Funny story for germophobes

I went to a restaurant last night for carry out and the owner was sooo... nice to me. He volunteered descriptions and information about the menu, smiled at me a lot, apologized for being out of an item, etc... We had been discussing a type of berry sauce and he snatched it from the fridge, cupped a spoon, dipped it in the sauce, mmm... DELISH! Then he put that spoon back in the container and tasted it for himself! It didn't bother me so much because the place seemed very clean, but how could he know that? I thought it was pretty funny.

(I won't be sharing the name of the place, so those of you that are my Facebook friends, let's keep my previous status update on the DL - I don't want to hurt the place).

One of my gripes remains people (adults) who finish in the rest room and leave w/o washing their hands....

My Uncle and his family were at an ice cream shop where the girl licked up the melting ice cream running down the side of the cone while passing it to them.

One of the funniest restaurant stories I ever heard (totally third hand, happened in another city entirely) was about some restaurant patrons looking up from their newly-delivered entrees only to observe a length of melted cheese stretched between their plate and their server's mouth (meaning she obviously ate off their plate just before bringing them their food.) To her credit, she realized it about the same time as they did, and turned without a word back towards the kitchen, plates in hand, to ask for a re-cook.

True story!

[Robin Garr]

Years ago, after hiking in Manuel Antonio Parque Nacional in Costa Rica, Mary and I came down to the beach and saw a guy selling fresh-squeezed orange juice. We were parched with thirst, and Costa Rica, after all, is about the only place South of the Rio where you can safely drink the water. So I ordered a big glass, took it and chugged it with delight.

Then I watched in horror as the guy took back the glass - his ONLY glass - and gave it a quick swish in a bucket of cold water under his table before setting it up for the next customer.

There were no repercussions, but it was a mighty close call.

(And then there was the time I ate the mayo with my fries in a little rosticeria in Cuzco, but that gamble didn't work out so well ... )

I worked in a local country club while at UofL oh so many years ago. Before anyone asks, I don't think it is still in existence.

Now how do I put this politely?- When a server serves the same people day in and day out familiarity can breed comtempt.
Well, one old waitress, Lou, hated one of the guests and every day when the lady ordered her half order of French Dip, Lou would take off the top of the french roll , put it on the floor, step on it and replace it before serving the sandwich with a smile.
I was way too afraid of her to say anything at the time and thank heavens I've never seen anything like it again.

You'll love this..
I was leaving Kroger in Middletown the other day and I have to say (rather biased) that I have a very cute baby and he was riding along in the cart. The Salvation Army bell ringer made a bee line for me before I could even get out the door. i was already digging up change. The man put his hands all over my son's face, squeezing his cheeks, and talking about how we must spoil him since he is "plump", (he's a baby for goodness sakes!) So the man is going on and on about my child and talking to me...and then it happened...
spittle flew out of his mouth and landed right on my upper lip. I immediately began to wonder how I could get it off and not look "rude". I kept my lips apart so it wouldn't go inside my mouth. Finally, I broke away from the conversation and was able to sanitize my face. ICK!!!
And now I have a horrible cold. Not saying he gave it to me..but you know..still nasty.

One of the worst things I ever heard of was from a guy I dated a few years ago. When he was younger he worked for one of the local pizza chains. Customers that were rude or obnoxious to that particuar store were given a "special order" by the employees. He told me that a couple of them actually made pizzas on the floor, or sprinkled pickle juice over the cheese to make it taste awful. This was a few years ago but after hearing that it was a while before I could order pizza again. Boy am I glad I've always tipped well....and I'm sure a lot of you have heard of this one, it made national news at the time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSMm75T5 ... re=related

While home one summer during college, I worked at a local chain restaurant. I needed a job quickly for a few months...

So one night, one of the servers storms back in to the prep area, fuming about getting a table that she had had before - the people had totally stiffed her when she waited on them previously. So - she was going to show THEM. She takes the little ramekin of sour cream, works up a huge loogie, spits it into the sour cream, and then stirs it up so it wasn't noticeable. I witness this entire event.

When the family left, they actually tipped her a perfectly good amount. She realized they must have just forgotten to tip the last time they were in, because they tipped nicely this time. I guess she felt what was probably regret. I throw up a little in my mouth every time I think of that.

Okay, I assume everyone on this forum that's ever worked in a restaurant has seen the movie "Waiting" (and the related scene where they besmirch the plate of the asshole customer). But I hear these stories all the time, and I have literally never, NEVER seen any cook or server spit in food or do anything disgusting to a patron's plate. Sure, we JOKE about it. But I've never seen anyone do it. There is honor amongst thieves and pirates (servers and cooks).

You people that love food and have never worked in a kitchen, never fear - most of the time nobody's spitting in your food. And let me tell you, if I ever DID see it, I would walk straight to the owner or manager and sing like a canary. And I don't think I'm alone in that.

Lol this is kind of the opposite of everyone else's anecdote but i did my fair share of time serving in restaurants. I work out a lot, so I was always starving by the middle of a shift. Inevitably something would get dropped on the floor during a shift, and while i would never use the 5-second rule with a guest, i sure as hell had no problem applying it to myself! Especially if it was a filet or some chicken wings!

The thing i always found amusing is that after the entire kitchen feigned disgust and lambasted me for about 10 seconds, inevitably several people would ask if they could share haha!

I still can't get over the story of girls bathing in the deep sink used to wash dishes of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant...and posting the pics on MySpace...What Da ?!?!...Jay Leno had a field day with that story...and we all know that Jay Leno just can't resist an opportunity to crack a joke about Kentucky...

I don't care to say it- I had a run in like this at Karma Cafe about two years ago. To give them credit, it could just be a fluke. Anyway, I took my out of town brother there for breakfast. After waiting for what seemed like forever, we saw what we thought was our food come out of the service window and taken to a couple across the way. We saw the couple start to eat off the plates and suddenly realize it was not their food. The server came back and got the food, took it towards the window and realized it was ours. So what did she do?? She brought it straight to our table thinking we didn't see what had happened. Needless to say, we let her put the plates down and left a few bucks for our coffee and ran. GROSS.

One time I had a roach fall from the ceiling to the table at a restaurant, and just as I scooted my chair back far enough for comfort while I decided what to do, another one fell in front of me precisely where my chair was moved from.

*scratching hairs on the back of my neck*

I was at the same restaurant not too long ago and saw a mouse run across the floor. To their defense, in certain neighborhoods and certain times of the year, you can't keep 'em away.

[Robin Garr]

I was at the same restaurant not too long ago and saw a mouse run across the floor. To their defense, in certain neighborhoods and certain times of the year, you can't keep 'em away.

I wish I could remember the restaurant where this happened - it's no longer extant. But at some downtown dive where Louisville Times reporters used to eat, a bunch of us were having lunch one day when it was about as cold as this; and when somebody opened the front door, a rat ran IN.