I have grown up hearing stories, seeing videos, or hearing news reports on people doing disgusting things in a restaurant. Some of the most memorable for me have been the woman who found a finger in her Wendy's chili, the man who bathed in the Burger King sanitary sink, and a story from my best friend since 3rd grade that involved someone wiping their crotch and smearing their dirty hand on someone's food.
I suddenly realized that if it really was that common for someone to be malicious for the sake of personal revenge in the restaurant community then someone on my Facebook must have a good story to share. "Good" is subjective, of course.
I wasn't wrong, either. I soon had numerous people sending me private messages about their restaurant nightmares. Some were cute, some were gross, and some were downright despicable. One thing is for sure, every single one of them were worth sharing with my blog readers!
Swapping spit
I want to start with my one and only customer experience gathered in my research (which was literally just me posting on my Facebook wall twice). The person who told me the story I personally trust, but I know that many reading this will question any hearsay or customer accounts. I am being transparent, at least.
The customers in this scenario are a married couple who decided to go out and eat for dinner. Their journey led them to the Custard Stand (a West Virginia cult favorite), where the wife ordered broccoli and cheese soup.
The issue in itself is easily fixed. The husband took the soup back up, told them what had happened, and awaited the replacement bowl. While waiting, the husband saw the employee spit into his wife's bowl before adding the soup. When confronted, the server denied the whole situation. The customers left without paying.
The wife tells me that they spoke with a manager the next day and explained the situation. They do not know what the outcome was for the server, but the wife claims they haven't seen her back since the manager promised to check the cameras and follow through with punishment. I used to think spitting in someone's face was the worst thing imaginable, but I think I have been swayed now.
Liquid gold
This one is a hearsay passed through the grapevine of a pizza establishment. If you've ever worked within the food industry, you know that many places buy their oil in large vats to save money and because they truly use that much oil. This pizza place was no different. What did make their oil vats different, though, was that one employee was known to use it in place of a urinal.
I don't know what would inspire a person to pee in the oil they're feeding to people. I would assume some personal anger or mental issues. The person who confessed the story to me informed me that a friend of the employee denied it happened when interrogated later. However, there is suspicion that it may have still happened, and they were too ashamed to admit it because, well, it's really freaking gross.
Give him the shaft
When you join the team at a restaurant, it's very easy to bond with coworkers. That's simply how humans survive. We start to care about their lives, losses, and drama. In fact, sometimes we find ourselves becoming protective of the people around us.
With that in mind, it doesn't surprise me to hear that one anonymous waitress at a local diner stood beside her coworker and aided her revenge when an ex came through for breakfast. Don't worry though, they kept their dignity with their revenge... Although maybe not their class.
Instead of spit, fluids, or secret ingredients, the ladies manipulated the ex's pancakes once his order was up. They formed them to look like, you guessed it, a penis. This is delightfully funny revenge, in my opinion. You are never too old for a good penis joke.
Extra special topping
It's hard to say why, but pizza place employees just really seem to enjoy revenge. I can't imagine the crap that a pizza delivery driver has the deal with on a daily basis. They aren't tipped enough, people are rude, some people use them as a psychologist, and they are just in a terrible position sometimes.
A delivery driver transferred from Domino's to the Hut, and brought with him a truly disturbing story. I'm not surprised to learn that the driver had a "hit list" in his mind of the worst repeat customers. I had a similar list when working in the food industry; it's fairly normal.
This driver took the list a step further, though, when he decided to take a detour to the bathroom before making it to his car for a delivery. He must've thought the pizza needed a little something extra, because he decided to add his little swimmers to the top. Barf.
Meeting demands
Sometimes, the universe really sets everything in motion for a good bit of revenge. That's exactly what happened in our next story. A group of "stupid kids", as the customer called them. were working the drive thru. A very rude customer came through demanding her order be completed faster, and despite trying to please her, the employees apparently couldn't do anything right.
The employees were working as fast as they could, and the young man cooking that night accidentally dropped the customer's fish. As the rude woman screamed through the window for them to hurry, the young man picked up the fish, dished it, and handed it to the customer. Things really do work together for the greater good I guess.
Seems fishy
If you've ever been to a Pizza Hut during lunch hour, you've seen the lunch buffet. Unlimited salad and pizza? Yes, please! Apparently, the employees aren't always excited to see the lunch rush begin. The rudest, cheapest, and nastiest customers of the day came through for the buffet, according to our eyewitness.
Naturally, two bored coworkers were tired of the mistreatment and wanted to have some harmless fun to get back at the crowd. While placing the toppings on the pepperoni and cheese classic, they placed a hidden treat beneath each pepperoni slice... anchovies. The pizza was then placed on the bar for the crowd to dig in. I can't imagine the looks on their unsuspecting faces. Gross.
Dumpster diving
I am a Taco Bell fanatic, but I could never imagine working and cleaning up the assembly line of such a busy place every night. Between the toppings, the various shells, and the machines? I would lose my mind trying to get home on time. So, I'm not surprised to hear the manager would normally have employees begin discarding foods 15 minutes before closing every night. Cleanup takes a while, and if you're dead that close to closing... Why not?
If you've ever worked at a restaurant, though, you know that last minute customers pop up when you want them the least. That's what happened to this manager and his crew. As the employees tried to explain to the customer that the food was put away (or thrown away) for the evening, they got the ever pleasant threat to call corporate over closing 10 minutes early.
The employees looked at the manager with deer-in-headlights looks, and the manager told them to continue cleaning while he took care of the order. By take care of the order, he meant getting ingredients from the trash to make Mexican knockoffs for the angry drive thru order. Lesson learned, don't be a jerk at closing. Actually, just don't be a jerk in general, y'all.
Hocker shocker
Comrades supporting each other at their lowest is truly inspirational, and it's basic humanity to feel the need to have your fellow worker's back. Naturally, when a server came back to the kitchen complaining about a rude customer her coworkers wanted to have her back.
"Want me to take care of their order," the valiant coworker asked his disgruntled partner. After the server told him yes, he took the pizza dough back into the walk-in cooler. Our eyewitness saw and heard him hock a loogie. Disgusted, he turned his head, but that didn't keep him from hearing the nauseating splat of spit to dough. Was it in the walk-in because revenge is best served cold? A theory worth pondering at a future date, perhaps.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle?
God bless the heart of our next server! As a server, you sometimes lose the courage to stand up against your manager. Your future at a company is literally in their hands. That didn't stop our eyewitness, though!
After putting the order for the shrimp and fries special in for her table, the server went back to help the customers in other matters. As she was helping, a fellow server brought out the shrimp dish for the table. Along the way, an accident happened and the dish was dropped. As our server took it back to ask for a replacement, her manager stopped her and informed her the dish did not touch the floor and could be served.
The waitress was in shock, she said, as she watched the dish be carried back to the table. She had seen first hand that the food did touch the floor. She rushed forward, grabbed the dish, and began explaining to the customers what had happened. Sometimes heroes don't wear capes. Sometimes they wear non-slip shoes and polo shirts!
Just warming up
Some people have evil engraved into their personality while others are just too innocent to go that far. Our next confession comes from a former server at Outback, you know the place with the delicious, warm bread basket?
Well, to my faux surprise, the bread doesn't warm itself. Also, they have to warm it up when you arrive to avoid the bread drying out, I would assume. Sometimes, common sense escapes people, though, and customers would rudely ask the server why their table didn't have bread already. When a customer acted like that, our server would lie to them and tell them the bread was still warming even if it was already done. Adorable and evil, just the way I like it!
What are some of your restaurant horror stories? Have you ever took revenge on a customer as a server? I would love to hear testimonies in the comments below or on Facebook!
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