Restaurant servers are usually told to heed the old saying "the customer is always right."
But there are plenty of times when the customer definitely isn't. Anyone who's worked in food service can regale friends with tales of patrons who were rude, angry, and demanding — often for no apparent reason.
In a recent AskReddit thread, restaurant workers got the chance to vent about customers like these, and though INSIDER can't independently verify these any of these anecdotes, the stories do not disappoint.
Here are 13 jaw-dropping tales from servers on the worst interactions they've ever had with customers:
"If you feed me white wine, I will die."
"A lady and her husband came in and before sitting down told us that she was deathly allergic to white wine, saying, verbatim, 'If you feed me white wine I will die.' So I run around double and triple checking recipes and ingredients and making sure the kitchen is ready, so when she orders I know her food will be safe. Her husband orders the special and I make sure to tell her not to eat any of his meal as it is dressed with a beurre blanc made with white wine and I'd like her to survive her dining experience. Well I bring out their food and the first thing she does is scoop a big ol' forkful of hubby's special and I cry out in dismay as she [...] says while chewing, 'Oh, one bite won't hurt.'" - Redditor swift_bass
"We weren't going to open on Christmas day."
"I once had a really rude woman demand to book a reservation for Christmas day. We were only a small family-run restaurant so we weren't going to open on Christmas day. She promptly turned and shouted, 'What do you expect me to do, cook it MYSELF?' and stormed out, slamming a door and in the process smashing a potted plant." - Redditor sweet_cini
"They both completely ignored me."
"I was doing a routine check on a table that had been sitting for nearly two hours during the dinner rush. I noticed that they had finally finished their food, so I asked calmly — but very clearly and directly — if they were done and would like me to clear their plates. They both completely ignored me [...] Seeing as there was literally NOTHING left on either plate, I reached down and began clearing them [...] The dude slapped my hand [...] He said with a very raised voice, 'I'M NOT DONE YET.'" - Redditor Greas3LoL
"The guy was totally pissed."
"When I was in high school, I worked at a Johnny Rocket's. It was maybe my second day waitressing, and a guy with his family ordered a plain burger. Put the order in, but put it in slightly incorrectly so it came out with [...] thousand island dressing. Honest new kid mistake. The guy was totally pissed, made such an angry face that I can still recall it 13 years later, and then, out of nowhere, smeared the burger all over my chest and walked out." - Redditor bonesapart
"An elderly man came right beside me ..."
"An elderly man came right beside me when I was at a table and dried his hands on my arm because there weren't paper towels in the washroom." - Redditor Redpsyclone
"He found my Facebook and messaged my parents."
"Last Christmas I was serving an older man who came in during a rush [...] The cooks had messed up his order and I mistakenly hadn't noticed [...] He cussed me out in front of multiple other people, cussed me out to my manager, filed a complaint. That was the beginning. [He] FOUND MY FACEBOOK AND MESSAGED MY PARENTS SAYING HOW MUCH OF A MISTAKE I WAS." - Redditor BigSickNick
"This is disgusting."
"I wait tables in a country club. Had a couple come in once and as they were sitting down, before I had even introduced myself the woman was already complaining [...] She started off by telling me every time she gets the filet mignon its awful, and cooked wrong. I suggested she tried something else. Nope. Goes for the same thing again. [...] She grabs her butter knife and legit slaps the top of the steak with the flat of it three times and goes, 'This is disgusting.' Hasn't even cut into it or tasted it [...] Even left me a comment card, just saying 'STEAK SUCKED.'" - Redditor Mizerak
"At the end of the night, I just cried."
"A family of six dined and dashed on Thanksgiving. It was already a rough thing to be working a family holiday, knowing my tribe was at home enjoying themselves — but to have to miss out on what should have been a good tip, it was just salt in the wound. At the end of the night, I just cried. All of the servers rallied around me and tried to offer me a portion of their tips to make up for a loss." - Redditor ApatheticMedic
"Got tipped 50 cents."
"A big group [came] in on a Sunday. Ordered endless chip appetizer, waters all around, asked for extra lemons (you can see where this is going), stayed for a few hours. Total bill? Like $6. Got tipped 50 cents for having to wait around on them for literally my entire shift." - Redditor DevilsPajamas
"I was pretty livid."
"I was eight-ish months pregnant and working in my bar. Dude gets up to go to the bathroom and falls into multiple tables on the way back. I notified his group that they were all cool to hang out a while, but I couldn't serve that friend any more booze. They were totally nice about it and settled up their tabs as they were heading out soon anyways. Guy comes back and orders a beer. I tell him no, that he's had too much and should have a few waters. [He] didn't like that. Threw his beer mug at my pregnant head, yelling about how pregnant chicks shouldn't work in bars, and stumble-runs out. I was pretty livid." - Redditor emmyboop
"This was absolutely not happening."
"Man comes in alone [and] and snaps at me to get my attention. Before I can speak he says, 'Coke. With a lemon wedge.' We were a tiny little cafe without the funding for a machine [...] so we didn't serve soda [...] Turns out, he actually wanted me to walk next door, buy him a coke, and then bring it in and serve it to him. I told him as politely as I could that this was absolutely not happening, and he picked up [one of] the china tea cups we put at each place setting and threw it on the ground, shattering it and cutting open my ankle just a bit." - Redditor NotReady2Adult
"The daughter had no pants, just a diaper."
"It was one of my first tables of the evening. Family of five, mom, dad, two sons, and a little girl (probably 2 or 3 [years old]) [...] and the daughter had on a a dirty shirt and no pants, just a diaper [...] On my way around the table to pass out beverages I pass the high chair I notice the little girl has her hand in her diaper [...] I then proceed to watch her pull out a turd and throw it on the floor to join an even larger turd that was already there, slightly covered by a napkin [...] I turned to the parents and said, 'Um, your daughter has a situation going on over here.' The mother replies, 'Uh, yeah, I know, I threw that napkin over it.'" - Redditor werqingurl
"He started getting angrier every time I walked past."
"[A father] had been drinking quite a bit already and was obviously buzzed,. He started getting angrier every time I walked past. When the table was waiting for dessert, the father thought it would be a good idea to stand up and pour his full glass of beer all over me — as I was serving the food to the family at the table next to them." - Redditor Kwintennn
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