Many people who've worked in the retail and food-service industries have horror stories to share about rude customers. While consumers have a right to complain if they don't receive proper service, all too often it's the employees who aren't being treated with respect.
But as the saying goes, karma's a bitch. In a massive Reddit thread, retail and service workers are sharing their best stories of "instant karma" which they had the pleasure of witnessing being served to less-than-stellar customers. We've rounded up some of the best (or, um, worst) stories from fast food and restaurant employees, based on their Reddit confessions.
The Trash-Thrower Who Got What Was Coming To Him
"Working the window at McDonald's late night. Guy orders whatever and pulls up to the window. I'm cooking and handling the window, so I wasn't there when the customer pulled up. When I walked up to the window, I didn't see the fucker with trash in his lap. I open the window to take his card/cash, and he throws a bag of trash at me. I take a step back, bothered that I just got trash thrown at me, and I watch his car speed off. I'm pissed, but there's nothing I can do. A couple seconds later, I hear a small bang of metal on metal. I walk to the lobby and look out the windows. The douchebag slammed into a police cruiser who was about to loop around and use the drive thru himself. Of course, I also went to tell the officer what just happened inside." — RedditWhileWorking23 The Customer Who Complained To The Wrong Restaurant
"Standing at the counter of the pizza place I work at. Lady storms in and slams a pizza down on the counter. 'This isn't the fucking pizza I ordered, what the hell are you going to do about it?' she asked. I look at the pizza then at my buddy Nick and turn back to her and say, 'Nothing.' She then goes on a long rant telling how we are going to be fired, how stupid and incompetent we were, she actually told me I must be 'retarded,' then asked why the hell we weren't going to do anything? I said, 'Because that pizza came from the pizza shop across the street.' I think she actually managed to shrink in size and slink out looking so pathetic and beaten I almost felt bad for laughing till tears dripped down my face as she slunk off." — necrohonkey
The Trash-Thrower Who Got What Was Coming To Him
"Working the window at McDonald's late night. Guy orders whatever and pulls up to the window. I'm cooking and handling the window, so I wasn't there when the customer pulled up. When I walked up to the window, I didn't see the fucker with trash in his lap. I open the window to take his card/cash, and he throws a bag of trash at me. I take a step back, bothered that I just got trash thrown at me, and I watch his car speed off. I'm pissed, but there's nothing I can do. A couple seconds later, I hear a small bang of metal on metal. I walk to the lobby and look out the windows. The douchebag slammed into a police cruiser who was about to loop around and use the drive thru himself. Of course, I also went to tell the officer what just happened inside." — RedditWhileWorking23 The Customer Who Complained To The Wrong Restaurant
"Standing at the counter of the pizza place I work at. Lady storms in and slams a pizza down on the counter. 'This isn't the fucking pizza I ordered, what the hell are you going to do about it?' she asked. I look at the pizza then at my buddy Nick and turn back to her and say, 'Nothing.' She then goes on a long rant telling how we are going to be fired, how stupid and incompetent we were, she actually told me I must be 'retarded,' then asked why the hell we weren't going to do anything? I said, 'Because that pizza came from the pizza shop across the street.' I think she actually managed to shrink in size and slink out looking so pathetic and beaten I almost felt bad for laughing till tears dripped down my face as she slunk off." — necrohonkey
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
The People Who Dined & Dashed — But Forgot Their Keys
"I am a bartender/server in a popular corporate bar and restaurant. I deal with a lot, but this was a particularly uncomfortable experience. Loser guy and his trashy GF were rude the entire time — initially, they wouldn't make eye contact and interrupted my greeting them by ordering two margaritas. They took up my table for two hours, ordered a ton of food, drinks and dessert, all the while treating me like garbage (eye rolling, scoffing, generally being aggressive, sent back an appetizer etc.). I dropped off their check hoping they'd GTFO as soon as possible, honestly didn't care if they tipped and I certainly didn't expect them to. They waited till I bused another table and went back to the kitchen, wrote 'bad service' and drew a dick on their check...then walked out without paying. I discovered this about three minutes after they exited the building. By this time, it was 20 minutes to closing. I had no other tables... and to my absolute pleasure, that douchebag left his keys and cell phone in the booth. I grabbed my manager and we sat in the booth behind the one they'd just left, knowing they'd either call or have to come back in very shortly. Sure enough, they called, manager answered and politely and enthusiastically told them to come right in. And when they did, I sat there holding the keys and cell phone with a huge smile on my face, while my manager demanded payment for their tab...assholes." — StabbiSabi The Man Whose Request To Be Carded Backfired
"A guy who looked well into his 40s orders a cocktail and does that stupid joke of 'I'm only 20, so you should card me.' First off, I never understood why people mess with IDs. It's my job to check it or not, and you get your alcohol faster if you just let me do it. So I was like okay whatever, and I check his ID. Turns out it was expired, and I couldn't sell him alcohol." — Mupyeah The Guy Who Got Locked Out Of His Car At The Drive-Through
"Working drive thru at a Tim Hortons, and some asshole in a massive black truck parked too far away from the window and expected me to lean super far out to give him his change. He was real impatient and just really rude. I just shook my head, and so he gets all pissed off and finally gets out of the truck and the door shut behind him. It was locked, and he sat there for like 15 minutes, and we had to call a tow truck. Sure, it pissed off everyone behind him, but at least they were all pissed off at him and not us! He acted like it was the biggest embarrassment of his life." — toastwizardd
"I am a bartender/server in a popular corporate bar and restaurant. I deal with a lot, but this was a particularly uncomfortable experience. Loser guy and his trashy GF were rude the entire time — initially, they wouldn't make eye contact and interrupted my greeting them by ordering two margaritas. They took up my table for two hours, ordered a ton of food, drinks and dessert, all the while treating me like garbage (eye rolling, scoffing, generally being aggressive, sent back an appetizer etc.). I dropped off their check hoping they'd GTFO as soon as possible, honestly didn't care if they tipped and I certainly didn't expect them to. They waited till I bused another table and went back to the kitchen, wrote 'bad service' and drew a dick on their check...then walked out without paying. I discovered this about three minutes after they exited the building. By this time, it was 20 minutes to closing. I had no other tables... and to my absolute pleasure, that douchebag left his keys and cell phone in the booth. I grabbed my manager and we sat in the booth behind the one they'd just left, knowing they'd either call or have to come back in very shortly. Sure enough, they called, manager answered and politely and enthusiastically told them to come right in. And when they did, I sat there holding the keys and cell phone with a huge smile on my face, while my manager demanded payment for their tab...assholes." — StabbiSabi The Man Whose Request To Be Carded Backfired
"A guy who looked well into his 40s orders a cocktail and does that stupid joke of 'I'm only 20, so you should card me.' First off, I never understood why people mess with IDs. It's my job to check it or not, and you get your alcohol faster if you just let me do it. So I was like okay whatever, and I check his ID. Turns out it was expired, and I couldn't sell him alcohol." — Mupyeah The Guy Who Got Locked Out Of His Car At The Drive-Through
"Working drive thru at a Tim Hortons, and some asshole in a massive black truck parked too far away from the window and expected me to lean super far out to give him his change. He was real impatient and just really rude. I just shook my head, and so he gets all pissed off and finally gets out of the truck and the door shut behind him. It was locked, and he sat there for like 15 minutes, and we had to call a tow truck. Sure, it pissed off everyone behind him, but at least they were all pissed off at him and not us! He acted like it was the biggest embarrassment of his life." — toastwizardd
The Woman Who Asked, "Don't You Know Who I Am?"
"Used to be a pastry chef at a place that did high tea. Had some snobby rich lady pull the 'don't you know who I am?!' thing, treated the staff like shit the entire way through...and then her credit card got declined at the end." — PsychoSemantics
The Dine-&-Dashers Forced To Leave A Tip
"More than a few decades ago, I worked at Denny's. I had two male customers that decided to dine and dash. Got their license plate number and reported it to the cops and jokingly mentioned that they didn't even tip! Later that night, they got pulled over for DUI, cops recognised license plate number from the report, brought them both back to the restaurant and forced them to pay the bill. After he was done paying, the cop just stood there and looked at them and said, 'Well?' The guy sheepishly handed me my tip." — Organic_wifi
"Used to be a pastry chef at a place that did high tea. Had some snobby rich lady pull the 'don't you know who I am?!' thing, treated the staff like shit the entire way through...and then her credit card got declined at the end." — PsychoSemantics
The Dine-&-Dashers Forced To Leave A Tip
"More than a few decades ago, I worked at Denny's. I had two male customers that decided to dine and dash. Got their license plate number and reported it to the cops and jokingly mentioned that they didn't even tip! Later that night, they got pulled over for DUI, cops recognised license plate number from the report, brought them both back to the restaurant and forced them to pay the bill. After he was done paying, the cop just stood there and looked at them and said, 'Well?' The guy sheepishly handed me my tip." — Organic_wifi