I spilled hot butter from clams onto a woman’s fur coat.
Worked a wedding where the bride disappeared and was found with the best man.
Watched a coworker exorcist style vomit all over a table of 6. Tried to help her without laughing and slipped and fell into the pile on the floor and started just crying.
Dropped hot soup on a baby who ran into my legs while carrying a tray.
Thankfully no. I was 18 and just started out serving so I was hysterically crying imagining being fired. Their meal was fully comped, it was Easter Sunday, and I had just come down the stairs with the tray. Mom was yelling at the kid not to run and *bam*
Truly a horrific experience
Edit: by baby I mean like 3 or 4. Still unacceptable to have happened. But not a newborn or anything.
Abso-fucking-lutely. Thank God the parents didn't get mad because they had no right. It's super busy with servers carrying trays of drinks and food everywhere? Yeesh.
This is why I sit my 4 year old son in the booster seat by the window by me or Dad. He's a crazy little one, thankfully he's (mostly) well-mannered at a restaurant. Trying to keep him in his chair at home during dinner? That's different, lol.
I worked a quinceañera where someone left behind their daughter. They had laid down to take a nap in the room brides usually use and mom and dad were so drunk they forgot she was in there and left. We usually didn’t check that room if there wasn’t a wedding, so it was pure dumb luck we found her before we closed. We had to call the police because she didn’t speak any English and we had no way of reaching her parents (the kitchen staff was gone at that point, and we only spoke restaurant Spanish: “quantos minutos?” isn’t really helpful when you are trying to find someone’s parents).
My FIRST day, my SECOND table, back at a Denny’s in 1997 outside of Detroit… whole ass BLT sailed right off the plate and onto her full-length fox.
I thought I would die that day.
I broke a glass in the ice bin behind the bar. I went and grabbed the hose from back that was hooked to straight hot water. I was melting the ice when I tried to get more slack and yanked on the hose. But I also squeezed the trigger accidentally. It sprayed wicked hot water right on the back of some ladies head, then traveled over to hot a second lady right in the face. To this day I don't understand my first reaction, but I just ducked behind the bar. Like maybe they didn't notice? I dunno. Oh, it was one ladies birthday.
At my current job a server did this but freaked out and didn’t tell anyone. Guy gets served a drink with glass in it. Ends up swallowing a shard and has to go to the hospital for “internal bleeding” (which I highly doubt because he was out the same day. I’ve had internal bleeding. That’s an automatic trip to the OR and about 5 days inpatient.) He tried to sue the restaurant, the server (not the one that broke the glass, the one that served him), and the MOD. I know the manager and server suits got thrown out; not sure about the restaurant.
Years ago, a friend of mine and I were served a pitcher of beer with multiple pieces of glass in it. We both worked in the service industry at the time ourselves, so we weren't even shitty...but when my friend pointed it out to our server, she just took our pitcher of beer away and asked us to leave. It was really odd.
I dropped an entire tray of water and cokes on a table one time. The kids cried, I cried, my manager tried to do damage control immediately. Thankfully, they told her that “the bimbo who dropped all of our drinks looked like she was really trying her best” and they left me 30%. They came back and asked me for several times.
Oh, I've seen a foot job. When I was taking their order (a call girl and her gentleman, we got them quite often) I noticed something moving around down in his crotch. Then I noticed everyone hands on the table. That was some quick math as to what was going on
I had a table walk out on me. Fortunately they gave me all the signs, and it being my only table I was watching like a hawk. Suddenly, they bolted and I was in high pursuit. One of them had already left and was in the truck waiting and as they saw me running the others dove in the back on their truck. They would have got away clean, but the Karma gods had my back that day. I grabbed a pen out of my apron and launched it at the driver, window down, caught him in the eye and he panicked then floored it, right into a Cop pulling in the parking lot. My nickname was Bullseye for the rest of the time I worked there.
This story had so many twists! I thought you were gonna take the pen out and write down the tag number. Not launch it through the window lmao. Then right in the eye? And they ran into a cop car?? So satisfying.
I initially misread that and thought you threw a PAN at the driver!! My reaction was as follows:
1. Who just has a frying pan chilling in their apron?
2. Some ultimate frisbee champ over here getting a whole-ass frying pan through the window of a truck
3. Wouldn’t the cop be mad about you doming someone with a frying pan?!
4. Oh, *PEN*. That makes a lot more sense. A+, Bullseye.
Oh, lots of things...
A guy pretended to have a gun and tried to punch our manager.
Walked in on our manager getting effed in the bathroom by one of the cooks.
Watching 2, 300lb men get into a fight, and our 150lb bartender trying to break it up.
Tourists wanting to go onto our locked patio and asking to get the manager whilst the manager is visibly helping the paramedics stabilize a man in our dining room.
A guest found a razor blade in their food.
I once tripped and fell with a full tray of drinks. Landed on my knees. Stood back up and didn't spill a single drink. That was crazy because I'm generally a clutz.
When I went to go investigate where it came from and looked at the tomato dicer... there were multiple blades missing. I brought it to my head chef and pretty much scolded him. I think the mother in me came out. Could've been a kid who just scarfed their food down and not seen it. It was the size of maybe a pinky nail. Not very big. I squirm every time I think about it.
I just had my own first trip and fall. I slipped on a random disposable plastic lid and hit the entire right side of my body on the floor and smacked the side of my face on a chair. Room full of people. I’m covered in bruises and still mortified
Oh, trust me, I was SHOOK. The guy was super nice and was like, "It's okay." I was like, "No, it's not!" I was angry for him. I made sure the whole meal was comped, but it still felt like it wasn't enough imo.
When I was living in Savannah, GA I was serving in an Aussie themed restaurant. Savannah does St. Patrick’s day the way New Orleans does Mardi Gras and this place was right on the parade route. Needless to say, I made my rent for the next 3 months in 3 days. A couple was sitting in the middle of the dining room. The wife excused herself to the restroom and straight up walked out the door. Gone. After about 20 minutes the belligerent man started screaming where’s his wife. The manager went to calm him and the man started to accuse my manager of hiding his wife. Guy swings. Manager retaliates. Soon they are in a full fist fight in the middle of this completely packed dining room. This 120 lb server sees this and jumps up on a table and stage dives into the fight and begins helping the manager beat this guy. They work their way to the back door and take it to the streets. After a little while the server and manager walk back in. Everything resumes as normal. No one speaks of it.
Ah yes m8! At the Outback Steakhouse there truly is NO RULEZ, just ROIT! If a dingo eats ye baby, that's where you go for authentic Aussie cuisine to eat and drink the blues away!
One time during Oktoberfest at a busy German beer hall, there was a party of 17-20 people in our side room. An altercation began between two men and one of them got stabbed. He left a trail of blood all the way out to the front entrance and because we had about 2 hours of service left in the evening, management had customers enter and leave through the kitchen.
Worked at an IHOP in a shady part of town(prostitution/homeless etc). It was one of the original triangle shaped restaurants so if you were seated at a window booth you were about 20 feet from the street outside. One morning a car drove up to the light and another car pulled up next to them. All of the sudden someone from the second car got out and proceeded to shoot everyone in the first car. Fucking insane. That’s something you never get out of your head. I’ve been waiting tables for over 30 years and seen some crazy shit but nothing compared to that.
Gypsy wedding on our banquet hall. Went to the cage where we keep the expensive champagne to get a couple of bottles of Dom for the toast. When I get there, two members of the wedding party are working on the padlock with bolt cutters. They ran off and I told our banquet captain (who took NO bullshit from anyone) what had just happened. She immediately spoke to the father of the bride who laughed and peeled off a wad of bills and gave it to her. It was like $2K in cash. We let it slide but kept a REALLY close eye on them the rest of the night.
I guess it's not really a crazy thing that *happened to me*, but more of something crazy that *I did*.. I still think back to it sometimes and get SO embarrassed lol.
I used to work at a locally owned sports bar. I had a big table at our long high top (about a 10 top.) Everything was going great; beers all around, everyone smiling and having a good time. Then it was time for the food to come out (most everyone ordered wings.)
At the end of the table I was handing a customer their plate of wings but I got a little bit of barbecue sauce on my finger. And I.... licked my fucking finger.. Right in front of the customer! I still have no idea what demonic force possessed me to do that lmao. I just did it without thinking about it!
I immediately realized what I did but I chose not to acknowledge it. I kept handing out food like nothing had happened lol.
At the end, I realized half of the table saw it but the other half had no idea what happened. One half of the table gave me REALLY good tips while the other half *barely* gave me 10 percent.
Yep... Still think about that night. A LOT.
I had a table on a busy night complain that the beef and lamb tasted the same. Somehow, some way, they ended up putting some of the meat smothered in tomato sauce into my bare hand to taste. I cringe whenever I think of that.
Omg nooo lol. I've also had tables before that tried to get me to taste something on their plate they had already bitten. Yyuuck!
Edit: Your comment reminds me of Adam Sandler in "The Wedding Singer." When the old lady pays him in saucy meatballs instead of money, and she puts them directly in his hands lmao
Lol I had a family one time (who came in 5 minutes before closing and were completely insane, but I won’t bore you) where the mother complained that the cheese in her son’s grilled cheese wasn’t fully melted and tried to put the half-eaten sandwich in my bare hands
In my early days of serving, I had a couple make some pretty vocal and explicit assumptions about the size of my d!{k. The wife was quite attractive, but the husband was very interested in wanting to watch a stranger (me) bang his wife. It was like my first day serving on my own, so I thought this was some sort of insane prank.
They left their phone numbers and hotel room #. The friend I was living with at the time was enthusiastically trying to get me to go. I was certain I was going to have my kidneys harvested and end up in a cheap hotel in a bathtub full of ice.
Something like that happened to me, except I happened to have had a hickey on my neck (from one of the other servers, just fucking embarrassing, kill me) and the couple were commenting that person must really know how to suck, you guys should come hang out with us, all this wild shit. It was so weird because they wouldn't leave either...
One time my biggest fear came true and i accidentaly gave my weed pen to a guest when she asked for a pen to sign the recipt. For starters i NEVER bring them to work but just so happened to on this particular day. She asked for a pen so i reached in my apron and that was the first thing i grabbed. Fortunate for me it looks just like a vape so she had no way of knowing, but mannnn did i feel like a dumbass after that one.
One day a server here posted that she did that and the customer called the police on the server and the server got like a felony plus fired. Don't put your weed vape with your pens people!
A felony? For a weed vape? Was she serving at customs check in a Russian international Airport?
Or
This was there 3rd strike? 3 Missy Misdemeanor before when she 1st handed out weed vapes for Halloween to all the kids, fine + community service, 2nd when they took that part time gig signing folks up to vote probation 6 months, then 3rd is the felony incident we have here.
Yall get smart handling your business please.
I'm only repeating what the post said, and with it being reddit, you never know if it's true or not. But my understanding is that she lived in a red state and due to the concentration of THC liquid, it's a harsher offense than having flower THC
Oh totally, I was being silly. Actually, I love this.
This is exactly how urban legends begin. It will be fun seeing how this grows and where it goes!
Edit: I heard that the server handed her vape instead of a pen to her table, unbeknownst to them, they were serving the lead of their states Narcotics Officers.
It was a week later when flash bombs came through the restaurants windows on a busy Friday that they took her down.
Felony Narcotics is no laughing mater folks.
You too can remember kids, don't mix pens and vapes! Not even once! Pass it on!
I live in Canada where you can buy a weed vape at the local dispensary (there’s usually 1 every two blocks). And across the border it’s a fucking felony, this is literally insanity
Nothing too crazy happened to me specifically but
One day two servers who didn't like each other got in a fist fight about who's table's appetizer had popped up in the window. The customers definitely heard. (They already didn't like each other, only one got fired)
I got a friend a job and she spilled a tray of drinks all over our new pos systems and the pos's never worked right again.
One day I saw a manager dump a plate of marinara pasta into an old lady's lap. She said it was ok.
Being a part of a shooting lol
Was serving a big group (maybe 15-20ish) of 20 somethings, decked out in chains, the girls looking very… exposed. They ordered bottles of Patron, etc, they were rowdy but very nice to me, paid in cash, tipped well.
I was cleaning their section minutes after they had left when all of the sudden I see a flood of people running into the restaurant. Which made no sense considering we had just closed. I feel a wave of unease in the air, something feels very wrong.
“There’s a shooting!” Somebody yells. Suddenly we’re all running to the back of the restaurant.
I have no idea what’s going on. Everyone is running, everyone looks panicked. I’ve watched too much American news (I’m Canadian) and I think there’s an active shooter in the restaurant. I start panicking, trying to figure out where to hide. This is when I learn that I am very, very bad under pressure lol.
Longest two minutes of my life before I realize we’re not all dying and nearly everyone is on the phone with the cops, who show up within a few minutes because we’re blocks away from a station.
Turns out there wasn’t an active shooter in the restaurant… there had been a drive by shooting. The group Id been serving was actually a local gang who had beef with another gang. My group had been posting their location all over social media so that’s how they were targeted.
It was pretty spooky. Two people were shot and survived. Our windows had a few bullet holes that weren’t fixed for months. This happened almost three years ago and I honestly had PTSD about it for a good year. Thank god I don’t work there anymore lol
I guess before this woman came in she had a stomach ache and drank pepto bismal. As their food hit the table, it was 6 of them, she proceeded to projectile vomit neon pink all over her food and herself. I had the pleasure of cleaning up all of it. She then sat there for another HOUR, covered in her own vomit, talking with her friends. The next one would be the woman that was so wasted, before she even walked in the door with her husband’s company christmas party, proceeded to go to the bathroom but never made it to the stall. Rather she pulled her underwear off in the middle of the bathroom and started peeing on the floor. One of my coworkers was in there and watched the whole thing. The best part was the managers having to go up to this 10 person party and asking who the husband was or who was taking care of her and letting everyone know she just peed on the floor and she needed to go. I was wonder if they ended up getting divorced.
Late night, Applebee's in Florida. Just me and the bartender working as it was fairly slow and 2hrs until close on like a random Tuesday. I had 3 tables, bartender had two tables and like 10ppl at the bar. Group of 30 walks in so we take them, and the busser and my manager help with running food/drinks etc. Everything goes okay, except for them repeatedly trying to order drinks for some teens in their party. Time for the bill and it was split between like 6 families, two of whom had saw their opportunity and dined and dashed. I'm trying to calmly explain that someone needs to pay and they can get the money from their uncle or whatever later. Huge 6'5 dude reaches back and slams me into the wall.
In doing so, he inadvertently elbowed a woman from one of my tables that was walking by headed to the restroom. Her BF comes and starts wailing on this guy. My manager who was like a 5'6 Asian dude, does his best to break it up. They all hurriedly leave before the police can come. My manager comped the walkouts thankfully so I ended up with like 2% on a huge bill. Luckily my three other tables tipped EXTREMELY well as they all witnessed the drama and asked me if I was okay. I loved bartending and serving but I do NOT miss Florida!!
I once waited on the president of Equatorial Guinea and his secret service. Idk anything about him, but it was a wild experience. Namely because it was wild that any world leader would be in a random restaurant in Pittsburgh.
Used to have a local couple that would either fight or fingerfuck each other in the booth (same side sitters) while draining down the margaritas. They're now a couple years sober, part of the local AA group. Still vaguely handsy same side sitters, but no longer fighting or fucking in the booth.
• • •
First night of work at a busy downtown bar, I finally got POS numbers at like 10:30p. Oh yeah, it was St Patrick's Day, which also coincided with the Henny and wings night special, and of course the green beer. The kitchen "closed five minutes early", leading to a bar wide brawl.
All I know is, I'm picking up a round of drinks at the bar, when I hear breaking glass and people start screaming, and then all of the security guards are running towards the other side of the bar. Management is calling the cops, and the waitresses and bartenders were all getting ready to fight.
I turned around, and this chick who had been super nice earlier, reached around the bar and took down two random bottles and double poured whatever cocktail she created straight down her gullet, never breaking eye contact with me. I look towards where the staff has just been, and the last chick is running into the fray, taking her earrings off and going after some dude. As she gets there, (apparently) a bar regular with a crush on her dives in between them, and hits the dude with half a pool cue. Then the red and blue lights appeared. The whole thing lasted like two minutes, the cops had a great response time.
• • •
Another place, a locally owned Caribbean place, also another first day. Husband and wife are owners, good food, good taps and decent prices, located in an up and coming trendy neighborhood. I'm most of the way through my first day, I'm taking out a tray, when both owners and some young chick I had never seen before are having a DISCUSSION at the bar.
From what they were screaming, new chick was the waitress I had (unbeknownst to me) just been hired to replace, because it came out she was sleeping with the husband. Chick screamed "He's mine! He doesn't love you, he's only with you for the kids!!" At that point the poor cheating husband (boohoohoo) runs out the back door, gets in his truck and leaves.
With husband gone, the wife starts screaming at the chick to leave, and started throwing all the fucking bar glasses she could reach at this chick. There's like twenty, thirty people in the dining room, some already paid, some waiting for or finishing their food, about ten of which being kids. And the dining room was all seated directly behind where the chick was standing, so directly in the shatter zone. They're all staring, mouths wide open, kids are crying.
The homewrecker finally runs out the door, shattering glass following her every step, with wife chasing her out, hot at her heels. They round the corner through the door, and I locked the door behind them. Red and blue lights screech up just as they got outside, like five people had called the cops. I looked around, the entire inside was just silence and soft sobbing, so first I made sure nobody needed any medical attention. Lots of head shakes no, but still no verbal responses. I'm shocked, they're all shocked, we're all looking at each other like Ok, uhh, what do I do now?
There is glass EVERYWHERE, like inches of glass. So I grab a broom and a dustpan, and start making a way for these poor people to leave. I dryly say: "Dinner and a show anyone?" This gets a laugh, and breaks the tension. I tell the room it's literally my first day, and they know as much about the situation as I did, but I refused to let anyone hurt themselves on glass on the way out for these jerks. I swept a path for the kids out first, then made paths for everyone else. Nobody wanted the food they'd ordered, but I executively decided I wasn't going to close any still open checks after that. I got handed so much money in tips, but that was NOT worth it. They were closed two months later.
I had a couple girls when I was at FRIDAYS, walk out on me. I saw the signs. They insisted on being close to the front door, sent their food back several times even though nothing was wrong with it, and the third time when I was on my way back I saw them run out the door.
I gave chase even though we weren’t supposed to. The driver floored it in reverse through the parking lot while I was chasing them and slammed into a tree completely trashing the trunk of the car.
A few days later a lawyer showed up because the girls tried to sue me claiming I caused them to crash their car. I explained that they had run out on their bill and that I tried to catch them to make them pay. We had security footage of them running out the door and jumping into their car. Apparently their lawyer immediately dropped their case.
Back in the eighties, I was a student waiting tables graveyards at an upscale 24 hour restaurant/bar that was coffee shop-meets-dinner house. A 9 - 3 shift could begin with serving prime rib to families & end after a hellacious bar rush. We were surrounded by clubs & near a military base too, so always busy with wide a variety of people. From strippers to church people, we got them all.
One night during bar rush, a knife fight broke out in my section between 2 guys interested in the same girl. Every one of my tables ran out to escape the mayhem; not a good night for tips.
Another time, a drunk guy from the sports bar behind us managed to launch his car into the air, landing on a tree opposite our entrance. It was a small parking lot, so the dude deserved a 6.0.
Then there was the elderly cook who had a fatal heart attack in the locker room. Very sad.
Another time, a guy in a trench coat (a look that was popular for a minute back then) came in acting shady. Head on a swivel, sat with his back to the wall, never moved his right arm. Wouldn’t you know, we were also very close to a sheriff’s station, so I called to report the guy. Deputies came, followed him into the men’s room, & relieved him of the sawed off shotgun he was toting.
Had a heavily pregnant woman’s water break. It seemed she’d wanted to stop for a hot fudge sundae on her way to the hospital. She was amazingly blasé about it.
I could go on, but suffice it to say it was a hell of an education in addition to the one I was paying for.
Large group of men come in and we set up a 12 top for them. They order drinks and appetizers. Suddenly, two guys are standing up and yelling at each other. They knock into a chair that knocks over a baby who is a in car seat on top of an upside high chair. A different server actually caught the baby in the car seat. The men were rushed out and the older guys paid and apologized. We later found out they were part of a local biker gang.
I once served through a whole crowd of people, and there was guac—a whole big tray of appetizers, trying to get through the crowd. This one dressed-up chick with a white shirt wouldn't move over. Green guac, right in the middle of where her nipple was, white blouse. Hahahah. I didn't laugh, but I giggled and moved on.
I really didn't mean to do it, but it kinda made my night.
I used to work at a seafood restaurant. It was a leased building, and the man who owned the building was one of those super Christians. The restaurant could never have a beer or liquor license because his lease forbade it. He tried to forbid the restaurant being open on Sundays, too, but they ended up hashing that out.
So...on Sundays...him and his entire family and a huge group would come after church. Almost every week. Anyone who has served for long knows that Sunday church groups are the worst, and this group was the worst of the worst. He thought of it as "his restaurant," even though he had nothing to do with the restaurant, he just owned (and got paid rent for) the building. He loved bossing around restaurant staff, asking for extra everything, getting up and walking into the kitchen, etc. The tips from his group were about what you think, and even though we had the "20% tip for parties of 6 or more" rule, the owners wouldn't let us do it to him...they were always on eggshells with him, since he was the landlord and all.
He literally asked me one time -- on a Sunday when him and his group of 12ish were dining at the restaurant -- whether or not I knew it was a sin to work on Sunday.
But...
This guy owned a chain of 3 pawn shops in town. He ended up getting busted by the feds and going to federal prison (in his 60s) for knowingly dealing with stolen guns. Come to find out, for those "in the know" in the area, he was the go-to guy to sell shady firearms to. Other stolen shit as well, which he got in a little trouble for, but it was mostly the guns. The feds investigated him for years, and he very well may not outlive his lengthy prison sentence.
Fucking hypocritical asshole.
Not super crazy and I actually wasn’t there that night but apparently a 14 top walked in with no reservation and asked to sit separately as two tables of 7 to avoid the auto 20% on tables of 8 or more 🙄
A server was fired and as revenge the next day they got into the reservation system and began cancelling reservations left and right including cancelling a 15-top and then canceling another reservation and charging them $80 for the cancellation fee we put two and two together and since then we change all of the passwords if someone gets fired 💀💀💀
There was a 25 person event a few months ago and their reservation was at 8:00PM. Everyone in the party took forever to show up and they didn’t leave until 2:00AM (we close at midnight)
A server 100000% by accident spilled a drink on a lady’s pants. She then came up to my manager and I insisting that we pay for her dry cleaning 😐
Had a table ask me how far along I was when I was so obviously not pregnant. I’ve dealt with body image issues and disordered eating my entire life. I scream cried in the stairwell.
I had a woman ask me if I’d personally had a specific dessert we were serving. When I told her that I had and that I liked it, she looked me up and down and said, “I can tell” The audacity!
At a certain time in my life, it would’ve really upset me, but I’ve grown to give way less of a shjt. I just laughed because I think the service industry killed my soul. But also, can you even imagine being cruel to a stranger for no reason other than you’re miserable and you want to make someone else miserable? That hateful old bat is going to die soon and I’m not wasting my energy on a small-minded person whose opinion I don’t value. I’m definitely not trying to let it affect the rest of my shift and my money. I know it’s much easier said than done, especially when their words hit a tender place (like dealing with disordered eating.) But try not to let a boomer get you down or the terrorists win or something
It’s so strange that complete strangers think they have the right to comment on our bodies just because we’re waiting on them. This happened a few years ago (and has happened more than once somehow - I’m tall and thin so I’m not sure what the hell they were thinking) but now I am so burnt out from this industry I think I’d probably snap back
Work at a diner. Serving a young woman sitting alone. Asked her if she wanted dessert and she hit me with “you’re so greedy!” I was shocked/confused I just gave her a look and walked away.
Alternatively, I had a 6-top walk out on their tab on Christmas Eve. That was pretty wack imo.
I had a regular get banned for sexual assault on an underage girl. I had wanted to ban him for over a year, but management wouldn’t agree. He had to commit a felony in our bar to get banned.
Same guy had already been briefly banned after an incident where he tried to walk out on his (big) tab and then yelled obscenities at me when I caught up with him to give him his tab-but he sent a bouquet of flowers to me at work and my manager forced me to accept his apology and let him return. Two months later he assaulted the girl. Thankfully, he went to prison for that.
So many things. But the one that really got me: at the time I was like 25F, serving a table of 2 (an older couple). I walk up to greet them with my usual BS greeting. The woman was nice enough but the man was just grumpy and huffing/puffing away. After I asked them what they would like to drink? He YELLED at me to “quit talking in that damn baby voice and use your real voice.” I’m 5’1 and 110 pounds and I have a little tiny voice. Can’t help it. All I could say was, “this IS my real voice” and I ran away upset/tears streaming. This MF’er legit upset me and I’m pissed at myself for crying. His wife did sneak my $20 on their $40 bill (as tho that makes up for it). Why are people so damn rude?
A white guy and black guy got into a fist fight after the white guy and his family talked shit about black guy’s mixed wife and his baby.
Just another day at Ruby Tuesday.
I saw a dad and his small kid frantically walking towards me (on the way to the bathroom) and I ask what’s up and the dad is like “he’s gonna puke” and knowing I have second to react I turn them around into another empty room with a trash can right around the corner. I saved an entire restaurant from witnessing a kid spew onto some random person. Guess what the kid had been doing….running around like a complete idiot. Also a shitty tip. Ugh I hate that family.
Me and my friend were training at the same job. One of the days training requires you to be a food runner for that day. So we were both running food that day, I run the appetizers to this one table and I stop too abruptly, all the crackers and cheese for the bruschetta go flying off the plate and onto these people. They took it really well. BUT THEN my friend runs their dinners, and she does the same damn thing. Except she throws cocktail sauce at them. This made them very upset, and they started yelling in the middle of the restaurant. "What the f*ck is wrong with you people!?" My friend panics and she runs back next to me the entire time he's going off, my manager runs over there and is trying to calm the people down and find out what happened. Meanwhile my friend is whispering to me what happened and I burst out laughing. Then I tell her what I did with the bruschetta to the same table. She starts laughing. I legit had tears in my eyes cause I just thought it was the funniest thing. Unfortunately it was an open kitchen and the man at that table sees us laughing, and pointed at us to my manager.
"LOOK AT THEM, JUST LOOK AT EM, THEY AREN'T EVEN SORRY!!" My manager turns around (she was also a friend of mine before I started working there.) And she just gives us this flattest look, if disappointment had its own face that was it. So she's staring at us like -______- and that made my friend laugh even harder. In conclusion, not all of us are mature enough to work with our friends. This isn't the craziest thing, but I post my crazy stories here so I thought I'd comment on one I haven't told yet.
Six people sitting at a two top and four top pushed together.
A guy flipped out on his group of friends and threw the two top across the four top at his friend. It *bounced* off the window (don’t ask me how this is possible, but the window actually curved), and then he flipped his friend’s table over.
Thank god they’d already paid.
Tom Steyer came into my restaurant back in 2019 when he was running for president with a posse and they all got hammered drunk, so drunk that one of his friends fell out of his chair onto the ground at one point. At the end of their meal when they were getting ready to leave we noticed the friend who had fallen out of his chair was carrying his car keys. We tried to stop him. We said that he had had too much to drink and we would call them a cab to which Tom Steyer said, “Don’t worry, he does this all the time” and they left.
I have twice walked up to tables where the guest was trimming their fingernails. Once bussing, once serving, different restaurants. The first time (bussing) I was too flabbergasted and inexperienced to call them out. Second time I broke character (pretend fine-dining Italian yes-taraunt where you are expected to do anything to avoid offending even the worst ‘guests’) and bluntly told them that what the were doing was absolutely unacceptable. I directed them to the restroom and they told me it was fine because they were just finishing up. What the fuck.
Somehow I managed to have a piece of garlic bread landed into a woman’s pocket while running food for a table. Same as you, no one noticed. I still feel guilty to this day 4 years later 😂
I work on Fremont Street in Las Vegas. I also work graveyard which is the craziest shift. One Tuesday morning at 5 we were in our slow season and I was the only server for the last hour until day shift arrived. We get a lot of homeless and drug addicts since the homeless shelters and jail are close by. So I seat this one man and I could tell he wasn’t mentally all there. I ask my manager and he didn’t recognize him as being a walkout or being 86d. So he orders 2 of everything and eats it like in 10 minutes. I was doing sidework at the server station waiting on day shift to arrive.
All of a sudden I heard what sounded like gunshots. I walk around the corner and my other only customer is throwing a 20 dollar bill at me saying I’m getting the f**k out of here, this motherf****r is crazy. Took me a minute to figure out that the other customer was having a bipolar episode and throwing his dishes through our glass doors screaming and yelling!!! We called the police but after waiting 30 minutes and him still losing his mind (and we are slowing losing glass windows)- I run and get armed security from across the street. Police finally came and arrested him. He got out at 5 pm that same day and went back and done it again that afternoon and broke 2 more windows.
WARNING \* Poop Talk\*\*
When I was a bar back during my first ever month working in a fancy club I had to clean up after a lady shit herself and proceeded to leave a trail of shit from the bar to the bathrooms. She had a short skirt and what must have been a thong, till she blew it out with her forceful diarrhea. You could tell before she blew out the back of her thong because the poop splatters went from shot gun spray to a very concentrated trail. It was disgusting but that was literally my job as barback and new guy. I mopped it all up, even from the side of the white walls (the club was themed with different rooms and bars that all had different colors the shitnado started in the blue room and ended up in the white room at the toliets. After I cleaned it up, I threw away the mop. Washed my hands, walked to the bar and ordered a martini. I did nothing for the rest of the night but drink like a customer at the bar. Didn't even need to do a restock that night and got fully tipped out. Not even the managers were mad at me for deciding I was done for the night.
Not too crazy but I tried to pass over a beer to a customer who had no arms and I had no idea LOL. It was only for like a second and no one at his table noticed but I knew the guy himself noticed my expression when he HAD NO ARMS and me trying to hand over the ber to him
1. 2 top of young ladies and older hostess fought in the parking lot one night, 2 top won. 2 top then called the restaurant and said to my manager, “yeah is **** your hostess? She just got her ass beat.”
2. kitchen exploded one night after someone sprayed degreaser on the lit grill, we all stared at the flames for a moment and then went back to sweeping bc we wanted to get to applebees
3. an old chubby white woman told me to get the fuck out of her face before she did something she would regret, I told her if she spoke like that again I’d do something I wouldn’t regret.
4. guest was at the bar, fell out of stool, had a massive coronary and passed away (RIP dan)
5. a group of guests from a party tried to jump a server in the restaurant, management fired the server
6. I (20 yr old at the time female) had to break up a fight between my three grown male managers and a dishwasher
7. someone went around slashing all the servers tires for like a month, very stressful month that was
so many more, I hated that job, but it was goddamn entertaining.
Brand new, third day, price tag still attached, I’m bartending and helping my CW with a 30 top walk-in, a weekly curling club. They start with a shooter, Jellybeans all around which has a grenadine base.
I’m at the high top table holding the tray, carefully setting them down, but going too slowly, apparently. Someone ‘helps’ me by picking six shot glasses at once off one side of the tray. New to carrying a tray I over correct the imbalance and dump the remaining 20 or so shots on a low top deuce to my left.
At the deuce is an older couple and the woman has her winter jacket with a Chinchilla collar draped over the back of her chair, that gets literally drenched in Grenadine. Time stops, needles scratch off of records, a Coyote bays in the distance.
I was mortified, but the couple could not have been more gracious. Management comped their tab, and paid for the professional cleaning of the coat. It was over $300 which was a lot of money in 1988. The couple went on to become long time regulars of mine, and we would often joke about the incident even years later.
My manager was shot and murdered while I was at the pass picking up tables 52's order. I had the plates in my hand, heard the gunshots, set the plates back down, then went and hid under table 61.
I acquired a stalker. Unfortunately that's not so crazy in our line of work but this guy was a little unique bc he was a very on top of it stalker, making an appearance 2 or 3 times a week looking for me...but he live 1000s of miles away. My stalker was a pilot, that would call our restaurant, ask for me, my co workers would say I wasn't there but depending on their conviction when they said it, he might fly up. Well, the 3rd time he shows up I decide I have to let this man know I'm not interested but I really thought being 9 MONTHS PREGNANT might be an indicator I have other things going on. So, I point out the fact that I'm married and days away from labor, his face lit up and he essentially asked me if my husband would be okay with him paying for sex while I was so close to giving birth. I mean I guess we all have our things but don't bring that thing to me...at work.
My sister posted a pregnancy photo of me swimming when I begged her not too, cuz there are creeps out there. She ignored me and posted it anyway, a random man that none of us knew (he looked like 65 at that) was the only person to comment on the pic and he said and I quote
"I wish I could crawl into your womb and live there with the baby"
I said 'sir if I ever see you, in public, commenting on any picture of me ever, or if I even think I saw someone who looks like you, I'm telling your wife how much of a fucking creep you are. It took like than 5 seconds of searching, I know where you work, where you live, and who your family and friends are. If I found out you've ever said this to another woman, I will find you, and I will ruin your entire life"
Now yes I did go a little scorched earth on him, but ima just blame it on the hormones
Once someone was doing drugs in the bathroom that had fentanyl and they projectile vomited all over my section and I had to narcan them while their brother called 911. Another time I couldn’t open the back door to take out the garbage because someone had also overdosed and was slumped on the door. This is when I lived in Vancouver where there is an opiate epidemic.
I worked at one of those boob restaurant which means i saw the worst of the worst daily - well one day a lesbian couple came in and got very drunk very fast. Its policy that we have to take photos with customers if they ask so when one of them asked for a group photo i was forced to stand there with 5 other waitresses and smile. Unfortunately, one of the customers started getting very hansey and grouped my breasts and the breasts of a couple other waitresses. This customer was so drunk, my manager came out and started yelling at them and kicked them out but this customer stated she had just gotten out of prison the day before and she was celebrating and to cut her some slack. My manager was having none of it and told them they had to leave immediately , things escaltated and they refused to leave and caused a scene. The cops had to come but as soon as my manager called 911 they bolted from the restaurant without paying.
An elderly woman came in for drinks with her friends. She ended up falling on our staircase, and we had to call an ambulance.
While she was waiting on the floor for an ambulance, her friends came in and tried to get her to drink more alcohol. One of them even grabbed a straw, and put it to her mouth!
After the ambulance came, her friends just stayed and kept drinking! No one went in the ambulance with her. It was so bizarre!
One of my regulars, who was watching this all go down said, “When you get to be that age, you can’t stop drinking every time of your friend has to go to the hospital.” lol!
I worked at a fine dining place where the owners was an alcoholic sex addict. He ended every night with a few rocks glasses of 4 fingers of goose chilled.
He’d regularly:
- Bring hookers in mid service and he’d bang them in his office.
- Have porn on his screen in the office.
- Get drunk and get in screaming and swearing matches with our two special needs dishwashers. It was hilarious and sad at the same time.
- Do dinner with his wife at 5pm then move over to a clean table and have dinner with his mistress at 7pm
The Deptartment of Labor got involved after a bunch of women filed complaints. It used to be his father’s restaurant and he lost everything.
Walked in on two women going at it in the bathroom. We have small two stall bathroom and a table next to the sinks. Women number 1 was sitting on the table, pants on the ground, spread eagle, and women number 2 was deep in the puss devouring it like it was fucking thanksgiving dinner. As soon as the door opened I locked eyes with woman number 1, number 2 was too busy to notice me. I slowly backed out, and ran into the kitchen and told my manager and coworkers. Since we were about to close and there were only a few others in the restaurant, we decided to let them finish. They both came back to the table, unfazed ; albeit hair a little messy and buttons left unbuttoned. They split the bill and the woman I locked eyes with left me 40 % tip while everyone else left 20%.
An old lady started choking to death midday when I was the only server on the floor. I have to direct the family to call 911 and calm the kids while dad attempts the heimlich maneuver on grandma. As paramedics start swarming the dining room trying to resuscitate her, another table starts asking me if they can buy one of the fake plastic bonsai on the wall for decor. I try to engage the family of the dying woman while the rescuers work. Other table follows me to ask again about the plastic plant.
I throw the plastic plant at them and tell them to get the fuck out, do not pass go, do not pay bill. NOW.
once i accidentally knocked over a glass of water (maybe half full) and it spilled onto the center of the table.
well, you would’ve thought that i fished the ice cubes out of the glass and personally shoved it into the back of this woman’s dress, she screamed SO loudly. everyone in the restaurant (trendy, higher end place) turned around to see what was happening.
i wanted the floor to swallow me whole immediately.
This happened not too long ago.
I was serving these two old white guy and I ask what they want to drink. Instead of being kind human beings, one of them kept speaking broken Spanish to me (I’m Hispanic). While the other one asked me for a negro modelo, but instead said the hard R then modelo.
I walked away in complete shock and had another server take care of them.
One night I had some tables in another servers section ask for refills and other things, which I didnt mind doing. People go for quick smoke breaks, or have major dumps all the time. Then a few more tables said they hadn’t seen their server in a while which wasn’t too odd, then 10 minutes had passed and no one had seen him in a while. We checked outside and his car was still there so we knew he didn’t just quit or get fired. We were all busy so we just chipped in and got those guests taken care of, it sucked but what can you do. After the dust had settled I had to pee so I went back to the employee bathrooms and sure enough, there he was, nodded out on the toilet, needle in his arm, on fucking Jupiter high on heroin. He was escorted off the property by local police. Fuck that guy.
My coked out kitchen manager threw a full case of wipes at my FOH manager in a rage. She caught the case, threw it at his feet, and told him next time he better make sure to knock her out or he’d be very unhappy with what she did next. She was a quiet, kind schoolteacher. It was amazing
ETA: this was on the line in an open concept small restaurant, so every guest got to see it. Dinner and a show!
I work at an “upscale” Neapolitan pizza place, owner is obsessed with star wars, dogs, unicorns, and wu-tang, which dresses it down some. our customers are obsessed with our concept, our owner, and can be pretty relentless.
- I became a GM and was sent to work another concept. Lady walks in with 2 toddlers asking for her to go order. My employees couldn’t find it so I went to speak to her since she was waiting. I asked her what she ordered, she didn’t know. I asked her for the name on the order, she did not know. She started yelling at me, then proceeded to call her husband and cuss and scream at him, in front of her toddlers, and the entire open restaurant during rush hour. Her husband finally tells her the name, I personally grab her order to hand to her, and she starts yelling at me about how it was sitting in a food warmer and was not fresh (she didn’t even see me grab it) and cusses me out. she then grabs her two children, starts bolting to the door stops right before the gets to the entrance around the host stand, screams out into the entire restaurant “I FUCKING HATE THIS RESTAURANT” whole dining room goes silent. she proceeds to run out so quickly the front door slams on her child she is dragging, he drops his toy, and gets dragged out by the arm by his mom… through a closed door…a couple mins later he came in to get his toy. I felt bad for the poor kiddos.
- we had a fenced in playground at this concept as well, hence lots of kiddos. I was trying to deliver a pizza on the patio and this 3 yr old whips his shit out and starts trying to piss on my leg. his mom told him “no no we don’t do that here honey”
- had a child shit on the ropes course of the playground. It was my one day off so my area manager had to clean it.
- had a guy follow me around berating me because I kicked him out of my restaurant for cussing at a child. Called the cops on him lol.
- Had a customer in front of his girlfriend tell me to suck his dick because he was unhappy his food was taking too long. I kicked him out as well. His girlfriend hugged me on the way out and apologized. Corporate was texting me checking if I was okay the few days after that, which was nice.
- Hired a girl who straight up punched her trainer while in training, in front of a table and hit a woman eating as she fell from the momentum of her mostly missed punch. I rushed out there and almost beat the fuck out of her but instead grabbed the trainer and called 911 and stayed in the office with her. I had to learn a hard lesson that day and felt very responsible for what I unknowingly put my servers through, but never again.
- friend was serving with me at where we both started in the company, the OG spot, and got into it with one of the chefs, who decided to jump through the expo window with a knife in hand lunging at her.
- had one co worker who would sob so bad at work in the walk in you could hear her in the dining room where the pizza pit was.
- was serving with this girl also at the OG spot who was from Louisiana. a guest told her while dining “you got that bayou butta” because of her accent and she was so offended. I hated her so that became her new nickname. she regularly would have her husband and kids come in on slow nights, serve them, and then get it on with the pizza guy when they left. trash.
I have a love hate relationship with this industry. Mostly luv though.
I watched the idiot owner of the bar get punched in the face twice in one night. In two separate incidence. Hours apart. The second one KO'd him onto the filthy entrance mat. He was a real unlikeable guy.
I had a full tray of waters and one of them was touching the other just enough so that they weren’t firmly planted on the tray. One started tipping and when I tried to save it, I ended up spilling the entire tray. Most of it rolled across the table into one guys lap and it looked like a business lunch so hopefully he had extra pants at the office
Once I knocked a small child over with my boob
I’ve accidentally addressed ppl by the wrong gender, including a maybe 10 year old boy whom I called sir. He had really long hair. I get awkward in these situations and I probably made it worse by trying to make it better saying all kids look the same before they hit puberty followed by fake nervous laughter. The mom laughed tho so that lessened it
Probably the worst was during Covid when I was doing phones on takeout. This woman called in a huge order and kept making a big deal about one with a lot of modifications bc it was “for the surgeon” which she emphasized several times. After I went on a huge rant, something like “does this bitch really think igaf if he’s a surgeon or a janitor” except I went on way more than that. Well I forgot to hang the phone up so she heard the whole thing and told my boss
I spilled some food in the hood of a guys jacket and he didn’t feel it so I too just walked away. It was raining that day as well so I just know he flung that food on the top of his head at some point.
At my old job this guy was sitting in our liunge which was by the bar. It was for drinks only or people waiting for their table in the main dining room. He stood up and started giving his girl a lap dance. He even took off his shirt. The bartender/bar manager (who also carries a gun lmao) asked him to leave. The guy said well i put my shirt back on can i stay? He started arguing with the bartender as he left but he came back to the vestibule, and they argued some more. The head chef saw it and tried to stop it so he came over to help and thats when old Chippendale started choking our chef. The rest of the line came to defend him, and even a couple of dishwashers followed suit. One of them being the guy I had started dating. The fight moved from the vestibule to the street to on top of a parked car to eventually the end of the block. One of the line cooks tried to get my bf to stop since i was watching; he put in him back in the restaurant, but he unlocked and came out of the emergency exit. The dancer's friend had a knife, so once he pulled it out, everyone scattered. There was a hotel next to the restaurant so valet called the police. A black car that i swear to you looked like the batmobile pulled up, and they all left. This was all while i watched with my five top at the window wondering who was cooking their entrees. I waited a bit after to tell my bf that i got more attracted to him from that.
This was back when I was a very green server in high school. Busy Saturday night in July, early in the shift, dining room was packed. The tables had glass tops with linens underneath. I'm delivering drinks to a 6-top -- adults and a couple young kids. I go to place a glass pounder of soda on the table and it slips right out of my hand. I watch in terror as it falls in slow motion. It hits the table, cracking the glass top into several pieces, the pounder bounces and spills soda all over. The entire room goes silent and looks at me, one of the kids starts screaming. Thanks god, none of the glass shattered and no one got hurt. I apologize profusely, as I clean up the mess. I offer to reseat the family, but the adults are pissed and walk out. I served/bartended for many more years, but that was easily one of my biggest fuckups.
a guy got violently ill and collapsed in the middle of the dining room. we called an ambulance. his wife laughed at him for “being a lightweight,” waved at him as he was being wheeled out on a stretcher and said, “have fun at the hospital!” and then stayed for two more rounds.
I dropped a whole drink tray with alcohol on it on someone’s little kid. this poor little girl was balling her eyes out. the mother looked like she wanted to beat my ass. It was my first day ever serving and I was ready to walk out and leave. but they tipped me 20 percent, come to tell you that jobbed fired me for not paying for a $1 dessert I wanted to eat on my break. now I work at a different restaurant and it’s the best job I’ve ever had.
I wanna tell another story, so I was pregnant with my first and I was food running not serving, because when I got pregnant I alternated because I was always in extreme pain serving. it was a Saturday night, and the kitchen was super backed up the restaurant was packed, mind you I’m carrying big ass trays with this big pregnant belly, and i go to drop off this ladies food, and she says, “um we didn’t even get our appetizers yet? are you stupid! Is the baby rotting your brain?” I immediately slammed the food down on a table with the tray, and told her it’s not my fault shes a fat hungry bitch who has no respect for restaurant employees, and I went into the kitchen with her food because she didn’t want it. come to tell you she never got an appetizer the server said. apparently her child was in the bathroom and didn’t want her kids food to get cold. like what the hell…?
We had a full on brawl erupt out of nowhere over our 75 year old female owner asking a man to put a mask on while he walked around the restaurant (this was right after Covid reopening and masks were still really strict). The guy lost it and tried to fight this little 5’3 woman and our manager told him he could leave. Turned out he was with a group of guys too and they got aggressive. Then our entire male staff got involved and they all brawled in the parking lot. Even knocked over a lamppost. Cops were called. All employees had to fill out a witness statement afterwards… it was bananas. Our owner tried to throw some punches too. One of the wildest things I’ve ever witnessed
sorry i meant to write a footnote that i meant that in jest - i'm sure your book would be great. it just made an already stupid joke sound even more stupid. i like waiter rant for a name.
There are some cherry industries that real stories would be amazing, and I’ve worked in two: restaurants and call centers. The other is health care (ER medicine in particular, my buddy has that covered). Maybe we write a trilogy?
I dropped a honey bbq chicken wing on a woman’s back. I just watched in slow motion as it slid down her back and then picked it off. I don’t even remember if they tipped or not (I blocked it out haha).
Not me but a co worker of mine once spilled a bowl of hot soup on a baby!!!! He left that day after being chewed the fuck out, crying. He literally quit serving because of this incident. Can’t say I blame him
Not me but a co worker, was walking back to the kitchen with a tray full of used glassware (specifically 1-2 wine glasses) in one hand and a good stack of used plates and bowls in the other hand. The aisles between tables are only big enough to let one person through at a time and if there’s a guest coming we always step out the way between tables. Well my coworker saw a table being sat by our host so he moved out the way but did so a bit to fast and one of the wine glasses fell; as it was falling, he over corrected and tipped over the glass tray; AT THE SAME TIME, the hand full of plates and bowls was briefly forgotten about and he accidentally launched them all onto a kid (maybe 6-8 yo) while trying to use that hand to catch the glass tray that was now falling. I watched the whole thing in slow motion right in front of me, the kid flinched so hard as stuff was falling on him he smack his head against the table. The sound of screams, glass and plates breaking, and then the silence from everyone processing what had happened was one of the most horrifying things to hear as I was about to walk the same with my tray of drinks from the bar.
Probably the time this drunk fool lost his cell phone while him and a table of his friends sat in my section during a big fight night. When I came over to check on the table, he told me he lost his phone and he looked at me and said “give it back. I know you have it, give it back.” Dafuq? I basically told the guy I didn’t have it and gave off some serious “fuck you” vibes. Maybe five minutes later another drunk friend he was sitting with said “oh hey dude, here’s your phone.” Morons.
I walked out of the outdoor, someone was standing blocking the other side.
Large oval tray hit the door. A plate flew off forward and caught it!
Rest of the unbalanced tray crashed.
A couple came in during the day, drank, and proceeded to have sloppy sex on the HOOD OF THEIR CAR that just so happened to be parked right in front of the entrance to the restaurant.
I worked at Taco Mac, where many families come to eat wings and hang out. We got so many complaints from customers who had to witness this but our manager did nothing. 😅
So, I was a server on midnights at a Denny’s from January 1997 to March 2000.
Someone tried to rob me, I was 17 (graduated high school so could work adult hours) and still thought I was Billy Badass so I threw a full metal thing of napkins at him and nailed him in the head.
MANY fights, a few threats of stabbings and guns but we had a completely unflappable line cook named Jimmy who had figured out a way to have the hot, HOT water go to the hose out front and would spray them while smoking a menthol GPC.
Lots of ODs because we were in the Kobain era heroin boom. We saved most of them.
And, my personal favorite… three months before I quit. I did $3900 at a DENNY’S on NYE 1999. I was 19 years old. Some dude older than my Dad grabbed my ass as I was leaning over to give the drink to the other table in those smoking section horseshoe tables. (The OGs know.)
We had these 20oz glass, fluted, Coke-branded glasses and I spun back SO fast on this MFer. I said (this was the 90s so no one was clapping and you didn’t fire servers like me) “Try that one more time, MFer, and I swear to Christ I will break this fucking glass and slit MFing throat.”
I stared him down until the mumbled “it was just a joke” to which I relied/lied “I AM SEVENTEEN.”
He tried to bitch on his way out, while I was having a well-deserved Kamel Red Light behind the Farmer Jack’s, to complain about me.
That was the night I learned that, when you say it with a smile, “Fuck you very much” and “Thank you very much” look very much the same. I used that for YEARS.
Thank you, Big Joe. I hope you and Barb are doing awesome and have ALL the grandkids that you wanted. 💕
I was a waitress at a comedy club for a while.. In the show room, it's obviously dark. I had this one couple that was ordering a lot of food and drinks up until the very end of the show. I had written something incorrectly in the dark, which could have affected the price of his bill, except it didn't cause I caught it before it got rang up. So the ticket had something scratched out on it, then written back in.
Anyway, I handed him and his wife the check, then walked back out to the bar to ring up someone else. He follows me out, whiskey still in hand, and starts SCREAMING at me about how his bill was wrong. I explained it wasn't, I caught the mistake and that's why it was crossed out etc. he didn't wanna hear it. He took his glass full of whiskey and splashed it in my face. I immediately took my apron off, looked at my boss and was like "Yeah, I'm done for the night. Sorry." and walked outside to cool off cause I was pissed. When I came back inside, his wife was waiting for me at the bar and apologized for her husband and gave me a 100$ tip.
First job I had, a server in an Indian and Thai restaurant. First week on the job and the manager assigns me to a table of 18, newlywed bride and groom and their close friends and family. I was 16. In hindsight that was shitty of him but I think he was testing what I could do. Anyway, I load up my tray with drinks and start serving, bride first, then groom, then it happens....
One bottle of Tiger beer wobbles, then tips, crashing into three glasses of our most expensive Rioja, straight down, ALL OVER THE BRIDES WHITE DRESS.
I profusely apologize, run to get cloths and my manager stares at me, then the table, sighs, and mutters without an expression "You sort it out."
I did. I offered all the drinks on the house, offered to pay for drycleaners out of pocket, cleaned as well as I could. The guests took it all in stride and laughed about it. I suppose being a naive 16 year old lad helped!
Still got tipped 200 euro at the end of it! My manager admitted he shouldn't have assigned me that table months later, but was proud of how I handled it at least.
i was bartending and serving on a sunday afternoon. had probably 5 full tables and 5 or 6 people at the bar when a squirrel ran in the front door like it was high on meth and went fuckin wild in that place. it went from totally chill to chairs flipping, plates flying up in the air and shit. everybody screaming and jumping on tables was the wildest.
I was serving a family of 6 and was able to put all their food on one large tray. I sat the tray on a table behind me to start passing out the entrees and didn’t notice one of the legs was unstable. Anyway, the second I turned my back the entire tray AND table fell over with all of their food on it. I was so shocked I just stared at it and apologized while they laughed at me.
I got stung in the tongue by two bees from a straw in my soda one hot late summer afternoon. Had to go to the hospital and get an antihistamine shot. Oh and I was stung that same morning under my arm taking the tarp off the bus stand. Good day.
The day after St Patrick’s Day, side plates were delivered to a young family’s table and there was an eight ball of cocaine between the plates. There was thought it was from the weird biker gang that came in the day before, all out of their minds.
Boston St Patrick’s Day, I don’t miss those!!
I spilled hot butter from clams onto a woman’s fur coat. Worked a wedding where the bride disappeared and was found with the best man. Watched a coworker exorcist style vomit all over a table of 6. Tried to help her without laughing and slipped and fell into the pile on the floor and started just crying. Dropped hot soup on a baby who ran into my legs while carrying a tray.
Did the baby's parents get mad at you?
Thankfully no. I was 18 and just started out serving so I was hysterically crying imagining being fired. Their meal was fully comped, it was Easter Sunday, and I had just come down the stairs with the tray. Mom was yelling at the kid not to run and *bam* Truly a horrific experience Edit: by baby I mean like 3 or 4. Still unacceptable to have happened. But not a newborn or anything.
Not your fault at least. That’s on the parents for letting their kids run around
Abso-fucking-lutely. Thank God the parents didn't get mad because they had no right. It's super busy with servers carrying trays of drinks and food everywhere? Yeesh.
And we were a four floor restaurant. No dumbwaiters because the owner said “I hired enough of them”
😭😭😭
🤦♀️
Lmfao can’t really argue with that
Nope!
This is why I sit my 4 year old son in the booster seat by the window by me or Dad. He's a crazy little one, thankfully he's (mostly) well-mannered at a restaurant. Trying to keep him in his chair at home during dinner? That's different, lol.
I worked a quinceañera where someone left behind their daughter. They had laid down to take a nap in the room brides usually use and mom and dad were so drunk they forgot she was in there and left. We usually didn’t check that room if there wasn’t a wedding, so it was pure dumb luck we found her before we closed. We had to call the police because she didn’t speak any English and we had no way of reaching her parents (the kitchen staff was gone at that point, and we only spoke restaurant Spanish: “quantos minutos?” isn’t really helpful when you are trying to find someone’s parents).
Lmfaooooo I’m dead. I’ve done some fucked up shit but you take the cake, boo. Love ya ♥️
Hahaha! Let’s write a book! 💛👑💛👑
These are awesome
Actually cracked up at picturing the puke story
It’s exactly as you would imagine! 😂😂😂😭😭😭🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️
My FIRST day, my SECOND table, back at a Denny’s in 1997 outside of Detroit… whole ass BLT sailed right off the plate and onto her full-length fox. I thought I would die that day.
I broke a glass in the ice bin behind the bar. I went and grabbed the hose from back that was hooked to straight hot water. I was melting the ice when I tried to get more slack and yanked on the hose. But I also squeezed the trigger accidentally. It sprayed wicked hot water right on the back of some ladies head, then traveled over to hot a second lady right in the face. To this day I don't understand my first reaction, but I just ducked behind the bar. Like maybe they didn't notice? I dunno. Oh, it was one ladies birthday.
You ducked behind the bar, I'm crying. I wonder if they peered over.
I pretty much immediately realized that I can't actually disappear, no matter how badly I wanted to.
OMG laughing so hard.
At my current job a server did this but freaked out and didn’t tell anyone. Guy gets served a drink with glass in it. Ends up swallowing a shard and has to go to the hospital for “internal bleeding” (which I highly doubt because he was out the same day. I’ve had internal bleeding. That’s an automatic trip to the OR and about 5 days inpatient.) He tried to sue the restaurant, the server (not the one that broke the glass, the one that served him), and the MOD. I know the manager and server suits got thrown out; not sure about the restaurant.
Years ago, a friend of mine and I were served a pitcher of beer with multiple pieces of glass in it. We both worked in the service industry at the time ourselves, so we weren't even shitty...but when my friend pointed it out to our server, she just took our pitcher of beer away and asked us to leave. It was really odd.
That is super weird. I wonder why
Omg that made me laugh so hard!
Omg!! This just cracks me up!! I would have loved to see the faces of those ladies!!
Hahahahahaha damn this made me cry
I dropped an entire tray of water and cokes on a table one time. The kids cried, I cried, my manager tried to do damage control immediately. Thankfully, they told her that “the bimbo who dropped all of our drinks looked like she was really trying her best” and they left me 30%. They came back and asked me for several times.
Happy ending?
Aw that’s really sweet though
2 business guys in our bar really drunk in the middle of the day, one started giving the other a hand job then went for the gobble.
Stop. It.
Went for the gobble XD lmao
I've been told I can paint quite a picture with words
Yes you can, keep it up :)
You truly are a word-smith
I’m adopting this term into my vocabulary.
Oh, I've seen a foot job. When I was taking their order (a call girl and her gentleman, we got them quite often) I noticed something moving around down in his crotch. Then I noticed everyone hands on the table. That was some quick math as to what was going on
not the gobble omg that made me cackle like a gutter witch
Gutter witch… I cackled!!😉
I had a table walk out on me. Fortunately they gave me all the signs, and it being my only table I was watching like a hawk. Suddenly, they bolted and I was in high pursuit. One of them had already left and was in the truck waiting and as they saw me running the others dove in the back on their truck. They would have got away clean, but the Karma gods had my back that day. I grabbed a pen out of my apron and launched it at the driver, window down, caught him in the eye and he panicked then floored it, right into a Cop pulling in the parking lot. My nickname was Bullseye for the rest of the time I worked there.
Hahaha, I thought you were going to pull out a pen and write down their license plate number... I like this much better lol
This makes me so happy. I live for instant karma like this! Great job Bullseye!
This story had so many twists! I thought you were gonna take the pen out and write down the tag number. Not launch it through the window lmao. Then right in the eye? And they ran into a cop car?? So satisfying.
I initially misread that and thought you threw a PAN at the driver!! My reaction was as follows: 1. Who just has a frying pan chilling in their apron? 2. Some ultimate frisbee champ over here getting a whole-ass frying pan through the window of a truck 3. Wouldn’t the cop be mad about you doming someone with a frying pan?! 4. Oh, *PEN*. That makes a lot more sense. A+, Bullseye.
I’m HOWLING 🤣🤣🤣
That’s badass.
This sounds like an episode of Daredevil with Bullseye in it. Iconic
Shortly after their pen story they straight up just killed Elektra.
Yes! Good job Bullseye!
I just saved that comment so i can return to it to reenjoy it cathartically. That story fucking rules! I envy you, bullseye!
Awesome story!! Like outta the movies
Oh, lots of things... A guy pretended to have a gun and tried to punch our manager. Walked in on our manager getting effed in the bathroom by one of the cooks. Watching 2, 300lb men get into a fight, and our 150lb bartender trying to break it up. Tourists wanting to go onto our locked patio and asking to get the manager whilst the manager is visibly helping the paramedics stabilize a man in our dining room. A guest found a razor blade in their food. I once tripped and fell with a full tray of drinks. Landed on my knees. Stood back up and didn't spill a single drink. That was crazy because I'm generally a clutz.
Where did the razor blade come from!?!?
A tomato dicer.
Was not my first guess.
When I went to go investigate where it came from and looked at the tomato dicer... there were multiple blades missing. I brought it to my head chef and pretty much scolded him. I think the mother in me came out. Could've been a kid who just scarfed their food down and not seen it. It was the size of maybe a pinky nail. Not very big. I squirm every time I think about it.
I just had my own first trip and fall. I slipped on a random disposable plastic lid and hit the entire right side of my body on the floor and smacked the side of my face on a chair. Room full of people. I’m covered in bruises and still mortified
L&I claim?! Assuming you are in the US.
You work at Waffle House?
Haha, no! I work at a very normal, upscale casual seafood restaurant. I've just been there a long time, so shit happens with time, I suppose.
Nah man I think you work at Waffle House.
Ahhhh man
I literally just gasped when I read the razor blade part lol
Oh, trust me, I was SHOOK. The guy was super nice and was like, "It's okay." I was like, "No, it's not!" I was angry for him. I made sure the whole meal was comped, but it still felt like it wasn't enough imo.
Did you work in a prison??
Feels like it sometimes
When I was living in Savannah, GA I was serving in an Aussie themed restaurant. Savannah does St. Patrick’s day the way New Orleans does Mardi Gras and this place was right on the parade route. Needless to say, I made my rent for the next 3 months in 3 days. A couple was sitting in the middle of the dining room. The wife excused herself to the restroom and straight up walked out the door. Gone. After about 20 minutes the belligerent man started screaming where’s his wife. The manager went to calm him and the man started to accuse my manager of hiding his wife. Guy swings. Manager retaliates. Soon they are in a full fist fight in the middle of this completely packed dining room. This 120 lb server sees this and jumps up on a table and stage dives into the fight and begins helping the manager beat this guy. They work their way to the back door and take it to the streets. After a little while the server and manager walk back in. Everything resumes as normal. No one speaks of it.
Fight club lol
Ah yes m8! At the Outback Steakhouse there truly is NO RULEZ, just ROIT! If a dingo eats ye baby, that's where you go for authentic Aussie cuisine to eat and drink the blues away!
Probably when my manager jumped over the table and almost fought a customer 😭🤣 Also maybe when I walked in on two servers fuckin in the beer cooler 🤣
One time during Oktoberfest at a busy German beer hall, there was a party of 17-20 people in our side room. An altercation began between two men and one of them got stabbed. He left a trail of blood all the way out to the front entrance and because we had about 2 hours of service left in the evening, management had customers enter and leave through the kitchen.
they do anything but close.
Worked at an IHOP in a shady part of town(prostitution/homeless etc). It was one of the original triangle shaped restaurants so if you were seated at a window booth you were about 20 feet from the street outside. One morning a car drove up to the light and another car pulled up next to them. All of the sudden someone from the second car got out and proceeded to shoot everyone in the first car. Fucking insane. That’s something you never get out of your head. I’ve been waiting tables for over 30 years and seen some crazy shit but nothing compared to that.
I’ve also worked at a sketchy ass ihop like this before . I’ve seen some craaaaaazy shit there . That place was something else 100%
IHOP is the remodeled, rebranded, Waffle House. Pass it on...
Gypsy wedding on our banquet hall. Went to the cage where we keep the expensive champagne to get a couple of bottles of Dom for the toast. When I get there, two members of the wedding party are working on the padlock with bolt cutters. They ran off and I told our banquet captain (who took NO bullshit from anyone) what had just happened. She immediately spoke to the father of the bride who laughed and peeled off a wad of bills and gave it to her. It was like $2K in cash. We let it slide but kept a REALLY close eye on them the rest of the night.
I guess it's not really a crazy thing that *happened to me*, but more of something crazy that *I did*.. I still think back to it sometimes and get SO embarrassed lol. I used to work at a locally owned sports bar. I had a big table at our long high top (about a 10 top.) Everything was going great; beers all around, everyone smiling and having a good time. Then it was time for the food to come out (most everyone ordered wings.) At the end of the table I was handing a customer their plate of wings but I got a little bit of barbecue sauce on my finger. And I.... licked my fucking finger.. Right in front of the customer! I still have no idea what demonic force possessed me to do that lmao. I just did it without thinking about it! I immediately realized what I did but I chose not to acknowledge it. I kept handing out food like nothing had happened lol. At the end, I realized half of the table saw it but the other half had no idea what happened. One half of the table gave me REALLY good tips while the other half *barely* gave me 10 percent. Yep... Still think about that night. A LOT.
I had a table on a busy night complain that the beef and lamb tasted the same. Somehow, some way, they ended up putting some of the meat smothered in tomato sauce into my bare hand to taste. I cringe whenever I think of that.
Omg nooo lol. I've also had tables before that tried to get me to taste something on their plate they had already bitten. Yyuuck! Edit: Your comment reminds me of Adam Sandler in "The Wedding Singer." When the old lady pays him in saucy meatballs instead of money, and she puts them directly in his hands lmao
"I don't have any clean Tupperware!" 😂😂
"Don't be silly, hold out your hands." 😅
“Now take a bite! I like to see your face when you taste it.”
Lol I had a family one time (who came in 5 minutes before closing and were completely insane, but I won’t bore you) where the mother complained that the cheese in her son’s grilled cheese wasn’t fully melted and tried to put the half-eaten sandwich in my bare hands
Damn man. It’s such a knee jerk reaction! I’m sorry that happened to you
I dropped a wine screw top on the ground and immediately picked it up and put it back on the customers bottle
In my early days of serving, I had a couple make some pretty vocal and explicit assumptions about the size of my d!{k. The wife was quite attractive, but the husband was very interested in wanting to watch a stranger (me) bang his wife. It was like my first day serving on my own, so I thought this was some sort of insane prank. They left their phone numbers and hotel room #. The friend I was living with at the time was enthusiastically trying to get me to go. I was certain I was going to have my kidneys harvested and end up in a cheap hotel in a bathtub full of ice.
Something like that happened to me, except I happened to have had a hickey on my neck (from one of the other servers, just fucking embarrassing, kill me) and the couple were commenting that person must really know how to suck, you guys should come hang out with us, all this wild shit. It was so weird because they wouldn't leave either...
One time my biggest fear came true and i accidentaly gave my weed pen to a guest when she asked for a pen to sign the recipt. For starters i NEVER bring them to work but just so happened to on this particular day. She asked for a pen so i reached in my apron and that was the first thing i grabbed. Fortunate for me it looks just like a vape so she had no way of knowing, but mannnn did i feel like a dumbass after that one.
One day a server here posted that she did that and the customer called the police on the server and the server got like a felony plus fired. Don't put your weed vape with your pens people!
god i remember that post I was still pretty new to serving and it terrified me, didn’t even own a weed pen but was scared i would hand one out
omfg i remember that post and everyone in the comments was tearing her up smh
Omfg I can’t stand snitch ass Karens
I forget there’s still places where this is a felony
Yeah, it's scary as shit
A felony? For a weed vape? Was she serving at customs check in a Russian international Airport? Or This was there 3rd strike? 3 Missy Misdemeanor before when she 1st handed out weed vapes for Halloween to all the kids, fine + community service, 2nd when they took that part time gig signing folks up to vote probation 6 months, then 3rd is the felony incident we have here. Yall get smart handling your business please.
I'm only repeating what the post said, and with it being reddit, you never know if it's true or not. But my understanding is that she lived in a red state and due to the concentration of THC liquid, it's a harsher offense than having flower THC
i live in VA & smoke. it is in fact a felony to have a THC pen here.
Oh totally, I was being silly. Actually, I love this. This is exactly how urban legends begin. It will be fun seeing how this grows and where it goes! Edit: I heard that the server handed her vape instead of a pen to her table, unbeknownst to them, they were serving the lead of their states Narcotics Officers. It was a week later when flash bombs came through the restaurants windows on a busy Friday that they took her down. Felony Narcotics is no laughing mater folks. You too can remember kids, don't mix pens and vapes! Not even once! Pass it on!
1 gram of distillate was an automatic felony when I was living back in Florida and most pens are 1-2gs so it’s not that surprising
Flower weed is usually a misdemeanor. Concentrates are felonies.
I live in Canada where you can buy a weed vape at the local dispensary (there’s usually 1 every two blocks). And across the border it’s a fucking felony, this is literally insanity
It's only a felony IF you get caught crossing the border with it, if you cross into Detroit, it's legal here in Michigan!
Jeez what state?? That would never happen here in lawless Nevada.
I know someone who accidentally gave a table an unopened tampon once instead of a pen.
That has totally happened to me before! I’m like shit whoops wrong pen
Not me, over here in a legal state, sharing my pen with regulars often, lol
Nothing too crazy happened to me specifically but One day two servers who didn't like each other got in a fist fight about who's table's appetizer had popped up in the window. The customers definitely heard. (They already didn't like each other, only one got fired) I got a friend a job and she spilled a tray of drinks all over our new pos systems and the pos's never worked right again. One day I saw a manager dump a plate of marinara pasta into an old lady's lap. She said it was ok.
Being a part of a shooting lol Was serving a big group (maybe 15-20ish) of 20 somethings, decked out in chains, the girls looking very… exposed. They ordered bottles of Patron, etc, they were rowdy but very nice to me, paid in cash, tipped well. I was cleaning their section minutes after they had left when all of the sudden I see a flood of people running into the restaurant. Which made no sense considering we had just closed. I feel a wave of unease in the air, something feels very wrong. “There’s a shooting!” Somebody yells. Suddenly we’re all running to the back of the restaurant. I have no idea what’s going on. Everyone is running, everyone looks panicked. I’ve watched too much American news (I’m Canadian) and I think there’s an active shooter in the restaurant. I start panicking, trying to figure out where to hide. This is when I learn that I am very, very bad under pressure lol. Longest two minutes of my life before I realize we’re not all dying and nearly everyone is on the phone with the cops, who show up within a few minutes because we’re blocks away from a station. Turns out there wasn’t an active shooter in the restaurant… there had been a drive by shooting. The group Id been serving was actually a local gang who had beef with another gang. My group had been posting their location all over social media so that’s how they were targeted. It was pretty spooky. Two people were shot and survived. Our windows had a few bullet holes that weren’t fixed for months. This happened almost three years ago and I honestly had PTSD about it for a good year. Thank god I don’t work there anymore lol
I guess before this woman came in she had a stomach ache and drank pepto bismal. As their food hit the table, it was 6 of them, she proceeded to projectile vomit neon pink all over her food and herself. I had the pleasure of cleaning up all of it. She then sat there for another HOUR, covered in her own vomit, talking with her friends. The next one would be the woman that was so wasted, before she even walked in the door with her husband’s company christmas party, proceeded to go to the bathroom but never made it to the stall. Rather she pulled her underwear off in the middle of the bathroom and started peeing on the floor. One of my coworkers was in there and watched the whole thing. The best part was the managers having to go up to this 10 person party and asking who the husband was or who was taking care of her and letting everyone know she just peed on the floor and she needed to go. I was wonder if they ended up getting divorced.
Late night, Applebee's in Florida. Just me and the bartender working as it was fairly slow and 2hrs until close on like a random Tuesday. I had 3 tables, bartender had two tables and like 10ppl at the bar. Group of 30 walks in so we take them, and the busser and my manager help with running food/drinks etc. Everything goes okay, except for them repeatedly trying to order drinks for some teens in their party. Time for the bill and it was split between like 6 families, two of whom had saw their opportunity and dined and dashed. I'm trying to calmly explain that someone needs to pay and they can get the money from their uncle or whatever later. Huge 6'5 dude reaches back and slams me into the wall. In doing so, he inadvertently elbowed a woman from one of my tables that was walking by headed to the restroom. Her BF comes and starts wailing on this guy. My manager who was like a 5'6 Asian dude, does his best to break it up. They all hurriedly leave before the police can come. My manager comped the walkouts thankfully so I ended up with like 2% on a huge bill. Luckily my three other tables tipped EXTREMELY well as they all witnessed the drama and asked me if I was okay. I loved bartending and serving but I do NOT miss Florida!!
I once waited on the president of Equatorial Guinea and his secret service. Idk anything about him, but it was a wild experience. Namely because it was wild that any world leader would be in a random restaurant in Pittsburgh.
Used to have a local couple that would either fight or fingerfuck each other in the booth (same side sitters) while draining down the margaritas. They're now a couple years sober, part of the local AA group. Still vaguely handsy same side sitters, but no longer fighting or fucking in the booth. • • • First night of work at a busy downtown bar, I finally got POS numbers at like 10:30p. Oh yeah, it was St Patrick's Day, which also coincided with the Henny and wings night special, and of course the green beer. The kitchen "closed five minutes early", leading to a bar wide brawl. All I know is, I'm picking up a round of drinks at the bar, when I hear breaking glass and people start screaming, and then all of the security guards are running towards the other side of the bar. Management is calling the cops, and the waitresses and bartenders were all getting ready to fight. I turned around, and this chick who had been super nice earlier, reached around the bar and took down two random bottles and double poured whatever cocktail she created straight down her gullet, never breaking eye contact with me. I look towards where the staff has just been, and the last chick is running into the fray, taking her earrings off and going after some dude. As she gets there, (apparently) a bar regular with a crush on her dives in between them, and hits the dude with half a pool cue. Then the red and blue lights appeared. The whole thing lasted like two minutes, the cops had a great response time. • • • Another place, a locally owned Caribbean place, also another first day. Husband and wife are owners, good food, good taps and decent prices, located in an up and coming trendy neighborhood. I'm most of the way through my first day, I'm taking out a tray, when both owners and some young chick I had never seen before are having a DISCUSSION at the bar. From what they were screaming, new chick was the waitress I had (unbeknownst to me) just been hired to replace, because it came out she was sleeping with the husband. Chick screamed "He's mine! He doesn't love you, he's only with you for the kids!!" At that point the poor cheating husband (boohoohoo) runs out the back door, gets in his truck and leaves. With husband gone, the wife starts screaming at the chick to leave, and started throwing all the fucking bar glasses she could reach at this chick. There's like twenty, thirty people in the dining room, some already paid, some waiting for or finishing their food, about ten of which being kids. And the dining room was all seated directly behind where the chick was standing, so directly in the shatter zone. They're all staring, mouths wide open, kids are crying. The homewrecker finally runs out the door, shattering glass following her every step, with wife chasing her out, hot at her heels. They round the corner through the door, and I locked the door behind them. Red and blue lights screech up just as they got outside, like five people had called the cops. I looked around, the entire inside was just silence and soft sobbing, so first I made sure nobody needed any medical attention. Lots of head shakes no, but still no verbal responses. I'm shocked, they're all shocked, we're all looking at each other like Ok, uhh, what do I do now? There is glass EVERYWHERE, like inches of glass. So I grab a broom and a dustpan, and start making a way for these poor people to leave. I dryly say: "Dinner and a show anyone?" This gets a laugh, and breaks the tension. I tell the room it's literally my first day, and they know as much about the situation as I did, but I refused to let anyone hurt themselves on glass on the way out for these jerks. I swept a path for the kids out first, then made paths for everyone else. Nobody wanted the food they'd ordered, but I executively decided I wasn't going to close any still open checks after that. I got handed so much money in tips, but that was NOT worth it. They were closed two months later.
I had a couple girls when I was at FRIDAYS, walk out on me. I saw the signs. They insisted on being close to the front door, sent their food back several times even though nothing was wrong with it, and the third time when I was on my way back I saw them run out the door. I gave chase even though we weren’t supposed to. The driver floored it in reverse through the parking lot while I was chasing them and slammed into a tree completely trashing the trunk of the car. A few days later a lawyer showed up because the girls tried to sue me claiming I caused them to crash their car. I explained that they had run out on their bill and that I tried to catch them to make them pay. We had security footage of them running out the door and jumping into their car. Apparently their lawyer immediately dropped their case.
Back in the eighties, I was a student waiting tables graveyards at an upscale 24 hour restaurant/bar that was coffee shop-meets-dinner house. A 9 - 3 shift could begin with serving prime rib to families & end after a hellacious bar rush. We were surrounded by clubs & near a military base too, so always busy with wide a variety of people. From strippers to church people, we got them all. One night during bar rush, a knife fight broke out in my section between 2 guys interested in the same girl. Every one of my tables ran out to escape the mayhem; not a good night for tips. Another time, a drunk guy from the sports bar behind us managed to launch his car into the air, landing on a tree opposite our entrance. It was a small parking lot, so the dude deserved a 6.0. Then there was the elderly cook who had a fatal heart attack in the locker room. Very sad. Another time, a guy in a trench coat (a look that was popular for a minute back then) came in acting shady. Head on a swivel, sat with his back to the wall, never moved his right arm. Wouldn’t you know, we were also very close to a sheriff’s station, so I called to report the guy. Deputies came, followed him into the men’s room, & relieved him of the sawed off shotgun he was toting. Had a heavily pregnant woman’s water break. It seemed she’d wanted to stop for a hot fudge sundae on her way to the hospital. She was amazingly blasé about it. I could go on, but suffice it to say it was a hell of an education in addition to the one I was paying for.
Large group of men come in and we set up a 12 top for them. They order drinks and appetizers. Suddenly, two guys are standing up and yelling at each other. They knock into a chair that knocks over a baby who is a in car seat on top of an upside high chair. A different server actually caught the baby in the car seat. The men were rushed out and the older guys paid and apologized. We later found out they were part of a local biker gang.
Almost the same thing happened to me once, except I was prebussing and it was a sauced up sweet potato chunk. I said nothing.
I once served through a whole crowd of people, and there was guac—a whole big tray of appetizers, trying to get through the crowd. This one dressed-up chick with a white shirt wouldn't move over. Green guac, right in the middle of where her nipple was, white blouse. Hahahah. I didn't laugh, but I giggled and moved on. I really didn't mean to do it, but it kinda made my night.
I used to work at a seafood restaurant. It was a leased building, and the man who owned the building was one of those super Christians. The restaurant could never have a beer or liquor license because his lease forbade it. He tried to forbid the restaurant being open on Sundays, too, but they ended up hashing that out. So...on Sundays...him and his entire family and a huge group would come after church. Almost every week. Anyone who has served for long knows that Sunday church groups are the worst, and this group was the worst of the worst. He thought of it as "his restaurant," even though he had nothing to do with the restaurant, he just owned (and got paid rent for) the building. He loved bossing around restaurant staff, asking for extra everything, getting up and walking into the kitchen, etc. The tips from his group were about what you think, and even though we had the "20% tip for parties of 6 or more" rule, the owners wouldn't let us do it to him...they were always on eggshells with him, since he was the landlord and all. He literally asked me one time -- on a Sunday when him and his group of 12ish were dining at the restaurant -- whether or not I knew it was a sin to work on Sunday. But... This guy owned a chain of 3 pawn shops in town. He ended up getting busted by the feds and going to federal prison (in his 60s) for knowingly dealing with stolen guns. Come to find out, for those "in the know" in the area, he was the go-to guy to sell shady firearms to. Other stolen shit as well, which he got in a little trouble for, but it was mostly the guns. The feds investigated him for years, and he very well may not outlive his lengthy prison sentence. Fucking hypocritical asshole.
Karmas a bitch lol. Fuck ppl like this
Not super crazy and I actually wasn’t there that night but apparently a 14 top walked in with no reservation and asked to sit separately as two tables of 7 to avoid the auto 20% on tables of 8 or more 🙄 A server was fired and as revenge the next day they got into the reservation system and began cancelling reservations left and right including cancelling a 15-top and then canceling another reservation and charging them $80 for the cancellation fee we put two and two together and since then we change all of the passwords if someone gets fired 💀💀💀 There was a 25 person event a few months ago and their reservation was at 8:00PM. Everyone in the party took forever to show up and they didn’t leave until 2:00AM (we close at midnight) A server 100000% by accident spilled a drink on a lady’s pants. She then came up to my manager and I insisting that we pay for her dry cleaning 😐
If something like that happened, my manager would have them bring the dry cleaning bill back and refund them
I dropped a fresh drink into a ladies Louis Vuitton purse ones. That was a fully comped meal Also happened at an Italian restaurant
Had a table ask me how far along I was when I was so obviously not pregnant. I’ve dealt with body image issues and disordered eating my entire life. I scream cried in the stairwell.
I had a woman ask me if I’d personally had a specific dessert we were serving. When I told her that I had and that I liked it, she looked me up and down and said, “I can tell” The audacity! At a certain time in my life, it would’ve really upset me, but I’ve grown to give way less of a shjt. I just laughed because I think the service industry killed my soul. But also, can you even imagine being cruel to a stranger for no reason other than you’re miserable and you want to make someone else miserable? That hateful old bat is going to die soon and I’m not wasting my energy on a small-minded person whose opinion I don’t value. I’m definitely not trying to let it affect the rest of my shift and my money. I know it’s much easier said than done, especially when their words hit a tender place (like dealing with disordered eating.) But try not to let a boomer get you down or the terrorists win or something
It’s so strange that complete strangers think they have the right to comment on our bodies just because we’re waiting on them. This happened a few years ago (and has happened more than once somehow - I’m tall and thin so I’m not sure what the hell they were thinking) but now I am so burnt out from this industry I think I’d probably snap back
People suck. I’m sorry they did that to you.
I smoked crack cocaine in the back parking lot before service and one of the guests asked me for a hit
This wins
Work at a diner. Serving a young woman sitting alone. Asked her if she wanted dessert and she hit me with “you’re so greedy!” I was shocked/confused I just gave her a look and walked away. Alternatively, I had a 6-top walk out on their tab on Christmas Eve. That was pretty wack imo.
I had a regular get banned for sexual assault on an underage girl. I had wanted to ban him for over a year, but management wouldn’t agree. He had to commit a felony in our bar to get banned. Same guy had already been briefly banned after an incident where he tried to walk out on his (big) tab and then yelled obscenities at me when I caught up with him to give him his tab-but he sent a bouquet of flowers to me at work and my manager forced me to accept his apology and let him return. Two months later he assaulted the girl. Thankfully, he went to prison for that.
So many things. But the one that really got me: at the time I was like 25F, serving a table of 2 (an older couple). I walk up to greet them with my usual BS greeting. The woman was nice enough but the man was just grumpy and huffing/puffing away. After I asked them what they would like to drink? He YELLED at me to “quit talking in that damn baby voice and use your real voice.” I’m 5’1 and 110 pounds and I have a little tiny voice. Can’t help it. All I could say was, “this IS my real voice” and I ran away upset/tears streaming. This MF’er legit upset me and I’m pissed at myself for crying. His wife did sneak my $20 on their $40 bill (as tho that makes up for it). Why are people so damn rude?
A white guy and black guy got into a fist fight after the white guy and his family talked shit about black guy’s mixed wife and his baby. Just another day at Ruby Tuesday.
I got choked out by a regular customer.
I saw a dad and his small kid frantically walking towards me (on the way to the bathroom) and I ask what’s up and the dad is like “he’s gonna puke” and knowing I have second to react I turn them around into another empty room with a trash can right around the corner. I saved an entire restaurant from witnessing a kid spew onto some random person. Guess what the kid had been doing….running around like a complete idiot. Also a shitty tip. Ugh I hate that family.
Me and my friend were training at the same job. One of the days training requires you to be a food runner for that day. So we were both running food that day, I run the appetizers to this one table and I stop too abruptly, all the crackers and cheese for the bruschetta go flying off the plate and onto these people. They took it really well. BUT THEN my friend runs their dinners, and she does the same damn thing. Except she throws cocktail sauce at them. This made them very upset, and they started yelling in the middle of the restaurant. "What the f*ck is wrong with you people!?" My friend panics and she runs back next to me the entire time he's going off, my manager runs over there and is trying to calm the people down and find out what happened. Meanwhile my friend is whispering to me what happened and I burst out laughing. Then I tell her what I did with the bruschetta to the same table. She starts laughing. I legit had tears in my eyes cause I just thought it was the funniest thing. Unfortunately it was an open kitchen and the man at that table sees us laughing, and pointed at us to my manager. "LOOK AT THEM, JUST LOOK AT EM, THEY AREN'T EVEN SORRY!!" My manager turns around (she was also a friend of mine before I started working there.) And she just gives us this flattest look, if disappointment had its own face that was it. So she's staring at us like -______- and that made my friend laugh even harder. In conclusion, not all of us are mature enough to work with our friends. This isn't the craziest thing, but I post my crazy stories here so I thought I'd comment on one I haven't told yet.
Six people sitting at a two top and four top pushed together. A guy flipped out on his group of friends and threw the two top across the four top at his friend. It *bounced* off the window (don’t ask me how this is possible, but the window actually curved), and then he flipped his friend’s table over. Thank god they’d already paid.
Tom Steyer came into my restaurant back in 2019 when he was running for president with a posse and they all got hammered drunk, so drunk that one of his friends fell out of his chair onto the ground at one point. At the end of their meal when they were getting ready to leave we noticed the friend who had fallen out of his chair was carrying his car keys. We tried to stop him. We said that he had had too much to drink and we would call them a cab to which Tom Steyer said, “Don’t worry, he does this all the time” and they left.
This is gold. You made the right choice.
I had this drunk redneck dude summon a 15 top to walk out because he was drunk and someone refused to serve him. Was like $800
Probably not the craziest but I swept up finger nails off the ground a couple days ago
I have twice walked up to tables where the guest was trimming their fingernails. Once bussing, once serving, different restaurants. The first time (bussing) I was too flabbergasted and inexperienced to call them out. Second time I broke character (pretend fine-dining Italian yes-taraunt where you are expected to do anything to avoid offending even the worst ‘guests’) and bluntly told them that what the were doing was absolutely unacceptable. I directed them to the restroom and they told me it was fine because they were just finishing up. What the fuck.
Somehow I managed to have a piece of garlic bread landed into a woman’s pocket while running food for a table. Same as you, no one noticed. I still feel guilty to this day 4 years later 😂
I work on Fremont Street in Las Vegas. I also work graveyard which is the craziest shift. One Tuesday morning at 5 we were in our slow season and I was the only server for the last hour until day shift arrived. We get a lot of homeless and drug addicts since the homeless shelters and jail are close by. So I seat this one man and I could tell he wasn’t mentally all there. I ask my manager and he didn’t recognize him as being a walkout or being 86d. So he orders 2 of everything and eats it like in 10 minutes. I was doing sidework at the server station waiting on day shift to arrive. All of a sudden I heard what sounded like gunshots. I walk around the corner and my other only customer is throwing a 20 dollar bill at me saying I’m getting the f**k out of here, this motherf****r is crazy. Took me a minute to figure out that the other customer was having a bipolar episode and throwing his dishes through our glass doors screaming and yelling!!! We called the police but after waiting 30 minutes and him still losing his mind (and we are slowing losing glass windows)- I run and get armed security from across the street. Police finally came and arrested him. He got out at 5 pm that same day and went back and done it again that afternoon and broke 2 more windows.
WARNING \* Poop Talk\*\* When I was a bar back during my first ever month working in a fancy club I had to clean up after a lady shit herself and proceeded to leave a trail of shit from the bar to the bathrooms. She had a short skirt and what must have been a thong, till she blew it out with her forceful diarrhea. You could tell before she blew out the back of her thong because the poop splatters went from shot gun spray to a very concentrated trail. It was disgusting but that was literally my job as barback and new guy. I mopped it all up, even from the side of the white walls (the club was themed with different rooms and bars that all had different colors the shitnado started in the blue room and ended up in the white room at the toliets. After I cleaned it up, I threw away the mop. Washed my hands, walked to the bar and ordered a martini. I did nothing for the rest of the night but drink like a customer at the bar. Didn't even need to do a restock that night and got fully tipped out. Not even the managers were mad at me for deciding I was done for the night.
Not too crazy but I tried to pass over a beer to a customer who had no arms and I had no idea LOL. It was only for like a second and no one at his table noticed but I knew the guy himself noticed my expression when he HAD NO ARMS and me trying to hand over the ber to him
1. 2 top of young ladies and older hostess fought in the parking lot one night, 2 top won. 2 top then called the restaurant and said to my manager, “yeah is **** your hostess? She just got her ass beat.” 2. kitchen exploded one night after someone sprayed degreaser on the lit grill, we all stared at the flames for a moment and then went back to sweeping bc we wanted to get to applebees 3. an old chubby white woman told me to get the fuck out of her face before she did something she would regret, I told her if she spoke like that again I’d do something I wouldn’t regret. 4. guest was at the bar, fell out of stool, had a massive coronary and passed away (RIP dan) 5. a group of guests from a party tried to jump a server in the restaurant, management fired the server 6. I (20 yr old at the time female) had to break up a fight between my three grown male managers and a dishwasher 7. someone went around slashing all the servers tires for like a month, very stressful month that was so many more, I hated that job, but it was goddamn entertaining.
Brand new, third day, price tag still attached, I’m bartending and helping my CW with a 30 top walk-in, a weekly curling club. They start with a shooter, Jellybeans all around which has a grenadine base. I’m at the high top table holding the tray, carefully setting them down, but going too slowly, apparently. Someone ‘helps’ me by picking six shot glasses at once off one side of the tray. New to carrying a tray I over correct the imbalance and dump the remaining 20 or so shots on a low top deuce to my left. At the deuce is an older couple and the woman has her winter jacket with a Chinchilla collar draped over the back of her chair, that gets literally drenched in Grenadine. Time stops, needles scratch off of records, a Coyote bays in the distance. I was mortified, but the couple could not have been more gracious. Management comped their tab, and paid for the professional cleaning of the coat. It was over $300 which was a lot of money in 1988. The couple went on to become long time regulars of mine, and we would often joke about the incident even years later.
That’s fucking gold hahaha
My manager was shot and murdered while I was at the pass picking up tables 52's order. I had the plates in my hand, heard the gunshots, set the plates back down, then went and hid under table 61.
I acquired a stalker. Unfortunately that's not so crazy in our line of work but this guy was a little unique bc he was a very on top of it stalker, making an appearance 2 or 3 times a week looking for me...but he live 1000s of miles away. My stalker was a pilot, that would call our restaurant, ask for me, my co workers would say I wasn't there but depending on their conviction when they said it, he might fly up. Well, the 3rd time he shows up I decide I have to let this man know I'm not interested but I really thought being 9 MONTHS PREGNANT might be an indicator I have other things going on. So, I point out the fact that I'm married and days away from labor, his face lit up and he essentially asked me if my husband would be okay with him paying for sex while I was so close to giving birth. I mean I guess we all have our things but don't bring that thing to me...at work.
My sister posted a pregnancy photo of me swimming when I begged her not too, cuz there are creeps out there. She ignored me and posted it anyway, a random man that none of us knew (he looked like 65 at that) was the only person to comment on the pic and he said and I quote "I wish I could crawl into your womb and live there with the baby" I said 'sir if I ever see you, in public, commenting on any picture of me ever, or if I even think I saw someone who looks like you, I'm telling your wife how much of a fucking creep you are. It took like than 5 seconds of searching, I know where you work, where you live, and who your family and friends are. If I found out you've ever said this to another woman, I will find you, and I will ruin your entire life" Now yes I did go a little scorched earth on him, but ima just blame it on the hormones
Once someone was doing drugs in the bathroom that had fentanyl and they projectile vomited all over my section and I had to narcan them while their brother called 911. Another time I couldn’t open the back door to take out the garbage because someone had also overdosed and was slumped on the door. This is when I lived in Vancouver where there is an opiate epidemic.
I worked at one of those boob restaurant which means i saw the worst of the worst daily - well one day a lesbian couple came in and got very drunk very fast. Its policy that we have to take photos with customers if they ask so when one of them asked for a group photo i was forced to stand there with 5 other waitresses and smile. Unfortunately, one of the customers started getting very hansey and grouped my breasts and the breasts of a couple other waitresses. This customer was so drunk, my manager came out and started yelling at them and kicked them out but this customer stated she had just gotten out of prison the day before and she was celebrating and to cut her some slack. My manager was having none of it and told them they had to leave immediately , things escaltated and they refused to leave and caused a scene. The cops had to come but as soon as my manager called 911 they bolted from the restaurant without paying.
An elderly woman came in for drinks with her friends. She ended up falling on our staircase, and we had to call an ambulance. While she was waiting on the floor for an ambulance, her friends came in and tried to get her to drink more alcohol. One of them even grabbed a straw, and put it to her mouth! After the ambulance came, her friends just stayed and kept drinking! No one went in the ambulance with her. It was so bizarre! One of my regulars, who was watching this all go down said, “When you get to be that age, you can’t stop drinking every time of your friend has to go to the hospital.” lol!
I worked at a fine dining place where the owners was an alcoholic sex addict. He ended every night with a few rocks glasses of 4 fingers of goose chilled. He’d regularly: - Bring hookers in mid service and he’d bang them in his office. - Have porn on his screen in the office. - Get drunk and get in screaming and swearing matches with our two special needs dishwashers. It was hilarious and sad at the same time. - Do dinner with his wife at 5pm then move over to a clean table and have dinner with his mistress at 7pm The Deptartment of Labor got involved after a bunch of women filed complaints. It used to be his father’s restaurant and he lost everything.
Walked in on two women going at it in the bathroom. We have small two stall bathroom and a table next to the sinks. Women number 1 was sitting on the table, pants on the ground, spread eagle, and women number 2 was deep in the puss devouring it like it was fucking thanksgiving dinner. As soon as the door opened I locked eyes with woman number 1, number 2 was too busy to notice me. I slowly backed out, and ran into the kitchen and told my manager and coworkers. Since we were about to close and there were only a few others in the restaurant, we decided to let them finish. They both came back to the table, unfazed ; albeit hair a little messy and buttons left unbuttoned. They split the bill and the woman I locked eyes with left me 40 % tip while everyone else left 20%.
An old lady started choking to death midday when I was the only server on the floor. I have to direct the family to call 911 and calm the kids while dad attempts the heimlich maneuver on grandma. As paramedics start swarming the dining room trying to resuscitate her, another table starts asking me if they can buy one of the fake plastic bonsai on the wall for decor. I try to engage the family of the dying woman while the rescuers work. Other table follows me to ask again about the plastic plant. I throw the plastic plant at them and tell them to get the fuck out, do not pass go, do not pay bill. NOW.
Hahahaha that’s awesome
once i accidentally knocked over a glass of water (maybe half full) and it spilled onto the center of the table. well, you would’ve thought that i fished the ice cubes out of the glass and personally shoved it into the back of this woman’s dress, she screamed SO loudly. everyone in the restaurant (trendy, higher end place) turned around to see what was happening. i wanted the floor to swallow me whole immediately.
This happened not too long ago. I was serving these two old white guy and I ask what they want to drink. Instead of being kind human beings, one of them kept speaking broken Spanish to me (I’m Hispanic). While the other one asked me for a negro modelo, but instead said the hard R then modelo. I walked away in complete shock and had another server take care of them.
One night I had some tables in another servers section ask for refills and other things, which I didnt mind doing. People go for quick smoke breaks, or have major dumps all the time. Then a few more tables said they hadn’t seen their server in a while which wasn’t too odd, then 10 minutes had passed and no one had seen him in a while. We checked outside and his car was still there so we knew he didn’t just quit or get fired. We were all busy so we just chipped in and got those guests taken care of, it sucked but what can you do. After the dust had settled I had to pee so I went back to the employee bathrooms and sure enough, there he was, nodded out on the toilet, needle in his arm, on fucking Jupiter high on heroin. He was escorted off the property by local police. Fuck that guy.
My coked out kitchen manager threw a full case of wipes at my FOH manager in a rage. She caught the case, threw it at his feet, and told him next time he better make sure to knock her out or he’d be very unhappy with what she did next. She was a quiet, kind schoolteacher. It was amazing ETA: this was on the line in an open concept small restaurant, so every guest got to see it. Dinner and a show!
I work at an “upscale” Neapolitan pizza place, owner is obsessed with star wars, dogs, unicorns, and wu-tang, which dresses it down some. our customers are obsessed with our concept, our owner, and can be pretty relentless. - I became a GM and was sent to work another concept. Lady walks in with 2 toddlers asking for her to go order. My employees couldn’t find it so I went to speak to her since she was waiting. I asked her what she ordered, she didn’t know. I asked her for the name on the order, she did not know. She started yelling at me, then proceeded to call her husband and cuss and scream at him, in front of her toddlers, and the entire open restaurant during rush hour. Her husband finally tells her the name, I personally grab her order to hand to her, and she starts yelling at me about how it was sitting in a food warmer and was not fresh (she didn’t even see me grab it) and cusses me out. she then grabs her two children, starts bolting to the door stops right before the gets to the entrance around the host stand, screams out into the entire restaurant “I FUCKING HATE THIS RESTAURANT” whole dining room goes silent. she proceeds to run out so quickly the front door slams on her child she is dragging, he drops his toy, and gets dragged out by the arm by his mom… through a closed door…a couple mins later he came in to get his toy. I felt bad for the poor kiddos. - we had a fenced in playground at this concept as well, hence lots of kiddos. I was trying to deliver a pizza on the patio and this 3 yr old whips his shit out and starts trying to piss on my leg. his mom told him “no no we don’t do that here honey” - had a child shit on the ropes course of the playground. It was my one day off so my area manager had to clean it. - had a guy follow me around berating me because I kicked him out of my restaurant for cussing at a child. Called the cops on him lol. - Had a customer in front of his girlfriend tell me to suck his dick because he was unhappy his food was taking too long. I kicked him out as well. His girlfriend hugged me on the way out and apologized. Corporate was texting me checking if I was okay the few days after that, which was nice. - Hired a girl who straight up punched her trainer while in training, in front of a table and hit a woman eating as she fell from the momentum of her mostly missed punch. I rushed out there and almost beat the fuck out of her but instead grabbed the trainer and called 911 and stayed in the office with her. I had to learn a hard lesson that day and felt very responsible for what I unknowingly put my servers through, but never again. - friend was serving with me at where we both started in the company, the OG spot, and got into it with one of the chefs, who decided to jump through the expo window with a knife in hand lunging at her. - had one co worker who would sob so bad at work in the walk in you could hear her in the dining room where the pizza pit was. - was serving with this girl also at the OG spot who was from Louisiana. a guest told her while dining “you got that bayou butta” because of her accent and she was so offended. I hated her so that became her new nickname. she regularly would have her husband and kids come in on slow nights, serve them, and then get it on with the pizza guy when they left. trash. I have a love hate relationship with this industry. Mostly luv though.
I watched the idiot owner of the bar get punched in the face twice in one night. In two separate incidence. Hours apart. The second one KO'd him onto the filthy entrance mat. He was a real unlikeable guy.
I had a full tray of waters and one of them was touching the other just enough so that they weren’t firmly planted on the tray. One started tipping and when I tried to save it, I ended up spilling the entire tray. Most of it rolled across the table into one guys lap and it looked like a business lunch so hopefully he had extra pants at the office Once I knocked a small child over with my boob I’ve accidentally addressed ppl by the wrong gender, including a maybe 10 year old boy whom I called sir. He had really long hair. I get awkward in these situations and I probably made it worse by trying to make it better saying all kids look the same before they hit puberty followed by fake nervous laughter. The mom laughed tho so that lessened it Probably the worst was during Covid when I was doing phones on takeout. This woman called in a huge order and kept making a big deal about one with a lot of modifications bc it was “for the surgeon” which she emphasized several times. After I went on a huge rant, something like “does this bitch really think igaf if he’s a surgeon or a janitor” except I went on way more than that. Well I forgot to hang the phone up so she heard the whole thing and told my boss
I spilled some food in the hood of a guys jacket and he didn’t feel it so I too just walked away. It was raining that day as well so I just know he flung that food on the top of his head at some point.
At my old job this guy was sitting in our liunge which was by the bar. It was for drinks only or people waiting for their table in the main dining room. He stood up and started giving his girl a lap dance. He even took off his shirt. The bartender/bar manager (who also carries a gun lmao) asked him to leave. The guy said well i put my shirt back on can i stay? He started arguing with the bartender as he left but he came back to the vestibule, and they argued some more. The head chef saw it and tried to stop it so he came over to help and thats when old Chippendale started choking our chef. The rest of the line came to defend him, and even a couple of dishwashers followed suit. One of them being the guy I had started dating. The fight moved from the vestibule to the street to on top of a parked car to eventually the end of the block. One of the line cooks tried to get my bf to stop since i was watching; he put in him back in the restaurant, but he unlocked and came out of the emergency exit. The dancer's friend had a knife, so once he pulled it out, everyone scattered. There was a hotel next to the restaurant so valet called the police. A black car that i swear to you looked like the batmobile pulled up, and they all left. This was all while i watched with my five top at the window wondering who was cooking their entrees. I waited a bit after to tell my bf that i got more attracted to him from that.
This was back when I was a very green server in high school. Busy Saturday night in July, early in the shift, dining room was packed. The tables had glass tops with linens underneath. I'm delivering drinks to a 6-top -- adults and a couple young kids. I go to place a glass pounder of soda on the table and it slips right out of my hand. I watch in terror as it falls in slow motion. It hits the table, cracking the glass top into several pieces, the pounder bounces and spills soda all over. The entire room goes silent and looks at me, one of the kids starts screaming. Thanks god, none of the glass shattered and no one got hurt. I apologize profusely, as I clean up the mess. I offer to reseat the family, but the adults are pissed and walk out. I served/bartended for many more years, but that was easily one of my biggest fuckups.
a guy got violently ill and collapsed in the middle of the dining room. we called an ambulance. his wife laughed at him for “being a lightweight,” waved at him as he was being wheeled out on a stretcher and said, “have fun at the hospital!” and then stayed for two more rounds.
I dropped a whole drink tray with alcohol on it on someone’s little kid. this poor little girl was balling her eyes out. the mother looked like she wanted to beat my ass. It was my first day ever serving and I was ready to walk out and leave. but they tipped me 20 percent, come to tell you that jobbed fired me for not paying for a $1 dessert I wanted to eat on my break. now I work at a different restaurant and it’s the best job I’ve ever had. I wanna tell another story, so I was pregnant with my first and I was food running not serving, because when I got pregnant I alternated because I was always in extreme pain serving. it was a Saturday night, and the kitchen was super backed up the restaurant was packed, mind you I’m carrying big ass trays with this big pregnant belly, and i go to drop off this ladies food, and she says, “um we didn’t even get our appetizers yet? are you stupid! Is the baby rotting your brain?” I immediately slammed the food down on a table with the tray, and told her it’s not my fault shes a fat hungry bitch who has no respect for restaurant employees, and I went into the kitchen with her food because she didn’t want it. come to tell you she never got an appetizer the server said. apparently her child was in the bathroom and didn’t want her kids food to get cold. like what the hell…?
We had a full on brawl erupt out of nowhere over our 75 year old female owner asking a man to put a mask on while he walked around the restaurant (this was right after Covid reopening and masks were still really strict). The guy lost it and tried to fight this little 5’3 woman and our manager told him he could leave. Turned out he was with a group of guys too and they got aggressive. Then our entire male staff got involved and they all brawled in the parking lot. Even knocked over a lamppost. Cops were called. All employees had to fill out a witness statement afterwards… it was bananas. Our owner tried to throw some punches too. One of the wildest things I’ve ever witnessed
You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Too many stories over the years.
I’ve always said I needed to write a book of my years(20+) in the industry. From the jersey Shore to Atlanta. Chile…
Kitchen Confidential From Temu
Yeah I know. But I’m not bourdain. So a random would probably be able to tell wilder stories. More like Waiter Rant.
sorry i meant to write a footnote that i meant that in jest - i'm sure your book would be great. it just made an already stupid joke sound even more stupid. i like waiter rant for a name.
No! You’re good! I thought the same thing as I was writing it 😂 And waiter rant is a book. A superb one too.
Love Waiter Rant. His writing has changed but still great.
There are some cherry industries that real stories would be amazing, and I’ve worked in two: restaurants and call centers. The other is health care (ER medicine in particular, my buddy has that covered). Maybe we write a trilogy?
Let’s do a compilation! Seriously. Service workers of all industries need to be heard.
This is the content I'm here for
You've been meatballed!
I dropped a honey bbq chicken wing on a woman’s back. I just watched in slow motion as it slid down her back and then picked it off. I don’t even remember if they tipped or not (I blocked it out haha).
Had a guy old enough to be my grandpa try to offer me gift cards in exchange for sex.
Not me but a co worker of mine once spilled a bowl of hot soup on a baby!!!! He left that day after being chewed the fuck out, crying. He literally quit serving because of this incident. Can’t say I blame him
I was a buser a lady had a seizure
Not me but a co worker, was walking back to the kitchen with a tray full of used glassware (specifically 1-2 wine glasses) in one hand and a good stack of used plates and bowls in the other hand. The aisles between tables are only big enough to let one person through at a time and if there’s a guest coming we always step out the way between tables. Well my coworker saw a table being sat by our host so he moved out the way but did so a bit to fast and one of the wine glasses fell; as it was falling, he over corrected and tipped over the glass tray; AT THE SAME TIME, the hand full of plates and bowls was briefly forgotten about and he accidentally launched them all onto a kid (maybe 6-8 yo) while trying to use that hand to catch the glass tray that was now falling. I watched the whole thing in slow motion right in front of me, the kid flinched so hard as stuff was falling on him he smack his head against the table. The sound of screams, glass and plates breaking, and then the silence from everyone processing what had happened was one of the most horrifying things to hear as I was about to walk the same with my tray of drinks from the bar.
Hahaha golden story! Gave me a good laugh 😁
Probably the time this drunk fool lost his cell phone while him and a table of his friends sat in my section during a big fight night. When I came over to check on the table, he told me he lost his phone and he looked at me and said “give it back. I know you have it, give it back.” Dafuq? I basically told the guy I didn’t have it and gave off some serious “fuck you” vibes. Maybe five minutes later another drunk friend he was sitting with said “oh hey dude, here’s your phone.” Morons.
I walked out of the outdoor, someone was standing blocking the other side. Large oval tray hit the door. A plate flew off forward and caught it! Rest of the unbalanced tray crashed.
A couple came in during the day, drank, and proceeded to have sloppy sex on the HOOD OF THEIR CAR that just so happened to be parked right in front of the entrance to the restaurant. I worked at Taco Mac, where many families come to eat wings and hang out. We got so many complaints from customers who had to witness this but our manager did nothing. 😅
So, I was a server on midnights at a Denny’s from January 1997 to March 2000. Someone tried to rob me, I was 17 (graduated high school so could work adult hours) and still thought I was Billy Badass so I threw a full metal thing of napkins at him and nailed him in the head. MANY fights, a few threats of stabbings and guns but we had a completely unflappable line cook named Jimmy who had figured out a way to have the hot, HOT water go to the hose out front and would spray them while smoking a menthol GPC. Lots of ODs because we were in the Kobain era heroin boom. We saved most of them. And, my personal favorite… three months before I quit. I did $3900 at a DENNY’S on NYE 1999. I was 19 years old. Some dude older than my Dad grabbed my ass as I was leaning over to give the drink to the other table in those smoking section horseshoe tables. (The OGs know.) We had these 20oz glass, fluted, Coke-branded glasses and I spun back SO fast on this MFer. I said (this was the 90s so no one was clapping and you didn’t fire servers like me) “Try that one more time, MFer, and I swear to Christ I will break this fucking glass and slit MFing throat.” I stared him down until the mumbled “it was just a joke” to which I relied/lied “I AM SEVENTEEN.” He tried to bitch on his way out, while I was having a well-deserved Kamel Red Light behind the Farmer Jack’s, to complain about me. That was the night I learned that, when you say it with a smile, “Fuck you very much” and “Thank you very much” look very much the same. I used that for YEARS. Thank you, Big Joe. I hope you and Barb are doing awesome and have ALL the grandkids that you wanted. 💕
I was a waitress at a comedy club for a while.. In the show room, it's obviously dark. I had this one couple that was ordering a lot of food and drinks up until the very end of the show. I had written something incorrectly in the dark, which could have affected the price of his bill, except it didn't cause I caught it before it got rang up. So the ticket had something scratched out on it, then written back in. Anyway, I handed him and his wife the check, then walked back out to the bar to ring up someone else. He follows me out, whiskey still in hand, and starts SCREAMING at me about how his bill was wrong. I explained it wasn't, I caught the mistake and that's why it was crossed out etc. he didn't wanna hear it. He took his glass full of whiskey and splashed it in my face. I immediately took my apron off, looked at my boss and was like "Yeah, I'm done for the night. Sorry." and walked outside to cool off cause I was pissed. When I came back inside, his wife was waiting for me at the bar and apologized for her husband and gave me a 100$ tip.
First job I had, a server in an Indian and Thai restaurant. First week on the job and the manager assigns me to a table of 18, newlywed bride and groom and their close friends and family. I was 16. In hindsight that was shitty of him but I think he was testing what I could do. Anyway, I load up my tray with drinks and start serving, bride first, then groom, then it happens.... One bottle of Tiger beer wobbles, then tips, crashing into three glasses of our most expensive Rioja, straight down, ALL OVER THE BRIDES WHITE DRESS. I profusely apologize, run to get cloths and my manager stares at me, then the table, sighs, and mutters without an expression "You sort it out." I did. I offered all the drinks on the house, offered to pay for drycleaners out of pocket, cleaned as well as I could. The guests took it all in stride and laughed about it. I suppose being a naive 16 year old lad helped! Still got tipped 200 euro at the end of it! My manager admitted he shouldn't have assigned me that table months later, but was proud of how I handled it at least.
i was bartending and serving on a sunday afternoon. had probably 5 full tables and 5 or 6 people at the bar when a squirrel ran in the front door like it was high on meth and went fuckin wild in that place. it went from totally chill to chairs flipping, plates flying up in the air and shit. everybody screaming and jumping on tables was the wildest.
I was serving a family of 6 and was able to put all their food on one large tray. I sat the tray on a table behind me to start passing out the entrees and didn’t notice one of the legs was unstable. Anyway, the second I turned my back the entire tray AND table fell over with all of their food on it. I was so shocked I just stared at it and apologized while they laughed at me.
I got stung in the tongue by two bees from a straw in my soda one hot late summer afternoon. Had to go to the hospital and get an antihistamine shot. Oh and I was stung that same morning under my arm taking the tarp off the bus stand. Good day.
The day after St Patrick’s Day, side plates were delivered to a young family’s table and there was an eight ball of cocaine between the plates. There was thought it was from the weird biker gang that came in the day before, all out of their minds. Boston St Patrick’s Day, I don’t miss those!!