Food Industry Workers Confess The Dirtiest Secrets About Their Profession

Occasionally when the budget allows, people like to go out and enjoy being served a freshly prepared meal.

The food may be delicious. The service may be impeccable. The atmosphere of the establishment may be unmatched and transportive.

But if you ever learned the not-so-pleasant facts of what goes on behind the scenes at some of your favorite places to dine, you may never want to go back.

Curious to hear from insiders in the dining industry, Redditor PocketGoblix asked:

"People who have restaurant experience, what’s a dirty secret people should know?"

How well do you know about your servers? Sometimes, the less you know, the better.

The Upside

"Most restaurants are lawless, godless sh*t shows staffed and run by alcoholics, addicts and idiots. You'll never have more fun at work or meet more awesome people though. I miss it terribly."

– Appropriate-End714

Food Doesn't Go To Waste

"Worked at an upscale tapas place for years and can confirm. Our logic was that it’s tapas so it’s meant to be shared so why not? But god damn people would leave untouched dayboat scallops with truffle oil, they’d leave 70% of their meat and cheese boards and in Wisconsin, cheeseboards are fancy and legit."

"They say teachers have amazing immune systems after working with kids for so long, and they do, but restaurant staff also! Not necessarily from eating off other peoples plates but just constantly grabbing dirty glassware, dishes, etc. My immune system is 🤌🏼"

– avalle03

"Can confirm. I was a dishwasher at a pretty upscale place when I was 16, and I and the bus boys would eat the good stuff on occasion if it looked like the customer hadn't touched it. Like, people would order an expensive filet mignon and never even take a bite; wtf. Untouched pieces of cake, shrimp, whole burgers, etc."

"I (probably) wouldn't do it as an adult, but as a kid I thought it was great, haha."

– Derkanus

Sexual relations are going on that customers are clueless about.

To Put It Simply

"The staff is f'kin."

– Telrom_1

"They're f'king all right."

"F'king each other, f'king idiots, or f'king done with this sh*t."

– theFooMart

Love Appetite

"As someone who managed restaurants for years, I can confirm this. Half of my problems stemmed from the drama that led back to someone on staff fu*king or not fu*king anymore. But to be fair it's not just food service. I have friends who worked in retail and basically everyone there is f'king too..."

– esoteric_enigma

What about the customers?

The Chatterbox

"As a server, we had this one guy who would come in and order the same thing multiple times a week. His bill was always 18.59. He liked to talk and he was a very big guy and not attractive I guess. None of the waiters ever wanted him cuz he talked so much. I started taking his table and I always let him talk a bit. If things were busy I'd let him talk and say, hey it's busy tonight I gotta go to my other tables but I'll be back! And I would. He always tipped me a 20."

"When Christmas came along, he brought me a damn microwave because he remembered one time I said I didn't have one. So normally this sounds weird right. But this guy was so nice and genuine and never hit on me. He just wanted to talk to someone. I was sad when I moved, and obviously, we didn't have each other's contact info, but I still think about him and hope another waitress has got his back."

– sevensantana7

Looking For Connection

"I've had so many regulars that were a little off or weird but turned out to be the most genuine people ever. I think that restaurants or bars are a safe place for a lot of lonely people just looking for a little human interaction."

– Appropriate-End714

Tips from restaurant insiders come in handy.

It Pays To Be Nice

"If you order from pizza delivery places regularly, you will be treated differently depending on how you treat the staff. A lot of systems have sections to leave notes on customers."

"Personally, if I knew the person was cool, I would hook them up with discounts or as much cheese and peppers and napkins as I could stuff in their bags."

"If they were jerks, it was always 'Whoops, sorry buddy, just ran out!.'"

– shartnado3

Generosity Go A Long Way

"I ordered delivery one night and tipped $10. showed up at the door with two pizzas. apparently they had an extra and since i tipped so much, i got a free pizza. husband and i ate nothing but pizza for three days 🤷🏻♀️"

– throwawaybutofcourse

How To Be In Good Graces

"Don't come in 10 minutes to close. Everyone will hate you."

– HarveyMushman72

"I get this but IMPO this is entirely the restaurant's fault. Every restaurant should have a "last seating" time. "We close at 9:00, last seating 8:30." Everyone, employees and customers alike, would be much happier. I've been on both sides of it and yes it sucks to wait for that last customer to finish but it also really sucks to be seated and feel rushed. There's a very easy solution."

– lunarmodule

Some of these kitchen practices are questionable.

Health Inspectors And Their Integrity

"Where I worked, we knew most of the time when the health inspector was turning up. We also tried to delay letting them into the kitchen. Also, some health inspectors don't really give a sh*t."

– stuloch

Have It Not Your Way

"I worked at a Burger King about 30 years ago. Our managers were awful. And we’re super stingy with food. They’d leave meat and salad stuff out all day, until it was used. One day the health inspector came. They had us do everything to code. After a certain amount of time, the tomatos would have to be binned, and fresh ones brought out. And so on. The second the health inspector left. They had us go through the bin liners, and salvage all the salad stuff that was binned. Haven’t eaten Burger King since."

– Wookie301

Big Brew

"When I worked in a restaurant (Cajun/Creole bar and grill, the owner was from Baton Rouge) we kept it clean and followed code even if the inspector wasn’t coming, so nothing 'dirty' really, but…"

"We cold-brewed our iced tea by filling huge Rubbermaid trash cans (they were dedicated for this, had never been used for their manufactured purpose) with cold water and throwing a few kitchen-sized tea bags in them before leaving them in the walk-in overnight. We filled them with a hose attached to the sink while they were in the walk-in otherwise they’d be too heavy to move. We’d fill the tea dispensers by drawing it from the trash cans with small buckets. We would go through two of those f'kers a day, and the little bit remaining at night would be emptied, and the cans would be cleaned with bleach water and hosed out thoroughly before being refilled again."

– PineappleFit317

Standard Practice

"I worked in catering. Trash cans are the standard container for ridiculously large amounts of drinks. They were clearly labeled and never used for anything else other than drinks."

– esoteric_enigma

But Not So Fast

"You should not drink fountain drinks. If you knew what the hoses inside looked like and how rarely they were cleaned you’d never touch one again."

– FeebysPaperBoat

As with any job, there are plenty of things customers are in the dark about.

But when it comes to the food we eat and the people who prepare it for us, the customer should always receive the quality of service that is expected of workers.

However, respect goes both ways. Customers should never bite the hand that feeds them, so to speak.

You might never know of the consequences being prepared for you out of view.

And as far as sanitary conditions in the kitchens go, customers are dining at certain establishments at their own risk.

Are you sure you don't want to stay home and cook?