Working in fast food can be a grueling, thankless job, but when you add terrible customers to the mix, it gets so much worse. Recently a thread on Reddit asked former and current fast food workers to share the strangest thing a customer had ever done. Here are some of the most bizarre answers from the thread.
1. Frequent Customer
I worked at McDonalds when I was 16. We had a guy that would drive through the drive-thru completely naked all the time. Like, way too many times.
2. The Passenger
I was working the drive-thru one day. Then a guy pulls up with a fully clothed blow up doll in the passenger seat. “She” was all buckled up and everything. I looked at “her”, and then at him, and he creepily said, “It’s so I can use the carpool lanes.”
3. Sleepy Time
Had a man and woman come through and order. They get to the window and he falls asleep in the 60 seconds he is sitting there. The lady wakes him up and he pays. Then before we could hand his food out to him we noticed his truck started to roll. I get to the window in time to see the truck scraping the building. He got onto the highway woke up and floored it. He came back 30 minutes later and ordered something completely different. He didn’t know that he had been by KFC already. Manager called cops and we kept him in the drive thru until they got there.
4. Pickles
I worked at a drive-thru and this guy came around to pay. When he got there, he asked, “Hey, did I say I wanted extra pickles on that? Because I want extra pickles on that.” I informed him that his burger was already made and ready to go, but offered to have a new one fixed up with a satisfactory amount of pickles. The man paused, and had a look of realization. He looked up and said, “Don’t worry about it! Now that I think about it, I think I might have some extra ones right here.” This guy then proceeded to open up his glove compartment and pull out a giant jar of sliced pickles.
5. Free Waters
My friend was working the drive-thru late one night. Some people came through and just asked for a couple cups of water. She says it costs 0.50 for that but they said they didn’t have any money. She said ah well, no big deal, come on through, and handed the two cups of water.
The guy yells “THANKS, B*TCH” and throws the two cups of water on her, then drives away.
6. No Look Coffee
I used to work at Tim Hortons and when I had to work on the window I would barely ever look out if it was crazy busy. One time I was really distracted and I took the person’s money without looking and handed the coffee out the window and let go when I felt a hand grab the cup. Immediately I heard “Oh shit!” so I look out the window and the guy has nubs for fingers and is waving his hand back and forth trying to get control of the cup enough to bring it in his car. I apologize profusely and he leaves after a couple minutes.
7. Milkshake
One time a lady came through and demanded I give her a shake that she didn’t get with her meal when she came through 11 months ago.
8. The Bed
Once, someone drove a truck to the window with a bed in the back. Another person got out, put the bed next to the window, and ordered their food, sitting on the bed to wait. The driver left. After receiving her food the bed woman carried the bed to a parking space, got in, and ate.
9. Drive Thru Toss
I worked at McDonald’s and some lady was accidentally given a Diet Coke instead of a Coke, so she threw the drink back through the window.
The drink landed quite heavily in the fry oil and splashed all over one of our co-workers. The girl drove away pretty fast, but the manager got her license plate number off the cameras. She was sued pretty badly.
10. Long John Silver’s
I worked at Long John Silver’s. One time this guy came to the drive-thru, clearly high, and asked for a Big Mac. I told him this is Long John Silver’s and we don’t serve burgers at all. I could hear him and his friend discuss for a second, then he said, “Oh, sorry, I guess make it a Whopper, then.” It took him some convincing to get him to understand, and in the end he left without getting anything.
11. Pokemon
I worked at McDonald’s for almost two years. The strangest incident would have to be the kid who attempted to pay me in Pokemon cards by explaining how much each was worth on eBay. When I explained to him that his cards could not be used as currency he became upset, accused me of being a “dirty Yu-Gi-oh fan” and drove off, leaving me confused with both his cards and his food.
12. The Customer Isn’t Always Right
I was working as a manager for Tim Hortons in Ontario. And I was walking through the parking lot and checking to make sure everything was up to standard. A lady that was stopped in the drive-thru queue line called me over. And proceeded to tear me a new one, that she has been waiting here for 10 minutes in front of the speaker. And that this was the worst service she has ever seen etc. After her rant, I politely told her that this was a garbage can and that the speaker box was just up a bit more.
13. The Elephant
I was working at a Tim Hortons in Newfoundland when I was 15. A guy comes up to the speaker box, orders his coffee, and then I heard a weird noise that sounded like an elephant. He approaches the window, lo and behold there is a baby elephant in the back of his pickup. At the drive through. On an island in Canada. I was so confused, but just couldn’t bring up the elephant in the room – or pickup bed I guess.
14. The Confession
I was once working drive-thru orders and this lady came up the speaker, I greeted her and then told her to order whenever she was ready. She said that she wasn’t going to order anything and that she just needed someone to talk to. The customer is always right so I talked with her about how my day was going and then she told me she has herpes. I was dumbstruck. This lady probably just found out she had herpes and the only one she could talk to was the drive-thru guy? I never saw her face or even her car. I kind of wish I had her come to my window.
15. Taco Bell
I had dude driving without arms come through my line at Taco Bell, driving a modified Gran Prix with his feet. It appeared to be a defect he was born with, he was even able to count out change and hand it to me with his toes!! I was 18 at the time, and it taught me that the only limits we have are the ones we place on ourselves. Inspiring.
