As someone who's worked in everything from retail to coffee shops, I have my fair share of customer nightmare stories. But ever since watching (and let's be honest, rewatching) the "Forks" episode in The Bear, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of customers fine dining workers have to put up with. So I decided to ask the BuzzFeed Community about their experiences serving the rich at high-end establishments. Here's what they had to say.
Disclaimer: These stories have not been verified. The users are supposedly speaking from their own experiences.
1. "I wasn't a server but I was chef de partie for a banquet/catering company. We would do anything and everything from weddings, corporate dinners, concerts, trade shows — you name it. One wedding stands out, namely because of the bride's grandfather. He was maybe in his late 70s/early 80s, three sheets to the wind, and an absolute pig to the female servers. He'd catcall them and refer to them as 'baby,' 'hot stuff,' or 'sweet cheeks.'"
"He was/had been a prominent real estate investor and paid for the whole thing. He ended up grabbing one of the female server's butt, and she immediately turned around and slapped him in the face full force.
The manager took her to the back for an explanation, and since there were other witnesses, the old fart was ordered to apologize and leave immediately. He refused, saying it was his money paying for it and she should learn to take a compliment. The bride called the cops on her own grandfather to make him leave."
2. "I worked at a country club when I was in college. Heard they took care of the staff, and you'd make good connections on the way. Boy, was I wrong. That was the worst job I ever had. The members would berate you, speak to you like you were 'the help,' and try to bully you into not charging them for what they ordered (it was a private club so we were expected to bend over backward but NOT steal from the club). The funny thing was that membership at the lowest tier was $90k a year, so these people could definitely afford a $12 Patrón drink."
3. "I worked at a fine dining restaurant in an area of the country that was/is a hot spot for the opioid epidemic. We would have two high-profile pharmaceutical companies host dinners in our private dining room. The minimum spend was $300 per person, meaning that no matter what, each person had to spend AT LEAST $300 on drinks and food."
"They would invite doctors and pharmacists from the area and wine and dine them, then push them to prescribe opioid painkillers to their patients. This went on for years into the epidemic.
We had to wait in the room and be on call if they needed anything. Taking the tip money felt so scummy, knowing where it came from and at what cost. I lived in a small town, too, so you would see the local doctors come in and know that they were going out and giving this to your friends and family.
The level of entitlement these pharmaceutical reps had, and their audacity, was unreal."
4. "Back in high school, I worked as a dishwasher at an upscale French restaurant on Lexington Avenue in NYC. It was around 1979. Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, accompanied by two women, didn't have money to pay the check. He insisted the meals should be comped because of his fame and he would bring in more customers by just eating there. The owner wasn't going for it, and the women ended up paying the check."
5. "I was studying to be a sommelier and was serving at a high-end restaurant in downtown Chicago, and their massive wine list helped me learn quickly. One day, I was serving a table of people from an advertising agency and the owner. Of course, I was kissing their asses because they were my guests, but after two or three martinis, they started getting a little too comfortable."
"They started asking me why I wasted my money at a top-tier university to serve at a restaurant and saying how my parents must have been disappointed that I worked there.
After his employees noticed the scowl on my face they told him to apologize, so he walked over to the servers station, threw $500 at me, and said, 'That should make it better.' I shared the tip with my coworkers and went on to sell wine for one of the country's best distributors."
6. "I worked at a Michelin-starred restaurant that looked incredible inside, marble everything from floor to ceiling. The only thing with this was that the acoustics were loud and you could hear everything guests were saying to each other (which is important for later). I was responsible for doing wine pairings for each table. Since we were a tasting menu restaurant, we would serve about eight wines per person. Naturally, we’d pour a bit less than a standard-size glass to ensure people weren’t getting too drunk."
7. "One time, I was serving a woman and her husband for dinner. Though I don't know how old they were, I would guess they were late-50s. They drank very expensive bottles of wine all through their appetizers and entrees but ordered liquor after dinner. She ordered a 1942 on the rocks (for those who don't know, this is straight tequila over ice). When I handed the husband his drink, he complimented my eyes in a very appropriate manner. The wife then looked at me and told me that her drink was too strong."
"I said, 'Ma'am...it's straight tequila..." Naturally, this logic caused an uproar and she asked to speak to my manager and demanded I be fired. My manager calmed her down and offered free dessert and a new, complimentary drink. They even offered to have another server take over the table, which she declined.
When I brought her the new drink, she deliberately looked me in the eye and pushed the other empty glass of tequila off the table, shattering it on the ground. She smiled at me and didn't even attempt a fake apology.
Her husband ended up tipping me well over 30% which confirmed my suspicion that her behavior was probably a regular occurrence. If I wasn't completely broke and in law school at the time, I would have punched her in the face."
—Anonymous
8. "I worked at a luxury steakhouse in the '80s. A large group of regulars came in every weekend, hogged their table for hours, and you couldn't turn it to make tips. They were loud, telling jokes and stories as if they were on stage. They were so demanding that often a waitress was detailed just to handle them. Their checks, with apps, entrees, dessert, and cocktails ran in the hundreds of dollars, so the owner loved them."
9. "A woman handed me her baby so I could change his diaper! She claimed, 'Isn’t this fucking restaurant full service?!” Lady, the $300 tab DOES NOT include shitty diapers. I was 19 and had zero experience with babies or diapers."
10. "Pat Sajak was the absolute worst celebrity I have ever served. When I had the 'honor' of waiting on his table, I was a waiter with 10 years of experience; I knew what I was doing. But he liked to snap his fingers and say, 'Hey you,' even though he knew my name enough to complain to the owner. He'd make the kitchen (and myself) remake every item he ordered."
"It got to the point where we would just re-plate his food, or in the case of the creme brulee, I would just add sugar and re-torch it.
The worst part was that he would tip about 5% (after telling everyone around him how wonderful he was for donating to build a hospital wing) and then complain to the owner to get his bill cut over some imagined gaffe."
—Anonymous
11. "Absolute lack of respect for staff and surroundings. Had a guy get blackout drunk and vomit into not one, but several nice glasses, which then overflowed onto the table. His table thought it was funny and made no attempt to clean it up. They all left and didn’t bother tipping. Oh, and older men thinking they can comment on your body, especially if it’s something they don’t like (piercing, hair color, etc.) in a rude, judgmental way. Additionally, asking if you’d come to work for them."
12. "I once was asked to wait on a notoriously arrogant witch of a woman no one else wanted to deal with. I walked up to greet her on the patio where she insisted on being sat. It was a typical sunny day in Scottsdale. The minute I said 'Hello,' she started giving me hell. 'I made it clear I wanted to sit outside in the shade,' she hissed. All the tables with umbrellas were already occupied. I tried to point that out. 'No excuses!' she shouted over me, 'Now, do something about that sun.'"
"I thought for a second. It came to me pretty quickly. 'Be thou banished from the heavens!' I pointed toward the sun, speaking in my best Divine Creator of the Universe voice. She glared at me for a second before standing up and leaving. My manager took me off the schedule for a week afterward, but the staff saw me as a god. I'm glad I did that. It felt damn good."
—Robert, 61, Michigan
13. "I worked at a tasting menu restaurant that also served wine pairings. This one couple came in and ordered our prestige wine package, which was essentially our absolute finest collection paired with each dish. They got about halfway through before the woman started pouring her wine into her husband’s glass and looking pretty gone. When he went to the bathroom, she politely asked us to start pouring very small portions for her since she was feeling quite drunk."
14. "Not sure who was worse, the rich demanding old man who came to the resort annually and wore dirty sweatpants that you could see EVERYTHING through, the woman who insisted she was allergic to water, or the woman who asked my coworker to microwave her shoes to heat them up because her feet were cold. A common frustration was when customers came to our restaurant (there were five at the resort) and wanted to order an item from another restaurant. We were supposed to respond with, 'Consider it done!' and then leave our tables to trek across the resort for that item."
—Anonymous, 38, North Carolina
15. "I worked at a restaurant that is owned by a billionaire family. First, they pay minimum wage for most workers and import temp workers from their other resorts and the Caribbean for seasonal minimum wage (about $5 per hour) and keep them there for the busy season. This last season forced the 'seasonal' workers to stay over Christmas when they were told initially they would be going home by late October. The owners also have a personal menu for the kitchen at each restaurant. I never saw them look at the regular restaurant menu."
16. "I had a guy tell me he wanted to use his face as my toilet paper. He proceeded to get drunker and drunker and more and more creepy. The last straw was him telling me he wanted to put a saddle on me and ride me around the room. I turned around, went to my manager's office, and asked them to kick him out. He didn't, of course, because only money matters, and if 'guests are happy, I'm happy.'"
—Anonymous
Do you have any customer nightmare stories from days working in fine dining? Let us know in the comments, or you can fill out this anonymous form.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.