Things Customers Do And Say That Restaurant Employees Hate The Most

There's no question that there are some jobs, like retail and food service, that are annoying to work than others.

But even in the food industry, some customer behaviors really make food service workers question their decision to work in the industry.

Already cringing, Redditor Veeanniy asked:

"Restaurant workers of Reddit, what do customers do or say that you secretly hate?"

Through Rain Or Shine

"People who insist on sitting outdoors then complain about the temperature, bugs, or noise."

- Hyper_Active

"People actually sit outside and then complain about the weather?"

"The most I’ll do is ask the staff to turn on or slightly reposition a heat lamp. But I’ve probably only done that twice because I hate being cold and don’t want to make it someone else’s problem."

- tacocollector2

Easy Money

"I was a bartender at a diveish bar years ago, and one customer insisted on calling all the bartenders 'Easy Money.'"

"I actually found it kind of funny and unusual, but it enraged one of the other bartenders."

"Anyway, one night, one thing led to another, and they started throwing what I would very loosely call 'blows' at each other. No one was hurt due to their poor striking skills."

"Anyway, I never saw the customer again and went back to my hometown like ten years later to learn that the same bartender had actually bought the bar! I walked in and said, 'HEY!! EASY MONEY!! GET ME A F**KING BEER!'"

"He didn't recognize me at first, and I swear he almost swung at me. We laughed about it and he talked about how he hated being called, 'chief,' 'boss,' etc. He ended up buying the bar so he could decide who he allowed in."

- joeyguse

Please Leave The Jokes At The Door

"When asked if I could get them anything else, they reply, 'A million dollars,' like they are the most clever person in the world, and I have to fake a laugh like I haven’t already heard that 15 times that shift."

- hashtagfan

"I think every job that deals with people regularly has some joke that everyone believes they're the first to come up with. In actuality, you've heard it 75 times in the past week."

"Like if you scan an item at a register and it doesn't scan immediately, someone will go, 'Uh oh, that means it's freeeeeeeee.'"

"Ugg."

- donku83

Hagglers, Go Home

"I worked as a server for a couple of months. The customers who annoyed me were the ones who wanted to argue with me about the pricing of the item or how a particular dish was made. I have no control over any of that, and so it was pointless for me to stand there, receiving a lecture when I have so many other tables I have to get to."

- EstateNorth

"I had a friend that would literally try to haggle with the waitress at restaurants about the price. 'What if I get the steak without the side of fries, is it cheaper that way? Can I just get an eight-ounce instead of a sixteen?' etc."

"Emphasis on HAD a friend. He was insufferable."

- DoradoPulido2

Please Raise Them Right

"People letting their kids throw s**t everywhere and not even attempt to clean up after themselves!"

"I worked as a waitress for eight months, and it was my biggest peeve. Now when I go to eat with my toddler, I always make sure to clean up everything after we eat (including the floor, kids are messy)."

- Healthy-Juggernaut79

"I worked fast food for 10 years. One afternoon, I was cleaning tables and a mom, child, and grandma were sitting nearby where I was cleaning."

"I heard the grandma tell the kid, 'If you don't like your food, you can throw it on the floor. They're paid to clean up after you.'"

"And sure enough, the table and floor were disgusting after they left."

"What does the mom think of that? Clearly nothing if she didn't stop it. But does this kid do that at home? Does grandma say it's okay to throw food on the floor at home since mom has to clean it up? I just don't understand that logic, teaching that to a child."

- naturemom

Catcalling Is Not On The Menu

"Honestly, the amount of men who think women will find it cute when they harass them is astounding."

"Multiple times a day, I would get questions like, 'Are you on the menu?' or 'How much for a drink of you?' or asking for something that I need to bend over to get and then telling me they only wanted it to get a better look at my butt."

"I could honestly write a book about all the inappropriate sh*t I experienced while waitressing."

"Also, there are the 'fancy ladies' who intentionally humiliate waitresses by talking about them in front of them. I had this one woman bring her daughter in when I was working a late shift at one of my two jobs while also going to school because I had just lost my mom and was trying to make enough to not have to sleep on friend's couches and live out of my car."

"She sat down at a table that hadn't been cleared (without waiting to be seated), and when I came over to clear the table, she said to her kid, 'This is why you need to get good grades. If you don't, you'll just end up like her, cleaning up other people's s**t for pennies.'"

"I just put down the menus and walked to the kitchen and broke down crying. The owner happened to be there by chance, and when he heard what she had said to me, he stormed out there and told her that he didn't want business from her kind and told her to get out and never come back."

"She tried to argue that the customer was always right, and he just said that he had customers in the thousands, but good staff was one in a thousand, and he would not tolerate this kind of behavior against his employees."

"I'm still thankful to this day (20 years later) for how he handled this situation and defended me."

- Aggis

"That's really horrible, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm glad your boss stepped up. You can always tell someone's character by how they treat 'wait staff.' It's the only reason I like going out to certain places like dinner for a first date, to see how they treat the employees."

- Kooshdoctor

All In One Go, Please

"This infuriates me (doubly so when I'm absolutely slammed)."

"'Anything else I can get for you guys?'"

"'A side of mustard.'"

"Sure, no problem. I go get a ramekin, fill it with mustard, and bring it to the guests."

"'And an iced tea.'"

"...Yep, sure thing. Go back to make the iced tea, and bring it over."

"'And some extra napkins.'"

"SURE. Go back and get the f**king napkins. Bring it to them."

"'Oh and...'"

"Could y'all please just tell me this the FIRST TIME? Why are you making me run laps like this?"

"I have a million, trillion other things customers do that are absolutely enraging but this is the first that came to mind."

- ratedgforgenitals

Hands Off

"I was a waitress in a small cafe when I was 17/18, but I've always looked younger than my actual age. For all they knew, I was 15."

"The amount of older men (I'm talking 60+) that would stare at me and flirt at me IN FRONT OF THEIR WIVES was gross."

"One time I walked past one of these men on the way to the kitchen, he gripped my upper arm, pulled me down, and went, Your soup is S**T.'"

"The soup probably was bad, but it was the strength in his grip and the way he was willing to do that to a young girl that really freaked me out."

- Cumulus-Crafts

"Once upon a time, two patrons both grabbed me REALLY hard while fighting over the check. That was the only time I've ever gotten to actually shout at guests:"

"'TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME RIGHT NOW.'"

"They were like deer in headlights. It was epic, lol (laughing out loud)."

- Calgaris_Rex

Inconsiderate Screen Time

"The way that parents of young children let their kids watch their tablets LOUDLY when waiting for food. I know that you have to keep your kid entertained, but not everyone in the restaurant wants to hear Ryan's World unboxing videos on your crusty Amazon Fire tablet."

- Cumulus-Crafts

"I went out to eat for the first time in quite a while a couple of weeks back, at a Denny's of all places, just me and my 10-month-old."

"Right next to my booth, a child was watching Tiktoks on his phone, volume up. Two booths down a kid was watching Minecraft playthrough loud enough I could hear every detail. And on the opposite wall from mine, a kid had his tablet turned up, watching something that sounded like TikTok, but he kept rewinding and replaying parts so I have no clue other than it was loud enough I could make out a lot of it."

"Not only is this rude to waiters and other diners but like, can you really not just make a 30-minute part of your day screen-free? You guys are eating food; have a conversation and be a family, for f**k's sake."

- thingsarehardsoami

Yeah, About That

"'The customer is always right.'"

"F**k right off, sometimes the customer is an entitled spoilt brat who needs to show some respect and stop talking down to everyone like they own the place."

- Background-Factor817

Snapping Is Not Cool

"I'm in Germany, and I know this is appropriate in other countries, but snapping to get my attention p**ses me right off. I usually then take an extra round checking on other people before actually paying attention to the snapping customer as a result."

- theTrueMoon0

"From the US, it's not acceptable. Some people do it because they were raised poorly, but it is unacceptable. Take as many extra rounds to make a point as you'd like."

- SixicusTheSixth

Wait To Be Seated, Full Stop

"Sometimes when it’s not busy, people walk in and sit at the only table in the whole f**king place that isn’t cleaned. Like, plates and glasses left from the previous visitors."

"What in the actual f**k are those people thinking? It’s not that we’re a small place with only two tables or something, we seat around 300 people. THERE ARE OTHER TABLES."

- Cashewkaas

"And then they wave you down like, 'Um, excuse me? Can you clean our table? It's dirty.' YEAH, NO S**T."

- ratedgforgenitals

"When they seat themselves and you go to the table, and they just say 'Uh, menu?' like you're an id**t or something."

"Like yeah, the host would’ve given you one if you WAITED TO BE SAT. (Cue crazy smile.)"

"But let me go grab that menu for you after you just spoke to me like I’m the id**t in this situation. (Insert more crazy smiles here.)"

- Hotdogwater88888

You're Complaining To The Wrong Person

"I work at Five Guys, and I won’t deny, the prices are really jacked up, but that has got nothing to do with me."

"I’ve had several customers say to me when I’m taking their order, 'Why do YOU raise the prices this high?' or when I tell them the total of the order, they are convinced I added fraudulent items to their order to make it that high, like they can’t look at the screen in front of them and do the math."

- BigBadRhinoCow

"Oh my god, same. I have had people get mad at me for not providing discounts when I tell them we don't offer any type of discounts. I'm like, why are you blaming me for something I have no control over?"

- amercuryadept2010

"Like, sir, sir. SIR. At what point, and under what evidence, did you think I made decisions for the company? I, sir, am in a t-shirt-based uniform at a nationwide chain with hundreds of locations This is not what the CEO wears."

- Osageandrot

We Don't Know And We Don't Care

"In a college town pub, a couple of guys sat down at closing time, and the one with slicked-back hair said, 'Do you know who I am?'"

- teetuh

"If you think you're not getting tipped anyway, you can put people like that down a few notches by interpreting it as dementia or amnesia or something."

"Like, 'Is your friend okay? My grandmother sometimes forgets who she is, too.'"

- delta_baryon

"I overheard something similar at a bar once. This really drunk woman yelled, 'Do you know who my father is?'"

"Without missing a beat, the bartender replied, 'That's really a question for your mother.'"

- Mystic_Waffles

Target Practice

"When customers make me their target practice for their kids learning how to order at a restaurant. So I have to stand there for an extra 10 minutes when I have seven other tables waiting, and listen to some variation of this:"

"Parent: Mikey? Mikey? Look at the nice lady, Mikey. Okay, Mikey. Tell the nice lady what you want to eat. (Sheepishly smiles at me.) Mikey? Do you want eggy? Okay, tell the nice lady you want eggy."

"Mikey: (Incoherent mumbling)"

"Parent: He said he’ll have eggs. (Looks back down at Mikey.) Okay, now do you want cheesy eggy? Mikey? Look at Mommy. Do you want cheesy eggy or dippy eggy? Mikey? Okay, tell the nice lady what you want, Mikey."

"Just kill me."

- ScuzeRude

It makes absolute sense why these are some of these Redditors' least favorite things to encounter while working in a restaurant.

From general rudeness to crossing boundaries, some of these really made our skin crawl.