14 Things That Celebrities Have Actually Done To Customer Service Employees That Are Truly Annoying

Throwing tantrums, asking for discounts, and the classic "Do you know who I am?" card.

Hi, friends. My name's Stephen LaConte, and last week I shared with you some of the pleasant celebrity encounters I had when I used to work in restaurants and shops around Los Angeles.

@stephenlc / Via instagram.com

Of course, not ALL celebs were so kind and respectful, and I've gotten a bunch of requests for those stories. Well, I'm never gonna name any names...but I figure it can't hurt to give an inside look at what it's like to serve some of the more entitled and rude celebrities in Hollywood. Anonymously, of course!

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So here are 14 things that the bad* celebrities do at restaurants and retail shops that make customer service workers cringe.

*Emphasis on bad. The good celebrities don't usually do this stuff.

1. They ask for discounts.

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You'd think with their massive net worths, celebrities wouldn't be sweating an extra 10% off. And yet, on several occasions, I did have some famous people ask for discounts. Sometimes it was a direct ask: "Can I have a discount?" Other times the requests would come in a more roundabout way, like having their assistant call ahead to see if there's anything ~special~ they can do for VIPs. Usually, the answer was no.

2. They pull the "Do you know who I am?" card.

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It's such a cliché, but you will indeed hear it sometimes when a celebrity is trying to get what they want. The true A-list celebs never do this, by the way. It's usually the more random ones. The kind of people where "Do you know who I am?" could easily be met with "Honestly, no." And yet, they try!

3. They don't tip.

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Most celebrities tip and tip well, but every so often you'll encounter a non-tipper among them and it is the absolute worst. Some of these non-tipping celebrities are just assholes, plain and simple. But I think others might simply get confused. If a manager decides to make their meal free (more on that in a minute), that means no bill comes to the table. Maybe they just don't realize their server is not getting paid in that transaction? So here's a PSA to anyone who gets a comped meal: You still need to tip your servers. Heck, your food was free, so tip them extra.

4. They refuse to speak to servers/cashiers directly and instead have their entourage speak for them.

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To be fair, maybe some of them are just major introverts and get anxious when they have to go out in public. That's fair. But it can feel a little degrading when someone refuses to look you in the eye or speak to you directly. It's totally their right but they were not my favorite interactions to have.

5. They demand a better table because of who they are.

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Look, I'm not gonna lie, celebrities often do get preferential treatment when it comes to tables. But if they show up without a reservation, our best tables might be booked. The good celebrities don't care (and in fact, the really famous ones usually want the "bad" tables on the outskirts of the room that are less visible). But every now and then, you'd see a full-blown meltdown when a celebrity got seated at a table they deemed unworthy.

6. Or, even worse, they make a reservation under a fake name and then demand a better table when they get there.

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You will very often see celebrities book reservations under fake names or their assistant's name. Nothing wrong with that; they want privacy! But don't get mad when you show up to find that nobody knew you were coming.

7. They ask for free things in exchange for a social media post.

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This is more of a thing for the younger, influencer type of celebrities. Maybe a D-lister from a teen show who has like 200K followers on Instagram. I always thought it was an embarrassing thing to ask. If I had TV money, I'd just pay my bills in peace! But it wasn't up to me to approve or deny their requests anyway. That's for a manager to decide.

8. They get mad at employees when other customers are looking at them.

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I can totally understand why it would be annoying to have crowds of people ogling you. But if you, a famous celebrity, choose to come into a very popular restaurant during dinner rush on a Friday night, there's only so much your server can do to hide you. We would absolutely ask customers to stop taking photos, though.

9. They ask to go into the kitchen.

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Some celebrities want to greet the chef, get a tour of the kitchen, say hi to the staff, etc. In the right context, this can be fine, even nice! But if the chef is busy or we're slammed with customers or the kitchen is running behind, those requests can create a lot of unnecessary stress.

10. They try to get a table when we're fully booked for the night.

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If I tell you we don't have any openings, it's because we don't have any openings! No, I will not kick out that lovely family of five sitting at your favorite table simply because you are in movies.

11. They ignore the menu and order whatever the heck they want.

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Sometimes the chef will choose to go off-menu for guests who are "VIP" (I hate that term) and offer a special tasting menu. Fine, cool. No problem. Other times, celebrities will just go off-menu without an invitation. That always pissed the kitchen off and you know who inevitably ends up taking the heat for it? The server.

12. They get mad when their card declines.

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Okay, TBH, I've only had this happen with two celebrities so I can't say it's "common," but both times were DEEPLY UNPLEASANT. They flipped out. So, another PSA for anyone who gets their card declined: Your cashier cannot control it. They also aren't judging you. No one cares. Banks sometimes put freezes on your card if the purchase is really big. Call your bank, try another card, or move on.

13. They think they're more famous than they are.

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In my experience, the more famous a person is, the more likely they are to be pleasant (or at least, neutral). It's the lower-level celebs who tend to give you the most trouble. You could have Tom Hanks come in one night and he wouldn't make any fuss. The next night, you could have some random sitcom actor you haven't thought about in a decade come in, and he'd expect the red carpet to be rolled out. Kinda funny.

14. And finally, I'll end this with something that always annoyed me but wasn't actually the celebrity's fault: They get things for free.

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Y'all. Let me tell you. Celebrities get so many things for free. Restaurant managers routinely comp entire bills for celebrities or at least send over free appetizers and dessert. Businesses shower celebrities with free products to keep them coming back. This happens even when celebrities don't ask for it. Not their fault but it always weirded me out to give über-wealthy people free stuff while regular folks paid full price. The rich get richer, y'know?

Alright, now it's YOUR turn. If you've had experience serving celebrities, share your pet peeves in the comments.