'Grandma... got kicked out of the store': 20+ Restaurant workers who served the most impolite customers

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 2, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

Every restaurant worker has at least one customer interaction that they'll never be able to get out of their head. Some are positive interactions, like having a regular who overtips, or a customer who goes out of their way to tell their manager how helpful the employee was. These positive interactions are always welcome, because many customers treat service workers like they're beneath them. 

Working as a server is just a job, but some customers treat these workers as if they're second-class citizens just because of their role. If the meal takes a long time to come out, the customer won't hesitate to snap at the waiter. Others refuse to talk to the waiter except to bark out their meal orders. And others just like to mess with their waiter's heads, like one restaurant patron who withheld a tip while making direct eye contact with his waiter. It's as if they forget that there's a human being with feelings underneath that uniform. They'd treat them much more nicely if they met them outside of work hours! 

Next up, read about these ultra-satisfying moments where retail workers got to tell their worst customers that they were the manager, like one employee who shared, "When she called corporate to complain about me, she also got me."

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    Cheezburger Image 10411614208
    via Getty Images on Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    Servers (waiters, waitresses, bartenders), what is the rudest thing a customer has ever done to you So....we have given the customers the chance to explain their worst story. Lets hear from the servers now!
    via u/[deleted]
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    [deleted] This was not done to me but my co-worker, Alan. He was waiting on a couple at the steak restaurant where we worked. Suddenly, the man stood up and was holding his throat. He was obviously choking. He started turning different colors and was in need of help. Alan began. giving him the Heimlich and after several tries some steak popped out and the
    via u/[deleted]
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    man could breathe again. It was kind of a big spectacle and the customers and wait staff were shaken for a couple minutes. The wife of the choking man asked Alan to box up the uneaten portion of their meals. There was a crust of Texas toast left on the plate that apparently Alan didn't remember to include in their to-go box.
    via u/[deleted]
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    The woman yelled at him for not including it and did not leave a tip.
    via u/[deleted]
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    crooks23 I was working at this one restaurant when this table came in. It was a nice looking family of four. The parents ordered a sizzling fajita plate for two. When I bring out the fajitas on the iron skillet plate they were sizzling like they are supposed to be. Well, apparently that wasn't hot enough. They asked me to go back and make them
    via u/crooks23
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    hotter. So I take it back to the kitchen where the kitchen manager decides to pull out a blow torch. (why we needed or had this thing is beyond me) He proceeds to heat the iron skillet up to burning red then throws the fajitas back on the skillet and sends me back out with them to the table. Well, the father at the table was not very pleased
    via u/crooks23
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    with the profuse amounts of smoke billowing from the plate on his table and decided to throw the thing at me. Luckily he had bad aim, missed and just broke a window. The manager got his information and was told to get out and we would be contacting him about replacement of the window he broke.
    via u/crooks23
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    wjp3 Ok, love this experience. I was working in the lumber department at Builder's Square, a now defunct home improvement chain. I was all of 18 or 19 years old. Anyway, if any of you have had experience lifting a solid-core front door, you know that they are pretty heavy. I was on the second story rack standing
    via u/wjp3
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    on the forklift forks, trying to man-handle one of these doors out of the rack and bring down to the floor level for a customer. About the time I have this door half-way out of the rack, precariously maneuvering it onto the forks, a little old lady walks up and asks sweetly, "Excuse me, sir! Can you point me to the plumbing section?" I replied with
    via u/wjp3
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    (grunting because the door was heavy), "One moment, ma'am. Let me get this door down and I'll show you." Her response? "You idiots never have a product labeled right! I'm tired of this store's ! Way too expensive, too!" I'm frozen, staring at her with my mouth agape. The original customer I was helping actually put his hands over his sons ears.
    via u/wjp3
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    Jekyll and Hyde personified. But, hooray for perfect timing! Right when the old biddy started her tirade, my manager happened to have walked by. He stopped, walked right up to the lady, and said "I don't care who you are, but no one deserves to be talked to like that. Leave the store NOW."
    via uwjp3
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    tl;dr: Old grandma went and then got kicked out of store.
    via u/wjp3
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    S I have dozens, but I will go. with my favorite. I worked in an electronics retail store and was the sales manager. I was helping out on the sales floor when a young couple came in. The guy was probably about 6'5 and just built as can be. They were looking for a new computer, so we started talking about what they were
    via u/smithysmitherson
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    going to use it for. The guy excuses himself to use the restroom and I keep talking to his wife. A guy in a business suit in his late 30's comes up behind me while I'm still talking, grabs my shoulder and says "Excuse me, I need your help. Do you have 'Software X' in stock?" I told him that I didn't think we did, but that I was in the middle of helping another customer and he could go. check up front if he was in a
    via u/smithysmitherson
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    hurry. I turn back and continue speaking with the lady I was helping. About 2 minutes later I feel someone grab my arm from behind me, twist it and start pulling me backwards. The lady I was helping had a horrified look on her face as I was getting dragged away. I finally spun myself around and realized it was the guy in the business suit dragging me over. He then grabbed
    via u/smithysmitherson
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    the back of my neck and pushed it forward and said "See dumbass? You have the software in stock and it's right there. I want your manager and I want you fired. "I was too dumbfounded to speak for a second. Meanwhile I see the husband of the lady I had been helping, who was returning from the bathroom dashing towards me and the customer who had me by the back of the neck.
    via u/smithysmitherson
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    He grabbed the guy in the business suit by both arms and whipped him around and against the wall. He put one of his massive hands on the guy's shoulder and pinned him against the wall so he couldn't move, and with his other hand pulled out his police badge. It was pretty awesome.
    via u/smithysmitherson
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    [ The cash register where we entered in the food order was situated about ten feet away from the bathroom. As I'm entering someone's order, this dude walks out of the bathroom, walks up to me, and starts wiping his hands on my arm. "You're
    via u/[deleted]
  • 20
    out of paper towels", he says, and walks out of the restaurant. I was so shocked I couldn't even say anything before he was gone. EDIT: Yeah, I know. I really wish I had punched the guy or something. I was shocked that anyone could do that, I just stood there, mouth agape as he walked out of the restaurant. Also, his kid was there.
    via u/[deleted]
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    P Had a real head trip one night. It was intense. An old man came in by himself, ordered dinner and a drink, about $30. A table of college kids came in a few tables away, ordered dinner and apps, about $150. My service to the old guy is
    via u/P***Magruder
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    sharp. Professional, attentive, spot on. All is well. When I ask him how everything was, he's real curt. "Fine." Nothing. Didn't even look at me. He orders another martini (still clear and sober), and stops me. "I want you to add those kids' bill to mine anonymously, and I want you to tell them not to pay you. Or tip you. And I want to hear you say it to them." Still
    via u/P***Magruder
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    terse, still cold. So fine, I've been doing this for a decade, I'm cool with whatever. It's weird, but whatevers. The other table's about five feet away, across an aisle. I tell them the news, they're psyched. The guy asks for his check, I bring it. For him: two drinks, one dish, + the other check = ~$185. He hands me a credit card, I ring him up, I
    via u/P***Magruder
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    bring the paperwork. I place the checkholder in front of him, thank him for coming, and begin to walk away, at which point he says "Wait. I want you to see this." He makes a big show out of signing a big ZERO on the tip line, complete with Scandinavian diagonal slash through the oval. Then looks me dead in the face, stone cold, like a cop daring you to say something smart. It had
    via u/P***Magruder
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    been clear that this guy was weird from the start, so I said in a sincere tone, and with proper courtesy, "Have a nice evening, sir", just as I would have if he'd tipped me appropriately. He stares me in the eye for a fraction of a second, which felt much longer. He reaches into his breast pocket, pulls out a fifty, says, "That's for you". (I said "Thank you.")
    via u/P***Magruder
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    Gets up, puts on his cowboy hat, and walks out. Not a word to the kids whose dinner he'd just bought, not another word to me. TL;DR: Old man jerks my chain and blows $240 on a single meal and two drinks.
    via u/P***Magruder
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    dtardif I was in college and working at McDonald's. I had long hair, and the lady called me "ma'am". She had a moustache, and I called her "sir". We both just paused, looked at each other, and went on with our days. This caused me to grow a moustache.
    via u/dtardif
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    jangleberry112 Working at a sub sandwich shop with my manager one night. We had just finished cleaning everything up and my manager had his hand on the door lock when a woman desperately came running to the door screaming "WAIT! WAAAAAAAAAIT!" Manager gives me the most "Ohgod I'm SO sorry" look and lets her in. We then proceed to unwrap ALL of the sandwich
    via u/jangleberry112
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    making material (which involves pulling Saran wrap off of EVERYTHING, re- filling sanitation sinks to wash any dishes we dirtied, basically having to completely re-do all of our closing procedures.) Woman orders somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 sandwiches for 10 different people, and it sounded like it was for a party or something because for EACH.
    via u/jangleberry112
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    SEPARATE. SANDWICH. she had to talk to a different person, shouting into her cell phone and breaking into random bits of other conversation while my manager and I are sitting there trying to get information from her on what to put on the sandwiches. All in all we get her sandwiches done about 25 minutes later and wait for another 10 minutes for her to finish her phone
    via u/jangleberry112
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    call and come up to the register to pay. OF COURSE she only had a $100 bill, which we didn't have proper change for (it now being 35 minutes after we closed) and she gets exasperated and bitchy about having to use her credit card. Finally we get everything sorted out and she gathers up her sandwiches, looks at the clock overhead and says in the most condescending voice I've ever heard: "Don't
    via u/jangleberry112
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    you think you guys could have made my sandwiches a bit quicker? Now I've missed 10 minutes of (X TV show)! No tip for you!" And walks out the door. Took us another 20 minutes or so to re-do all of our closing procedures. Manager felt so bad about being the one who let her in that he gave me the entire share of the evening's tip (usually they're split 50/50.)
    via u/jangleberry112
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    Still. Ugh. People like that lady make me SO GLAD I don't work food service anymore.
    via u/jangleberry112
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    mmenomena Not necessarily , but definitely uncomfortable customer.... He's been my customer for about half a year now and has gotten more and more attached to me over time. A few months ago he started watching me-for hours at time-as I worked. Finally, he'd walk over to me and tell how beautiful I am and ask
    via u/mmenomena
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    about my love life. I decided to transfer to another store when he started asking me to come over to his place for the weekend because he'd be "alone" (this guy is at least 30 years older than me.) When he found out I was leaving, he grabbed my hair and started to cry.
    via u/mmenomena
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    Last night was my first night. back to that store.... this guy went crazy. He must've sat there smiling at me for half of my shift. My manager knows now and my husband has the business card he gave me.
    via u/mmenomena
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    [ I used to work at Logan's Roadhouse in Austin Texas and we kept full buckets of peanuts on the tables. One night a family came in at 11:05 (5 minutes after closing) and my manager sat them in my section. I was okay with this but I had already swept up the peanuts and cleaned my tables so I said "I hope y'all don't mind but I've already
    via u/[deleted]
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    swept the peanut's." The guy flipped and yelled "What the you mean we ain't gettin no god- peanuts why the think we come to this you hole" at which point to avoid confrontation I said "It's not a big deal" to which he replied angrily "your right it's not." As I walked away he "and bring some of them buttered rolls while your at it. The
    via u/[deleted]
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    night went on like this until he paid, (after my manager refused to comp his meal) but not before going off on a tangent about what a server a was and even went as far as to call me a f • On his way out he dumped the bucket on the floor, scraped the peanuts over the floor with his feet and said "have fun cleanin that up ." Easily the worst guest I ever served.
    via u/[deleted]
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    mirrorball789 I don't really have specific stories, but my dad owns a sushi restaurant and occasionally when he's low on people, i'll come in and help out as a server. Since it's a pretty classy joint, there's plenty of really rich folks who come in and know my dad who is one of the sushi chefs behind the sushi bar.
    via u/mirrorball789
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    Anyhow the really rich people are typically SUPER snobby and treat the servers like dirt, while being all chummy with my dad and the other owner/chef. I got a good amount of "hey you, get me more champagne", no "please", no "thank you", just
    via u/mirrorball789
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    The most annoying part is that every time, EVERY TIME my dad mentions that I'm his son, they're demeanor does a complete 180 and now all of a sudden i'm their buddy and they've known me forever and they're always. so grateful when i get them. refills on their champagne. It's like,
    via u/mirrorball789
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    man. I'm not just my dad's offspring, I'm also a human being but you wouldn't be able to tell with the way these people treat others.
    via u/mirrorball789
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    turtlesallthewa... I was working at Wendy's during lunch hour. Usually I'd be on grill or fries, but this time I was on sandwiches (not my strong suit). This aggressive young businesswoman ordered a junior burger with onions, pickles, and mustard. Okay. I made that, and I was about to put in the bag when she told me I made it wrong.
    via u/turtlesallthewaydown
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    "You said onions, pickles, and mustard right? That's what I made." "No you didn't you made something different!" "Look ma'am..." At this point my supervisor walks by, tosses my sandwich in the trash, and rapidly makes an identical sandwich. The lady is satisfied. I learned a lesson:
    via u/turtlesallthewaydown
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    The customer is always right if it's lunch hour and the restaurant is packed. :/
    via u/turtlesallthewaydown
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    snake0721 I was called into work one day because they were so busy and needed help badly, so I went in the clothes I was wearing at home (stupidly not thinking about my nice jeans and shirt). When I arrived, they handed me a fistful of tickets for people who needed drinks and icecream. I immediately started drilling through the list getting everything as
    via u/snake0721
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    fast as I could so I could go back home. I took this set of shakes out to a family, and upon giving her the shake she asked for (Milky, liquidy shake, nonetheless) she throws a fit and totally rages. She pulled the lid off the cup and threw the shake all over me. I had caramel, hot fudge, milk and ice cream all over me.
    via u/snake0721
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    I will never do food service ever again because of this woman.
    via u/snake0721

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