Customers Who Don't Know What Words Mean: Restaurant Horror Stories

[n2doc]

Welcome back to Behind Closed Ovens, where Kitchenette relates the weirdest, grossest, or just plain funniest stories to come out of working in the food industry. Today, we bring you people who do not understand simple concepts like "gluten-free" and "veggie subs" and "smoked salmon," and who are angry about it. Enjoy.

"I worked at Subway in high-school and on a slow-day, a lady came in and asked for a 'tomato, lettuce, and cheese sub.'

Easy enough, so I set about making it for her. Mid-way through the process, she stopped me and asked, "I don't see a 'tomato, lettuce, and cheese sub' on the board. Where is it?!" I replied, "Oh, well, it's just a veggie sub…" She curtly responded, "No, I don't want a 'veggie sub', I want a sub with tomato, lettuce, and cheese. That's all. I told you!" I replied, "Yes, ma'am, that's what I'm making." Her: "But where is it on the board?" Me: "It's on the board. It's a veggie sub; that's what I have to charge you for." Her: "I'm not having a veggie sub!" Me: "Yes…you…are?" Her: "I'M NOT A VEGETARIAN!"

This went on until she became so irate that she told me to stop because she was going to a competing sub franchise "where they understood English" and didn't try to rip her off (at the time, a foot-long veggie sub was the cheapest item on the menu at $3.99). She then flipped me off and made a failed attempt at slamming the front door with a spring-loaded door closer that slowed down the process. Fun Fact: She was meaner and more disrespectful than the guy who robbed the place with a machete two weeks later."

more
http://kitchenette.jezebel.com/customers-who-dont-know-what-words-mean-restaurant-ho-1555279230

[LiberalAndProud]

2. It's good that the folks serving those imbeciles can laugh.

I'm not well suited to the service industry. My desire to strangle the idiots might just overcome my need for a paycheck. Freeloaders looking for free meals just don't sit well with me.

[Warpy]

78. If you've ever dealt with the "general public" in any sort of retail

whether food or other items, you end up laughing a lot.

You also realize our species is just plain dumb a lot of the time.

[LiberalAndProud]

80. IT help desk stories are the funniest.

But the food service industry can be particularly vexing. So often the jackass customer walks away with a free meal leaving a server feeling like dung beneath their feet. Help desk I could do. Food service -- not suited at all.

[Warpy]

82. I always joke that one of the reasons I went into nursing

was when I got a difficult "customer," I could sedate him.

Since I worked mainly in surgical and post trauma units, that was really the kindest thing to do.

[Glassunion]

3. How do we get customers to unlearn the bullshit that "the customer is always right"?

[demwing]

6. It's not bullshit

it's just framing.

This might have worked:

"You're right ma'am, I'll pass your comment on to the manager at our next staff meeting. The Veggie sandwich is really just a sandwich with no meat, and your choice of veggies. You wanted tomato, lettuce, and cheese, with no meat, right? Let me whip that up for you right away"

Smiling all the time, and nodding at the end.

No bullshit. Customer is always right. Till they leave, then they can be as wrong as the staff wants them to be.

[Glassunion]

8. I've worked in the service industry for my entire life (25+ years). It's bullshit.

Undoubtedly the customer is indeed number one. Their concerns, questions and satisfaction are paramount. All customer complaints should be dealt with. Their concerns noted, their side listened to and an amicable solution provided. All customers should be satisfied. Their concerns should be addressed as to ensure that the customer does not feel cheated or deceived in any way. However, there are a good deal of customers that can never be satisfied. Period. They are wrong. Always.

The ideal of the customer always being right, has morphed into a bastardized form of its original intent. To the point where the motto has become an excuse to be unreasonable, abusive, and dishonest. I see it every single day. The number one way to tell that "the customer is always right", is wrongheaded, is when the customer actually utters the phrase. It is usually the last ditch effort when all avenues of unreasonable behavior have been exhausted.

[demwing]

16. I understand how you feel

But you'll never win points trying to make that argument, and approaching the customer from such a standpoint is a recipe for failure.

Re-frame the issue so the customer feels right, and you become the winner. I noted one way to do that, there are certainly many variations on the same theme.

BTW - where do you work?

[LiberalLovinLug]

28. You're absolutely right

I've worked in the restaurant industry, years ago now. I've also been an independent home painter. For the restaurant you always agree that their steak is under or over done even when it looks perfect to you. It will keep them coming back.

In house painting I learned from a previous boss that if the home owners have picked out a colour already and are happy with it and tell you, you say how great it is (even though it may look like a swamp green). Its different of course if they are not sure and want to honestly know your opinion.

It all balances out. Sure you may have to spend more time, and be extra nice, bite your tongue, and even comp some profit to an individual once in awhile, but others are watching. You have to ask yourself how you'd feel if, say, you brought up a steak you were sure was under done and the chef told you that you were wrong and to just shut up, sit down and eat what you are given. That would not only affect this person never coming back, but their friends and family would hear about it too.

In the end a business like this' sole purpose is to serve the public, if you lose that public trust, even by standing up for what you know is the truth, and argue with a customer and tell them or insinuate they are wrong, you won't last long.

[Glassunion]

31. I'm in convenience retail. Wife is in department store retail.

I do not approach customer service from the standpoint that they are wrong, or even that they are "not always" right. Their satisfaction is my goal 100%. However, there are customers that cannot be satisfied, and at times it can be beneficial to your business to fire a customer or two.

Employees run the business. Those employees are the front line to every customer. We train them to exceed the customer's expectations. We give them the freedom to make their own decisions on how to satisfy a customer. They are the one dealing with them, and no two customers are the same, so there is no in stone policy for handling complaints. Those employees are the keystone to our success. End of story.

You can’t treat your employees like serfs. You have to value them. If they think that you won’t support them when a customer is out of line, even the smallest problem can cause resentment. We have to work together every single day. And they need to know that they have our support. So if it comes down to the choice of choosing between a valued employee and some irate jerk who wants free car washes for a year because there was no tri-foam wax in his Ultimate wash. I'm going to chose the employee.

There are customers out there that you cannot reel back in. No matter how nice or accommodating you are. They are unreasonable, and abusive and our employees do not deserve dealing with that abuse. Yes there are incredible cases of poor customer service, however trying to resolve this by declaring that the customer is always right can be counter-productive.

When you make the decree that the customer is always right you are basically setting the ground rule that the abusive customer has an advantage over your employees. This makes it harder for your employees to deal with the abuse. You end up rewarding your customer's abusive behavior, and this will only encourage it more.

So what ends up happening is now that you are encouraging bad behavior from your customers, your employees have to deal with it more and more. And if they feel that their manager is always going to side with the customer, the employee becomes frustrated. When you have unhappy employees, you end up with poor customer service all around. It becomes fake and forced (plastic smile), and they are not having fun.

I'll give you an example. Way back when I was in Ops and was transferred to a new location, we had a customer who came in about twice a week. No matter what, this customer was not happy. He would nit and pick every little thing until he got something for free. What I noticed in my employees, was that when they guy came in, my folks would scatter, trying anything not to have to wait on him. It was the same MO. He would come in, pick up a few items, go out to his car, then come back in a few minutes later fuming at something. He would fly off at the first person he saw. He'd find anything to get something for free.

This guy would really stress out the employees. The last day he came into the store he simply bought a Hersey's candy bar and a soda. I personally rung him up. Two minutes after he left, he came back in and started yelling at me. Apparently the candy bar was broken and there was a huge corporate conspiracy to save money and ripoff the customer by cranking up the temperature of the cooler as his soda was warm. Never mind the glistening perspiration on the 1/2 consumed bottle of soda. He then demanded a free sandwich and a replacement soda and candy bar. You see he'd been down this road before, and knew immediately what to start demanding.

I apologized with a smile, I then personally fetched him another soda, and candy bar. He immediately inquired as to the location of his "God-Damned" sandwich. I apologized further and explained that there was not going to be a sandwich and that I was sorry that I could not help him further. I handed him his new soda, and unmolested candy bar, along with a return of his money. He became quite enraged and threatened to contact corporate. On the return slip for his purchase I circled the phone number for corporate. I again apologized as I was pointing out the number on the receipt, and then informed him that we would miss him as a customer, and wished him the best of luck shopping at our competitor. Corporate backed me up.

This was the best thing that I could do for my employees. They were quite pleased knowing that working second shift on Thursdays and Fridays was no longer going to be a nightmare. Yes, it is a bit expensive to replace a customer. But it is more expensive to replace a good employee. Sometimes you just have to fire that shitty customer.

[pipi_k]

34. So this reminds me

of a book I read sometime last year called "The Bialy Pimps" where the employees of a bialy shop decide to exact some sort of revenge on the person who owns the shop by putting it out of business. How do they go about it? By abusing the customers.

Only problem is, the customers end up coming back for more.

And when the workers get even more abusive, the customers love it even more. At some point the abuse reaches ridiculous levels...which results in the business being so popular the owner opens up a second store.

Of course, it's satire, but probably only partly, I think...

Anyway, there could be a bit of truth in it, as some people seem to enjoy being treated like shit.

[Glassunion]

36. Dick's last resort has the same model.

I love going there. First time there I walked in the door, sat at the bar, bartender walks up and says "So Spanky... What the f%#k do you want?" - I was immediately in love with the place.

[Iggo]

45. There's a Norm's in Whittier that's the only halfway decent place open on xmas day.

The wait staff are as mean as you let them be for that one day.

I like it. Lots of fun.

[tblue37]

55. Like Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi.". nt

[MADem]

77. Jaysus !!! You are an ASSET to your employers!

What superb leadership by example, first, what perfect problem-solving skills, second, and keeping your cool under such noxious duress? Well, that's a trifecta!

The loyalty and enthusiasm you get from your staff, as a consequence of their not having to deal with an asshole anymore, will probably increase sales. A pleasant person behind the counter who cheerily greets me gives me that extra incentive to ask for that "whatever" behind the sales clerk, or pick up that candy bar and buy it on a whim. Or patronize the place more frequently.

I hope they give you a raise--you're a treasure!

[stopbush]

30. You're right. And it's spreading to every walk of life.

Case in point: last fall, we held a huge marching band comp at our HS. The entire campus was closed for the day - city permitting would have it no other way. The tennis courts were being used by us to stage certain participants in the contest.

That didn't stop two dads and their teen-age sons from somehow getting on the campus, getting on the courts, tearing down the signs saying which groups of participants were to use the courts and proceeding to start hitting balls. I got a call on the walkie talkie and went over to check it out.

I explained to the situation to the fathers - that the campus was closed, that participants needed to use the tennis courts. I told him there were additional courts at the public park 2 miles from the school. First, they tried bargaining with me: oh, let us play for 40 minutes; for 20 minutes. This while participants were waiting patiently for them to leave. "I'm sorry, you have to leave, sir. The campus is closed and our city permit doesn't allow you to be here during this time."

"Well, I'm a tax payer and this is public property. So we're not going anywhere," says dad.

"Sir, this is government property, and you're no more allowed to use these courts whenever you like than you'd be able to schedule your own touch football game on our football field on a Friday night in the fall," says I. "Please leave."

Then, he turns around and says to his kids, "c'mon, let's play."

So, I walk out into the middle of the court on his side and say, "Excuse me, sir, but have you thought about the lesson you're teaching your son in defying my authority? Please leave before this escalates."

"Do what you have to do," says dad.

So, I got on the walkie talkie and called the sheriff - who was on-site for the event - to come over...at which point dads & sons SLOWLY packed up their things and left, all the time glaring at me and the participants waiting to use the courts.

"Thanks for nothing" he says as he's leaving. Well, I had about had it by then, "Sorry, but you were being a jerk," sez I.

"Hey, you don't talk to me that way in front of my kid!" says he.

Uh????

The customer's always right. NOT!

[lunatica]

14. Her objection was that she was being charged for a veggie sandwich

and that what she ordered was not on the board. Only the customer can win that argument because the server can't.

[demwing]

15. That's what I mean by framing

Clearly the customer was mistaken in her approach. But it's not a service worker's job to say or imply that, let alone try to prove it.

Re-frame the scenario so that the customer feels right, and your business wins.

[daleanime]

19. You can only try....

there are going to be times that you fail no matter how well you do.

[lunatica]

23. How can you reframe the fact that she wanted to see it on the board

so she would know she wasn't being overcharged?

[demwing]

35. Say this:

"I'll tell you what, I'll make the sandwich the way you asked, and charge the same as the very least expensive sandwich on the board. Fair Enough?"

You don't have to tell her that the least expensive sandwich is the Veggie...

[lunatica]

79. That might work

but her initial perception problem is still there. The 'non-veggie' sandwich she thinks she ordered wasn't on the board. That was her concern, although being charged the least expensive sandwich price might mollify her, she might still believe she's being charged too much.

My point is that if she's as dense as she sounds then she's probably equally stubborn in her demands. I've waited on people before and stupid really isn't predictable or pliable.

But yeah, fair enough.

[Bonx]

25. Excellent points, demwing.

Thanks !

[LanternWaste]

11. I think the "customer is always right" is simply a way to rationalize, "I'll deny my own...

I think the "customer is always right" is simply a way for workers to rationalize, "I'll deny my own integrity to make a buck..."

[demwing]

17. Offerring superior customer service

does not eat into your integrity.

[Javaman]

18. Do you currently work retail? nt

[Iggo]

69. When you deal with the occasional idiot, it eats your soul a little bit.

[The_Commonist]

27. "The customer is always right" was an advertising slogan.

It was dreamed up by the owner of a London department store in the early 1900's. Somehow it became gospel. Personally, I think it is one of several ideas that have completely ruined capitalism. I could tell you a number of "customer is always right" horror stories from my days in computer repair.

Yeah, be nice to your customers.
But you don't have to take shit from them.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

44. That was Harry Selfridge. He was an American who started Selfridge's in London in 1909.

I watched the show recently on PBS. He invented the modern department store, basically.
Previously you had to go into a store and a clerk handled the merchandise and waited on you. If you said you were just looking, you were chased out of the store. And there were different stores for different social classes.

http://www.pbs.org/program/secrets-selfridges/



I've worked in retail and it drove me completely nuts.

[Inkfreak]

48. Right on! I have no tolerance for those that are rude or abuse service industry employees.

Or any employee for that matter. It bugs me to no end when people are outwardly nasty from the get-go. A "my way or the highway" attitude has been fostered by that customer is always right slogan. A smile & a pleasant demeanor works wonders.

Take difficult situations as they come and treat everyone fairly.

[kentauros]

40. By telling them at every opportunity to read the wonderful site:

Not Always Right

[Lancero]

46. I know of a book you might like...

http://notalwaysright.com/book

[John1956PA]

4. Reminds me of Jack Nicholson in "Five Easy Pieces" who wanted toast, but it wasn't on the menu.

He tired to get around the problem by ordering the following:

Bobby: I'd like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.

Waitress: A #2, chicken salad sand. Hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?

Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.

[nilram]

58. I practically had to do that once when a server

wasn't sure if they could bring me my toasted roll without butter. Bizarre.

[Nye Bevan]

5. Perhaps the Subway worker should have said something like:

"No, it's not on the board, but it won't be a problem at all, I'm happy to make one for you, and it will be $3.99- is that OK?" instead of getting all hung up on the "veggie sub" nomenclature. Then there would probably have been a satisfied customer (but no funny story about a confrontation to post online).

[Mariana]

54. It's easy to think of that now.

It's a little bit harder when you're there on the spot, you're in the middle of having this surreal conversation, and you haven't quite yet figured out that this customer is completely irrational.

[Tikki]

7. I worked in a Mexican Food Restaurant..all kinds of language mishaps, but the coolest thing..

was when a gentleman sitting in my section ate both bowls of salsa before he ordered, even
though there were chips on the table, they remained untouched.

When he ordered he asked if he could have another bowl of soup with his dinner.


Tikki

[postulater]

9. I stopped at a general store on the Rio Grande River in Texas one day.

It was the only store of any kind within fifty miles or more. It was at the end of a long road that ended at the river. There was a little kid about seven years old who had come across from Mexico in a boat with his mom to go to the store. I watched him as he sat in the shade on the step of the store with a bag of chips and a jar of salsa. He scooped up the salsa with a chip and poured in down his throat. Finished up the whole jar of salsa that way without eating one single chip. And then he licked the chip clean. Made my day.

[Inkfreak]

49. That's too funny!

I can almost sympathize. There are very few good Mexican restaurants here in Upstate NY. So when I do get to one, I just about fill up on the salsa. The chips are merely a vessel to get it to my mouth. Love that stuff!!

[Tikki]

52. I know, I actually saw him eating the salsa with a spoon out of the corner of my eye, but couldn't..

get back to him right then. When I got to him to take his order he really did think they were little bowls of soup.
Being in California the salsa wasn't mild, but it wasn't super hot either. Just right, I guess!!!

I said yes and brought him more salsa and a soup spoon.


Tikki

[auntsue]

62. If you are near Owego

try Las Chicas Taqueria. The owner/chef is a California girl who really knows her stuff.

[Tikki]

71. Really good Mexican food is some of the best stuff on Earth.

The fact that this cuisine has found it's way so far from Mexico is a testament..




The Tikkis

[eridani]

67. Did you ever have anyone complain that the corn leaves wrapping the tamales were inedible?

Happened to a restaurant owner friend of mine once.

[Xithras]

10. My sisters restaurant used to have a sweetbread appetizer on the menu.

She had to pull it after having too many loud arguments with customers who didn't know what sweetbreads are...even though the menu had a DESCRIPTION of the dish right next to the price.

"I ordered a SWEETBREAD appetizer! This is meat!"

Or the infamous, screamed at the top of her lungs at the waiter across the crowded restaurant: "We ordered the sweetbread because we're vegetarians! You need to WARN people that you put meat in your sweetbread! I should sue you!"

The description read something like: "Lightly breaded veal meat served with local organic mushrooms and drizzled with Madiera sauce". You'll note the presence of the word meat.

[KittyWampus]

13. Instead of military service, I think all Americans should spend 6 months of their early adult years

working some form of retail- just so they know what it's like.

[alcina]

32. Absolutely!

I ran a food business for 6 years, and every one of my staff used to say the same thing. There are some people who are never happy, regardless of how nice you are or how much you try to accommodate them. I told my staff to be as nice as possible, up to the point where the customer became irrational or abusive -- and yes, that did happen. Sadly, on more than one occasion, I had to remind customers that a certain level of civility is expected in public venues. Often we got apologies; but occasionally we lost a bad customer.

[RobinA]

47. As a Former Retailer

I agree wholeheartedly!!!

[Inkfreak]

50. I said this very thing yesterday after watching a very rude man talk down to a woman serving him.

She was more than able to handle his boorish behavior tho. And with a smile! I tipped her extra cause she was awesome.

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. But, but, that description is still missing something

(Too many Chopped and Iron Chef episodes)

[Spider Jerusalem]

76. Would've been even worse, probably...

if they knew what they actually actually were (I suppose it didn't say "lightly breaded thymus glands"?) A lot of people seem to be a bit...squeamish about eating offal, for some reason.

[Xithras]

81. The funny thing is, it's an organic "nose to tail" restaurant that markets to "foodies".

You'd think that a "foodie" eating in a hipster restaurant would know a thing or two about food.

I like them myself, but I'm probably in the minority.

[KittyWampus]

12. I worked at a Gristedes (union job =double time on Sundays!) and was standing behind

I was standing the behind the deli counter visiting friends who worked in that department during my lunch hour.

I am pretty short and the counter was really high- I couldn't see over it.

Anyway, one day a woman comes in and asked my friends behind the deli counter "how is your Virginia Ham today?"

I answered (hidden by the counter) "fine, and yours?"

Darn, but that woman got so angry and I hadn't intended to be rude.

[geardaddy]

24. ...

I would have probably said the same thing!

[frylock]

20. i once overheard a woman next table over at a Chevy's in LV ask for a chicken quesadilla, no cheese.

the poor server tried to explain over and over that you can't have a quesadilla without cheese. she wasn't having it and was very insistent upon having that chicken quesadilla sans cheese. I so wanted to turn around and tell her to just have the damn chicken burrito.

[NightWatcher]

26. The server should have just given them the burrito shell with chicken in it

I used to love to give people EXACTLY what they ordered, no matter how silly.

Coke, no ice, sure thing (waits five seconds) "but this drink is not cold"

House salad, no tomato, no onion, no dressing, ok here's your bowl full of lettuce

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Not to be too picky

but in central Mexico Quesadillas can have all kinds of fillings not just cheese. And yes, we have eaten at Chevy's that is not one that I could expect at a Tex Mex place though.

When we go visit my mom in Mexico City we go to a place that specializes in quesadillas They have them filled with meat, zuchini flower (a fav of mine) huitlacoche (another fav of mine and a kind of fungus that at times you can find canned in the US). brains, (nope), ok cheese, meat, and a few other fillings. Cheese is not their best seller either.

Next time I will try their chicken soup. It is supposed to be the best.

[pipi_k]

21. One thing I've always wanted to do

and never had the presence of mind (or is it gumption?) to do...

Would be, upon hearing anyone serving the public and getting abused by said public, to turn around and tell the jackass doing the abusing what a huge jackass s/he really is.

The employee can't do it without risk of being fired.

But hey...I'm another paying customer. They can't fire me!


The closest I ever came to it was when I was in a fast food drive up line and heard the guy at the window, right in front of me, giving the worker a really hard time. He drove off and she looked like she was close to tears...

I drove up and said, "Wow...what a jerk!!!" and was extra special nice to her.

I can't see why people abuse people who are doing jobs they themselves wouldn't do.


I got much the same attitude/treatment when I was working in Human Services with some developmentally disabled/challenged people. They were young adults placed there by their parents when they were children. Some of the parents were totally cool.

There were a few, though, who were total assholes. They didn't want to bother with their own kids (some didn't visit but once a month even though they were local) but I, and my staff, were constant targets for their abuse. Only thing I could figure was that they felt guilty...

[tblue37]

56. These days the jerk is probably armed and eager for an opportunity to shoot you. nt

[pipi_k]

64. I know...

which is one very good reason I try to avoid road-ragers.

Put a person in a car, and some of them turn into the biggest assholes around

[fantase56]

22. Here's a possible solution

Have everyone at some point in high school or college work in a service industry for a year (sort of like the Israeli Military requirements). They can work as a waitperson, busser, cook or dishwasher. Maybe they can work in retail as a sales person. I spent 24 years in the restaurant industry, both front and back of the house and am quite convinced that the customer is “rarely” right. Whatever it is in our society that defines waitperson, dishwasher or retail clerk as a “slave” could be changed in a short amount of time by having everyone pearl dive over a hot steamy sink of dirty pots and pans for 6 months, then wait on customers for the next 6. I put in my time.....

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. and sometimes... servers don't know what words mean

my niece's wedding.

I am truly gluten allergic. I cannot have the stuff. If I do, well, there are some really obvious effects.

So I am told by the staff that the tamale (usually made from Corn masa) has gluten. Ok. So I did not have it, and later found out it was made with ONLY corn masa. Then they bring the salad, with croutons on it. Well, you know the bread croutons are gluten free, I was told, that wheat bread has gluten, but not white bread, since it is in the full wheat bread that gluten exists. I have that changed to a plain salad, no salad dressing thank you very much. Main dish, my meat has none of the corn salad, because corn, apparently, is full of gluten.

It was, quite frankly, one of the most frustrating experiences with staff I have ever had.

[csziggy]

38. Or what is in their own sandwiches!

I once at a drive through ordered a BLT. It was on their menu that way - BLT. I asked for whole wheat toast, mayo and brown mustard, no pickles, nothing else. The person taking the order asked if I wanted lettuce and tomato on my sandwich.

I responded, "It's a BLT, it comes with lettuce and tomato!"

She said, "But you said mayo, brown mustard and nothing else."

I was speechless for a few seconds, long enough for her to ask again if I wanted lettuce and tomato. I told her "Yes, thank you."

When I got to the park and got out my sandwich, there was no bacon on my BLT.



I didn't bother going back to that place - ever.

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. Well I know that to that wedding I brought safe food bars

I was willing to eat wonderful food bars for dinner if need be.

But that is a whole different story.

Even my school cafeteria made us LEARN what came in the menu standard.

My favorite story from the server point of view was this Jewish kid (I am Jewish too) demanding Matzah with his burger for Passover. To top it off, he ordered his burger, with the kosher matzah, he checked the box, with bacon, tomato and cheese.

It took a lot of effort on my part NOT to laugh.

[Electric Monk]

33. For many more such stories, notalwaysright.com has a bunch

http://notalwaysright.com/tag/restaurant

[kentauros]

41. One of my favorite sites!

The Bitchy Waiter is another one

[Union Scribe]

65. For the last hour and a half

I've done nothing but read page after page at that site. I don't know whether to thank you or curse you

[Electric Monk]

66. Why don’t you sub shops just have tuna? Why is it always tuna fish everywhere I go?

[Aerows]

75. I know

I've wasted far more time than I should have reading that site

I'm with Union Scribe, I'm not sure I should thank you or curse you!

[tableturner]

37. I once helped a customer execute a slur against me.....

I once owned a specialty food supermarket, and one day I noticed a woman absolutely abusing a cashier. I listened intently from a modest distance, and it was clear that the cashier was actually trying to agree with the point the customer was making. However, in the classic sense, the woman could not accept a "yes" answer, and kept on abusing the cashier.

So I went to that checkout and told her "The cashier is trying to agree with you, if you would let her". The lady nastily retorted "Oh why don't you shut up and go back to Ireland where you came from!" My last name clearly sounded Jewish, so I knew that she was trying, and failing, to tell me to "go back to Israel".

I thought that her stupidity was hilarious, and I involuntarily and immediately started laughing very hard, which was a response that the lady definitely did not expect. She scowled at me and spat out "Why are you laughing?!!!" I answered "I'm laughing because it's Israel, you moron, not Ireland!" All the people in the lines near that cashier laughed and actually applauded me! The woman scurried out, never to be seen again, which of course was what I wanted.

Obviously, I had taken advantage of an option afforded me as the owner of the business, a perq I thoroughly enjoyed, although I would not advise doing that if you work for someone else, even though you would be justified.

[Jefferson23]

51. The gluten free dead man walking is my favorite. That was hilarious. n/t

[JI7]

53. in the example posted the worker comes off as an ass also

[Nye Bevan]

57. Yeah, sounds like the worker kept saying "veggie sub" just to annoy the customer.

A good retail worker is one who knows how to calm down, rather than inflame, this kind of situation.

[Boom Sound 416]

59. How so?

[Nye Bevan]

60. The worker should have said something like

"No, it's not on the board, but it won't be a problem at all, I'm happy to make one for you, and it will be $3.99- is that OK?" instead of getting all hung up on the term "veggie sub".

[Boom Sound 416]

61. Sure, but

I took as he was trying to educate her on the way sandwiches are classified.

There is no meatball bacon Swiss (and while their obviously should be) it would be classed as meatball sandwich with adds or some such example.

[IronLionZion]

63. What kind of person would be rude to someone handling their food?

Its just seems like tempting them to do something bad to it. Like trying to insult the surgeon about to cut you open. Or any number of similar things. You might be in for a very unpleasant surprise.

[Iggo]

70. An astounding amount of people are rude to the people handling their food.

And they're especially rude to the ones young enough to think it's serious enough to do something about it.

Abuse the teenage burger-flipper at your own peril.

[treestar]

68. That was an interesting read

I waited tables in the 70s while a student. I recall some unpleasant people, though in my case it was the people I worked with that were annoying. I used to hate the way we didn't have a definite leaving time and if there were a lot of customers in the place, they kept us on until it died down. At that time I didn't see it as just a chance to make money, which other waitresses did.

[Aerows]

72. The last one was hilarious

"Years ago, I worked in a deli in DC. One morning a customer sat in my section and asked for a cup of coffee and a bowl of milk. She had an absolutely enormous purse with her, so I noted that we couldn't serve cats. She then reached into the purse, whipped out a box of cereal and the Sunday Post, and told me that we didn't carry the cereal she liked.

I brought her the milk and the bowl, and she went about her merry way. Upon leaving, the customers sitting next to her (regulars of mine) asked me how I could have possibly filled the request with a straight face.

'That's nothing,' I said. 'Last week she gave me an egg and asked me to scramble it.'"

[Donald Ian Rankin]

74. It seems slightly harsh on the last example to include her with the others.

She sounds merely eccentric, not obnoxious.