Restaurant Staff Share Strangest Customer Requests

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a day ago

One should always have respect for the service industry, but maybe even more so after reading these stories. In r/AskReddit, someone asked, "What's the weirdest thing a customer has ever confidently asked for in a restaurant like it was totally normal?" The responses rolled in, and there were more than a few interesting concoctions and even wilder requests. Here's what people had to say:
"Buddy of mine worked at Red Lobster. Customer ordered 'salmon steak.' Customer was very upset that he was served fish."
—hymie0
"At a Tex-Mex restaurant, someone asked for cheese nachos without the chips. Yes, they received a plate of shredded cheese microwaved onto a plate. Yes, they used the free appetizer chips to eat that cheese."
"I went to London with my Mom. She asked for ranch at EVERY RESTAURANT, EVERY DAY, just in case the answer would change. After the first few tries, it became clear ranch wasn't a thing in London, but some servers had heard of it and said it was on their bucket list to try."
—TicketNo23
"I was working at a TCBY, and this fancy older gentleman — he was Italian with gold chains, a deep tan, an open shirt, and an equally fancy lady with him — asked to buy a 'painting' we had hanging on the wall. This wasn't a special painting. It was probably what they send to all TCBY stores when they open. I asked my manager, and she haggled a bit, and in the end, he got it. They got their froyo, pulled the painting off the wall, and in the most outrageous Italian accent, he said, while walking out the door, 'When I see something I like, I BUY IT!' I still quote that guy all the time."
"I worked at a McDonald's next door to an Arby's. At least once a month, someone would pull into the drive-thru and try to order a roast beef sandwich, or even better, come inside and stare at the menu before asking, 'Where are your roast beef sandwiches?'"
"I was at a café in Paris, France, and two American dudes were at a table next to me. One guy ordered a French toast, and I knew what was coming. The girl gave him a weird look and went back to the kitchen. She came back with toast. He was bewildered at first, then got mad. I was dying laughing."
—UDPviper"My father is Italian, where they like to drink cold coffee (espresso with ice cubes). In Germany, in many regions, 'cold coffee' is a drink that's a mix of Fanta and Cola."—LutschiPutschi
"I had a customer when I worked in a pub order a drink that was half Guinness, half Coca-Cola. Apparently, it was a thing where she was from in Germany."
"As a flight attendant, tomato and orange juice...with no ice. I poured them into separate cups, and got the nastiest look as if I was serving them with my fingers sticking into the rims. I was wrong. He wanted airplane-temperature, warm, canned orange juice mixed with tomato juice, no ice. My bad."
—ReasonableGatekeep"As a mile-high tomato drinker, stuff tastes different on airplanes. Tomato juice on the ground is pretty gross, but on a plane, it's refreshing. Tonic water is pretty good on a plane, too."—pinkmeanie"Hi! My time to shine. I have a PhD in aircraft cabin design. So, at high noise levels, combined with low pressure, your taste buds for 'umami' are heightened. Tomato juice tastes the best on an aircraft due to this fact."—GaeloneForYouSir
"Jäegermeister with milk. I tried it afterwards. It surprisingly works."
"I once had an older guy order a New York strip, medium rare. It came out perfectly medium rare. He cut into it and gasped, 'It's bloody!' I restated that he ordered medium rare. 'I know what I ordered, but I don't want no damn blood in it!' He wanted it well done. But in his mind, that was medium rare. I had it recooked to well done, and he loved it. I still wonder what he thought well done was. Burnt?"
—TheKaptinKirk
"She only ate food that was white."
"I had a lady ask to make her eggs 'shipwrecked.' When I questioned what that meant, she didn't really have an answer. She settled on something else, but I still have no idea what she actually wanted. I can only imagine the cussing I would have gotten from the cooks for putting that order through. I'm Canadian, maybe it's just not a Canadian thing? Or not part of my neck of the woods, anyway."
"When I was a little kid, I ordered popcorn chicken and cried when I didn't, in fact, get popcorn."
"I once worked at a stand that sold burgers and hot dogs. This one guy wanted peanut butter and jelly on his hot dog, in addition to slaw, chili, onions, mustard, and ketchup. We happened to have some there, so I got it for him. He said it was the best thing ever."
—waitingforsandwiches
"The bones off of other people's plates to make soup."
"As someone who worked in sushi restaurants for the better part of a decade, you will never believe the number of people who get mad when you serve them raw fish. At the sushi restaurant."
"Vegan mussels."
"Appletini...extra dirty. I was in the service bar and walked out to the table to absolutely make sure the server heard the order properly. The guy had four of them. And it's even more vile than it sounds."
—Affectionate_Elk_272
"A customer brought in a small cooler of fish he'd caught recently, and wanted us to cook it for him."
And finally, "A straw for their New England clam chowder."
—fierysunrise
Any wild requests you've seen or heard from diners? (Or, do you have any of your own?) Let us know in the comments!