Working in the food industry is hard enough without heartless managers, ignorant co-workers, and downright cruel customers, but that's what these poor food workers had to put up with. One sentence was all it took to make these workers hate them with every fiber of their being.
(Content has been edited for clarity)
Her Reaction To A Stale Bagel Was Way Over The Top
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“When I was serving in a restaurant, a woman once told me I should be shot for serving her a bagel that she said was stale. When I told the manager what she said, he spoke to her for about five minutes or so and then walked away. She waved me over and apologized, saying that she didn’t mean I should be shot for serving it, she meant the chef should be shot.”
She Got That Mad Over A Few Cents?!
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“‘You are an idiot, and I hope you never get a real job.’ This was said by some lady at my cafe after I told her she was six cents short on her card.”
A Baby Just Died And He Couldn’t Care Less
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“I hate my supervisor. Just know that out of hundreds of people he supervised, not a one had anything good to say about him. One of my coworkers had a baby die. The baby girl was less than a year old. Her funeral was on a Tuesday around noon. This is a slow shift for any restaurant, so the shift leader let anyone we could spare leave for an hour to pay their respects at the funeral. Our supervisor came storming through, ticked off that we were so understaffed. When we explained the situation, he screamed, ‘I don’t care whose baby died! I didn’t approve any time off!’ First of all dude, we have two tables occupied. They’re ok. Secondly, one of your employees is dealing with her baby’s DEATH. Screw you.”
Never Storm Into This Chef’s Kitchen
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“Just the other night, this happened to me. Some customer came into the kitchen (customers: don’t ever go into a kitchen, it isn’t cool) and started yelling at the waitress, full on no holds barred yelling in her face. He and his table full of other jerks had all ordered spiced ribs, chalupa seafood baskets, t-bones, rib-eyes and they wanted to know why their food wasn’t ready yet. As a cook, the more advanced the meal, the more I love to cook it. You come into the restaurant and order the fanciest, most gourmet thing on the meal, and I love to do it. That’s why I’m there. I like to hone my skills, and I like people to appreciate them.
What you don’t do is come into the kitchen mid-peak on a Saturday night because your food is 40 minutes late. There are 85 other people waiting to eat before you. You came out tonight to have a good time and eat, I get that, and it’s hard seeing other people get their food before you. They ordered a cheese dip, though, that we heat in the microwave, which cost $6. Sorry that it’s easier to make than the high-menu crap you’re ordering, you poop-sucking sack of pricks. That is no reason to call a perfectly innocent teenage girl a ‘stupid bimbo’ in the highest angriest voice you can muster.
My chef, a typical Gordon Ramsey type, flipped out and lobbed a plate onto the floor, smashing it as ceramic shards and nacho remnants scatter and exploded everywhere. He started taking steps towards the guy, shouting, ‘WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE,’ and, ‘THIS IS MY KITCHEN AND WE ARE MAKING YOUR FOOD!’ He was going on and on. This angry prick of a guy had backed down, and the upstairs manager was coming downstairs, scared out of his mind because no one wanted to mess with the chef. The chef and I are in each other’s good books, but he is one scary mother trucker. Because I’m a male, and punch-ups beat cooking, I started following behind him as he approached the other dude. The guy very quietly sat back down and tipped generously, apparently.
Which is awesome, because I’m in Australia, and you aren’t even really supposed to tip here.”
She Gave Him What He Wanted And It Still Wasn’t Good Enough!
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“I work at McDonald’s. Last Sunday morning, I had a guy bring back what remained of his Big Breakfast (which comes with scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, an English muffin, and hash browns). All that was left was about half the portion of eggs and nothing else. He informed me that he didn’t like it and he wanted a McMuffin instead. So I handed him the McMuffin, then he said, ‘Where is the other one? I wanted one free, to replace the Big B, and one other one!’
Okay, fine. I’ve got customers lined up out my front door and no time to tell you how much of an idiot you are, so here are your two McMuffins. As I handed them to him, I said, very politely, ‘Here you go, and next time if there’s something wrong with your food. just bring it back right away, don’t eat half of it.’
He replied, ‘Don’t tell me not to eat it if there’s something wrong I want it replaced,’ and stormed away. Idiot, you ate 80 percent of your meal and brought it back. I gave you TWO free things, and you’re still whining at me?”
He Played A Clever, But Cruel, Game To Get What He Wanted
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“I worked in food service, and our restaurant had loyalty cards that we would punch if a customer ordered a full price food item. One food item (i.e., wrap or sandwich) or a combo equaled one punch on the card. After ten punches, they got a free smoothie. We could not give punches for smoothies because they cost about $3.75 and sandwiches were about $7.
Anyway, I had this one customer who ordered two combos and I gave him two punches. He came back to the counter maybe three minutes later and said that I never gave him the punches. I told him that I did, I remembered doing it, and I had signed off on his receipt. He said I never gave him the receipt or the punches. We went back and forth over this two or three times until I went to get my manager. At this point, the guy was practically yelling at us over the counter, and my manager decided to just give him the punches anyway and walked away. The man then looked at me and said, ‘I get what I want, you stupid cow,’ and walked out. He came back several times and tried to do the same thing just so he could get more punches on his card to get his free smoothie.”
“A Woman’s Work Is Never Done!”
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“When I was wiping tables and collecting dishes at my cafe job, a man said, ‘A woman’s work is never done!’ with this cheery smile.
The expression on his face when I whipped around and snapped, ‘What did you just say to me?’ was exquisite.
After he stumbled and mumbled over an apology, I said, ‘If you don’t want me to think you’re sexist, don’t say sexist things.’
I went and told my manager, figuring I would get in trouble for sassing the customers. She was just glad I hadn’t killed the guy.”
Her 9/11 Story Didn’t Impress Her Boss
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“On the morning of 9/11, I was about ten minutes late to my waiter job in a crappy steakhouse chain. My uncle was working as a deaf interpreter in the Pentagon at the time, and my family had been unable to get through to him, which was why I was late (at home on the phone with my mom, didn’t have a cell at the time). My manager TORE into me. I was 19 at the time and didn’t have anything resembling confidence, so I just quietly listened to him tell me about how unacceptable this was. Fricking ridiculous.”
She Made Such A Scene About That Burger, He Wound Up Quitting!
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“When working at a burger van (which did standard patties or a steak burger), I was the cook for the day, and I had someone threaten to sue me because I was feeding ‘undercooked food’ to her son. He asked for his steak burger medium rare, and when his witch of a mother saw the pink in the meat, she went crazy. She screamed at me to re-cook it, to which I politely told her I cooked the burger to her son’s preference and besides, you can eat beef practically raw (blue), and it won’t harm you in any way which is how you can have it cooked so many different ways. She then complained I was swearing at her and that I was an incompetent moron who doesn’t deserve the job. My manager doubted ME on this one, so I threw down my apron and told them to shove it.”
He Didn’t Want To Pay That $6 Fee, So He Insulted The Cashier
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“When I worked as a cashier, I had this guy who didn’t want to pay a $6 parking charge, so he proceeded to call me a ‘pathetic minimum wage loser.’
I said, ‘Actually, I make $12 an hour, and I have $6 in my pocket.’ He was insulted, and begrudgingly paid the charge.”
“This Is What’s Wrong With Our School System”
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“I hated working as a cashier.
I worked as a contract barista in Australia for a coffee company that has catering coffee carts when I was 15 years old.
One time, we had an early event. I had to wake up at 3 a.m., and we had to be there at 5 a.m. to set up for the event. It took us about an hour longer to set up because we had to make several trips a block away to fill up our water tanks. So not only did we have to walk that far several times, we had to haul about 60lbs of water back, about three times total.
When it got time to taking orders, I was tired as all get out.
We had an automatic register with a calculator that day (some days we had a money box and had to do mental math), which I was really thankful for too, cause I can do money math, but I’m not very fast, especially so if I’m tired and worn out, which I was.
As I was taking one customer’s order, he noticed me inputting the amount and using the calculator (which took three seconds from the time he told me his order, no different than any other fast food place). He called me out, saying,’Whoa kid, you’re using a calculator? Why can’t you just do it in your head?’ He then looked at my boss and said, ‘See, this is what’s wrong with our school system. Kid can’t even do mental math.’
My boss kicked him out (away?) from the coffee carts, telling him that it’s a requirement for us to use the calculator to avoid any issues. And then he told him he has no right talking to a young kid like that.
Thankfully he put me on to take care of actually making the coffee after that, which is what I was best at anyways.
To anyone reading this, please be nice to kids, especially if they are obviously making an effort. It’s been almost six years since that happened, and what that guy said comes to my mind almost every time I have a brain fart or struggle in math.”
“Wait, You Ain’t Gay, Are Ya?”
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“I was in a section with another waiter who happened to be gay. His table requested a new waiter, and when I came up to them, I was greeted with, ‘Wait, you ain’t gay too, are ya? That pansy came by and I told him I need a new waiter.’
Shocked and appalled, I answered as politely as I could, ‘No sir, I am not gay, but I do find it appalling the amount of hatred you have for someone’s entire existence. I think you’re going to need another waiter because I can’t take care of you.’
He then proceeded to call me a ‘gay loving, God-hating, piece of trash.’ Thank god he left after my manager talked to him and asked him to treat employees with more respect or he wouldn’t be served. On the plus side, the table next to him overheard the entire thing and gave me a $20 tip and told me I handled such an awful situation ‘eloquently.'”
He Bragged About The Stupidest, Most Idiotic Thing Ever
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“A co-worker I have little to do with proudly told me the story of how he got wasted. Then after a smashing a few brews, he spewed on himself. So he jumped in his car to get some new clothes. He put a cool song on and was headbanging while not looking at the road. When he eventually stopped to look at where he was going, he realized he was on the wrong side of the road, and a white SUV was half in the ditch to avoid a collision.
He thought this was awesome and then bragged about how hungover he was the next day.
I told him I think he’s a freaking idiot and that he wouldn’t be sitting here bragging if he collided with a car and killed some innocent kids or something. His response was to call me a pansy, then scoff and walk away.”
Her Phone Conversation Was Obviously More Important
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“I had a lady at the register on her phone, and there was a line of people behind her. She wasn’t making any effort to get money to pay or do anything other than talk on her phone while people continued to line up behind her. I said, ‘Can I get you anything else?’ She was still on her phone, but she said no. So I said, ‘Okay, your total is $XX.’
She then pulled the phone away from her face and shouted, ‘I WASN’T TALKING TO YOU!’ and then went back to talking on her phone. Some other customers that were regulars stuck up for me and shamed her out of there anyway. Working retail, you obviously have many bad customers, but this woman truly left an impression on me. She was so selfish, rude, and unconcerned with how her actions affected anyone else…it just boggles my mind that people can even be that way.”
Never Refer To People As “The Help”
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“It was a normal, albeit slow day at work, so I figured it would be rather uneventful. And it was, at least until this hussy came up next to me while I was cleaning tables in the dining room:
‘Honey, tell the help (referring to me) to clean up this booth. I want to sit here, and shouldn’t have to sit in filth.’
Number 1: There were like five clean tables around this lady. Why do you need this booth so badly?
Number 2: Screw you, lady. I’m not ‘the help,’ I’m an employee.
Number 3: If you’re going to be a witch, don’t have your lapdog of a husband tell me to do stuff. Tell me yourself.
Number 4: Geez Louise, how entitled can you be. Woman? I mean seriously.”
Even After A Talk With The Manager, He Didn’t Think He’d Done Anything Wrong
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“One evening, a couple of black men came into our restaurant to order food. They got their food; they left, everything was fine. As soon as they left, my coworker went off about how much he hated black people, how they’re all thugs, etc. Lots of racial slurs were used. I guess because I’m white, he figured I’d be fine with it.
The next day, I pulled the manager aside and told him everything. The guy got a talking to, but no disciplinary action was taken. The next time we worked together, he started going on a racist rant again then stopped himself, looked directly at me, and said (loudly), ‘Oh, sorry, I forgot I better watch my mouth because SENSITIVE PEOPLE might get upset!’
Piece of crap degenerate. Every time I saw him, my face got hot, and I felt the anger and hatred just seething through my skin. I still had to work with him a lot, and I hated it. He sure watched his tongue around black coworkers, though! He was a coward on top of being racist.”
Never Question Someone’s Service Dog
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“There is a lady who comes to the store I work in who has a tiny service dog. You wouldn’t even know she needs it by looking at her. The lady is super sweet, and one of my favorite customers and her dog is so well behaved and just the sweetest little thing.
One day, she was in the store, and another lady came in, and while I was checking the second lady out at the register, she looked over and asked me, ‘Do you know what disability that lady with the dog has?’ She said this in a fairly judgmental tone like she was irritated by the idea of the dog being there.
What the actual heck? How is that any of your business? She has a service dog, it’s wearing a vest and has a clear label that says ‘SERVICE DOG.’ And yes, I do know why she needs it, but that’s HER business. People, man…”
He Made A Mistake That Cost Him Dearly
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“Restaurant owner here. A total ‘dude bro’ cola rep came into my restaurant because we needed a soda dispenser installed. After he’d been talking to my wife for 20 minutes, I came over to sit down and catch the rest of the conversation. I was greeted with a, ‘At last, here comes the boss!’ My wife is the boss. We went with the other guy.”
She Treated That Poor Cashier As If Her Bad Decision Was HIS Fault
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“When I worked at a grocery store, my city passed a law banning all plastic bags. Many of the cashiers (that were there for just an easy dollar while in school including me) would forget to ask if they wanted a paper bag for additional cost, so we would just give them to them for free at the beginning of the ban to not have to have to charge them a new transaction. About two months into the ban, pretty much everyone would say they wanted paper bags, and many people brought reusable bags, so they didn’t ask for paper. One day after I hung up this lady’s transaction, she said, ‘Can I have my bags?’ I politely said she didn’t state she needed bags during her purchase so I didn’t add any, and each one would be 10 cents. She yelled. ‘You expect me to carry all this? I’M NOT PAYING FOR A BAG! I come here and expect to receive a bag for my items, are you REALLY GOING TO MAKE AN ISSUE OVER 10 CENTS?!’
I said, ‘ARE YOU?’ She left without a bag, not wanting to break her stand.
Most likely I would’ve given her the bags for free had she said she forgot to ask for bags and didn’t have change, as it was a pain to have to make a new transaction and pay with credit/debit. But no.”
His Slur Against Aboriginals Was Despicable
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“I started working at a bakery when I was 17.
I left after two weeks, after having to sit through conversations on break with another guy who had been there for like 20 years. He was always talking about how ‘we should just line up all the (hateful slur for Australian Aboriginals, it’s one of those that cannot ever be used in a non-hateful way outside of describing it) in a row, weapon in their mouth and blow them away.’ I went to the boss and said, ‘Nah, I’m out. This guy’s screwed in the head.’ I didn’t think he’d fire the other guy when the new kid complained, and I was right.
The kicker is the boss yells at me on the way out saying I wasted his time and I was a lazy son of a ‘B’ who didn’t want to work. I’m glad I noped out of there.
Screw you, McCue.”
That Wasn’t Even His Nationality, And It Still Offended Him
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“I had a customer ask me if I was Polish. We weren’t talking about anything related to ancestry, he just asked. When I said no, the customer made a ‘dumb Pole’ joke. When I said I didn’t think it was funny, he asked my last name. Then after I told him, he said that’s why I didn’t like the joke. My last name is not even close to a Polish name. I wish I had had the presence of mind to tell him that was unacceptable, but I was just too gobsmacked to say anything.”
His Snide Remark Was Exactly What She DIDN’T Need At That Moment
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“Customer: ‘How are you?’
Me: ‘Okay. What can I get for you?’
Customer: ‘Just okay?’
Me: ‘Sir, I’m seven months pregnant, in so much pain I can barely stand, and my husband is deployed. So yes, just “okay.”‘
You wouldn’t think ‘Just okay,’ is hate-inducing, but I was so angry with that customer.”
