Some people just shouldn't go into customer service. Maybe some of the nightmarish servers in the stories below were just having a bad day—but that doesn't excuse offering the worst. Service. EVER!
1. Should've Gone With A White
A waiter once spilled a $100 bottle of vintage wine—the first and only time I’ve ever spent that much on a bottle—all over my nice dinner. He also refused to replace it. I didn’t leave a tip, and his reaction was completely over the top. He literally chased me out of the restaurant and physically threatened me over the tip. The manager had to hold him back.
2. Lean and Mean
I was out to dinner with my family. We sat down, ordered drinks, and everything seemed to be going fine. Then the waitress came to take our food order. When she got to my mom, my mom ordered what she wanted, and the waitress replied, “If you’re on a diet, you don’t want that.” My mom had not said a single thing about being on a diet.
She’s a little overweight—very little, really. She’s self-conscious about it, and it’s already hard to convince her to go out to eat with us. My mom just looked at her coldly and said, “I’m not on a diet.” The waitress turned bright red and walked away to put in our order. At least she seemed embarrassed by what she’d said.
3. A Double-Edged Knife
I went to a steakhouse in San Francisco. I ordered steak and was given a butter knife. I called the waitress over and asked for a steak knife. She came back with another butter knife, just one with a wooden handle. I said, “Sorry, what I need is a steak knife—something that can actually cut meat.” She insisted, “That will cut meat!” And somehow the whole thing only got stranger from there.
I ran the knife lightly over my hand and said, “No, I don’t think you understand. I’m eating steak, and this won’t cut it.” She said, “That is a steak knife!” I replied, “I’m not sure what else to say. I just want a knife that can cut through meat.” Apparently that set her off, because things got even more bizarre.
She said, “Are you threatening me?” The weirdest part was that I had already handed the “steak knife” back to her, so I was just sitting there empty-handed with my girlfriend. I said, “What?” She replied, “You’re being very aggressive and asking me for a knife to stab and cut with.” I just stared at her in disbelief. My girlfriend started laughing.
I said, “Uh, no. You’re not a steak, so you don’t need to worry. Just give me whatever you have and I’ll manage.” She replied, “I don’t think it’s safe to give you any knife. I’m sorry,” and walked away, leaving me without a knife. At a steakhouse.
4. The Justice System
I was working the drive-thru window at McDonald’s late one night. A guy placed his order and pulled up. When I stepped up to the window, I didn’t notice that he had a bag of trash sitting in his lap. I opened the window to take his card or cash, and he threw the trash at me. I stepped back, upset that someone had just tossed garbage at me, and watched him speed away.
I was angry, but there wasn’t much I could do. Then karma caught up with him immediately. A couple of seconds later, I heard a small metallic crash. I walked to the lobby and looked out the windows. The fool had just driven straight into a police officer’s cruiser. The officer had been about to go through the drive-thru. Naturally, I went out and told the officer exactly what had just happened.
5. Can I Change…Your Mind?
I was at a department store buying jeans. I asked a store employee if I could try on a pair, and he said yes and showed me to the men’s fitting rooms. I went into the stall and took off my pants. Then the employee knocked on the door. I unlocked it and opened it slightly. That’s when things got very uncomfortable. He asked if he could come in.
I said, “No, why would you want to?” He replied, “Because I think you’re cute.” Then he started trying to force the door open, and for about 30 seconds we struggled back and forth with the door. I started to panic and yelled for help. He stopped immediately and disappeared.
I got dressed and left as fast as I could. I was shaking. When I got home, I called the department store and reported what had happened. Later, I found out they fired him on the spot.
6. Too Little, Too Late
My wife was very ill and in the hospital. It was one of those situations where you spend day after day there, just waiting for things to improve. After work, I’d stay with her until the hospital basically sent me home a couple of hours after visiting hours ended. By then I’d realize I was exhausted and starving, so I’d usually grab something quick at the local burger place before heading home.
But that night was supposed to be different. It was 9:30, and I wanted an actual dinner. So I went to Denny’s. I had no idea what I was walking into. I ordered the chicken-fried steak with vegetables, got a soda, and started reading while I waited. The book was great. Forty minutes later, I looked up and realized my food still hadn’t come. I called the waitress over and asked how long dinner usually takes. She said she’d go check.
She came back carrying a cold chicken sandwich and fries. What? Apparently it was someone else’s meal. So I pointed that out. She went back to the kitchen. A few minutes later, I saw her heading out the door, telling the other servers goodnight. Then another waitress came over and asked if I was ready to order.
I’ve almost never been that angry in a restaurant. I was sitting there trying to stay calm, and I asked what had happened to my chicken-fried steak. The new waitress had no idea, so the manager came over. Apparently there had been a shift change: new waitress, new cook, and somehow I got forgotten in the process. So I said, “Fine. I’ll take my chicken-fried steak dinner, and I expect it to be on the house.” Then came the final twist.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the manager said. “It’s after 10 p.m., and we don’t serve some dinner items after 10.”
“It’s on the menu.”
“Yes, on the regular dinner menu. After 10, we switch to the late-night menu.”
“I ordered it before 10, so that’s what I expect.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but the day cook has gone home. The night cook doesn’t know how to make that item.”
That was the last straw. I lost my temper, raised my voice at the manager, and left.
7. Here’s a Tip: Back off
One night while I was out with friends, one of them came over looking completely worked up and told us all we were going to the bar for shots. For some reason, he insisted we order from one specific bartender. After we got the drinks, my friend left a really rude tip. I had no idea what was happening, but I found out soon enough.
The bartender came over and made a huge scene, saying that a $1 tip was insulting, that we were rude, and that he’d remember our faces and make sure none of us got served there again. Once he walked away, I finally asked my friend what that was all about.
It turned out the bartender had just come back from the restroom and had asked my friend’s girlfriend if she wanted to help him “take a pee.” So that tip was my friend’s version of payback.
8. Undercover Boss
I started out in real estate, doing deals here and there until I saved enough to buy my first restaurant. It was already well established in the Seattle area, and I still own it today along with a couple of others. I do my best to treat employees with respect, and I try to pay well enough that they could actually afford to eat in my restaurants, even though they’re more upscale and fairly expensive.
At this point, though, I’m a pretty hands-off owner. The restaurants are owned through a corporation that I run, so I don’t know many of the staff personally. I know most of the managers, but server turnover is high since many of them are college students. So I don’t get much chance to know them. That gave me an idea.
One day, I decided to do a little undercover management and see for myself how service was going. I took my wife to one of the restaurants for dinner so we could quietly observe the staff and management. The service was terrible, and I was really disappointed.
At the end of the meal, I paid the bill but left only a small tip, thinking that might make the point. Instead, the server followed me into the parking lot. He confronted me and called me rude, along with a few other names, and complained that the owner of the restaurant barely paid him.
Internally, I found that pretty ironic. I apologized and asked, “How much does he pay you? It must be pretty bad.” Servers there were making around $15 an hour plus tips. I try hard to make sure they’re paid fairly. He told me he was only making minimum wage. None of it was true, but I let him keep talking.
The next day, I called the manager and set up a meeting with that server. The manager knew who I was, but he hadn’t been working the night before. I also told him not to tell the server who I was.
When I walked into the room, I could see the server’s face tighten with annoyance right away. He said, “This guy again?” Then he looked at me and said, “What do you want, to cheat me again? I already know you don’t tip.” I laughed, and the manager asked him if he knew who I was. The server replied, “Yeah, one of my customers from last night who treated me badly.”
To be fair, I had pushed a bit the night before because I wanted to see how he’d handle a difficult situation. Still, after hearing him say that, I told him he was fired. He shot back, “Who do you think you are? You can’t fire me.” I calmly explained that I was the owner and that what he had done was completely unacceptable. He wasn’t suited to be serving in that restaurant.
I watched the color drain from his face as it clicked. Then he started tearing up and apologizing, saying he was under pressure because of his wife and daughter and because he was dealing with PTSD from serving in Iraq. Later, I found out those stories weren’t true either. He didn’t even have a daughter.
9. There’s No Such Thing as Bad Pizza…Right?
About ten years ago, a new Mountain Mike’s Pizzeria opened in my town. Since it’s a very small town, my family was excited to have a new place to eat, so we went just a few days after it opened. The four of us were seated right away and got greeted quickly. We ordered a large pepperoni pizza and drinks—nothing complicated. The drinks came out on time. The pizza definitely did not.
We’re all pretty patient people, so we waited an hour before finally stopping a server to ask what was going on. There weren’t many people in the restaurant, and most of the staff seemed to be doing side work like sweeping and wiping tables. The server apologized and said he’d go check for us.
He came back and told us they were very sorry, but it would be another 30 minutes. No explanation. We figured maybe they’d forgotten to put the order in, and since they had just opened, we gave them some grace. We waited another 45 minutes and still no pizza. So we asked again. The server apologized again and said he’d go check.
This time, he came back carrying something black and flat that barely looked like food. It was a completely burned pizza—basically a giant piece of charcoal. Some parts were actually smoking. He set it down on the table and told us to enjoy our meal, apologizing again and explaining that they had forgotten it in the oven. The same pizza we had ordered almost two hours earlier. We just stared at it.
At that point, my dad had finally had enough. Very politely, he told the server no thank you, that we weren’t going to eat that, and that we probably wouldn’t come back unless the service improved. We stood up to leave, and that’s when things got even worse. The server ran to the back. Then the manager came out and asked what the issue was.
My dad explained that we had waited nearly two hours for a pizza that had clearly been left in the oven far too long. He showed it to the manager. It was obviously inedible. The manager just shrugged and said, “I don’t see a problem here, sir, except that you’re trying to leave without paying for your meal.” Then he told employees to stand by the exits so we couldn’t leave.
My dad still refused to pay and told the manager that if he didn’t let us go, he’d call the police. Instead, the manager called them himself and said there was an upset customer in the restaurant. When the officers arrived, they listened to both sides, dismissed the manager’s complaint, and escorted us out. We’ve never gone back.
Wikimedia Commons, Kevin Payravi
10. A Game of Chicken
At Buffalo Wild Wings, I had a waitress forget my order twice. I was there with a group of eight, and everyone else finished eating before I got anything. When the manager came back for the third time and asked what I had ordered, I’d had enough. I stood up and said, “Nothing—and nothing here ever again.” Then my wife and I left. They ended up covering the whole table’s bill, but as my friends were leaving, the waitress said, “Nice job being rude.”
11. Run-Away Customers
My family and I went to a sushi restaurant for my cousin’s birthday. The service really wasn’t very good. They brought us the wrong drinks, and they kept forgetting things we asked for almost immediately after leaving the table, so we left the waitress about a $2 tip instead of our usual $5. As we were walking through the parking lot back to our car, the waitress came running after us and said we hadn’t tipped 15%.
She was actually chasing us. My uncle gave us this “uh-oh” look, but then he pulled off the funniest move ever. He acted like he was going to follow her back inside to pay. But as soon as she went through the door, my uncle took off running to the car, and we all ran, jumped in, and drove away. When I looked out the back window, I could see the waitress and her manager running after us, but they couldn’t catch us.
12. I Wear Your Sunglasses at Night
My parents and I decided to try a new, trendy pizza place near my apartment one night last month. We chose to sit outside because the weather was nice, and they had a big patio and side deck. From the hostess who seated us to the waitress who took our order, everyone working there seemed to have an attitude.
They made us feel like we were bothering them, but we were hungry and had heard the pizza was good, so we tried to ignore it. Right after we sat down on the patio, the hostess offered to lower the shades because the sun was setting and shining directly in our eyes. We said that would be great, and a guy came out and lowered them. Then we ordered drinks and started looking at the menu.
Not even five minutes later, a young guy came over to our table looking clearly annoyed that the shades were down. In a very condescending tone, he told us he was going to have to raise them because they trap heat on the patio and make it about 20 degrees warmer. My dad politely told him the sun was in our eyes and that they probably shouldn’t offer to lower the shades if it was going to be a problem. The guy completely lost his cool.
He was incredibly rude to my dad and went off on this rant, saying the sun would set soon, and even took his sunglasses off his head and offered them to my dad. He was maybe 25, and he was talking to us like we were clueless, saying our request would make everyone else on the patio uncomfortable.
Anyway, they raised the shades, and we started wondering if we should even stay and order food. But we stayed. Our drinks arrived, and we spent a few more minutes looking over the menu. The waitress disappeared. We sat there in awkward silence trying to move past what had just happened. Meanwhile, new tables were being seated, and the hostess kept offering to lower the shades for every single one.
We finished our drinks, and the waitress still hadn’t come back to take our order. We thought about leaving, but she finally returned and we ordered. The food came out cold, but one of the managers was walking around asking how everything was. We told him about the guy with the sunglasses, and he was furious. I haven’t seen that guy working there since.
13. A Lot on Their Plate
At a Swiss Chalet, there were six of us at the table. Five plates came out. We waited a couple of minutes for the sixth one, then told our waitress that we still hadn’t received it. She responded, “Yes, you did.” After going back and forth for a bit, she actually accused us of hiding the missing plate somewhere. I honestly felt like I was losing my mind.
14. Man on a Commission
My wife and I needed some furniture for our new house, so we went couch shopping a couple of months ago. Now that we’re in our 30s, we’re looking for pieces that are a little better made and will last longer, so we went to a more upscale store. Before that visit, my wife had stopped in with her parents to check the place out and had been helped by a very nice salesman.
This time, when we walked in, that salesperson wasn’t there, and we were approached by someone else who was very pushy and not very friendly. We politely told him we didn’t need any help because we were just browsing. As we moved around the store, it became obvious that this guy was watching us closely. He came back over and offered help again, and I told him once more that we wouldn’t be needing his assistance that day. But that wasn’t the last we saw of him.
After about 30 minutes, my wife and I had narrowed it down to one particular couch. While I was trying it out, my wife spotted the salesman who had helped her before. She walked over while he was just finishing with another customer and asked if he could help us. He recognized her and said he’d be over in a minute.
Then, out of nowhere, the second salesperson walked up to my wife and yelled, “What do you think you’re doing?” My wife was caught off guard, so she asked what he meant. He said, “You’re supposed to be my customers. I haven’t taken any other customers since you came in, so how dare you talk to another salesperson.”
At that point, I got up from the couch and walked over, asking who he thought he was talking to. He started arguing with me and said I was supposed to be his commission and that I was costing him money. I was about ready to lose my temper, and thankfully the nice salesman stepped in, took me aside, and calmed things down.
Needless to say, I had a long conversation with the manager. The rest of the staff looked shocked by what he had said, and we could see them arguing with him from the other side of the store. I think he was just a bad salesperson who had watched everyone else make sales, and that was the day he finally snapped.
15. What a Racket
I had booked a hotel room, but when I got there, they told me it was already taken and that they were getting another room ready, which would take about an hour. I went to the bar, where three other groups had been told the exact same thing, with some of them waiting as long as three hours. That seemed pretty questionable, but there wasn’t much I could do. I ordered a drink and handed the bartender a $20.
She never came back with my change, so eventually I said, “Excuse me, I didn’t get any change.” She said there wasn’t any, and when I told her I had paid with a $20, she called security and had me removed. On my way out, one of the guys at the bar told me I was the second person that had happened to that night. The next day I emailed the manager, who said he would look into it and asked me to call him.
Of course, every time I called, he was “unavailable,” and I was told to leave a message.
16. Half Pint, All Idiot
I was at a café in Berlin with a male friend—I’m a woman—and the waiter took our order for two pints with a little attitude, but nothing too dramatic. Honestly, this is Europe, so it barely registered. A little later he came back with our drinks, but something was obviously off. One beer was in a normal glass, and the other was in this tiny little glass, which he set in front of me.
We asked what was going on, since we had just ordered two drinks and never said anything about different sizes. He told us, “Well, the small one is for you because you’re a woman, and that’s polite.” I gave him my best “are you serious?” look and said, “But I didn’t want a small drink.” He just stared at me and walked away, leaving me with my ridiculously tiny glass.
My friend had had enough, took my drink inside, and spoke to the woman behind the counter. He told her the waiter had given us attitude and then turned it into a weird moment, and she said, “Yeah, that waiter’s a complete idiot.” On the bright side, it was pretty entertaining glaring at him while we finished our drinks, and we only got charged for a small.
17. Service With a Snarl
A Subway opened recently right across the street from my house, and I started going there for the $5 foot-longs almost every day. It was amazing. Not only was it incredibly convenient, but the service was better than at any other Subway I’d ever been to. They were fast, the sandwiches were made really well, and the women working there were friendly, chatty, and flirtatious.
There was one major downside, though. The guy who usually worked nights was a short, grumpy dude who always seemed to be trying to act tough or intimidate customers, which wasn’t hard given how big he was and the full sleeve tattoos. Every time I went in, I’d say, “Hey, how’s it going?” and he’d either grunt or just say, “What sandwich do you want?”
Then I’d place my order while he tossed the meat and vegetables around carelessly, making the messiest, saddest-looking sandwiches I’ve ever seen. After a few visits like this, a friend and I went in one night. Same routine as always. Then my friend asked a question about the gluten-free sandwiches. Huge mistake.
The guy dropped his mop on the floor—he had been mopping—and snapped, “Are you serious? CAN’T YOU SEE THE PICTURE?!” while pointing at a photo of a gluten-free sandwich. My friend was stunned and said something like, “You know what, forget you, man, you’re a jerk,” and walked out. I just said, “Wow, great customer service.”
He shot back, “What? You asked a question and I answered it!” He was standing there with this full “come at me” posture and absolute rage in his eyes, like I’d just insulted his entire family.
18. No Manners, No Problem
This past weekend I went out to dinner with my girlfriend and her friends for her birthday. There were about ten of us, split across five different tabs, and each one already had an 18% minimum tip added. The service was awful. The server was really rude and answered even simple menu questions with sarcasm.
He got the drink orders wrong twice and blamed us for it both times. He brought all the appetizers and entrées at once, then got annoyed when we said we didn’t want the appetizers anymore. To make things worse, one of my friends paid in cash, and when the server brought back her change, there wasn’t any receipt at all.
She thought she should have gotten back five dollars and some change, but there were only four dollars and change there. She asked if she could see the receipt in case she had done the math wrong. Instead of saying he’d check, the guy got irritated and said he had already thrown it away.
Then he reached into his wallet and said, “How about I just give you a dollar if you want it that badly.” That made all of us angry, so nobody left anything extra. I wrote “NOPE!” on the additional tip line of my receipt. But that wasn’t even the end of it. Before leaving, I stopped in the men’s room, and while I was washing my hands, he tapped me on the shoulder.
He said, “You think you’re pretty funny with that tip, don’t you? Why don’t we step outside so I can show you how funny I can be?” I was completely thrown off. I got the manager and told her the server had just tried to start a fight with me over the tip. I explained everything while he stood there glaring at me.
Other servers had to calm him down because he kept trying to interrupt while I was talking to the manager. They offered gift cards, but I turned them down. I had no interest in coming back to a place where the staff might try to attack me.
19. You Made Your Bed, Now You Can’t Lay in It
Last weekend I went to the beach with a friend. We had booked a hotel room with TWO queen beds. For some reason, there had been some kind of administrative mistake, and the hotel never actually reserved the room for us. When we arrived, there were no rooms with two beds left. The front desk employee was very apologetic and offered us a second room at no extra charge—until everything fell apart.
Out of nowhere, the owner showed up and said, “NO, if you want 2 rooms, you’re going to pay for 2 rooms,” then asked why we couldn’t just share a king bed. That was none of his business, and if we had wanted to share a bed, we would have booked a room with one bed instead of specifically reserving one with two.
If we had known they were out of rooms, we would have stayed somewhere else. At that point he started insisting we stay in one room with a cot, which I said was ridiculous because that meant one of us would be sleeping on a cot, and that was not what we had agreed to pay for. After two hours of arguing, he finally left, and the original clerk let us have two rooms.
20. We’ve Got Beef
I had a strange one a few years ago. My wife, two of her brothers, and I went out for coffee one evening. I had just gotten off work and hadn’t eaten, so I checked the menu and ordered beef frajolaki, while my wife got a turtle cheesecake with her coffee. About five or ten minutes after the waitress took our order, another group sat down in the booth behind us.
The same waitress went over, chatted with them for a bit, and took their order too. About twenty minutes later, my wife’s cheesecake finally came out, and that’s when the problems started. It was a cappuccino cheesecake. My wife pointed it out, and the waitress apologized and offered to bring the correct one, but my wife didn’t mind it enough to send it back. If only that had been the end of it.
Another fifteen or twenty minutes passed, and I was still waiting for my meal, getting more annoyed by the minute, when I saw the waitress heading our way with plates. Plates? I was the only one who had ordered food. She walked right past us to the booth behind us and handed out their meals. At that point I was really irritated.
Then I heard someone at the table behind us ask another person what he was eating, and he replied, “I don’t know, but it’s really good!” I remember thinking, how do you not know what you ordered? Another ten minutes went by, and I was ready to leave, when the waitress finally came over with a plate.
She put it in front of me and asked if there was anything else I needed. I looked at the plate, then at her, and said, “Uh, this isn’t what I ordered. I got the beef frajolaki. This is a beef dip.” She looked at the plate, then glanced over at the booth behind us. Sure enough, the guy who didn’t know what he had ordered had been eating my meal. But somehow that still wasn’t the worst part.
Mistakes happen, and I’m usually pretty easygoing, but then she said, with obvious irritation, “Well, can’t you just eat this instead?” At that point I asked for the bill and went outside to wait for my wife before I completely lost my temper. To top it off, she still tried to charge me for the beef dip. Needless to say, I never went back.
21. Zero Tolerance Policy
A few years ago, I went to McDonald’s in Alberta with a friend. We both happened to be gay, and joking around, he said we should pretend to be dating. I asked if he was serious, and he said, “Come on, it’ll be funny to see people’s reactions.” So he took my hand and leaned his head on my shoulder.
When we got to the counter, I ordered my food and added, “And my fiancé here will have a…” followed by some ridiculously unhealthy meal. My friend Jake put on this huge goofy grin and leaned over to kiss me. Since I’m pretty decent at improv, I kissed him back. The server, who had already seemed uncomfortable, refused to serve us.
He just stood there looking stubborn and wouldn’t put in our order. When I asked what the problem was, he looked at me and said, “I’m not letting some filth eat here.” I was stunned and immediately told him to get his manager. He refused. I asked again. He refused again. Jake figured it was time to end the joke and tried explaining that we were just kidding around.
The server said, “No, you’re both disgusting. I saw you kiss.” We stood there for a few minutes trying to reason with this guy, and then we spotted a manager’s shirt outside. I told Jake to go get him. Jake ran out, found the manager, and brought him back in. The manager stood there with me and Jake while I tried to explain what had happened.
By then, a small crowd had gathered, including a couple of other employees. The manager looked me up and down and said, “I don’t see what the problem is. You don’t deserve rights,” and then walked away. I was shocked and really upset. Then one of the people watching stepped over to us.
He was wearing a suit and said he’d sue the restaurant on our behalf if they still refused to serve us. The manager still wouldn’t budge. The man in the suit, who turned out to be a lawyer named Andrew, said the manager at least needed to give us the owner’s contact information. We got the owner’s phone number, and he said he’d come right over.
When he arrived, he fired both the server and the manager right in front of us. He also gave us free coupons and a free meal. It felt like justice.
22. Everybody’s Got a Story
One time I went to a place known for its Cuban sandwiches with my family. We were all excited because, honestly, my family really loves food. We got our drinks, everything seemed normal, we were seated right away, and everyone was friendly. Our waitress brought the drinks and said she’d be back soon to take our order.
We were busy talking, so we didn’t notice right away how much time had passed before she came back. We waited another 20 minutes just to be sure. The restaurant was pretty empty, so eventually we asked another server if he knew what had happened to our waitress. He said he’d check, but he could take our order too if we wanted to save time.
About 45 minutes later, my dad was just about out of patience. It shouldn’t take that long to make four sandwiches. He was getting ready to complain when, almost on cue, our waitress came running and screaming out of the kitchen and straight out the front door. The whole restaurant went silent and just stared at the door for a few seconds. Then we found out what had happened.
It turned out she’d had a nervous breakdown right around the time we placed our order. She had apparently been pacing in the kitchen and slowly falling apart. The manager apologized, and we ended up getting free sandwiches. But honestly, the takeaway is that you never really know what your server is dealing with. Sometimes they may seem like they’re doing a bad job, but they could also be barely holding it together.
23. Stupidity Drove Her To Do It
I once met some friends at an Asian restaurant. I was 23 at the time, but unfortunately I looked about 16 or 17, which was both annoying and kind of convenient. When I got there, the hostess told me they didn’t serve minors unless they were with adults. That happened to me a lot, so I just showed her my driver’s license. For some reason, she decided it was fake. What she did next was completely out of line.
She grabbed it, cut it up right in front of me, and called the police. When the officers arrived, they checked my license and told the hostess it was real. In the end, I got a free meal, and the manager asked if I wanted her fired. I said no, because I don’t really hold grudges over people doing something foolish.
24. This Service Was Crummy
We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and got seated, but three different servers ignored us. One of them came over near our table, wiped a crumb off another one, then turned around and walked away. We sat there with our menus for 20 minutes, then got up and left. As we were leaving, the person at the hostess stand cheerfully said, “Thanks! Come again!” We answered, “Thanks! We never even got served!”
25. He Was Not A Rice Guy
I once went to dinner with a friend and her family at one of their favorite restaurants. They’re white, and I’m East Asian. The waiter came over to take our order, asked everyone else what they wanted, then looked at me and said, “Let me guess… rice?” He laughed at his own joke, while everyone else just sat there in silence. I never went back there again.
26. Tired Of Jive Talkin’
I worked as a server for years. Most of what I know about waiting tables came from an older guy who took me under his wing at my first serving job. It was a really nice, expensive restaurant, and new servers had to spend a few weeks as back waiters before they were trusted to take their own tables.
One night, I was back-waiting for him when a party of eight came in—four couples celebrating something. The cocktails were flowing, appetizers were disappearing, and the server I was shadowing was making his rounds taking orders. He had already gone over the specials in detail and sold a few $40+ entrees before he got to “the loud guy.”
This guy had clearly had a few drinks and, to the obvious embarrassment of his wife, had decided to impress the table with how smart and sophisticated he was. So naturally, he asked the server to repeat all the specials, which he did. Then he started digging into every little detail, even asking what herbs were in the Béarnaise sauce.
It was 8 p.m. on a Friday night. The server I was shadowing and I already had three other four-tops seated. I was helping however I could, but he was stuck at this table of eight. The loud guy kept asking ridiculous questions and wanted to keep chatting. Finally, the server said, “Sir, I’m sorry, but I have other tables that need my attention. May I take your order?”
The loud guy lost it and started complaining about how rude that was. The server looked at him and said, “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t realize I was here to entertain you.” But he didn’t stop there. He suddenly started doing a disco dance, like John Travolta in *Saturday Night Fever*. He danced around the entire table, pointed at me, and said, “Get this guy’s order,” then shimmied his way back to the kitchen, leaving the whole table completely speechless.
27. He Got Fresh With Me
A few years ago, my wife and I were at a Mexican restaurant. We had finished eating, and the waiter came over and said to my wife, “Ma’am, policy says I have to offer you an after-dinner mint, but please don’t think I’m personally suggesting anything about your clearly lovely and fresh breath.” He then placed one mint by her plate, turned to me, said, “Here,” and dumped what felt like a hundred mints from his apron directly into my lap.
I’ve never tipped a rude server so much in my life, and we laughed about it the rest of the night.
Flickr, Marco Verch Professional
28. She Wasn’t Foolin’
I went to Buddakan in Philadelphia with a group of friends. I was sitting next to a heavier girl. The waitress came by to take our orders. When it was her turn, she took a moment to decide and ended up ordering a salad and water. The waitress muttered under her breath—but loud enough for both of us to hear—“Uh, who are you fooling?”
The girl’s face turned bright red, and everyone nearby who heard it was stunned. No one said anything because they didn’t want to make her feel even worse. Needless to say, I never went back.
29. Her Response Had No Leg To Stand On
My great-uncle had been a Navy Seabee when he was younger, and before he passed away, I took him to a Seabee reunion at the naval base in our state. On the drive home, we stopped at some random place to eat. My uncle ordered a whole rotisserie chicken. When the waitress brought it out, he noticed it was missing a drumstick.
He called the waitress over and told her his chicken was missing a leg. Without missing a beat, she said, “You gonna eat it or dance with it?”
30. Amped Up And Ready To Go
When I was about 15, I spent the summer working in the machine shop where my dad worked. I wanted to buy a new bass guitar and amp, so my dad convinced the owner to hire me for the summer so I could save up. By the end of it, I had worked hard, put in extra hours, and saved a decent amount of money. My dad also chipped in some cash because he hadn’t expected me to stick with it while all my friends had the summer off.
At the end of the summer, my dad and I went to the music store in town. He had a few errands nearby, so he told me he’d be back in about an hour. I walked straight to the bass section and looked over the ones I liked most. I asked the salesman if I could try out a few basses and amps. He acted like he didn’t hear me and walked away.
I followed him and said, “Excuse me, can I try some of this stuff out?” His answer was crushing. He looked at me and said, “Son, this isn’t a jam room or a playground for kids.” I was embarrassed and went outside to wait for my dad. When he pulled up and got out of the truck, he asked, “Where’s your new gear?” I told him what had happened, and he got pretty upset too. We both went back inside, and I showed him the ones I wanted and explained why.
I noticed the same salesman staring at us. He came over and asked, “Can I help you two with anything?” My dad smiled and said, “Yeah, I’m looking for a jam room where kids can play around.” The salesman tried to recover, but only made it worse. Then my dad asked how much money I had set aside for the gear.
I told him I had about $1,600 saved, not counting the cash he had given me earlier. My dad looked at the salesman and said, “You work on commission, right?” The guy replied, “Uh, yeah.” My dad laughed, looked at me, and said, “Well, I guess it’s macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight,” and we walked out. He then drove me an hour and a half into the city that same day to make sure I got what I’d earned after working hard all summer.
31. You’re Fired!
I was the nightlife coordinator for Caesars Entertainment, so most of the managers and executives knew me. But unless I was actually in one of the clubs, regular employees usually had no idea who I was. One night, I went to one of the newer restaurants with a bachelorette party and decided to wait for them at the bar. I ordered a drink.
About five minutes later, a bartender came up and told me I needed to move because I was sitting there with just one drink, and she could be serving other customers instead. It was a regular seated bar, and she had clearly singled me out. I told her, “I’m waiting for some friends,” and she replied, “I don’t care. You’re sitting here alone with one drink. I have more important groups I could be helping. Move.”
So I said, “Here’s the deal: if your manager tells me to move, I’ll be happy to.” She came back with two security guards and the manager, all of whom knew me very well. She told them, “I asked him to move, and he said he wouldn’t unless you told him to.” The manager answered, “That’s probably because he could fire me. He’s the nightlife coordinator for all four properties.” She just froze. I looked at her and said, “You’re fired.”
32. Wigged Out!
I was out to dinner with my parents and a group of their friends, and the waitress was unbelievably rude. At one point, she said to one of our friends, who was overweight, “Are you sure you want two entrees? I’m not boxing anything up!” As if that wasn’t bad enough, another person in our group was going through chemo and wearing a wig, though it wasn’t obvious.
At one point, the waitress made a nasty comment to her. Our friend stopped eating, set down her utensils, pulled off her wig, and revealed her bald head. Then she looked right at the waitress and said, “Don’t mess with me. I’m sick,” and calmly went back to eating. It was amazing.
33. Turning the Other Cheek
Not my story, but a friend told me this one. She went out to dinner with a group of friends, and their waitress was rude, short-tempered, and unpleasant the whole time. At the end of the meal, a few people in the group wanted to leave no tip at all, but my friend said, “No, let’s not do that. There’s nothing wrong with us; we’ve been perfectly kind. She’s the one having an issue, and we’re not going to lower ourselves to that.”
So instead, they left a generous tip with a note that said, “Sorry you’re having a bad day. Hope things get better.” Then they quietly stepped away and watched her reaction from a distance. She read the note, sat down in the booth, and started crying. You really never know what someone is going through.
34. Wait A Minute!
I was at a restaurant once, and after sitting there for 20 minutes without a server coming by, I finally walked over to the service station. The server was just standing around chatting, and it was pretty obvious the conversation wasn’t ending anytime soon. I stayed polite and simply asked, “Could I place an order?” And no, 20 minutes was not an exaggeration. I was there on my lunch break with a coworker, and she was getting really irritated. The server looked at me and said, “Can you wait a minute? Honestly.”
35. Mama Mia, What A Jerk
My brother and I were adopted from Korea, and my parents are completely white. When I was eight and my brother was about eleven, we went to an Italian restaurant. The waiter kept talking to us loudly, like we couldn’t understand English. My dad was usually a very conservative, easygoing person, but he looked the server straight in the eye and said, “Racist enough? That’s my daughter you’re talking to. She reads English at a college level and speaks and understands it perfectly well without you shouting in her face. You can calm down.”
Our meal was free after that.
36. She Neither Inspired Nor Nurtured My Human Spirit
I went to Starbucks and ordered a mocha, or something close to that. The barista told me it was a “girly drink.” When I went up to get it, she was standing right next to me at the counter. Instead of just handing it over, she walked all the way to the other side and set it down there. Thinking she was kidding, I laughed and said, “Oh, I have to walk all the way over there?” She looked at me completely seriously and said, “You look like you could use the exercise.” I wasn’t overweight.
37. He Was Hitting On My Honey
It wasn’t so much what the waiter said, but what he did made everything obvious. My boyfriend, my friend, and I went to a pretty nice bar and grill. When the waiter came to take our order, he started with my boyfriend and was really friendly with him. But when it got to me, he rushed through taking my order. When the food came out, mine arrived last. Later, the waiter came by to check on us and specifically asked my boyfriend whether the steak was cooked properly and if he liked it.
He didn’t ask anyone else, only him. When it was time to box up leftovers, the waiter dropped my box onto my plate, then helped box up my boyfriend’s food. I even waited to see if he’d do the same for me—not that I really expected it—and after helping my boyfriend, he just walked away. We all looked at each other and started laughing.
38. He Wasn’t Dressing Away With It
I was at a new, expensive restaurant in town celebrating both my mom’s birthday and Mother’s Day with my family on her side. I wasn’t very hungry, and nothing on the menu sounded especially good, so I ordered a Caesar salad. When it finally came out—after everyone else had already gotten their food—the lettuce was ridiculously limp, and the whole salad was a little warm. The dressing, which was now warm too, barely had any flavor at all.
We explained this to our waiter, and his response stunned me. He said, “We make our own Caesar dressing in-house here; it might not be the Kraft dressing your family is used to.” Unfortunately for him, my mom had just gotten off a 20-hour flight eight hours earlier, had very little patience for bad service even on a good day, and had a Harvard law master’s degree. He regretted that comment immediately.
39. I Was Anything But Calm
I used to work at a country club, and on my first day my boss made it very clear that if you ever dropped a glass, plate, or anything else that could shatter, you were supposed to tell everyone to stay away from the area and remain seated until it was cleaned up. About a week later, I was walking between a few tables carrying a couple glasses of water. I set one down for an older couple and greeted them.
Then I reached for the second one, and it slipped, hit the floor, and shattered. Panicking, I kept saying, “I’m so sorry, please forgive me… just give me one moment and I’ll clean this up!” The older man laughed and said, “It’s alright. I’ll be right back anyway. Need to use the men’s room.” At that exact moment, I noticed my boss glaring at me, and without thinking I yelled, “SIT DOWN AND STAY CALM.”
Thankfully, he looked at me and burst out laughing. He said, “Alright then, I’ll wait. My bladder’s not that bad yet.” My boss and coworkers thought it was the funniest thing they’d ever seen, but it was pretty rude, and my friends still won’t let me forget it.
40. Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Several years ago, my family went to our local Denny’s. There was a Black family ahead of us—a dad, a mom, and a little girl. They were dressed casually, but perfectly fine, and it was obvious they weren’t causing any trouble. The restaurant was also nearly empty. Still, they waited 25 minutes for someone to seat them. Eventually, they got tired of waiting and left to go to the restaurant across the street.
The moment they walked out the door, someone came over to seat us. We left and went to the place across the street too.
41. Done In By Her Comment
I like my steak medium-rare. I’m not usually too fussy about it, but one time the steak I got was basically beyond well-done. It was completely dry too, so I said something. I told the waitress, “Excuse me, I ordered this steak medium-rare. This is pretty close to burnt.” Her response honestly stunned me. The waitress, who was young and attractive, just looked at me blankly and said, “Well, what do you want me to do? We can’t uncook the steak!”
42. She Got My Goat
Sometimes, after a long day working in the service industry, you stop noticing that you’ve gotten a little rude. One day, a customer asked me, “Excuse me, sir, what is goat cheese?” I paused for a second to see if she was joking, then said, “Well... it’s cheese made from goat’s milk. It’s earthy and a little tart.”
I couldn’t help it, but the way I said it came off as a little condescending. I was always very formal and polished when serving at a fine dining restaurant, and it sounded much more snobbish than I intended. The owner was standing right behind me. At the end of the shift, she told me I needed a break from waiting tables. She was right.
43. Blue Jean Baby
I was supposed to meet a very prominent and highly respected public figure at a nightclub. He had told my group the dress code was casual, so most of us were wearing jeans with dress shirts or polos. When we arrived, the host looked us over like we were beneath him and said, in the most posh, arrogant tone I’d ever heard, “I believe you’ll have trouble finding a table here wearing... dungarees,” and started to walk away. But that wasn’t the end of it.
Then we told him who we were there to meet, and the guy almost panicked.
44. Here’s A Tip—You’re Rude!
My mother and father met while working as a waiter and waitress in New York City in the 1940s. Forty years later, in the 1980s, they were out to dinner with a group of friends. The waiter was rude and not very capable, and the food was cold. The night was only saved by good company and conversation. My dad handled the check.
He collected money from everyone and planned on leaving a 12–13% tip, since he thought the waiter might just be having a rough night and the cold food might not have been his fault. My dad left the money with the check, and they all headed out. The waiter chased him into the parking lot, held out the tip, and said, “Do you really think this is fair, or do you just not go out much and don’t know how to tip?”
My dad looked at him and said, “Well, I was a waiter for many years, so yes, I know how to tip. I gave you the benefit of the doubt because I thought maybe you were just having a bad night. But you’re right, this amount isn’t right.” My dad took a $10 bill from the waiter’s hand and added, “Now it’s right.” Then he got in his car and drove away.
45. Too Hot To Handle
I was at a Thai restaurant. The waiter told me I couldn’t handle a certain dish because it was too spicy for a white person. I ordered it anyway, and it was obvious he had asked the kitchen to make a mild version. When I asked why, he repeated that I was too white for it. I’ve tried ordering that dish at full spice before, but every time, they either refuse or quietly tone it down. I know it’s supposed to be much hotter, because my friend used to work there.
46. No Dessert For You!
My then-boyfriend—now my husband—was trying to find a place to take his parents for their 50th birthdays. We’d eaten at this restaurant before and loved it. Since several relatives were coming too, we made a reservation for 12. The trouble started right away when we were seated at what was basically a bunch of small tables pushed together.
There just wasn’t enough room for that many people. The tables were shoved so close to the wall—maybe a foot away—that the bigger men in the family had to sit on the outside, and even the smaller people felt cramped. If the restaurant only had that crowded front room, the bad setup would have been easier to understand.
But there was also a back room big enough for us, plus an outdoor area that could have handled a group our size. So what started as an uncomfortable situation quickly became frustrating. About 15 minutes in, the owner came over and asked if we could all slide down a bit so he could take one of the small tables and use it for someone else.
Since we were already packed in and had started eating bread, drinking, and using the table settings, my boyfriend’s father politely but firmly said, “No.” The owner started arguing with us. At one point, he even sat down in a chair someone had briefly left to use the bathroom, trying to convince us to move. He was getting more and more worked up. Finally, he walked off, muttering, “I just thought you could help me out.”
After that, my boyfriend’s aunt went to speak with him. She explained that we were there for a special occasion and would appreciate it if he didn’t speak so rudely to the birthday guest. He didn’t care. He told her that if she didn’t like it, we could all leave. Honestly, we probably should have. Our poor server really tried to save the evening, but the owner kept muttering about us every time he passed our table.
More than once, he came back to argue about how we could sit closer together. Near the end of the disaster that was dinner, he made one last attempt to smooth things over. In a calm voice, he told my boyfriend’s mother that things had gotten off to a bad start and that he might have been partly at fault, but he didn’t want the night to end that way.
But he still wasn’t done being difficult. Within 30 seconds of apologizing, he added something like, “But if you had just squeezed together the way I asked, we all would’ve been much happier.” When dessert time came, my boyfriend asked the server if his parents’ desserts could have candles and whether the rest of us could order dessert too.
The server was halfway through taking dessert orders when the owner pulled him away, shaking his head. Then the owner came back and told us there were too many people waiting for tables, so he couldn’t serve us dessert. Furious, we paid and left. As if putting on a show for the people waiting outside, the owner called after us in a sugary voice, “Have a wonderful evening.”
My boyfriend’s father answered, “We’ll never have one here again.” The owner shot back, “Never come back to my restaurant,” and slammed the door behind us.
47. An Unfavorable Night
It was close to the end of the night, and the bar was starting to empty out. I asked for a glass of water. The bartender nodded, walked to the other end of the bar, and started taking drink orders from other people. I stood there waiting while he kept serving everyone else. Finally, I got his attention again and said, “Hey, I’m the designated driver and just want a glass of water.”
He said, “Yeah, I heard you, but you’re not going to make me any money. You’re asking for a favor, and I only do favors for my friends.”
48. Bumping Up The Wrong Tree
I had just been released from the hospital, and some friends picked me up to grab something to eat. I had a third-degree ACL tear in my knee, so I was limping around in a leg brace that went from my hip to my ankle—you couldn’t miss it. We sat down, and I took the outside seat by the walkway, with my injured leg tucked safely under the table and my good leg on the outside.
Our waiter was short and unfriendly, and he seemed annoyed the whole time. Eventually, when he brought our food—after dropping the plates down pretty roughly—he hit my injured knee under the table while reaching across to set down a plate. It hurt, so I yelled, “Ow,” practically right in his ear since he was leaning over me.
He didn’t react at all. One of my friends noticed and said, “Uh, you just hit her.” That only seemed to make him ruder. He just walked away. So my friends decided to leave a $1 tip on each bill. I’m not usually someone who supports bad tipping, but after an already awful day ended with someone hitting my injured leg, I understood it.
One of my friends wrote a note on her receipt explaining why the tip was so low. Then we got up and slowly made our way outside. At that point, the waiter actually chased us down to defend himself. He sounded offended and said, “I didn’t kick a girl with an ACL injury!” I said, “Actually, yes, you did. That was me.”
I was tired and honestly stunned that he was even arguing about it. My friends stepped in and explained that I had yelled when it happened and he had completely ignored it. He finally said, “Well then, I’m sorry.” But there was something off about the apology. He definitely didn’t sound sorry. He turned angrily and went back inside. As he walked in, another couple was leaving and had overheard the whole thing.
The woman looked at my leg and said, “He hit you? He brushed into me inside earlier and didn’t say a word.”
49. She Was Out Of Her Noodle
I hadn’t eaten in 36 hours, and since I was a teenager, I was so hungry I probably could’ve eaten anything. So I went to a small Chinese place in the food court where I usually ate and ordered two orange chicken meals and an order of noodles. The person taking my order told me, “No, I’m not going to give that to you. Childhood obesity is a serious problem, and I’m not going to help with it.” What made it worse was that she was overweight and I was very skinny.
50. Raw Deal
My evening started with my steak being undercooked. I like a good rare steak as much as anyone, but this wasn’t cool and red in the middle—it was cold and purple. I sent it back twice, and when it came out the third time, it still wasn’t cooked enough. I told the waitress to forget it. I was done. Everyone else had finished eating, and by then I was full of bread anyway.
She kept bothering me, insisting it was a great steak and telling me to just explain how I wanted it cooked. When I said I wasn’t interested, she got rude. She told me she was cutting me off after only two drinks. I finally told her to leave me alone because I was done talking. Five minutes later she came back and said something like, “You’re stuck with me. This is my table.”
I was trying to ignore her, but then she took it even further. A few minutes later she said, “Do you want me to get the chef out here? He’s 6'3".” I said, “Why, is he going to come out here and force the steak down my throat?” At that point she tried to walk away, but I was furious, so I stood up and said, “Fine, bring him out here, and I’ll hand him this raw steak myself.” She left and didn’t come back. The chef didn’t come out either.
The manager came over, apologized over and over, and offered to make me a new steak and give me a card for a free meal, but I had no interest in ever going back. It was easily the worst experience I’ve ever had at a restaurant. I’m always kind to servers, and I tip well. I’ve done that job myself, so I know how hard it can be. I can forgive a server for being in a bad mood or not especially friendly. But her reaction to a reasonable complaint was completely out of line.
51. At The Tipping Point
I’m from Wisconsin, and I was on a bus trip with a group of Canadians. We were showing them around—the mall, the cheese, all of that. We stopped at TGI Friday’s for lunch. I ordered an $8 salad and a Coke. With tax, my bill came to about $12. Our table had fewer than eight people, so gratuity wasn’t included. I could tell something was off because the waiter never brought me any Coke refills, even though we were there for more than an hour.
After we ate, I got my check and paid with a $20 bill. Everyone else got their checks back with change and headed out to the bus. I stayed at the table because mine never came back. I waited there for half an hour until my squadron commander came in to find out why I was still sitting there alone. I told him the waiter still hadn’t brought my change.
My squadron commander went to speak with the waiter, who finally came back with it. I didn’t leave a tip. I still have no idea why he treated me that way.
52. Hidden Figures
My wife and I went to a fairly nice restaurant with friends, but we had only brought cash. While we were ordering, we carefully estimated the total—and even padded it generously—to make sure we’d have enough to cover the bill. When it finally came, it was much higher than we expected. We still had enough cash, but only barely.
It turned out the restaurant had recently raised the prices on almost everything, but they hadn’t updated the menus. That would have been helpful to know before we ordered instead of after the bill arrived. We handed the waitress all the cash we had brought, which unfortunately meant leaving her a very small tip.
As we were about to leave, the waitress came over and started calling me every kind of insult related to being “cheap,” “fake,” and “a loser” because of the tip. She went on for about five minutes in front of our friends, other customers, and luckily, the manager. I had already felt bad about the tip before she said anything.
But once she did, I calmly pointed out that her tip had basically been the same amount as the $40 in menu price increases she never mentioned. The manager walked over and fired her on the spot. He apologized by offering to cover our next meal—and the meals of everyone in our group—with no limit. Even so, none of us ever went back.
53. We Didn’t See Eye To Eye
I took a close friend of mine out to dinner to try to cheer her up. She had recently lost an eye and had just gotten out of the hospital. She was really struggling, and her depth perception was so affected that she sometimes looked unsteady even though she wasn’t. As soon as we walked in, she noticed several of the waitstaff staring at her.
She held tightly to my arm, trying to avoid the looks. We sat down, and our waiter took our order, brought our food, and otherwise acted normally. About halfway through the meal, my friend accidentally knocked over her drink. The waiter came over and said something so awful it made my blood run cold. He told her, “Try to be more careful, cyclops.” I was furious, but before I could say anything, she got right in his face and said, “I’d hit you for that, but I’d probably miss,” then walked out.
I left right after her, didn’t pay, and never went back. Instead, I took her to the place down the street, politely explained her condition and what had happened at the other restaurant, and we were treated incredibly well. They gave us our meals half off—but I paid the full amount—and told our waiter to keep everything above the discounted price as his tip.
54. Double The Trouble
I was out to lunch with a new boss at a company I had just been hired by. The waitress asked whether we wanted one check or two. My boss said one. Five minutes later, she came back, cleared the table, and asked again if we wanted one bill or two. My boss replied, “We said we’d like it all on mine.” She left and then returned with two separate checks.
She was actually a very good server, just a little overwhelmed by the lunch rush. My boss, on the other hand, was awful. He gave her this look like he was about to make things difficult and said, “Didn’t we ask for one?” She said she thought it was two. He replied, “No, we said one. Now, how much should I tip you?” She clearly got uncomfortable and quietly said, “Whatever you’d like.”
My boss kept pushing her for an answer. He said, “Tell me what to write down. You decide what I should tip you. It’s up to you.” She kept trying to avoid answering and said something about how most people leave the usual amount and that she couldn’t really choose. He finally said, “Give me a number, and whatever you say, I’ll give you.”
She said, “So I could tell you $100?”
He looked at her like she was foolish and said, “Yes, but did you earn a $100 tip with the service you gave today? If you believe this was $100 service, then yes, I’ll give it to you.” This kept going until he finally smiled and said, “It’s fine, you can go.” I’m pretty sure he didn’t tip her at all. It was one of the most uncomfortable restaurant moments I’ve ever experienced.
55. All Bets Were Off
The worst experience I had was at a Burger Bar in Vegas. The service was bad the entire night. After the waitress brought our food, we never saw her again. We didn’t get drink refills, my friend never got the ketchup they asked for, and even 25 minutes after we had finished eating, we still hadn’t gotten the check.
Eventually, I flagged down another waiter and explained that we were waiting on the bill so we could leave. I said we had already been waiting a long time and hadn’t seen our waitress at all. He made a disapproving sound and simply said, “I’m not your waiter,” then walked away.
56. The Night Was A Wash
I was at a restaurant, and our waitress hadn’t stopped by to refill our drinks since we sat down. Someone else brought out our food, and I couldn’t really eat without something to drink. Our server kept walking past our table and ignored me when I politely tried to get her attention. She was also taking care of the table diagonal from us and kept checking on them every couple of minutes and playing with their baby.
So when she walked by again, I was frustrated. My food was getting cold, and I was really thirsty. I finally managed to get her attention. She noticed me—but things still didn’t get better. I started to say, “Yeah, can I get...” before she cut me off. She said, “You know what, one minute,” and even held her finger up in my face. The next thing I knew, she was refilling drinks for the table with the baby and chatting with them. I ended up finding someone else to bring me my drinks, and that was the first time I ever didn’t leave a tip.
57. Meet The Chef
When I was 23, I got my first job as an executive chef. I was hired as part of a team brought in to help turn around a struggling sports bar and restaurant in a busy college town. The night after I was hired, I decided to stop by and check the place out. None of the staff knew who I was yet since I’d been hired over the phone. So I walked in with a good-looking female friend and waited almost 20 minutes to be seated, even though the place was only about half full.
I was eventually greeted by a grumpy, overworked, and inexperienced server. She said, “Heeyyyy, I’m Lisa. You want anything to drink?” I thought to myself, “This should be interesting.” I joked, “Oh yes, one glass of Louis XIII, please.” She replied, “Ummmm, excuse me? I’m pretty sure we don’t have that.” I laughed and said, “It’s okay, I’m just kidding. Two mojitos, please.” As she walked away, I heard her mutter a curse and call me a name under her breath.
When she came back with our drinks, I asked who she had been talking about earlier. She immediately snapped, “How dare you?! Who do you think you are?! What’s your problem?!” I told her, “Miss, I’m not here to cause trouble, but that was rude and unprofessional.” She then started cursing at me and my date, saying she didn’t care and that I wasn’t her boss.
At that point, I gave her a hard look and asked for the owner by name. She clearly got nervous, went to the back, and came back with him. He said, “Hello, sir, what seems to be the problem?” I told him, “No problem at all. I just wanted to formally introduce myself before I start work tomorrow.”
I thanked him for his time and hospitality, told him I was looking forward to starting, and asked him to make sure the full staff would be there in the morning—especially this particular server. He smiled, thanked me, and said he was looking forward to working with me. I glanced at my now very nervous server and gave her a wink.
58. No Winner At This Chicken Dinner
I ate at a family diner one day, and after waiting nearly 30 minutes for my meal, I noticed something pretty alarming. The middle of my chicken was still raw. I politely asked the waitress to send it back because I didn’t want to get sick. She stormed off and shouted to the chef that I “didn’t think the meal was good enough and refused to eat it.”
She came back and told me the chef couldn’t cook it any longer without burning the outside. They refused to make me a new piece and wouldn’t even take it off the bill. Needless to say, I filed a complaint with the health department.
59. Say Cheese Please
I was at this place and ordered a plain hamburger sub. Instead, I got a cheeseburger sub, so I said, “I ordered a plain hamburger.” The server told me, “No, you didn’t. You ordered a cheeseburger sub.” I replied, “I promise you, I’ve been lactose intolerant my whole life. I would never order a cheeseburger sub, not even by mistake.” He said he could fix it and took the sandwich—right in front of me—and started scraping the cheese off with a butter knife.
60. Roll With It
I was eating inside for the first time at my usual sushi takeout place. When my order finally came out—about ten minutes after my sister’s meal—it was completely wrong. I asked the waitress what she had brought me because I didn’t even recognize the roll. She told me the name and walked away. I looked it up on the menu and saw that it cost $12.95. The roll I had actually ordered was only $5.00.
I called her back over and told her she had given me the wrong roll. She said, “It’s already been made.” I stared at her and asked her to please take it back since I hadn’t touched it at all, but she just walked away. She avoided our table while we sat there getting more and more irritated by how ridiculous the situation was—and then it got even worse. When I finally flagged her down again and more firmly asked her to take it away, she said, “It’s your fault,” and walked off again.
The sushi chef noticed I was upset and started speaking to our waitress in Japanese. She pointed at me and began yelling. It was a mess. Finally, I lost my patience and demanded that she take the roll away and bring us the bill so we could pay for the sushi we had actually ordered. When we went up to the counter to pay, right near the sushi chef’s station, he handed me the roll I had originally ordered.
He was very polite, and I told him that if he’d kindly put it in a takeout box, I’d be happy to pay for it. I looked the waitress in the eye and said, “I’ll pay for the two rolls I ordered and nothing else.” She handed me the bill and still tried to charge me for the $12.95 roll. At that point, both my sister and I completely lost our tempers. It was incredibly awkward for everyone around us, and as we walked out, the entire restaurant was staring at us.
61. Go Suck An Egg!
A few days after my mother got out of surgery, we went to a new breakfast place. When the waitress came over, my mom explained that she was on a restricted diet and could only eat soft, bland foods, so she ordered two poached eggs. The waitress said, “That’s boring—you don’t want that. I’ll make you my special scrambled eggs. Everyone loves them,” and then headed back to the kitchen.
About half an hour later, she returned with a plate of runny scrambled eggs loaded with cheese, spices, spinach, and who knows what else. My mom took one look and politely asked her to take them back. It turned out the waitress was actually the owner, and she refused. So my mom and I refused to pay and started to leave.
The owner followed us outside, insisting we were crazy for not loving her eggs and shouting that she would sue us for not paying.
62. Put A Cork In It
I’ve worked in the restaurant business my whole life and have done just about every job there is. Because of that, I usually relate pretty easily to servers and bartenders when I go out. I almost never get bad service, but I do get annoyed when someone tries to pull something unreasonable, and I usually speak up.
One time, I was at a nice steakhouse in Nantucket. I ate there often and usually sat outside at the bar, where my friend worked as the bartender. I collect wine, so I’d bring a bottle with me each time and have it with dinner. Normally, the restaurant would add a corkage fee—around $10 or $15—for opening the bottle. My friend never charged me for it.
I’d usually pour half a glass for my bartender friend and send a glass back to the chef, who was also a good friend. One evening, I came in with some friends and sat at my usual table. As always, I brought a couple of bottles. We asked our waitress for some glasses and to open the first bottle. She brought the glasses, but just as she started opening it, the new sommelier rushed over and stopped her. I had no idea what was coming next.
She told us we weren’t allowed to bring our own wine, that the restaurant had never allowed it, and that no restaurant could because it was illegal. I told her I’d been doing it at that restaurant for years—and at plenty of others—and that they charged a corkage fee. She said she’d never heard of a corkage fee and insisted it was against the law.
I asked her to bring me a copy of the wine list. She did, and I pointed to the last line on the page. It read, “A corkage fee of $15 will be charged for any patrons bringing their own.” She claimed it was a mistake and repeated that it was illegal. At that point, I finally told her I owned a restaurant down the street and knew the liquor laws very well.
Just then, my friend the chef came out to say hello. She tried to make her case to him, but he cut her off, told her to go to the office, and said he’d be there in a minute. He apologized to us, and we just laughed it off and enjoyed a great dinner. After that, the new sommelier avoided me every time I came in.
63. C’est La Vie
When I was a kid, I went on a day trip to France with my mom and her friend. We decided to stop at a restaurant. I’m English and was taking French in school at the time, so I knew a little basic French. I placed our order in very broken French. The waitress took it, and then we waited 20 minutes. During that time, other people came in, sat down, ordered, and got their meals, so we were starting to get frustrated.
Thirty minutes in, we mentioned that we still hadn’t gotten our food. We finally received our meals after about 40 minutes. As we were leaving, I heard the waitress call us “English pigs,” which was especially ironic because I have some French ancestry, my mom did too, and her friend was Swedish.
64. He Was Rude No Matter How You Slice It
In college, I ordered pizza delivery from a local place. The person on the phone asked if I wanted to pay by credit card or cash, and I said card. Most places in town had card readers in the delivery cars, so I didn’t think twice when he didn’t ask for my card number over the phone. When the delivery driver arrived, I handed him my card.
He looked at me for a second, and then said something I’ll never forget: “Where exactly do you expect me to swipe it?” I was so stunned that I just stood there staring at him. My girlfriend, who was really hungry and didn’t want to argue, went to get some cash while I stood there speechless, holding the pizza boxes.
65. Lo Mein Losers
We ordered Chinese delivery from a place called Empire. The food was bad to begin with, but what stood out more was how little courtesy they showed. They told us delivery would take 25 minutes, but we ended up waiting about 65. On top of that, they got our order wrong and charged us for a dish we never received.
When we called, they refused to admit the mistake and claimed the extra money was a tip. The manager said it was our problem, even though we had asked them to repeat the order back to us and had six witnesses who heard it. When we tried to work it out, he started insulting us, called us names, and told us to leave them alone. They were awful to deal with.
66. I Was Left Shaken, Not Stirred
I went to a local bar and restaurant on a Friday night and ordered a pomegranate martini. The waitress, who seemed pretty rude, gave me a strange look but didn’t say anything. Later that night, I accidentally knocked over a male friend’s beer. I told him to pick another one, and I’d order it when the waitress came back. When she returned, I asked for the beer he wanted.
She joked, “Finally switching to the good stuff?” I told her it was for the guy next to me. She came back, set the drink in front of him, and while putting a straw in the glass, started to say something but stopped. My friend thought he heard her and asked her to repeat it. She said, “I was going to bring two straws for you, but I figured his [pointing at me] lipstick would show which side is his.”
No one laughed. It was clear she had crossed a line. I usually try to let things like that roll off my back, and I did. We finished our meal and left. A week or two later, we went back and ended up with the same waitress again. She was taking drink orders and got to me. I was driving that night, so I just asked for water. She “joked,” “No pomegranate martinis tonight?”
I told her I just wanted water and tried to move things along. But she kept pushing: “Going to drink like a real man tonight, huh?” I felt my temper snap, but instead of yelling at her, I shook my head, grabbed my jacket, and walked out. It takes a lot to get under my skin, especially when it comes to my sexuality, but she hit a nerve. I haven’t been back since.
67. My Irish Eye Were Smiling
I was on holiday with my girl in the Canary Islands. All the restaurants had a greeter outside to hustle for customers. Most were on the charming side of aggressive but would offer free drinks, so people let it slide. One guy asked us to come in for dinner as we were passing by. I said we were only going for a stroll, would think about it, and maybe come back later when we were hungry, which was true.
He asked where we were from. I told him Ireland, and he said a few lines in Gaelic, and we had a chuckle. So, on the way back, he asked us again, and I told him we would keep looking. He grabbed me by the elbow and whispered into my ear, "Pog mo thoin, do you know what that means"? It means kiss my behind in Gaelic. I was going to give him some choice words, but my girl was already dragging me away.
We finally chose a restaurant with a sweet view of the water as the sun was setting, but you could also see the restaurant where this jerk was hawking. I was fuming but didn't want to ruin my girl's night, so I kept quiet. Before the starter had come out, we heard a commotion. We looked down onto the street to see the same greeter jostling a dude in a Gaelic football jersey.
This Irish dude pulled the sweetest dragon punch I had ever seen. The greeter went through a table. It was glorious. The funniest thing about it was that the greeters from the other restaurants started to clap and cheer, as did some of the people from the restaurant it happened outside of.
68. Condescending To The Core
Once, I got not one but many rude—albeit sophisticated—remarks from a waiter. My parents gifted me dinner for two in the most exclusive restaurant in Milan. I met my girlfriend directly there. I came straight out of the university, attired in the most popular way—backpack, sneakers, etc., while my girlfriend was waiting for me, all dressed up like Lady D. Just looking at the other guests, it occurred to me relatively quickly that I had committed a major etiquette fail.
Indeed, to express his deep disappointment in my dressing choices, the waiter effectively and productively humiliated me for the whole dinner, but with very aristocratic manners. For example, the gentleman is supposed to taste the vintage before approving it. But when he brought our wine, he said, “I suppose that in this case, it is madame who tastes it isn't it”? He then poured the drink into my girlfriend’s glass.
69. The State of the Union
I'm from New Hampshire. When I was going to college in Florida, I had a gas station cashier refuse to sell me smokes because I showed her my ID and...she didn't believe that New Hampshire was a state.
70. Knows How To Push Buttons
Last year I was going through the self checkout at Kroger late one night. There were a few other people at said self checkout, but it was far from busy. I attempted to scan an item that was on clearance, and it brings up the “wait for attendant” message. I see the kid working the section talking to another coworker about 20 feet away. The hand modules they use have an ignore function, so they don’t have to come over every time someone doesn’t know how to use the machines (95% of the time).
Dude hits the ignore button. I know it wasn’t gonna scan without his approval, so I hit the “call attendant” button. He presses ignore again. This happens 8 times. When I finally went over to ask him for help, he bolted to the back before I could catch him. I wasn’t mad, just annoyed. So I left the self check to go get in a regular line.
Just so happened that a manager was walking by and asked if I was having issues, since I was leaving self checkout. I told her what had happened and she was furious. Never saw that kid at Kroger again.
71. Don’t Tip Off Your Server
Last weekend, my girlfriend, her friends, and I went out to dinner for her birthday. There were about 10 of us, split across 5 tabs, and each one already had an 18% gratuity added. The service was awful. Our server was rude the whole night and answered simple menu questions with sarcasm.
He got the drink orders wrong twice, then blamed us for it. He brought the appetizers and entrées out at the same time, and when we said we didn’t want the appetizers anymore, he got annoyed. One of my friends paid in cash, and when he brought back her change, there was no receipt. She expected about five dollars and some change back, but there were only four dollars and some change.
She politely asked to see the receipt in case she had miscalculated. Instead of saying something helpful like, “Let me check,” he got irritated, said he had thrown the receipt away, pulled out his wallet, and said, “How about I just give you a dollar if you want it that badly?”
That upset all of us, so we didn’t leave any extra tip. On my receipt, I wrote “NOPE!” on the additional tip line. Before we left, I went to the restroom, and while I was washing my hands, he tapped me on the shoulder and said, “You think you’re pretty funny with that tip, don’t you? Why don’t we step outside so I can show you how funny I can be?”
I was shocked. I called the manager over and told her the server had threatened me because I didn’t leave an extra tip. I explained everything while he stood there glaring at me. Other servers had to calm him down because he kept trying to interrupt me while I was speaking to the manager. They offered gift cards, but I turned them down. I had no interest in returning to a place where the staff made me feel unsafe.
72. You Never Know
A few years ago, my fiancée, our friends, and I had a bad experience at a new Mexican restaurant. I worked at an Indian restaurant with one of my fiancée’s close friends, and the owners had just opened this new place, so we all decided to try it. It had only been open about a week, so we expected a few issues, but what happened was still unbelievable.
There were seven or eight of us in our group. At the table next to us was a group of maybe six people who were clearly very well off. Our server only had our two tables. She took our drink order, but the drinks didn’t come for 20 minutes. Then she took our food order, and the food didn’t arrive for nearly two hours. Meanwhile, the table next to us got some of the best service I’ve ever seen. It really felt like she had decided we were just cheap college students and not worth her time, even though all of us worked in restaurants.
When our food finally came, every single order was wrong. No one got what they asked for, and one girl didn’t even get her meal until we were getting ready to leave. On top of that, not one of our drinks was ever refilled.
After dealing with that for a while, we asked for a manager. He looked at me blankly and walked away without saying a word. Eventually, someone else came over to talk with us, and we explained the whole situation. Then we mentioned the owners by name and said we worked for them and would be telling them what had happened. The general manager immediately went pale. At that point, we just wanted to leave.
They gave us half off the entire meal, and then the server came over and said, “My bad, guys.” That was the full apology. We left her a tip of about three cents. On the way out, the hostesses were smiling and asking how everything was. I looked at one of them, who clearly had no idea what had happened, and said, “It was terrible,” then grabbed a huge handful of peppermints and walked out.
Pixabay
73. Childish Remarks
My wife and I went out to dinner with some friends at a new restaurant we had heard great things about. We ended up getting quite a surprise. After we sat down, we realized the waitress was an old high school friend of my wife’s. They hadn’t seen each other since graduation, which had been about 15 years earlier, so they started catching up and asking the usual questions, like whether we had kids.
My wife and I had made a very intentional decision not to have children. We simply didn’t want any. So when my wife answered with a simple “No,” her friend looked at me with a confused expression and said, “What? Are you shooting blanks or something?” I was stunned by how inappropriate that was.
74. She Got Her Just Desserts
My husband and I went out for a dinner date one night. Our waitress told us she was training a new waiter, and she explained that while we were ordering. Everything seemed fine at first, but when the food arrived, it was heavily over-seasoned. We didn’t really want to finish it, but we tried because we were hungry.
Later, when we asked for the bill, she asked, “Would you like any dessert?” We said, “No, thank you.”
Then she turned to the trainee, gave a fake smile, and said, “They never want dessert,” in a way that was clearly meant to be rude. It was one of the few times I actually wanted to speak to a manager, because I don’t think you should talk about customers like that right in front of them. If she really felt the need to say it, she could have at least waited until we were out of earshot. We never went back.
75. True Brew Jerk
Several years ago, my mom went on a tour of the Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado. At the end of the tour, they were handing out free samples. When they asked what she wanted, she made a serious mistake without even thinking: she asked for a Miller Lite. The employee gave her a dirty look, filled the glass halfway with water and halfway with beer, slammed it down in front of her, and called her a rude name.
76. If That Don’t Beat All
I decided to take my boyfriend out to dinner while he was visiting. Everything was going fine until the server brought the check. I pulled out my credit card and handed it over. The server pointed at my boyfriend and said to me, “Does he treat you badly too?” Apparently, some people still think it’s outrageous for a man to let a woman pay on a date.
77. Going the Extra Mile
A while back, my ex got detained after taking my car without permission. My car was impounded, and it cost $250 to get it back. As you can imagine, I was already pretty frustrated. I got to the impound office, and right as I walked in, my ex’s mom called to ask what was happening and whether I needed any help.
I was inside the building, but I hadn’t spoken to any of the staff yet, and it should have been obvious I was talking to the person on the phone, not to anyone working there. I was telling her that I had just arrived and didn’t know whether they had my keys or if I needed to go to the jail and have them released to me.
I’m sure I sounded irritated, because I definitely was. Then the receptionist suddenly jumped all over me, saying they knew how to do their jobs and that I was being rude. I looked at her and said I was sure they did, but I was on the phone, and I was sorry if she thought I was speaking to her. She wasn’t having it. She stood up and started yelling in my face.
I told her she was being inappropriate and unreasonable, and I asked to speak to her supervisor. So she shouted for him to “come deal with this stupid girl.” He came out and immediately started yelling at me too, telling me to leave if I was going to treat his staff that way. I tried to explain that I hadn’t said a word to her until she started yelling at me.
I also pointed out that I needed to get my car out of their impound lot. He refused to listen. Long story short, I was 25 years old and ended up having to call my mom to help me get my car back, because the people working there were completely out of control. I had never seen anything like it. They did have my keys, though—my ex was at least smart enough to turn those in.
78. Special Menu Item
My coworkers and I went to a barbecue place for lunch. It was in a converted garage and looked pretty questionable from the outside. Inside, it was filthy, with stacks of dirty pots sitting right out front, a very large woman taking orders, and a guy who looked like the Grim Reaper making the food. The kitchen area was open, so we could see everything.
While we were watching him put our order together, he suddenly stopped, bent over, and threw up into a bucket. Then, I guess he dropped his comb or something, because he reached into the bucket and pulled something back out. We were completely stunned. We paid and got out of there as fast as we could. The whole drive back was dead silent until someone finally said, “Did that really just happen?” and then we all started laughing in disbelief.
79. Not The Way To Get A Tip
I was at a Mexican restaurant with a girl I was getting to know. It wasn’t exactly a date, more like hanging out and talking, and we decided to grab a quick bite. I’ve developed a bad habit of only paying with my debit card and never carrying cash. As you probably know, when you pay with a card over a certain amount, a lot of places have you sign a receipt they keep. The receipt this guy handed me had a line for a tip.
I’d been to this place before, so I knew how it worked: you order at the register, sit down, they call your number, and then you go pick up your food. So I didn’t leave a tip. I’ll tip at places like that if I ask for something extra or customized and they don’t charge me for it, but otherwise I honestly don’t see the point. They’re not bringing food to the table, not waiting on you, not clearing dishes—nothing that really calls for tipping.
So I left the tip line blank, and the guy said, “Wow, big spender here.” I looked up and said, “What?” because I genuinely had no idea what he meant. It didn’t even occur to me that he was upset about the tip, because he wasn’t doing anything that would normally earn one. He was just taking orders and calling them out, which is what he was already being paid to do.
It would be like tipping someone at a grocery checkout or a fast-food counter. Anyway, instead of answering me, he looked at the girl I was with and said, “Hope you enjoy dating such a big spender. He can’t even afford to tip. How do you think that’s going to work out later in your relationship?” She looked confused, I looked confused, and I decided the best thing to do was ignore him and go sit down. So I just shrugged and said, “Whatever.”
After a pretty awkward wait, our food was ready. I went to pick it up and decided we should just take it to go. We grabbed our drinks and burritos and left while the guy kept giving me dirty looks and calling me “big spender.” We sat down on a bench near the restaurant and realized the whole order was wrong—nothing was even close to what we’d asked for—and our drinks were only half full. Normally I’m not that picky and probably would have just let it go, but I was there with someone and didn’t want to look like I’d let the whole thing slide.
So we went back in, and I told him our order was wrong and our drinks weren’t filled all the way. He said, “Oh, so now you want to complain about your order after not tipping? Now I have to go through all this trouble and you still couldn’t tip?” He kept going on like that while a line formed behind us, and eventually he went to refill the drinks. He came back, said “Oops,” pretended to trip, and threw both drinks all over me and the girl I was with.
I demanded to speak to his manager, and he immediately dropped the act. He started saying anything he could to stop us from talking to the manager, even offering to refund our order, but I refused and kept asking for the manager. Finally, the cook in the back heard the commotion and went to get him.
The manager came out, and both of us explained what had happened while the employee kept insisting it was an accident. The manager took us to the back so we could clean up, and afterward he invited us to watch the security footage with him—and with the employee standing right there.
The video made it obvious: the guy tripped over absolutely nothing and deliberately threw the drinks on us. The manager fired him on the spot. He explained that he had only hired the kid for the summer because he was the son of a longtime friend, and that the guy had been acting horribly the whole time, but he had let it slide because of that connection.
The manager was actually great about it. He paid for our meal, gave each of us a card for 10 free meals at the restaurant, went into the kitchen and remade our food himself, packed it up to go, and even paid for a cab to take us back to my place so we wouldn’t have to walk home covered in sticky soda.
80. Shattered Dreams
A customer came into my store drunk. We refused to sell to him, and he completely lost it. We had to throw him out, so he went down the street to another store instead. Then, as he walked back past ours, he yelled a bunch of nasty things at us—and immediately tripped, smashing the bottle he had just bought all over the sidewalk. It was glorious.
81. Their Culture Isn’t Backwards, You Are
I was definitely the mess in this story. I was in Montreal for a hockey game and wanted to buy a Canadiens jersey. They’re pretty expensive at the arena, so I walked around downtown checking out sports memorabilia shops. I found one, went in, and bought a Canadiens jersey. It was one of the nice lace-up ones and cost almost half of retail. I was excited, so I put it on right there before leaving the shop.
Before we got to the door, I tore the tags off, and my dad noticed the “NHL” logo looked backward and said “LNH.” I got right in the clerk’s face and said, pretty loudly, “You sell fakes! This is a knockoff! This is supposed to say NHL!” The clerk’s English wasn’t great, but he kept telling me, “These are the new ones. LNH is the new logo.” I said, “Yeah, okay, the NHL changed their name. Sure.”
He refused to give me a refund, and eventually I left the store feeling completely defeated. On the walk back to the hotel, I saw another Canadiens jersey with the LNH logo. Then another one. I pulled out my phone and looked it up. It stands for *la Ligue Nationale de Hockey.* The new Canadiens jerseys had LNH on them to celebrate their French Canadian heritage. I could feel my face burning with embarrassment.
82. When Life Gives You Lemons...
I was buying a used car from a dealer. We had agreed on a price over the phone. He even offered to have someone pick me up so I could test drive it, since I was new in town and didn’t have a car. So he and another guy came to get me. Of course, on the way there, he started trying to sell me a different, newer car instead of the one I actually wanted, but I wasn’t interested.
I test drove the car, and it was exactly what I was looking for. The price we agreed on was under book value, so I was happy with the deal. Then he drew up the paperwork, and my jaw dropped. The final cost was almost two thousand dollars more than what we had agreed on. I was furious. We had a clear deal, and he tried to slide in an extra $2,000 like I wouldn’t notice.
I said no deal, take me back home. He kept lowering it a little at a time, a hundred here, a hundred there. No thanks. We had an agreement, so take me home. Finally, he said, “Well, if you’re not going to buy the car, you can find your own way home.” That’s when I started raising my voice so the other customers could hear.
“YOU’RE TELLING ME YOU BROUGHT ME 40 MINUTES FROM HOME, TRIED TO CHARGE ME TWO THOUSAND EXTRA, AND NOW YOU’RE SAYING I’M STRANDED HERE IF I DON’T PAY?” He started begging me to quiet down and offered to cut more off the price, but I wasn’t backing down. I probably looked completely unhinged, but I did not care anymore.
I do not respond well to high-pressure sales tactics, and they were starting to figure that out. Anyway, after I made a huge scene and gave the salesman what looked like a real panic attack, the manager finally agreed to sell me the car for the original price. Then I talked them into knocking off another $500. He just wanted me out of there. The car is still running great.
83. Someone’s Got Your Back
I had spent my last $40 on a car part I needed, but something was wrong with it and I had to return it. The sales clerk said he couldn’t take it back without a receipt. I had paid with a credit card, and it had a warranty, so I figured my information should be in the system. He wouldn’t even check and refused to exchange it. That’s when I completely lost my temper.
I was furious, yelling at him, and other customers were actually laughing at how upset I was. He threatened to call the police. I told him to go right ahead. Then something amazing happened. Behind his back, another employee overheard me explaining the details, looked up my information, and printed out a copy of my receipt.
Just as this guy was about to tell me again for what felt like the hundredth time that I couldn’t return the part without a receipt, the employee behind him handed it to me. I immediately passed it right back to the manager I’d been arguing with. I got my replacement part and made it to work that night. I just hope the other employee didn’t get in trouble for doing the right thing.
Pexels
84. Alarming Situation
I had ordered food at around 2 a.m. My roommate had work the next day and was asleep, so I left a note on the order that said, “Please call, do not ring the bell. Thanks!” Our doorbell was a loud buzzer, so I really didn’t want him to wake up. About an hour later, I heard the buzzer go off loudly. I was instantly annoyed because I had specifically asked them not to do that.
I opened the door, and it was a guy who looked about 20. The moment he handed me my food, he stuck out his hand and said, “Tip?” I actually had money in my pocket ready for him, but I hadn’t even had the chance to pull it out before he said that. I just looked at him and said, “Seriously?”
Then I started telling him that he wasn’t getting a tip, not only because he rang the bell when I had clearly asked him not to—it was printed right on the receipt under my address—but also because of how rude it was to demand one like that. He just said, “Whatever,” and walked off, so I called the restaurant and told them one of their drivers had been really unprofessional.
Unsplash
85. Pain in the Button
When my wife had a C-section after our child was born, she was in terrible pain. She had already been in labor for about 10 hours before the doctors decided surgery was necessary. Afterward, the nurse kept coming in to ask about her pain level. My wife kept saying she was in absolute agony. The nurse said, “If it were really that bad, you’d be in the corner in the fetal position, screaming.”
My wife answered, “If I could get up and get over there, that’s exactly what I’d be doing.” They had her set up with a morphine drip that she was supposed to control with a button. She kept pressing it, but it wasn’t helping at all. Fast-forward 14 hours later. The nurse suddenly says, “Oh, your button wasn’t actually hooked up to deliver the medication. Haha.” That nurse was very lucky my wife and I stayed calm.
86. Missing Money
This happened at my bank. I went in to exchange my rent money from twenties into hundreds so a money order would be easier to count. I explained that to the woman at the desk, and she was happy to help. I counted out $1,000 in twenties for her, placing the bills down and counting out loud. She took the cash, got the hundreds, and then counted back only $900 to me.
I told her she was short $100, and she insisted I had only given her $900. She had already put the twenties into her drawer, so there was no way to double-check what I had handed over. We argued for about 10 minutes until she said they were about to close and told me to come back the next day.
I was so stunned by how careless the whole thing was that I just told her maybe this job wasn’t for her and walked out. Luckily, I had an extra $100 from birthday money. I never went back to that branch.
87. Food Fight
One night at a chain restaurant, our waitress was carrying an enormous stack of dishes. As she walked toward me, I remember thinking there was no way she was going to make it to the kitchen. Sure enough, just as she got close enough to splash me, the whole stack came crashing down. Half-full glasses of soda hit the floor and sprayed all over my sandaled feet, and a full cup of marinara sauce struck the edge of our table and covered me in a shower of red droplets from my hair down to my chest. Then the waitress just walked away.
The manager came over. By then, the waitress had already heard that I was upset. She stood behind the manager while the two of us talked. I explained what happened and said that accidents happen, and I wasn’t even angry about the spill itself, but I was upset by how I was treated afterward. The manager was extremely apologetic and said our dinner would be free.
Still, I said this seemed like something that called for retraining or at least a conversation. Someone needed to tell the waitress that this wasn’t the right way to treat customers. The manager turned around, noticed the waitress, and said she was sure the waitress was about to apologize. But that’s when everything got worse. The waitress rolled her eyes and said sharply, “It was just an accident.” No apology at all.
The manager looked completely shocked. The waitress stayed silent after that, smirked, and crossed her arms. I looked back and forth between her and the manager, who now seemed frozen and unsure what to do. It turned into a standoff, with the waitress refusing to apologize and me getting more and more frustrated. Then I came up with a plan.
I said to the manager, “So you said our meal is free tonight? We’d like to change our order. And we want to keep the same server. No hard feelings, right?” So we switched to the most expensive entrees we could find, added three appetizers, salads, and soup first, then dessert afterward. The bill ended up being well over a hundred dollars. We stayed as long as we reasonably could.
Needless to say, we left that waitress no tip, and I wrote “no hard feelings” on a napkin with marinara sauce on it at the table. It’s the only time I’ve ever left no tip, and at the time it felt satisfying.
88. Coffee Break-Down
I went into a little vegan café in Soho, London, to get a coffee. My girlfriend and I were on our way to a movie and had about 45 minutes to spare. I ordered two cappuccinos. No one else was waiting, and there were two very trendy-looking people behind the counter. They took my order and then spent, and I’m not exaggerating, 27 minutes walking around, chatting, moving things, cleaning, and doing everything except making coffee.
Meanwhile, a small line formed, and they served some of those people before us, including people ordering food. After 15 minutes, I asked just to make sure they hadn’t forgotten us. They said of course not and then went right back to taking their time. In the end, I stood up and started raising my voice, asking what they were doing and why it was so difficult to make two simple coffees.
I demanded my money back because by then we didn’t even have time to drink the coffee anymore, and that led to another argument while one of them kept saying, “But we’re making it!” Then I turned around after going off on them, and my jaw dropped. Actor Forest Whitaker was standing right behind me in line. I immediately felt bad for losing my temper in front of Ghost Dog.
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89. A Sandwich Stealer?
I ordered a sandwich and a drink from a fast food place in a station, the kind of spot where you grab your food and eat it right away. I got my drink and waited for my sandwich. I wasn’t in a rush, so I didn’t mind the delay. I figured they were making it fresh or something. Then I noticed someone else get the exact same sandwich I had ordered, so it was clear they had forgotten mine. That happens, and I still wasn’t too bothered.
It only became a problem when I asked about it. The woman behind the counter said she had already given me my order, then turned away before I could respond. When she came back, I pointed out that I still didn’t have a sandwich. She insisted I had put it in my bag and once again turned away while I was trying to explain that I hadn’t. By then, I was getting irritated, and I was hungry, so I did something I’m not especially proud of.
I turned into the difficult customer. I emptied my bag out across the counter and made sure she checked everything in it so she could see I had not somehow stolen my own £2 burger. I was tempted to ask her to go through the pages of my book too, just in case the missing sandwich had somehow ended up there, but I stopped short of that. After all that, I finally got my sandwich.
90. Car Calamity
My wife and I were in our early twenties, so going out to buy our first car from a dealership felt like a huge milestone. We had saved up a lot of money and went in knowing exactly what our budget was. At the third dealership we visited, we immediately spotted a car we both loved. As soon as we got out of our car and were approached by several salesmen, we asked to look at that one.
The car looked great inside and out, and they assured us it ran perfectly. I asked to take it for a test drive. They hesitated and kept insisting it drove just fine. That hesitation made me even more nervous, and it turned out I had good reason to be suspicious. The car broke down before we even got off the lot. Twice.
The first time, the salesman gave us some vague explanation and said they’d fix it before we took it home. But the car kept sputtering and dying. We never even got it out onto the road. You had to slam on the brakes just to get it to start slowing down. I completely lost my patience. This was going to be my wife’s main car, and she’d be taking it on the highway every day, and these people were trying to sell us a car that could barely brake and didn’t even want us to test drive it.
I usually try to be understanding. I work in retail, and I can usually tell the difference between a real issue and someone just being a little lazy or not wanting to deal with something. I’ve been there, and I get it. But these people crossed a line. They outright lied and tried to sell us a dangerous car that could have put both of our lives at risk.
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91. No Chickening Out
I waited 40 minutes at a KFC. I got there when the place was almost empty. They told me the chicken wasn’t ready, which is kind of ridiculous at a place that mainly serves chicken, and said I’d have to wait. I decided to stick around. Ten minutes is fine, 15 is manageable, but more than half an hour? At first, I didn’t mind too much because they were helping a family who had arrived before me. I assumed that’s where most of the chicken had gone before I showed up.
But then they started serving several customers who came in after me, and that really irritated me. I had just ordered two small meals. I went up to the counter and asked what was happening since they still hadn’t called my number. The cashier apologized, took my receipt to the food worker right in front of me, and told her to make my order immediately.
So I stood there waiting, thinking she was putting my food together, but then she walked right past me and served two more customers. At that point I was furious and blurted out, “Are you serious?!” The cashier looked stunned and started arguing with her, and she slowly headed back toward the food station, but by then I was over it. I said, “Just give me my refund so I can leave!”
Then the cashier spent more than five minutes trying to process the refund, and eventually asked her to do it, while everyone stood there watching and more people kept getting served. It took all my self-control not to make a huge scene or knock something over.
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92. Vegetarians Optional
I was at a fairly nice Italian restaurant and ordered a dish without bacon because I don’t eat meat. The meal came out and everything looked fine, but as soon as I tasted it, I was sure it had bacon in it. No big deal, mistakes happen. When the waiter came back to check on us, I politely mentioned it. He looked at the plate, picked up a fork, took a bite, and then had the nerve to say, “Nope, there’s definitely no bacon in there.”
I don’t think I’ve ever been more upset with a server. I’m not sure what was going on with him, but at least the meal ended up being free.
93. So Bad It's Against The Law
I had a cashier at Target ask whether I wanted to sign up for their credit card, and I said no. Then she asked for my ID, which seemed normal since I was buying beer, and she used it to sign me up for a Target credit card anyway. I was furious, because I don’t know how that isn’t basically identity theft, and I told her I wanted to speak to the manager, which is the only time I’ve ever said that in my life. She got really angry and defensive, started insulting me, and refused to call the manager.
I had to ask another cashier to do it, and then the woman flat-out lied to her manager about what happened. That was the moment I realized I definitely do not have telekinetic powers, because if I did, she probably would have exploded. The manager assured me she would be fired and gave me a bunch of gift cards to make up for the fact that I now had to deal with canceling a credit card I never wanted.
I went back about a month later to use some of the gift cards and saw that same woman still working there. I mentioned it to the manager, left, and sold the cards on Craigslist. I’ll never shop at Target again.
94. No Mercy For Minors
I used to be in a youth organization in the US called Civil Air Patrol. We’re the volunteer auxiliary of the Air Force, and we do things like search and rescue, leadership training, and aerospace education. One time, a group of several hundred Canadian Air Cadets was visiting my tiny squadron in northern Wisconsin, and we took them around Madison. For lunch, we went to Ruby Tuesday. Looking back, that was a huge mistake.
I placed my order, and the waiter tried to pressure me into buying a drink. I was 16 at the time, looked about 12, and he kept insisting I should order one because I was in uniform. I politely told him I’d rather have a Coke and had no interest in breaking drinking laws in a public restaurant. After that, he completely refused to refill my soda.
We finished eating, and the waiter brought our bills. Most of us, except family members, were paying separately. Then he didn’t bring back my change for half an hour. We were all sitting there talking when the adult chaperones told us it was time to go, so I let my squadron commander know the waiter still hadn’t returned my change.
My squadron commander had a serious talk with him. I got my change back and left no tip. If you try to take advantage of me, don’t expect generosity.
95. The Meal Was As Wilted As The Spinach
I was in St. Pete Beach, Florida, with my parents, sister, wife, grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin, so there were 10 of us total. We sat down at a mostly empty restaurant and ordered a few drinks. Then the waiter came to take our food order, but he didn’t have anything to write with. Fine, some nicer restaurants do that, and even though I didn’t expect it there, whatever.
Over the next half hour, he had to come back three different times to ask people what they ordered because he forgot. Then, about 45 minutes in, he came back and said he had forgotten to mention that they were out of tuna, so four people had to pick something else. About an hour and a half after we first ordered, the food finally arrived. Nearly half the meals were wrong or came with the wrong sides.
Mine was supposed to be salmon on a bed of spinach with risotto. Instead, I got a tiny piece of salmon, maybe four normal bites, a small scoop of risotto, and no spinach at all. When I asked him about the spinach, he said, “It’s under the salmon,” which seemed hard to believe considering the salmon only covered a tiny area. I lifted it up and found maybe three wilted spinach leaves stuck underneath.
My dad, who was paying, complained to the owner, who just said, “Oh, I’m sorry… we’ll try to do better next time.” My dad replied, “You’re going to take at least half off this bill, and maybe then there will be a next time.” The owner shrugged and only comped the drinks, which was about $15 total. Needless to say, we never went back.
96. Caught Red-Bearded
I was at a great BBQ place in Fort Worth with a group of friends. Our server was kind of awkward in a goofy way. He was funny and really nice, but also sort of checked out. He just gave off the feeling that waiting tables probably wasn’t the right job for him. He mixed up our drinks and got some of the orders wrong, but somehow it was hard to be annoyed. Still, the real “what just happened?” moment was completely bizarre.
He had this huge red beard, so I said, “Man, your beard is amazing!” He smiled and said, “Thanks! My neighbor has one just like it. Some people think he’s my dad, but he’s not my dad. I’ve met my dad.” Then he just walked away without another word. We all sat there staring at each other, completely confused. We still laugh about it.
97. Bait and Switch
I used to work as a hostess at a pizzeria chain, and I worked with the absolute worst waitress ever. I still remember this family of eight who handed me—the hostess—a $25 tip on a $50 check, just because they were so frustrated with her and I was the one who kept refilling their drinks. The waitress was furious, but my manager told her, “You should have been paying more attention…the tip belongs to her.” It was the best day ever.
98. Give It Your 20%
I live in Washington, DC, and I once ate at a fairly nice restaurant where I left a 20% tip, like I always do. Out of nowhere, the server followed me outside and asked, “Was there something wrong with the service tonight?” I told him no, and that’s why I had left $20 on a $100 bill. What he said next completely caught me off guard.
He told me that most of the customers there were Senators, and that at that restaurant it was considered normal to tip 30%. I asked if he wanted to give me my $20 back instead. He stomped off in a bad mood and called me cheap. Forget that guy.
99. The Pepsi Challenge
A few months ago, I went out to dinner with some friends at a pretty standard chain restaurant. I said, “I’ll have a Diet Coke, please.” The waitress said, “We only have Pepsi, is that okay?” I said, “Sure, Diet Pepsi is fine.” I had my soda and a few refills during dinner, and then I started feeling really, really awful.
This is the part where I should mention that I’m a type 1 diabetic, and because I pretty much always drink Diet Coke, I honestly can’t tell the difference between Diet Pepsi and regular Pepsi. I checked my blood sugar, which had been totally in range before the meal, and my meter just said HIGH, meaning it was so elevated the device couldn’t even give a number.
There was no way my food alone could have caused that, so we flagged down the waitress and I asked, “This isn’t Diet Pepsi, is it?” She told me it wasn’t. She said the Diet Pepsi fountain was out of syrup and she figured I wouldn’t care, and besides, I was thin enough that I didn’t need the diet version anyway.
I completely lost it, pulled out my insulin syringes to dose for the four full-sugar sodas I had just drank, and told her exactly what I was doing. Then I explained everything to the manager and said I wasn’t planning to pay for the meal because that money was probably going toward the ER bill I was about to get. Even while saying it, I knew things were getting serious.
I ended up going to the hospital, where tests showed my blood sugar was still in the 700s even after I dosed. I had to stay overnight because my glucose level just would not come back down into a safe range.
100. This Waitress Was Cooked
I was in Kansas City at this very trendy restaurant that was basically just a bar, a small stage for a jazz band, and a few tables. I was visiting college friends from out of town, and we had been sitting at the bar for about an hour waiting for a table to open up. When one finally did, the waitress came over to get us more drinks and explain the menu, which was entirely prix fixe.
Every item on the menu centered around meat, and at the time I was a pretty strict vegetarian. I already had doubts about going there in the first place. I politely told the waitress that I was vegetarian and asked if there was anything they could make for me. If not, I was perfectly happy to just sip my martini for the rest of the night. About 15 minutes later, one of the chefs came out and sat down at our table.
The first thing she said was, “One of the waitresses came back and told me some dorky-looking idiot wanted us to make him a vegetarian meal.” Well, there was one thing the waitress didn’t know. I replied, “And what did you say to her?” The chef said, “First, I told her not to call my best friend that.”
Yep—my best friend from college was one of the chefs, and the waitress had no idea she was insulting me to my friend.
