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What things are the best thing to eat (and avoid) before an exam?

Restaurant staff, what is the worst thing you've ever done to get revenge on an annoying customer?

  • I'm curious to hear if things like spitting on someone's fries, or drawing a penis in sauce on their plate, really do happen. I think it might be reasonable to do the latter if someone returns their perfectly-prepared steak three times, for example. Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with the restaurant business. You might, however, want to avoid mentioning which restaurant you work at, as it might prompt people never to eat there again.

  • Answer:

    I've worked every position in a restaurant and currently oversee a bunch of restaurants.  I've never personally done anything to a customer but have had employees that did. I've mostly worked in upscale/fine dining and casual dining and in those worlds this behavior is very rare in my experience. Most of the industry stories I have heard come from fast food and ma & pop restaurants which generally have younger, less mature employees.  A couple of incidents come to mind, both with companies I previously worked for. I once had a customer that sent back their food twice.  The sous chef decided that he would send out a complimentary dessert of a chocolate brownie with a small scoop of ice cream.  He made the small scoop of ice cream from lard. Scooped lard looks pretty much like the real thing.  The kitchen was a display kitchen behind a huge wall of glass.  He and the entire cooks line had a full view of the guest eating the lard.  If you've ever had a big bite of lard, you know that it has staying power in the teeth.  I fired him, he apparently thought the laugh was worth losing his job. I had a server that put Visine drops in a customers drink, which he thought as is commonly thought would cause severe diarrhea. But it can be far more dangerous and cause someone to become violently ill, even hospitalized .  I would have never known but the server was dumb enough to brag about it to the other servers.  I fired him as well.  I've heard many other stories but those are the only two I can verify as being absolutely true.

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I have a very rude, obnoxious customer that likes to get so drunk he falls asleep at a table and talks to himself - whether we served him those drinks or not - and one day another (very good) customer, whose girlfriend he had offended a lot, asked if he could have a marker pen to draw on his face. So asleep, in the sun, and under the influence of A LOT of alcohol, we drew a cat face all over his own! 1 hour later he wakes up, pays his bill and leaves. I have never felt so satisfied, after the terrible things he says, it felt wonderful :)

Joanna Evans

My first job in a restaurant was at the age of 14, as a kitchen porter. The chef was a mean mooded alcoholic. He hung my vertically challenged colleague from a coat peg by his collar. Sometimes we would be punished with out of date cake with sour cream on them. Every week the place was shut for one or two full days. The final shift we would load the short dated seafood into the microwave. When he got back in, the smell was going to make him sick dnf he never got the hint who did it. The customers? They were OK, nice people with manners. The chef ... different story :)

Ross Boardman

While waiting tables in a restaurant /bar popular with the restaurant crowd after the dining only places closed my best regulars were waiters and cooks.  We got along well and took care of each other.  Some guy was getting pretty obnoxious with the ladies so I lit his shoe laces on fire, kind of a more robust hotfoot.  He was more embarrassed by his reaction than in being angry with me and left quickly.  He even left a tip. Another incident was not a payback but an accident.  A serious regular would come in daily and after each drink collect the swizzle stick on the bar.  I was filling in for the manager at the bar and as a favor I would swipe a swizzle stick or two after pouring a new drink.  I didn't know that was how he knew his limit, by counting the sticks, and he got hammered.  It made some problems for him the next day I later found and he didn't come around much after that.

Thomas Mass

I had the epitome of the nightmare customer. My revenge was to give him exactly what he asked for: Rump steak, served 'blue'. I warned him  against it and suggested an alternative but he was an arrogant and rude customer who refused to believe that it would be any different from the 28 day Sirlion he ate 'blue' here last week. He didnt see why he would have to pay an extra £7 for the Sirloin when 'Rump was just the same' Ever tasted Rump steak cooked 'blue'? Its like chewy jelly. He tried to send it back saying it was a defrosted steak and he was reporting me to the Manager (I informed him I was the manager but he laughed that off) and was reporting the restaurant to Trading Standards. He chose to eat nothing but was charged anyway. I wrote Trading Standards number on the bill and printed out an 'Idiots Guide to Steak'. They were planted in front of him, much to the amusement of his guests. I was highly unprofessional but it was worth it.

David Mowbray

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