen or heard of other people who order this quite a bit who just make lemonade at the table so it wasn’t too unusual but still deserved an odd look. But once they ordered their food they also ordered two cups of “boiling water”. I’m a little confused but bring them two mugs of really hot water from the coffee brewer and drop them off. When their food comes out I notice these ladies made instant mashed potatoes in a coffee mug!!!? Who does that???!
A couple of weeks ago a man came to our drive-thru to order a bread bowl of broccoli cheddar soup to go, not out of the ordinary. He then pulled up to the window and said “That’s my dog’s favorite soup.” Everyone near the window laughed because it was obviously a joke, but then he unwrapped the bread bowl and tossed it in the backseat, saying “Here, Maxie!” He put the cup of soup on the floor. Of the backseat, gave us a $3 tip (We don’t normally get tips), and drove off.
A very large couple walked into my burger joint. The gentleman went over to me at the grill and asked me if we used butter on the grill. I told him that no, I don’t personally but the breakfast crew often does. He informed me that he and his wife were on a diet, and they could have no butter. I told him the best I could do was scrape the grill where I’d cook his burgers, which was satisfactory.
Their ticket came through a few moments later, and as I was playing their meal the gentleman also told me that his diet required him not even LOOK at a pickle. Fine, it’s easy to leave something off.
So I took to this strictly dieting couple each a plate with two double cheeseburgers, chilli cheese fries, hold pickles, scrape grill. Because, you know, diet.
So I worked at this pizza place, very well known and respected in the city. Fantastic pizza. I was always the guy not bother to go the extra mile for special requests.
The guy orders a vegetarian pizza (tomatoes, pineapple, peppers, mushroom, onion – the works.). Calls back about 20 minutes later and complains the pizza is too soggy. I think I gave him 50% off his next order or something like that.
Calls back next week and orders the same thing. This time, I made sure to soak up any extra liquid on the pizza and toasted up the crust a little more. Calls back 20 minutes later and complains. No worries, discount for next order.
Calls back the next week and orders. This time, I pre-cooked the vegetables, dried them out on a paper towel, and blasted them with some more heat before putting them on the pizza. Calls back 20 minutes later and complains – too soggy. Same deal, discounted his pizza.
Calls back next week and orders. I’m done this time. When his pizza comes out of the oven I walk over to the tap and soak the pizza with water. To the point, the bottom of the box is dripping.
This woman saw that we had ahi tuna (also known as yellowfin tuna) and rice. She demanded we make sushi. I told her that’s not on our menu. She said she heard the table over and got a request they asked for that was not on the menu. That request at the next table was to use unmarinated chicken. Just regular seasoned chicken, no problem. She ranted that we were discriminating against her (strange hearing that coming out of a white person’s mouth). I got fed up and told my manager and chef. They both are about to bleed out their ears on how dumb this is.
The chef cut the tuna and just pressed the rice together. It just looks like flat slices of tuna just topped with rice and nothing else with it. It is brought to the table and she says, “You didn’t even try! Where’s the seaweed, cucumber, avocado, and Wasabi? Are you trying to get me to walk out?” My manager just stares for a second and says “Yes. BECAUSE SUSHI IS NOT ON OUR MENU! This is a steakhouse and we serve American-style dishes.” This lady had the gall to say “You all are bigots, You ruined my dinner and I’m reporting your whole staff.” Fast forward a week or 2, and the GM mentions that a woman called and mentioned we were being bigots and discriminating against her and treating her unfairly. We let out a huge laugh, GM looks confused and we explain what happened. The GM starts laughing his a** off and says what a crazy lady blah blah blah. This woman comes in later that night demanding I be fired for how I treated her. My manager tells her to leave or we’re calling the police. She storms out to the entrance and starts screaming that this is a racist restaurant. How we promote white power (remember that this crazy is white) and don’t care about our guests and how we’re turning back time. A huge crowd is just staring at her with wtf is this b*tch talking about faces. She was really trying to start a rally and take this place back for the people. What the F? Shortly after the police arrive and the next day we all get free, dope as f*ck, steak dinners because we handled it so well.
So I worked in a Pizza place for 7 years. Now this wasn’t like a Pizza Hut or dominos, this was a local European pizza place. It was in a small town and I’ve still never had better pizza. All of our pizzas were 13″ and piled with toppings and a thick crust, I’m 6′ tall and 200 lbs and in my teens, I could barely finish one myself.
So one day we get a call and the guy asks for a Large pepperoni pizza for delivery. Now as I said we only 1 size and we don’t deliver, but being fair to this guy these are some fairly odd things for a pizza place to do. I responded with “Well sir, we actually only have one size. It’s a 13″ and it’s about a medium at common pizza places, we also don’t deliver.” He responds with “Oh that makes sense, What is your largest size then?”. “It’s 13″, that’s the only size that we make”. “Oh great, I’ll take a large 13″ for delivery”.
At this point I was dumbfounded, this conversation went on for 5 minutes with me trying to tell him we don’t have a large and only that one size. His main responses were “Well can you do a 13″ in a large?” or “What’s your largest size?”. Also, the whole time he would think he understood it and then would ask for delivery. It was like something in his brain made him think either we had one size and delivered or we didn’t deliver and had multiple sizes and for some reason only one of those was true.
This was also a very busy night so I was at the end of my rope here and told him “Sir, we have one size, that is it. We won’t deliver, we can make you a 13″ pepperoni pizza and you can come and pick it up.” To which he says “Alright I think you finally get what I want now, so you’ll make me a large pepperoni pizza and bring it up here, also I want some cinna-stix like dominos makes, my address is 14….” and that is where I hung up.
In my entire serving career, he is the only customer I have ever hung up on or just refused to serve. I’ve had people tell me he was obviously f*cking with me, but doing that for so long I know when people are trying to be funny or prank call, this guy was dead f*cking serious.
I worked at an Italian restaurant as a waitress for a short time as the customers sucked. This lady (in her 40’s) ordered a Hawaiian Pizza and pitched a fit saying how we got her order wrong. I asked her what was wrong with it and she said it wasn’t a Hawaiian Pizza and the toppings were wrong. I looked at it and it had diced tomatoes, pineapples, and ham. Exactly what the menu stated. Showing her this, she said, “What are you talking about! These are yellow! Pineapples are orange!”. Confused, I got my manager and he tried explaining that pineapples are quite yellow. Not orange. But if she didn’t like it, she could order something else in the house. She got mad and said no that she wanted this but with the right pineapples. She started explaining what they looked like. I said “Wait, do you mean ORANGES?” as she completely described oranges. She said “NO, PINEAPPLES!” and started describing oranges again. At this point, I take my phone out, Google oranges and pineapples and show her. She points at the oranges and yells at the top of her lungs “YES, THOSE I want those”. My manager told her we do not have those and she can either pick something else or eat what she has. She left.
I worked in a Cracker Barrel around 10 years ago, and for Thanksgiving, we had this turkey dinner special with a complimentary piece of pumpkin pie for dessert. An old man came in alone and ordered this dinner, and when it was done, I brought out his pie. He stated that he didn’t like pumpkin pie, and asked me to sit with him and eat it. I politely declined, stating that I had to work. He then asked for a manager, to which I obliged and went and got one.
So I’m in the back, thinking that this man is complaining about me and that I’m about to get my a** chewed when the manager comes back and finds me. I had no idea what had transpired between them, but my manager said “Get out there right now, eat that pie, and you don’t get up until he’s ready to leave.”
So I went and sat at the table with him and apologized for turning him down before and verbally lamented that I should have gone ahead and asked my manager so that he didn’t have to. The man smiled, and said something like, “It’s okay, just eat your pie.” And watches me.
This is probably the time I should tell you that I f*cking hate pumpkin pie. So I was taking relatively small bites, as I couldn’t stomach taking a huge forkful.
He STARED at me the entire time. Not speaking, not blinking, just staring. I finally finished after what seemed an awkward eternity. He smiled, stood up, and asked if could he hug me. I was so flustered, that I didn’t know what to do, and it just felt awkward to say no, so I hugged him. He gave me 2 $100 bills and left.
I later found out that he had handed my manager $100 and pretty much ordered him to “make that girl come eat this pie”.
I work at a very high-end restaurant where we serve mostly steaks and seafood. We had a private party going on at the back of the house, and this lady asked me to burn her steak. She says “cook it all the way through, and leave the edges dark and crispy”. So sure enough the kitchen burns the sh*t out of this lady’s steak, but she asks for it to be sent back to the kitchen… because it’s not burnt enough (keep in mind this thing looks like f*cking charcoal). So the head chef takes it back and torches the f*cking filet to nothing, ashes of what once was a piece of meat, crumbling all around it. The best part is the lady loved it. Her words exactly, “I know everyone thinks it’s weird, but this is just how I like it.”
I had a woman come in and order a cappuccino. Easy peasy, whatevs. I make it, but she says it’s terrible, not what she ordered, and tastes like dishwater. Yikes! That was a fresh shot, the milk had only been opened earlier that day, and the milk I steamed was freshly poured. But hey, sh*t happens.
So I remake it, carefully as usual. Same complaint. “This isn’t a cappuccino!” “I’m sorry ma’am, but it is. It’s espresso, milk, and milk foam.”
“No, it’s supposed to be cold and sweet! THIS IS NOT A CAPPUCCINO!”
I made her a frappe and she said, “See, stupid girl, THIS is a cappuccino.”
I explained, “Actually, that’s a frappe, and some places call it a frappuccino. Please keep that in mind to avoid confusion next time.”
A 50-year-old lady hanging out with these young guys says she wants a shot and then says “I have heard about this shot called the Four Horsemen, what’s in it?” I tell her it is an awful mix of Jack Daniels, Johnnie Walker, Jose Cuervo and Jim Beam… Her response was that sounds great I will take it. I try to talk her out of it and after 5 minutes finally give up and make the shot and serve it to her. She gets excited shoots it and immediately turns red.
After she nearly vomits she begins to yell at me for serving her that. I didn’t have a chance to respond before one of the guys said “he told you it was bad and exactly what was in it, why is it his fault? The look of defeat in her eyes was so satisfying.
We had a lady call me over to ask me if we had “these things I really like.” Confused, I ask her, “What are these things? What is in them so I can have a better idea to help you.” She glares and responds with, “They’re just these good things that I really like. Do you have them?” I stood there dumbfounded. I shake my head a little and tell her. ” I’m sorry Miss, but I will not be able to help you if you aren’t more descriptive for me. Is it a type of sand which? A soup? Maybe an appetizer?” She started getting angry with me and almost shouted back at me, “The other place had these things I like! I want to know if you do too! Is that so hard?” I went back and sent a manager to deal with her. She couldn’t figure it out either so the woman left. She came back to me and told me that if I ever have a customer like that again to just come get her immediately. I didn’t work there for very long. But that was the most annoying customer I had. At least the difficult customers had a clue as to what the f*ck they wanted to eat.
