17 waitstaff share the most ridiculous request they've ever gotten from a customer.

Anyone who has ever worked in a restaurant knows that the customer is almost certainly never right...

When someone asked the online forum Waiters/Waitresses, "What's the most ridiculous request you've gotten from a customer at your restaurant?" people who work in the service industry were ready to vent.

1.

I worked in a wine store in a dying shopping mall owned by a local winery We had this 'wine club' program and I'm pretty sure this couple were the only active members.

But the level of entitlement these people had was something else. We'd offer samples of a few of different types - usually a Pinot Grigio or a Chardonnay, a merlot, and maybe a riesling or a fruit wine or something that was mass produced and inexpensive.

These people would come in and start ordering me around, would start demanding samples of this Cabernet Sauvignon that cost $80 a bottle (which we never sampled for obvious reasons). The guy would drink the strawberry wine and start critiquing it like he's a sommelier or something.

Once a quarter the winery sent out coupons to its members where if you bought one bottle, you got another one half price - the woman always tried to buy a $15 bottle then get the $80 bottle for half price. It became this quarterly fight she'd try to pick. They'd always try to pull this right at closing time, too, which is really when I lost patience for it. - Weird_Map_Guy

2.

One lady wanted her salad microwaved so the cheese would melt. I confirmed a couple of times, she wanted the entire salad, dressing, veggies, everything microwaved for melted cheese. It was a disgusting droopy mess, but she happily ate it. - PNW-Tec

3.

I bartended all through college at this bayside bar in Ocean City, MD. Every Tuesday, we had “Senior Deck Party,” where we’d set up a free buffet with all the mushy foods you can think of. The seniors would come through, grab a couple happy hour drinks, gorge on potato salad, and head out.

There was this one lady named Rose that would come, take up 2 seats at the bar (one for her and one for her purse) and sit there all day, demanding the following: A ginger ale in a highball glass with 2 orange slices, one lime slice, a lemon slice, 3 cherries, and 2 straws.

She never touched the fruit, it was only a status thing, and I was supposed to fill up her ginger ale every time it got to half a glass to restore carbonation. Any bartender will tell you, fruit is a precious commodity. This routine caused me extreme mental anguish. I should also add, SHE NEVER TIPPED. - frothyminx

4.

I waited on a young couple one night, and before they ordered, the guy pulled me aside and explained to me that he was planning on proposing to his girlfriend during dinner, and had a special request: he wanted to give me the ring to give to the chef, so that he could insert it into whatever it is she ordered, so that she would find it while eating her meal.

I explained to the guy that I didn’t think the chef or my boss would go for that idea as her potentially swallowing or choking on the ring was a pretty big liability risk, to which the guy responded, “Don’t worry I won’t blame you guys if she chokes, and if she swallows it, we’ll get it back!”

Just to humor the guy, I asked the chef and my boss about the guy’s request and, despite his verbal waiver of liability, they confirmed that we couldn’t honor it. As an alternative, I suggested maybe ordering her favorite cocktail and then I could place the ring around a straw or stirrer in the drink before I brought it out to her, but he replied that that wouldn’t work because she wasn’t 21.

He ended up proposing more conventionally, and she said yes, and now 20+ years later I sometimes wonder whatever became of them and how their marriage turned out. - VictorBlimpmuscle

5.

I had a customer ask what region the lobster was from in our lobster bisque, because he was allergic to shellfish but only from a certain ocean. All I could think as we had to call the head chef at home to ask about lobster source regions was that maybe the guy could...not eat the bisque. - erikarew

6.

We were opening a new bar in a popular area of a large east coast city. I was on staff for a soft open for food bloggers, columnists, and prominent yelp review writers. if anyone has worked one of these events before, you know how entitled and pushy the guests are going to be.

Everyone thinks that they are the most important person in the room and it is your job to just kiss a*s and deliver the food and drinks (side note, these events are usually free as they are invitation only). Tipping really sucks at these usually and they put the best staff on because we know the situation but will do a good job in spite of the lack of money to be made.

Our manager always made sure that there was plenty of food and drinks for staff after these parties because of the small amount of money we earned. The lady who coordinated the event was a food blogger who also had a style and travel blog.

she was wearing red bottoms. at one point she stepped in a canape and sat down in a bar stool (higher than the rest of the seats in the restaurant) and shoved her foot in my face insisting that it was my job to clean off her shoe.

It took all my strength to get a napkin and tell her 'you have two hands, do it yourself.' I immediately ran back to my manager, she was going to complain, and told him what happened. He told me that I should have told her to 'f*^% off.' damn i miss that dude! - soupseasonbestseason

7.

I was a bartender, but I certainly had my share of ridiculous requests. The weirdest was a woman who would come in on her lunch break from the Sprint store nearby and would drink a lemon drop martini before heading back to work. This was a fancy bar and it was a $12 drink. She'd give me an extra $5 to swirl my finger around in the drink before she drank it. It was definitely a weird sex thing. - Kahzgul

8.

It's been a few years since I've worked in a restaurant...I had a couple that would come in regularly, be total as*holes the whole time. She would order a glass of ice (packed as full as I could get it), hot water and lemon..because she brought her own tea bags and would make her own f**king iced tea at the table.

They would order salad with crackers instead of croutons and soup with croutons instead of crackers. Depending on the food, things had to be on separate plates and very specific items added or left off. 'Blonde' french fries. Well done grilled cheese. I loathe these people and I still see them around town. - cmm1417

9.

I used to work at an Italian restaurant similar to Olive Garden. I had a lady once order a Penne With Chicken and Broccoli... a tasty dish to be sure, but the lady requested that we make it with spaghetti pasta instead of penne because she 'is allergic to penne.' Not sure how exactly you're allergic to a specific shape of pasta...we'd gladly do the substitute even if she wasn't allergic. - The_original_guy

10.

I used to work in a sub shop that had delivery. A woman called asking if the driver could pick her up a pack of cigarettes and baby formula when he was bringing her her food... this woman kept claiming she knew the owner (who was not present at the restaurant) and that he told her beforehand that it could be done.

It was busy and I didn't have time to fight with her so I asked the delivery driver if he could do that for her and he did. Not really a big deal I guess, just a little ridiculous to ask a delivery driver. Also - asked the owner if he knew the woman... he does not know her personally but just knows her from being a crazy customer who orders frequently. - alwayswantsnacks

11.

Technically a chef but once I got an order for a kids butter spaghetti with a side of powdered sugar. - Technicolorlovr

12.

I used to be a line cook. I once had a server come back to my saute station and tell me she was about to ring in a chicken dish and the guy specifically wanted it just overcooked to oblivion. I cooked it like I normally would, then I microwaved it for three full minutes, then I held it in tongs and burned the s**t out of it directly on the burner flame.

I was totally ok with getting reprimanded for overdoing by a mile. She came back to me a while later and told me that the guy insisted that she thank me because it was the best piece of chicken he'd ever eaten. It was basically the food equivalent of finding out that some guys like to hire women to step on their balls in high heels. I was absolutely blown away. - ebimbib

13.

Table of two. They both ordered the same thing. Lady A wanted to add a salad. Sure, it will cost extra though. She said that was fine. Lady B then decided that she also wanted a salad. At the end lady B wanted to know why she was being charged for a salad. Only lady A was told that salads cost extra. - nsa_k

14.

I haven't waited tables in about 10 years now but I'll never forget the guy who asked for his steak 'dry.' When I pressed him for what he wanted explicitly he explained that he wanted 'no juice' to come out when he was eating it. I told him it would take about 30 minutes to cook his steak that done, he said that was fine and off I went.

Our steaks were pretty miserable portions in the first place, and the cut he ordered was the smallest one on the menu, so when I returned with his tiny little 6 oz flat iron that had been absolutely desiccated on the grill he looked understandably disappointed. He took a few bites of it and decided 'it wasn't very good,' which was underselling how bad it looked and almost certainly how bad it tasted. - panascope

15.

Mom and young son (maybe 8?) came in to the restaurant I waited tables at for lunch. The Mom asked her son what he wanted to eat, and he replied with “ranch.” I politely asked if he meant, like, a salad with ranch? Or French fries with a side of ranch? The Mom looked at me, rolled her eyes in embarrassment, and clarified—he wanted a soup bowl full of ranch dressing...

I walked into the kitchen and discussed with my manager, because I had no idea how to enter that into our POS system. My manager and I came to the conclusion that we should charge her for an entire bottle of ranch, so she paid $10.99 for a soup bowl full of ranch dressing. (Yuck) - Dpg2304

16.

I was working a banquet event. When serving a vegetarian meal, the woman was clearly upset and I asked if the meal was correct. She said yes, but “why do vegetarian meals always have to be pasta??” I offered to get her something else, like a PB&J, grilled cheese, etc. She wanted tofu.

I informed her that we don’t carry tofu, and she requested that I take the edamame from the hors d’oeuvres and make our own tofu. She was appalled when I said we wouldn’t be able to make her homemade tofu on the fly while serving 300 people, but I was kind of impressed with her thinking of the idea. - PassTheChocolate

17.

Early 2000's. Working in an Italian restaurant, this one cat insists he needs lime juice for his meal. As we're an Italian restaurant, we don't have any on hand for our menu items, but the bar should have some. Thinking out loud I mention that the kitchen doesn't have any, but the bar throws those into bottles of Corona, so I might be able to get some there.

Customer: Are you going to charge me for that?

Me: No, I think I can get a garnish for you.

So I come back with the lime and he looks confused.

Customer: Where's the Corona?

Me: I'm sorry - you said you wanted the lime? Did you want to order a Corona as well?

Customer: Yeah I want one, you said you wouldn't charge me.

Leading into a back-and-forth wherein he's upset I didn't bring him a free Corona with his free lime, because he misunderstood me. - [deleted]