Restaurants can be high-pressure environments where tensions run high, both in the kitchen or at the front of house.
This may explain why, every now and then, stupid things get said by customers in the heat of the moment. These mistakes are often so bizarre that they stick in a server’s memory, prompting beardedrockerboy to pose this question over on r/AskReddit:
‘Restaurant staff, what is the dumbest thing a customer has said to you?’
Watch your backs, these top replies are coming through…
1.
‘I worked in a fine dining Italian restaurant in NYC. The dish names were in Italian on the menu, but had very clear English descriptions. We also took time to go over the menu in great detail.
We had a Cacciucco, which is a seafood stew from Tuscany (5 C’s; 5 seafoods). After taking the table’s order I asked about dietary restrictions and allergies, as was our service standard. The lady who ordered the Cacciucco said, “Oh I have lots of allergies, but I ordered around them.”
“Well, just in case there is something you are allergic to that isn’t listed, would you mind letting me know what they are.”
“Well, I’m deathly allergic to shellfish, like I carry an epi pen.”
“Okay, ma’am. I’m afraid you will need to find another dish, since the Cacciucco is a seafood stew that contains three types of shellfish.”
“Can’t you just take those out?”
Um, no.’
-pak_sajat
2.
‘Not Restaurant, but a deli in New York in the mid-80s “slice the ham thin”…i offer a piece to taste and approve. “Thinner. ‘Ultra thin’”. Me : OK, but at some point, it won’t stay together, it will be shredded. “Shredded is fine, ultra thin, shredded”. So, it was shredded. Two hours later, her and her husband bring the ham back and scream at the owner “is this a joke? We aren’t paying for this, it’s not even meat at this point”
Owner gave them back the money and asked them not to return. I was a teenager, and apologized to the owner so many time, and he was like “they are just assholes, don’t sweat it”’
-zeroshock30
3.
‘Was working for a cheese shop in a grocery store. A teenager came by asking about the cheddars we had. I went through the usual ramble, and concluded it with my favorite, which was an aged Welsh Cheddar. I said to the kid “and this is our Welsh cheddar” and gave him a small sample. He goes “wait what’s Welsh cheddar, where does it come from?” I explained it’s from Wales, assuming he understood that it was a country. You can see where this is going. He was quizzical and eventually wandered off.
A few minutes later, a man came up to my counter, immediately demanding to know where the WHALE cheese was. He was absolutely insistent that we had cheese from WHALES. I realized this was the dad. I explained that his kid must have misunderstood me. Showed him the packaging and everything, and told him no, it’s not made from whale milk? I mean is it even possible to milk a whale? It says right here on the packaging it’s made from cow milk? He proceeded to get upset with me, denied the clear evidence in front of him, and continued to insist it was WHALE cheese. This was over ten years ago and I still laugh about the idiocy.’
-sscheiby95
4.
‘They complained that their americano tasted like espresso topped up with hot water. Their date looked at them with a dumbfounded expression.’
-MultipleHipFlasks
5.
‘Not a waitress but I was at a Korean restaurant and another customer ordered bibimbap. And it came with the gochujang sauce. Instead of asking or tasting what it was, she emptied the entire bottle. And of course it was too spicy for her to eat. She demanded a completely new dish. The waiter asked why she dumped the entire bottle in her dish. She said she thought it was ketchup… at a Korean restaurant. The waiter just looked at her, sighed, and got her a new one.’
-MultipleHipFlasks
6.
‘Not a server anymore, but I had a man ask if we had pierogies. When I told him we didn’t, he proceeded to explain what pierogies were to me, as if the reason I said we didn’t have them was that I didn’t know what they were.’
-seragrey
7.
‘Them: Can I get a bacon, egg and cheese on an English muffin, but no bacon! Me: Ok, an egg and cheese English muffin! Them: NO! A BACON, EGG AND CHEESE ENGLISH MUFFIN, JUST NO BACON! Me: …. That’s exactly what an egg and cheese is, there’s no bacon on it.. Them: Yes but I want…. Me interrupting them: OK YOU GOT IT! Anything else?’
-Punk93btch
8.
‘Had a guy order a McDonald’s Big Mac at a steakhouse I worked at. I explained that they only have those at McDonald’s, but I could have the cook make him a burger. He agreed, but then sent it back because it didn’t taste the same. He was upset.’
-ButttRuckusss
9.
‘Was a pizza delivery driver during college. One evening, a huge blizzard hit us and most of the roads were snowed in heavily. A lady called and ordered a delivery on top of a local hill. The road was steep and windy going through a forest. As the blizzard was very sudden, I knew there was no way the local municipality would have plows out yet. I asked if there was any way she would be willing to pickup the pizza herself, to which she replied “I’m not risking MY life for a fucking pizza”. To which I thought, yeah, you’d rather risk mine.’
-GregaZa
