Never work in hospitality. Strangest things people have complained about.

[KnopkaPixie]

Here's some to get us started:

"There's broken glass on this steak."
It was fancy coarse ground salt.

"I can't eat from a square plate. It's bad feng shui."

Any more?

Two things spring to mind.

a very animated chat with a customer one afternoon over why I couldn’t accept her Tesco vouchers. No amount of explaining she was in Iceland would placate her.

the bunch of golfing toffs in a posh hotel who decided the tomahawk steaks were not to their liking….after eating almost all of them and laughing about it in a very “watch this” way. Happily the manager came over and explained as they had eaten the meal they would be charged. They were not amused. I was.

Oh sooooo many! 25 years in the business.....

Most recent would be a woman a few weeks ago who ordered a standard pub grub dish, say lasagne. I clocked very early that she is a professional complainer to get free stuff. Not gonna fly with me!

She moaned about the whole dish, and actually said "Well it doesnt look like Wetherspoons [lasagne]!" and I said "Well no, thats because it isnt Wetherspoons, but I can get you a replacement" No she didnt want that, ate the lot, said it was shit. Her friend was mortified and made a point of saying "Mine was perfect, thank you". Then she comes to bar and orders 2 puddings each for her, her friend and the two kids with them. The look on her face was smugly expectant that I wouldnt charge her. Guess what?

Most common one though is people complaining that Hunters Chicken has BBQ sauce on it, they dont like BBQ sauce. ITS ON THE BLOODY MENU!!! Not my fault you didnt read it properly!

Managing small training courses 6 to 10 people. At morning breaks there was one dispenser of tea of and one of coffee. Every time I got the feedback sheets back one person would say the tea was too hot and another too cold. It was ten minute break so chance for variation. Different groups, every time.

Oh we had to close once as due to our location and a power cut the water was off for four hours (the pump that forced the water up to us had to be reset).

The number of people who banged on the door, despite the sign saying "But we have booked for lunch! Surely you dont need water to cook a steak?!" despite the fact that its totally against the law to open a hospitality venue without clean running water! We had done everything we could to warn people, rang them, everything but no, they came anyway and were outraged.

If I was served wine with an insect in it I'd ask for a fresh glass. If an insect fell into it after id accepted the wine I'd fish it out with a spoon and finish the wine.

Customer complains. Waiter apologises. Customer says “I know the owner very well, better than you do.” Waiter “Really. My mum will be worried then as the owner is my dad.”

... there seem to be a few awkward customers on this thread 🤣🤣

ive had that had to close because of a small fire and I was cleaning the mess and they still want food and got shirty about it too. This was a snack van not a sit in restaurant either.

Dh was out with some pals and a friend of friend. They got very drunk and decided to go clubbing, men well into their 30s and well off. They got a handful of concessions for a club so went there. At the door they realised that they had a lot more concessions than they needed but this one guy decided the club should not only let them in free but actually should pay him money for the unused concessios. He got so upset and irate he tried to make everyone else leave with him but they just went in and left him outside with his rage. I'd say he has never lived it down.

Aww, that sounds a genuine mistake.

Read an interview with Ruffus Hound saying him and his partner are vegan but eat venison. 🤦🏾‍♀️

@Findmethesmallestviolin I see you've met my late FIL...

I'd just fish the bee out, sober it up, then drink my wine!

Hospitality can be a joy- sometimes think working in it in our youth gives you new perspectives.
It is not always the customers causing you grief-
Aged 17-18 working in village pub the last chore of the night was to drag the semi comatose landlord upstairs before locking up. Also the joy of explaining to his in-laws that no we could not get them to speak to his wife as he had locked her in the kitchen.
Aged 19- at an "ale House" in Manchester having to wear a wench costume and being told to be nice to the lesbian lady talking filth to me over the bar. Also having to put up with being accused of theft when dopey landlady who could not count went on the tills and so they did not add up

Mind you it is not just hospitality - I had customers sending me dick pics when working in Biotechnology. People are weird

Assuming it's a UK restaurant, the mistake is writing the menu in American. Why should we be expected to know that it is not in English?

Eh?

Edit, oh I get it now

I waitressed as a teen...I was asked what flavour the ham and cheese quiche was...

'My microwave isn't working'
Sir, that's a safe.

I'm in hotel work for over 20 years and I love the madness of people 😅

Family friend owned a restaurant in our town for years.
My dad would always order his steak well done.
”Cremate it,” he’d say.
One evening, the chef, our friend, brought out a plate with a big piece of charcoal on it surrounded by a jacket potato and some lovely vegetables and placed it in front of my dad.
Best burn ever.
lol

Not first-hand but from a review I read of a hotel in Spain:

"The coffee machine in the breakfast room needs cleaning. When you push the button for a black coffee it comes out with this brown foam on top, which you have to clean off to get to the actual coffee".

(It sounds like a wind-up, but the rest of the review makes it clear that it isn't.)

Repeatedly demanding the tuna after being told there was none left. What was the waitress supposed to do, go and catch it from the nearest fucking river? Same customer also yelling that she’s gluten free after being offered any dish cooked without gluten.

I was in a fancy restaurant with a friend who is a chef. She ordered the very expensive wagyu steak cooked rare. The wait staff looked very confused when she sent it back because it tasted 'too meaty'

I wonder if the "bee in the wine" disagreement is due to misunderstanding?

If I poured wine and then a bee went into it then of course I would replace it before giving it to the customer. If the customer takes the wine, sits outside and a bee flies into it then no I wont.

Not my fault that you chose to sit on the terrace and then nature did its thing. Fish the bee out and drink it or pay for another.

"The CHICKEN isn't vegan"...

I swear to god I said "Huh?!," about 6 times and stared at her like an idiot for way longer than is normal because my brain couldn't process that she wanted real chicken, non of that "fake plant chicken" but wanted it vegan.

I would like to add, I left that job 10+ years ago and haven't worked with the public since

Of course - they weren't handing out glasses of wine with a side of bee 😂

I have one where the restaurant were bizarre...Heavily pregnant with DC, we'd gone out for a Chinese dinner. Independent but well established restaurant on a popular tourist city.
We'd ordered and were waiting for our starters when a man from the neighbouring table collapsed onto the floor, coughing up huge amounts of blood. My husband went over to assist with first aid along with another Customer, but it became clear when doing CPR that the man was very unwell, when large amounts of blood sprayed out with each chest compression. The area looked like a crime scene, blood soaked into the carpet and up the walls. I was trying to support the family who were distraught, apparently the man had advanced lung cancer, which explained the blood volume.
Just as husband and other Customer were persevering with CPR and talking to the emergency services, both covered in blood, the waiter started bringing our meal out. Lighting the warmer and starting to place food into bowls. About two meters from the man who was almost certainly dead at this point.
The waiter was most put out when I asked him to take it back to the kitchen for a while.
After the paramedics arrived and the man was very quickly taken off, the restaurant were again put out that my husband didn't exactly feel like sitting back down to a full meal. Next to an area that was soaked in blood, being covered in blood and bits of lung tissue, he couldn't get the blood off his hands and arms, it was ingrained and dried.
Very bizarre experience!