We Asked Restaurant Employees To Share Their Grossest Stories And DAMN They Are Nasty

"Honestly there are no words to explain how horrifying the sight was."

We recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to share the weirdest, most disturbing things they've witnessed working in restaurants — and their responses did NOT disappoint. Here are some of their most horrifying stories:

1. The employee who unclogged an ice machine with a toilet plunger.

Bravo

"One day the ice machine was jammed so a customer asked for help to unclog it. One of the workers walked into the bathroom and back out with a toilet plunger, then started using it to break up the ice."

—olivias476e408d3

2. The cook who used the same spatula to flip sandwiches and scratch himself.

NBC

"I was a server at a popular sandwich shop in a small town and my least favorite cook was working on the main sandwich line. I watched in horror as he took his spatula and flipped a sandwich on the grill, then shoved the same spatula down his pants to scratch his junk."

—annam4909225c6

3. The orange juice machine that definitely didn't get cleaned enough.

CBC Television

"I work at a hotel that serves complementary breakfast. We serve orange juice in pitchers that we fill from a machine. One day I asked my coworker when the last time the machine was cleaned and she did not know — so I began to clean it. No joke, there were a ton of dead fruit flies... and an excessive amount of mold."

—mechellep

4. The chicken wings that were dropped on the floor and served anyway.

Fox

"I work in a pizza place that serves chicken wings. I have witnessed on several occasions wings rolling onto the floor as they're being put in the oven, then being picked up and put right back with the rest of them."

—alisonc423dae443

5. The prep staff who cooked in literal shit.

Fox

"The restaurant's prep work was done in the basement of the building. Whenever there were any plumbing issues, the drains in the floor would flood with sewage water — yet the prep staff were told to keep working while someone mopped up the ~literal~ shit."

—stephaniem4b7eba4b1

6. The cook who sneezed into his palms and continued to make a pizza with his bare hands.

The CW

"I worked as a server in a small pizza and pasta restaurant for a while. One day I saw one of the cooks, who was notorious for not wearing gloves, sneeze into his hand then proceed to top a pizza. I passed on every staff meal after that."

—z4c05f6a28

7. The ball of burrata cheese that went from floor to plate.

Fox

"One time a line cook dropped a ball of burrata cheese on the ground. The owner of the restaurant was in the kitchen and started SCREAMING at the guy that he was being careless and 'throwing his money down the drain.' He screamed at him to rinse it off. So, the line cook, who was terrified, rinsed it off with water and out it went to some unwitting customer."

—amandak4ebb09118

8. The chocolate ganache that was filled with maggots.

Fox

"I once listened to a group of cooks trying to figure out if there were too many maggots in a batch of chocolate ganache to use it, or if they could just strain them out."

—emmas41e294448

9. The frosted cookies that had mouse tracks on them.

Warner Bros. Pictures

"One morning I pointed out that a mouse had gotten into our bakery's display case. There were mouse pawprints across an entire case of frosted cookies. My boss smoothed over the frosting and told me to sell the cookies anyway."

—lmhalls

10. The moldy strawberries that were skewered and served.

NBC

"My FIRST DAY on the job I was asked to make skewers for a catering event. They were made with melon slices, pineapple, and topped off with a strawberry — except all the strawberries were rotten. They told me to pick the 'least rotten' ones and put the 'moldy side down.'"

—kitchenkid

11. The leftover backwash water that was served to an unwitting guest.

NBC

"When we clear tables we often dump all of the leftover water from their glasses into one pitcher to make things easier. One time, while we were doing just that, a trainee poured someone a glass of that water. We didn’t realize until after she had left."

—hannahh438d963d2

12. The grill that was covered in rat shit.

Fox

"I saw my coworkers pull a grill out of storage that was covered in rat excrement and proceed to cook on it. No cleaning whatsoever."

—jessicawhyte88

13. The garbage cheese.

Bravo

"One time I accidentally dropped an entire box of feta cheese into the trash bin. My boss just picked all of it out, washed it with water, and served it in a salad as if nothing had happened."

—longq2

14. The maggoty chicken that just needed a good rinsing under water.

Walt Disney Pictures

"A friend of mine once worked in a restaurant when the refrigeration once broke. They required him to run raw chicken under running water before cooking it in order to wash the maggots off."

—uwillknowmebythelengthofmyname

15. The tongs used to scrape shoe bottoms and flip steaks.

NBC

"I saw a grill cook use his tongs to get something off of the bottom of his shoe, then use that same pair of tongs to continue flipping steaks."

—rayep4ce52ab19

16. The terrifying storm of roaches.

CBS

"The kitchen garbage disposal was broken and the new guy turned it on. Roaches, hundreds, probably thousands, boiled out of the sink like mini demons from hell. Honestly there are no words to explain how horrifying the sight was."

—daunejaimesd

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