20+ Food service employees who made giant mistakes at work: 'Closed the restaurant for 9 days and the plumbing bill alone was $89,000'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Apr 24, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

I bet you've made big mistakes, but you've never spilled 22 quarts of syrup during a restaurant's breakfast rush! 

Everything's bigger in a restaurant kitchen: when you're cooking for dozens or hundreds of customers every day, you're going to need a giant fridge and plenty of hands on deck. Though many chefs enjoy their work, it's a notoriously stressful business model. These workers are rushing constantly while also working around hot stoves, oil fryers, and sharp tools. It can be a recipe for disaster if they're not careful! 

These kitchen workers made some awfully big mistakes, like one person who dropped 30 ham and cheese croissants in front of a gasping audience. Others had their mistakes happen in the back of house away from customers' eyes, like one person who left a ton of meat in a cooker for a week. The head chefs of these kitchens must have an incredible amount of patience to avoid getting upset at their employees for ruining hundreds of dollars worth of food. 

Up next, read about a parent of a 16-year-old coffee shop worker who encouraged the teens to get back at their boss: "The parents of the other high school kids aren't OK with this."

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  • 01

    "What is the worst mistake you’ve ever made in a kitchen?"

    Content-Meanin... Mistook hot peppers in oil for sundried tomatoes in oil. Chucked them in my sautee pan and gassed out half the restaurant, including the vocalist for the band that was scheduled to play in a couple of hours.
    via u/Content-Meaning9724
  • 02
    misslam2u2 Not me, but I did bust a dishwasher who'd been pouring 5 gallon buckets of fryer grease down the floor drains when no one was looking instead of carrying it. to the recycle tank. When all was said and done, he'd managed to over fill two 1500 gallon grease traps with his sloth and negligence. Closed the
    via u/misslam2u2
  • 03
    restaurant for 9 days and the plumbing bill alone was $89,000. I gave him a ride home after I fired him.
    via u/misslam2u2
  • 04

    Did they create a brand new, never-been-tried dish?

    smittymoose Accidentally knocked my coffee into a 3# can of tuna I was about to mix for tuna salad. 86 the tuna till I can press another can...
    via u/smittymoose
  • 05
    Comfortable-Fu... Dropped a cutting board into a sink basin that was exactly one cutting board wide. Took hours to get out.
    via u/Comfortable-Fuel6343
  • 06
    622114 Poured the stock through the strainer, kept the bones and veggies, stock down the drain.
    via u/622114
  • 07
    juice_magoose accidentally kicked over a 5 gallon bucket of bolognese in a walk in on a Friday night mid rush. in a pastaria trattoria.
    via u/juice_magoose
  • 08
    bluesquirrel7 Was working at this fish market/cafe, and went into the walk in to get some product for a smoked fish platter. Grabbed the lexan off the top shelf... It was the week leading up to Easter so we had about 4x as much of this stuff prepared as normal, as making it was a 5 day process and we expected to sell out. So anyway... Lexan was far
    via u/bluesquirrel7
  • 09
    heavier than I expected, and some genius had decided to put a paper wrapped package of smoked trout on top of it (where it wasn't visible). Trout slides off and smacks me in the face. I startled and lost control of the lexan. It flips and I dumped around 3 grand worth of irreplaceable
    via u/bluesquirrel7
  • 10
    product all over the walk in floor. Having to walk out of there and tell my exec what I'd done was probably my personal low point in this industry.
    via u/bluesquirrel7
  • 11
    darkenough812 Both of mine are bacon related. one time I was cooking about 12 trays of bacon in the standing oven at once and burned it all beyond saving, and another time I was cooking one sheet tray and lifted it high over my head for a minute, ended up pouring boiling grease on my face, neck and shoulder. Luckily the worst of it was on my shoulder but
    via u/darkenough812
  • 12
    that required like a month of 3 different meds 3x a day. And ruined a big part of my tattoo
    via u/darkenough812
  • 13
    nanna369 Left some spilled oil on the floor, I was in a rush, and it was only me at my concession stand, so I figured I could wait to clean it up. A few moments later, I'm back to thinking about the orders I have to do, forgot about the oil, then slipped in it, and skidded all the way across the room and landed my hand in a fryer basket, instinctively trying to
    via u/nanna369
  • 14
    regain my balance. Luckily the basket hadn't been used yet so it wasn't that hot, but if it hadn't been there, I would have plunged half my arm in scalding hot oil. I don't even want to think about what could have happened. Always clean up a slippery floor! No mater what, there's always time. Non-slip shoes are also a lifesaver, and an absolute must in any kitchen if you value your life.
    via u/nanna369
  • 15
    Nachman3 Used parsley instead of cilantro for Shrimp Ceviche. Also this wasn't me but a co worker of mine was making Roasted Tomatillo salsa. Everything went well except when it came time to blend everything together. Threw everything in a 5 gallon
    via u/Nachman3
  • 16
    cambro. Began blending...... they never took off the metal wire that wraps the cilantro bunch together. 86 tomatillo salsa.
    via u/Nachman3
  • 17
    HardlyElegant_72 Worked at a Japanese steakhouse as a server (not kitchen, sorry), but dripped sweat onto the hibachi grill in front of a full table of guests and watched their disgust as it sizzled.
    via u/HardlyElegant_72
  • 18
    sunnyskybaby dropped a tray of at least 30 handmade ham and swiss croissant on a Saturday morning in front of a gasping and sad crowd of customers. and my boss, who wasn't angry but did give me the mom stare
    via u/sunnyskybaby
  • 19
    chocolatecroiss... Spilled 22 QUARTS of spiced maple syrup in the walk in the beginning of service when everybody needed to be in the walk in to get their prep for their line. It got in every nook imaginable, in my shoes and socks. My feet and socks were crusty at the end of service.
    via u/chocolatecroissant9
  • 20
    Also dropped 2 trays worth, so about 40 servings of brown butter carameles that were cooked in jars. Whole thing had to be trashed. Also, as a bonus. Kinda abstract but the worst mistake I made in some kitchens was over staying my time there when people were treating me badly. Shoulda walked off the line mid service.
    via u/chocolatecroissant9
  • 21
    FerociousRainB... Early on in my cooking career, I was working at a contemporary American restaurant that served 'prime' rib on the weekends. Busy days we'd sell 12 or 13 logs, which we slow cooked in a 2 door alto shaam, 6 in the top, 6 in the bottom. I was being trained on sautè, where the ribeyes came off.
    via u/FerociousRainBoots
  • 22
    It was a slower Saturday and we only sold ~4 whole ribeye. End of the night, neither my trainer nor myself thought to look in the bottom of the alto shaam, and 6 WHOLE RIBEYES were left in this thing for almost a week until we next ran the prime rib. So probably ~700 dollars. worth of meat.
    via u/FerociousRainBoots
  • 23
    '[I] accidentally kicked over a 5 gallon bucket of bolognese'
    via Toa Heftiba For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 24
    vdcsX Spilled 10 liters of ketchup all over the floor in the middle of rush. Not my proudest moment.
    via u/vdcsX
  • 25
    lawn mower_dog Learned the hard way that hot metal looks the same as cold metal.
    via u/lawn_mower_dog
  • 26
    onioning When I was a prep cook at my first job I slipped abs pulled down a rack of jumbo lump crabcakes. Over a thousand dollars worth of crab on that rack. To their credit, the owner of the business was the first to see it, and he was solely concerned for my safety. And that was a long time ago in a much more ab ive world.
    via u/onioning
  • 27
    SuperDoubleDe... I was pulling a stack of plates to sell and dropped them right into all of my mise. A whole station of prep f ed. This was at like 730 on a 500 cover night.
    via u/SuperDoubleDecker
  • 28
    cathleen0205 Not my mistake, but at a place I worked. The closer filled the alto sham with seasoned prime rib, as was normally done. The opener came into racks of raw meat- the closer never turned it on. D'oh!
    via u/cathleen0205
  • 29
    Vero_Goudreau At 17 I worked in a chain restaurant that had pizza on the menu, among other things. We had big bags of flour pre-mixed with yeast and whatever to make the dough, you just add the water to the bag content in a huge mixer and voilà. It was Sunday night, I was super extra tired near the end of my shift when my coworker asks me to make the dough,
    via u/Vero_Goudreau
  • 30
    but only half the bag because it's going to be slow on Monday. Being super tired on top of being generally easily distracted, | put half the bag in the mixer but I put the amount of water for a full bag. I made soup dough. We tried putting the rest of the bag in to salvage it but it never came together somehow. It was such a mess and a waste!
    via u/Vero_Goudreau
  • 31
    osrs_everyday Emptied a fryer full of tallow thinking it was oil on my first week.
    via u/osrs_everyday
  • 32
    WakingOwl1 Spilled three gallons of warm clarified butter in the walk in. It splashed all over the lower shelves and some somehow ended up on the ceiling.
    via u/WakingOwl1
  • 33
    rancidvat Got locked in my bathroom before shift. I lived in a really old house and the locked jammed. I didn't have my phone either so I couldn't call my boss and let him know what was going on and a handyman man had to let me out. I don't go to the bathroom without my phone now
    via u/rancidvat
  • 34
    ApprenticeBlaster Was extremely new and untrained. I was asked to trim 4 tenderloins (and the unspoken thing was the trim-not the tenderloin) for empanadas. I trimmed and braised them all. We had a very fancy empanada special that week. I'm lucky they kept me.
    via u/ApprenticeBlaster
  • 35
    holyhackzak Working in a new kitchen. Turned on the fryers. Started looking for the switch for the overhead fans. Fire system went off immediately.
    via u/holyhackzak
  • 36
    Happy-Tower-3... You ever drop 22 quarts of fish sauce on a server because they failed to say behind? Well... I have. The collateral damage was awful.
    via u/Happy-Tower-3920
  • 37
    KS-ABAB Made a week's worth of German potato cakes. Used the leftover mixture to make fried dumplings for staff. They all complained they were too salty. I panicked and went into the walk-in with a knife and a bunch of lemons. Spent half an hour coating each potato cake with lemon juice to counter the salt.
    via u/KS-ABAB
  • 38

    This feels like such a beginner mistake... everyone knows you can't cook the food any faster just because it's broiling

    S. Was behind on prep. Busy summer day. Had to make flourless chocolate cake. We ran out the night before. I decided to crank the oven to 500 to get it to temp fast since I was so behind. Put cakes in but never turn down the oven and timer goes off and I open the oven
    via u/shanerr90

    Instead, you may end up with very charred food that's still raw inside. Who knows why this person took this method instead of just having their cake come out a little bit late. 

  • 39
    door to 35 ramekins of burnt chocolate cake. Boss was not happy cause he just bought some super expensive chocolate to make them.
    via u/shanerr90
  • 40
    CupcakeRevenge Making wasabi from powder and the bag poofed as I grabbed it. The surprise made me inhale and open my eyes as wide as possible as I stepped back. Yeah.... Lungs, sinuses, eyes - anything damp - full of wasabi powder. The burning was so real as was the laughter from the rest of the line.
    via u/CupcakeRevenge
  • 41
    menwithven76 We had an open pass in the kitchen and servers would put clean plates up above the pass, once a girl pushed too hard and sent an entire row of plates and bowls crashing into our open line during a busy lunch service.
    via u/menwithven76
  • 42
    We got shards of ceramic in basically every item being held on the line and had to completely flip the line and clean the broken stuff and then keep cooking all the tickets that came in while we were dealing with the plates.
    via u/menwithven76
  • 43
    simonisamessy... I made creme brulee and chocolate cakes with salt instead of sugar, a week or two ago. Some of them got served. Whoops!
    via u/simonisamessyboy
  • 44
    Cheezburger Image 10497895680
    via hello aesthe For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 45
    pickle-glitter Was helping in an outlet kitchen for some brunch holiday. Bunch of tall guys. with a tiny walk-in so vertical storage was prime. A sheet pan above my head was jostled, I was doused in scallops and slushy allergic to shellfish and I'm spent the next few days covered in hives.
    via u/pickle-glitter
  • 46
    F BOSS420 Grabbing gloves and extra falls out as they do. I was. grilling. Set up guy was doing his thing. Dinner rush. The guy had a glove in his burger. We were going too fast. Setup guy didn't see either but yep. He cut into the burger instead of biting straight into glove. A clean
    via u/F***Boss420
  • 47
    glove. Fell right from the box onto his burger setup. Like 20 years ago so right before you could post it on social media unfortunately.
    via u/F***Boss420
  • 48
    Cheezburger Image 10497895936
    via Ahmet Kurt For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 49
    ChamberK-1 Probably not the worst but it's the first one that came to mind. We submerge our hand cut fries in water with a couple splashes of vinegar to keep them from oxidizing. We had a jug of hand sanitizer that looks almost identical to the jug of vinegar. You can guess the rest.
    via u/ChamberK-1
  • 50
    Fickle_Log4715 I was making a dressing and I didn't emulsify the oil, just straight up poured everything together and thought it would blend. O Granted it was my very first boh job. Felt really dumb.
    via u/Fickle_Log4715
  • 51
    uniquorn23 I once dumped a box of cornstarch on my head
    via u/uniquorn23

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