These Are The Things Fast Food Employees Hate About Customers

Convenient, delicious, and comforting — there's a reason we are a nation of fast food lovers. On any given day, 36 percent of American adults consume a portion of the stuff. Whether you're obsessed with tacos, relish a meaty burger, or love yourself some fries, we've all got our weaknesses. So, let us pose a quick question: When you head up to your favorite joint, do you give the serving staff the respect they most definitely deserve?

While you may be under the impression that you're an A-Star customer, there are plenty of ways you may be annoying these staff members. Should you want to stay in their good books (and you absolutely should!), you may need to change your ways for the better.

Luckily, we have the inside scoop. We've deep-dived into the waters of Reddit and further afield to find out what fast food employees hate the most about their customers. Here are our hot takes on the behavior you should avoid when you next order that tasty meal.

To err is human, and everyone makes mistakes. Chances are, there's been a time when you ordered one thing at a fast food eatery and received something entirely different. This first-world problem happens to the best of us. You may have wanted extra fries and ended up with extra pickles, or asked for no salsa and got a ton.

While it can be frustrating when your order is wrong, taking it out on the fast food staff is less-than-polite. Reddit user "arkdude" advises that you simply tell the cashier what's happened. "They'll re-make it, and probably throw in coupons or a free dessert or something," writes arkdude. 

They are not alone in their frustrating experience. Twitter user "@niallmilkovich" recounted the tale of the time they worked at Dunkin' and a man ordered an "old fashioned doughnut". Moments after they handed over the treat, the man's wife came over to yell that the order was wrong. 

No matter how peeved you are, take a breath and realize it's not the world-ending deal you imagine. Save the hissy fit for another day. As arkdude poetically puts it, there's "no need to scream because your burger has a tomato on it when you ordered it without tomato.

If the pandemic has taught us one thing, it's that proper hygiene is vital. So, if you happen upon a fast food place where there's a huge glass shield or screen, the last thing you should do is reach out and touch it. Keep your hands to yourself, please.

"Whenever I work on the line, every now and then a customer will lean on the glass barrier to overlook all the food and point to what they want," a Chipotle employee told Reddit. "What's even worse is they still lean on the glass when moving down the line, which leaves the glass all smeared and is quite annoying."

While you may be thinking that this kind of behavior is rare, think again. Most of us may have the good sense to avoid touching the glass but some people make it a habit. "Our store has regulars who do this Every. Single. Day," explains the Reddit user.

Next up, let's talk about one of the worst things a fast food worker can hear: "When are you getting a real job?" The insinuation is clear. Some people are under the misguided impression that those working in the fast food industry must be filling a gap before they move onto their serious careers. They come to this conclusion without any prior knowledge of the person who is serving them and some have the audacity to say it aloud. Stop being so judgy and let these good people do their job.

Back in 2016, a Facebook rant from a Scottish McDonald's worker on just this topic went viral. "In the past I have known and worked with very rich folks in very high end jobs, and a few of them could never match the resilience and work ethic of some of the current lads and lassies. McDonald's is not only letting me save up for university, but setting me up with flexible work I can continue over the next years to come," he wrote in the post, according to a report from the Daily Mail.

Picking up your deep-fried goodness to take home with you? While this food may cook quickly, it can cool down just as fast. If you think that a burrito or burger or fries can survive a 30-40 minute car journey home and still be piping hot when you put it in your mouth, you are sorely mistaken. What's more, calling up to complain about an issue that you have likely caused is a surefire way to annoy the serving staff.

Reddit user "willdagreat1" explains that a customer once "got a really angry phone call that their drive through was stone cold when they got home. They live 45 miles outside of town." Their advice to the fast food lovers of the nation is simple: "If you don't eat taco Bell [sic] within 10 minutes of me making it, you'll have a bad time."

What's more, if you're fast to complain about how your food is cooked, you might want to think twice. A former Applebees employee and Reddit user revealed that when a female customer moaned about a burger being undercooked, the store manager threw it on the ground and spit in it before cooking and serving it up again. Gross.

Picture the scene: You walk into your local fast food eatery, glance up at the server and *bam* — Cupid's arrow hits you right in the chest. You're in love and you feel as though you simply cannot hold your feelings inside you. What do you do next?

In this "choose your own adventure" scenario, you may want to play it cool. Making passes at the staff when they are working is inappropriate, at best, and creepy, at worst. Take the following story-time as a word of warning.

"I worked at a Little Caesars when I was 15," says Reddit user "FoxInKneeSocks". "A guy in his forties came in drunk at like 9 p.m. (sic) and made jokes about how I was "Hot and Ready". What was even more awkward is when he came in with his family a few days later, sober and ashamed."

If you think this is a once-in-a-blue-moon tale, think again. In 2017, Buzzfeed News reported that restaurants have the highest rate of sexual harassment cases out of all American workplaces, according to two decades of data from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

Annoyed about rising fast food prices at your favorite burger joint? That's your prerogative. However, complaining about this problem to your server is unlikely to win you any favor. Let's look at the facts here: The chances are that the cashier has absolutely nothing to do with setting the prices of menu items. So, when you get upset and moan to them about this issue, they aren't going to be in a position to help you out.

Taking out your frustrations on the team members is not a cute look. As one Reddit user recalls, "This lady threw her money at me after I told her how much the large coke cost and said I was ripping her off. She then snatched the money out of my hands and said she would just go down the road because apparently it only cost $2 there ... It's not like I was in charge of the prices." 

Another Reddit user posted the simple, and fitting question: "People who order fast food, Why do you complain about prices as if i (sic) made them up?" Well said. 

Many of us are an absolute mess before we get that java hit first thing in the morning. Sure, coffee is life but if you have a bad attitude with the serving staff, you might want to rethink things. Rather unsurprisingly, fast food staff hate it when you crankily order your first latte of the day.

"I worked a[t] Dunkin Donuts for 5 years, and a lot of people are very cranky before they get their coffee," says Reddit user "Pizza_gypsy". As though it wasn't enough to be a moody Moira, some customers take things one step further. "One customer in particular said his coffee wasn't made right, and instead of asking us to remake it, he yelled at us, and dumped his entire coffee on the counter."

Caffeine lovers know no bounds when it comes to kicking up a fuss. Denny's worker and Twitter user, "@AstridBears," says that one female customer once accused her of "not refilling her coffee fast enough because I hated her baby" during a particularly busy rush. 

The lesson here is obvious: Regardless of how much you need that caffeine pulsing through your veins, it's no excuse to be snappy or rude. Period.

Fast food staff can work long, unforgiving hours. Of course, the average customer doesn't consider this when it comes to making an order. Why would they? However, one of the things that some fast food workers hate is when customers make a massive order right before closing time. After all, right before they wipe down the sides and switch off the fryers, these hard-working team members begin mentally winding down for the day.

The next thing they know, a customer walks in with the biggest order of their shift. It's like something out of a horror movie. Reddit user "TehWildMan_" recalled how a customer once "ordered 50 cheeseburgers and 20 apple pies. On Christmas day at 5 p.m." Ouch.

Big orders in the nineteenth hour can be a pain. However, when these orders are jokes, that's a whole different story. One Dairy Queen worker told Reddit about the time a drive-thru customer ordered $50 worth of food two minutes before closing time. Despite it being poorly timed, the kitchen got to work. It was only when the car pulled around that the staff saw who the culprit was: a drunk employee. Not cool, bro. Not cool at all.

If you're on the verge of getting hangry and your fast food meal looks meager, you may be tempted to moan about it. However, heed this warning: The server likely doesn't have a say in how big your meal is. So, you might not get the outcome you're hoping for.

"Once [I] had to intervene when a customer was arguing with the cashier that his burger was too small. He had received the item last time he'd been in and was arguing that the menu board picture of it was bigger than the one he'd received and that he'd been misled and that it was false advertising," said Reddit user "hickleton90". "The cashier had already explained it was the same burger, and when I stepped up he gave me the same story, that it was clearly small holding it up in front of the picture, it's smaller, that's false advertising."

Where was this picture in question, you may ask? On a four-foot-long advertising board, according to the Reddit user. "At this point he realised (sic) he wasn't get[ting] compensated for his displeasure. When then asked if he wanted anything on this visit he replied yes and ordered that same burger again," wrote hickleton90.

There's nothing quite like the taste and sensation of slipping a hot French fry into your mouth. Frankly, it's delicious. So you simply ask the server to make a fresh batch of fries when you make your order. No big deal, right?

While most of us are guilty of this one, it turns out that serving staff aren't huge fans of it. "It bothers when customers demand fresh fries when a fresh batch came up a minute ago, so I'll say it's really not necessary and that they just came out a moment ago and they're piping hot," said one Reddit user.

Oh, and unless you've been living under a rock for the last couple of decades, you'll know about the old ordering hack. Hint: You order your fries without salt, according to one McDonald's insider. "Lots of people say they want no salt because then you HAVE to make fresh ones," said the fast food employee on Reddit. Curses! They're onto us.

The world of fast food is changing. With 26 percent of millennials now identifying as vegan or vegetarians, some of the biggest chains have hurried to catch up. From plant-based burgers to meat-free tacos, options abound and meatless meat sales are booming. Should you order one of these tasty treats, make sure you read the menu description fully. Or, indeed, the name.

"At subway (sic) we had a girl come in and order a veggie delight," writes Reddit user "pink_mercedes". "A few hours later she calls back and complains we didn't put meat on her sub. Let me repeat that. A VEGGIE DELIGHT."

Since there are now more options than ever before on fast food menus, choosing just what you want is easy. However, you should expect to get what you order. If you specifically say you want a vegetarian meal, that's exactly what you're going to get. That's entirely on you.

If you're under the naive impression that fast food workers can't see what you're doing in the drive-thru, you've got a nasty shock coming. We all know that littering is not cool. The United States generates more plastic trash than any other nation, according to a 2020 report. Put simply, we should be pulling together to change our ways and recycle.

What we shouldn't be doing is heading to fast food joints and cluttering up the outdoor space with trash. Reddit user "horsk92" has the first-hand experience of customers thinking that it's A-okay to throw their wrappers and cigarettes wherever they please.

Beware: The user is not afraid to say something should they see you doing the deed. "I'll call you out, and thank you for littering in the drive thru if I see you throw you[r] cigarette butt on the ground, or any trash for that matter," said horsk92.