Former Chuck E Cheese’s employee here (I actually wore the rat suit), and I can tell you that every time some rugrat barfed in there, we had to empty it out and clean all the balls (there’s a machine).
Now if a kid *pees *in there … screw it, it’ll wipe off on the next kid’s pants.
Blood, vomit, wads of hair, loose diapers, bandaids, etc. The usual method of cleaning was to spray it down with the hose. The most intensive method of cleaning was to scoop all the balls out of the pit into mesh bags, spray them with soap, spray them with water, and put them back. After seeing the debris that had collected in the bottom of the pit, I just never felt like a soapy rinsing was enough.
I think there’s a strong social contract element to this.
People really don’t want anyone to secretly screw with their food, so they don’t do it to other people.
Well said. I believe this as well. I do think, however, that the myths are perpetuated (at least in part) to preserve some respect and manners toward those serving and preparing food. Well, I hope it works.
We’ll need photo documentation as a cite. 
Well, one year I made a gingerbread house to display in the lobby. It had hard candy windows and everything. But everybody kept eating the gumdrops off it. So I replaced them all with gumdrops dipped in Tabasco Sauce.
Aside from that, never.
So does that mean you didn’t really mess with his food?
–gigi, slow on the uptake
Back when I was a crew person at McDonalds, a customer brought back a burger, claiming he found a piece of glass in it. The manager basically told him he was lying, because the store had no glass items in it whatsoever. (Even the coffeepots were some sort of plexiplastic. They didnt trust us at all. We also weren’t allowed knives any sharper than the ones they hand out in drive thru.)
Years later, I found out a pissed off employee, on his last day of work, had broken a small pocket mirror, and hidden a pice of glass in a quarter pounder, just because he was leaving. ::shudder::
At the same store, a customer ordered a fish filet right before closing. The sandwich maker dropped it on the ground, and went to pick it up to serve it. He somehow kicked it under the fryers, and still tried to serve it. I refused to serve it though, and the customer took something else instead. The sandwichmaker was ripshit.
I never put any bodily fluids or foreign objects in anyone food. But once a very large
rude muscle head came in five minutes after the dining room closed. The owner insisted that we serve him. That was fine but this asshole ordered an item not on the menu. When he was told we didn’t have a Cajun chicken sandwich he screamed that he didn’t care and make it “EXTRA SPICY”. The owner told me to just make it.
So I dipped a chicken breast in Dave’s Insanity Sauce, rolled it in cayenne pepper and blackened it on an open flame. The customer took one bite, chugged his drink, put
8 bucks on the table and walked out red faced and sweating.
For free? How big of an asshole would you have to be to get both?
Reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit, I take? I don’t know CynicalGabe from Adam but the jist is that while the customer wasn’t really audacious by ordering food so close to closing time, the manager was still pissed off because he wanted to go home, and fucked with the food “accordingly”.
I’m assuming the customer came in at the last minute. Technically okay I know, but still annoying. And it only seems to happen when you’ve been very slow buisness-wise and have everything done.
While I wouldn’t contaminate food deliberately, I have been known to microwave burgers (wouldn’t want to mess up my nice clean grill!) when those “Gosh, it looks like we made it in just under the wire!” assholes come in a minute or two prior to closing. 
We never did anything to food, but if a customer was rude we were quite capable of being rude back - and then some.
I was managing and cooking along with the owner. A number fo times I simply told rude customers that not only could they not have their food (money returned if they had already paid) but that I would not serve them in the future either.
If you were rough on my drivers you were never getting delivery from us again.
Some arguments ensued (and I never backed down). I had the full support of the owner anyway.
There must have been times when eating there was akin to eating at Fawlty Towers.