The Worst Restaurant Customers

C.A. Pinkham shares stories from restaurant servers about their worst customers ever. Ray wrote him about a couple who came into the burger joint where he once worked and ordered two double burgers and fries. They didn’t even try to hide what happened next.

"The wife ate her burger normally, but the husband took the patties off of the bun and ate them by themselves. We all thought this was strange, because if he didn't want to eat the bun, he could have just ordered the burger without the bun. But hey, he paid for it, so he could do what he wanted with it. After they finished their burgers, the husband picked up his tray with an empty bun on it and walked up to the counter. He flagged down our manager and said we forgot to put the patties on his burger. He literally took the patties off his bun, ate the patties, then presented us with a meatless bun, saying he never got any meat.
"The manager comped him his meal and made me make him a new burger." -- Ray Davidson [Editor’s Note: I don’t want to believe that there exists a manager that stupid, but lived experience -- and editing these stories all the time -- has taught me otherwise.]

There are plenty of other, longer stories of horrid restaurant patrons in the first edition of a regular column about terrible customers at Thrillist. If you have such a story, you’re invited to send it in. Otherwise, you can learn what drives servers crazy.