# Tampering with the food of problem restaurant customers - as prevalent as it seems? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 28, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591 "2006-08-28T23:25:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/21 "2006-08-29T20:06:32Z")
I’ve never seen anyone intentionally do anything to food for the **public** (might not be a good idea to be a boss and dick your employees over and still eat at the restaurant, though.) I have seen some food drops and recycling that border on “wrong”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/22 "2006-08-29T20:23:27Z")
[QUOTE=FormerMarineGuy] Another McDonalds story. I am not sure if this is the tampering that you are looking for, but McDonalds had (still has in a lot of places) these little numbers to let you know how long the burgers had been sitting out. If it hit the 6 (4:30, anything ending with the six hand on the dial), or 7 (5:35, you get the point), you had to throw the food away. To cut back on waste, we would just change the time (put the 7 away, change it to a 9). So if you came in and it were really slow, you might get a burger that had been sitting out for 45 minutes or an hour. Nasty actually. Always wondered how many people got food poisoning. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that happened. I have heard McD’s has cracked down on it. :dubious: But I have never heard of actual food tampering, _per se_ from any of my buds who worked in Food Service. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/23 "2006-08-29T21:25:35Z")
where I worked, nobody tampered with the food. We’d do stuff like… if someone was a total bitch on the phone, we’d send her the crab rangoon that had a hole in it or that wasn’t straight-from-the-fryer hot. Not that we’d set out to do it, but we’d give preference to people who weren’t assholes. we’d also do stuff like… if people ordered one whole order of rice separated into eight small boxes or something else that screamed “I don’t play well with others and I never learned to share in preschool” we’d either give them one extra fortune cookie, or one fortune cookie too few. It probably made no difference, but it was fun imagining them bitching at each other over who got the extra fortune cookie. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/24 "2006-08-29T22:09:11Z")
One year at McDonald’s: Several instances of picking something up that dropped on the floor and serving it and stuff like wiping almost all of the mustard off of the top bun when someone missed that it was a special “no mustard” order. Nine months at Straw Hat Pizza: Two times with extreme asshole customers who ordered to-go. One guy got anchovy juice added and one guy got jalapeno juice added. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/25 "2006-08-29T23:00:37Z")
I’ve worked in Restaurants for the better part of 30 years…the only thing CLOSE to messing with anyones food i have seen was done in a VERY fine dining establishment( $30 and Up per person)…and it was my table. Regular customers, older couple I had served many times before…Mrs Leibowitz wanted the soup, but she told me to tell the chef, and i quote…"I want my soup **FUCKING** hot! The chef, young, talented and ballsy guy, heats the soup bowl in a salamander (top broiler) till it almost glows, then brings a portion of soup to a rolling boil in a saute pan…needless to say several side towels were needed to handle the bowl…upon deliviering it to Mrs L the soup was STILL very activly bubbling.Though she and the Mr. returned frquently Mrs Leibowitz never again had a request of the chef… ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/26 "2006-08-30T01:20:24Z")
[QUOTE=FormerMarineGuy] There was just a story in the Sun-Sentinel (South Florida paper) about a cop picking his burger up through some fast food place, and noticed there was spit in it. He went in, and some kid admitted he did. It turns out the kid did not even know a cop was getting this food. Bad luck for the kid (kind of). They actually arrested him not really for spitting in the food, but some other law. Sorry, I can not find a cite, but I did read it myself. [/QUOTE] I remember that. The kid who spat in the burger was facing prison if convicted. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/27 "2006-08-30T02:42:35Z")
[QUOTE=Imasquare] I remember that. The kid who spat in the burger was facing prison if convicted. [/QUOTE] Anyone have a link to that? That would be a great time for the Policeman to have a talk with the guy and show him the error of his ways, but instead I imagine he was sent to prison for some OJT in crime. Pardon the digression. Carry on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/28 "2006-08-30T03:48:49Z")
I waited tables for years, I never messed with anyones food in that way. I have been known to hold an order for an especially bitchy customer though. Story 1: My mother in law always sends food back, one time, she sent the soup back 5 times. We pointed out to her if the first 4 bowls were only soup she was lucky and by the 5th bowl, it was pretty much guaranteed she was getting someones DNA. Story 2: Fine dining establishment, Chef has a huge colander with the dishwasher wand aimed into it, I asked what it was, he asked me “Do you want to know what it was, or what it is going to be?” I said “both.” He said “It was manhattan seafood chowder, it’s going to be New England Seafood Chowder.” He was rinsing off the red sauce. Granted, it was Mothers day, the place was packed and everyone and their brother wanted the “white one.” Far more than he anticipated. I also saw someone return seafood that they had not wanted the pesto sauce on, he took it on a spatula, walked over to the dishwasher, washed off the pesto, threw it on the grill, and put it back on the plate. I have many more stories where employees went to great lengths to make sure customers got what they wanted. Here’s a clue, don’t piss off the waiter before they bring you your food. It’s a good rule for life. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/29 "2006-08-30T05:05:16Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] One year at McDonald’s: Several instances of picking something up that dropped on the floor and serving it and stuff like wiping almost all of the mustard off of the top bun when someone missed that it was a special “no mustard” order. Nine months at Straw Hat Pizza: Two times with extreme asshole customers who ordered to-go. One guy got anchovy juice added and one guy got jalapeno juice added. [/QUOTE] Incidentally, if you did the jalapeño juice thing to my room mate, it would possibly end with me driving him to the ER (he’s allergic to spicy, as in the chemical that makes spicy food hot has an effect on him like what bee stings do to some folks) That said, my room mate has a long-standing policy of NOT farking with people who handle his food or his drinks, and I’m just a patient friendly guy in general. (Actually, if you secretly added jalapeño juice to _my_ pepperoni pizza, assuming the room mate wasn’t going to get any of it, I’d probably like it). ---
**Author:** ![Apricot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/30 "2006-08-30T05:54:52Z")
Worked in a fast food restaurant for ovr a year - never saw it. Worst thing I saw was reeeeaaaalllly-slow food, sometimes when the customer was a dick and sometimes when the counter girl and the cook were fighting. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/31 "2006-08-30T11:20:41Z")
I have scraped the cheese off a cheeseburger, that was supposed to be a hamburger and grilled it briefly to remove all traces of yellow before sending it back out. I have also taken fries that were sent back to the kitchen because they were cold, and simply dropped them back into the fryer to heat them up, instead of just giving them fresh fries. I have seen someone else take bags of garbage out to the dumpster and then immediately make sundaes without first washing their hands. I have also seen a waitress take a dirty piece of flatware out of the “to be cleaned” basket and just rinse it off before giving it to a customer because we were out of clean faltware. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/32 "2006-08-30T11:37:36Z")
Did you say anything to the people concerned? About **Auntbeast** ’s chowder story: I go to the Oyster Bar in NYC now and then, and I can tell you that New England outsells Manhattan 4 to 1 even in Manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![Flipshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@Flipshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipshod)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/33 "2006-08-30T12:02:13Z")
6 years as a cook– The on-the-fly quick fixes, scrapes, and “undropped” food were common, and more common for bad customers. Definitely the better customer gets the fresher, better of two “acceptable” portions. BUT I did once witness a waiter at a nice establishment put a knife down the back of his pants before giving it to a bad customer. From then on, amongst all the staff, any bad customer was “asking for an ass-knife,” but I never saw it done again. PS The advice to get the “special” is good because often the cooks will take a little pride in the special–if they didn’t create themselves, it is at least a change from the ordinary, so they’ll put a little more effort into it–of course YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/34 "2006-08-30T12:22:39Z")
[QUOTE=ThisSpaceForRent] I’ve worked in Restaurants for the better part of 30 years…the only thing CLOSE to messing with anyones food i have seen was done in a VERY fine dining establishment( $30 and Up per person)…and it was my table. Regular customers, older couple I had served many times before…Mrs Leibowitz wanted the soup, but she told me to tell the chef, and i quote.."I want my soup **FUCKING** hot! The chef, young, talented and ballsy guy, heats the soup bowl in a salamander (top broiler) till it almost glows, then brings a portion of soup to a rolling boil in a saute pan…needless to say several side towels were needed to handle the bowl…upon deliviering it to Mrs L the soup was STILL very activly bubbling.Though she and the Mr. returned frquently Mrs Leibowitz never again had a request of the chef… [/QUOTE] My grandfather would have said something like “finally, someone who knows what hot means!” and started spooning away. Yes, I’ve seen him eat soup that bubbled. I’ve seen people getting the wrong sauce (the container had been placed in the wrong spot in the “sauce fountain”); I’ve hit a customer with an empty tray (he’d grabbed my ass); but I’d never even heard of the idea of intentionally tampering with a customer’s food until I started hanging out with Americans. You guys are weird :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/35 "2006-08-30T15:14:26Z")
[QUOTE=Madd Maxx] II have seen someone else take bags of garbage out to the dumpster and then immediately make sundaes without first washing their hands. [/QUOTE] When I worked at McDonalds, the manager actually took me aside and lectured me for washing my hands too often. I had been following the directive of the training video, using the alcohol gel after I had touched money or a broom handle before I touched food. He told me I “_really_ didn’t need to do that.” The worst tale I ever heard came to me courtesy of my friend Craig who was a manager at another McDonalds. He told me that they had brought a tray of meat patties out of the freezer to thaw, but had left them out too long. They threw them in the dumpster. Later, they ran low on patties . . . Guess where they got enough to finish the day? ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/36 "2006-08-30T18:54:23Z")
I worked for Burger King for six years. Not once did I ever observe anyone doing this, and I certainly never did it myself (though many customers were deserving of it). If I were inclined to do it chances are someone would witness it and rat me out for it. I imagine this fear is what prevents otherwise spiteful kitchen workers from tampering with food. I will admit on occasion we cheated when it came to dropped food. A fish sandwich patty took over four minutes to cook since during slow times we didn’t keep cooked fish on hand (an old fish patty that has been sitting in a warmer is rather gross and most customers would gladly wait a few minutes for a fresh one). One time an employee dropped one on the floor after it came out of the fryer. Rather than force the customer to wait another 4-5 minutes he just dipped it in the fryer for a few seconds more to “cook off” any contamination it might have picked up. As far as I know the customer didn’t have any problems afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Amazingrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@Amazingrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazingrace)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591/37 "2006-08-31T04:46:22Z")
I’ve waited tables since I was 15 (I’m 21 now). I’ve only been tempted twice, and I’ve never seen or heard of anyone messing with food. 1. I worked at a dine-in A&W restaurant, and I had a table of 6-8 people (I can’t remember). Almost all of them ordered chicken strips, which take forever because we bread them fresh and they are huge. The Matriarch kept walking back to the kitchen after I had just checked in with them to see if them needed anything else to request various items in a very rude manner. She walked back when everyone was barely beginning her meal to request a sundae “so she could actually get it in a timely manner.” I made the sundae and was staring at the spoon contemplating something dubious when my manager who had witnessed Matriarch’s behavior came up to me and whispered, “Do it!” I didn’t. 1. A couple and their 3 young children came in to a family pancake restaurant this summer. The woman, before the waitress had even had a chance to greet the family, started complaining about the wording on the menu (One of the meals came with silver dollar pancakes rather than large pancakes, and didn’t specifically say so on the menu). I could have understood if they had received their food and had felt mislead, but that’s just trying to cause problems. Their waitress got our timid manager to talk to them. They actually said that we were doing this (doing what?) because they were black and they asked for a new waitress… they got me. After she ordered, the woman asked me not to spit in anyone’s food. I stared at her like she was stupid (because she obviously was) and told her that I’d been waiting tables for 5 years and that no one really does that. When our black cook got wind of it, he started going on about how if he would have known that they were black, he jokingly said that he would have spit in their food (he was too nice to ever do that). I took them their food and bill all at once and called it a day. We had a staff meeting that night and the owner said that if anything like that ever happened again they would call the cops or throw them out. That is one thing that I appreciated there, they took care of their servers. If a customer was out of line or disrespectful, they would toss them. They had plenty of business, so they didn’t need to worry about losing a jerk here or there. It also explains why I was the first new server hire in a year and a half. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampering-with-the-food-of-problem-restaurant-customers-as-prevalent-as-it-seems/370591.md?page=1)