You’re fired.
Most people think the worst that restaurant workers will do while on the job is maybe tampering with a problematic customer’s order. Well, think again — because these naughty employees are messing less with the patrons and more with their employers.
In the r/confession subreddit on Reddit, a thread was started when a now-deleted post from a former Chili’s employee revealed that they would steal from customers when they ordered the 2-for $20 deal.
After reading that, thousands of former restaurant workers chimed in, instead divulging shocking stories of how they stole from their employers. And let’s just say — one story got worse after the other.
A former McDonald’s employee shared that when they were on the clock, they would punch an order in and the kitchen would often make it right away.
If the buyer paid with exact change for their order, the employee would hand off the food, and “delete the order after, pocketing the money.”
“Never once got caught, but a few of the full-timers would start asking where the order went and look for the food so I started only doing it at night when the teenage staff just didn’t care,” the McDonald’s staff member explained.
Another unhinged restaurant worker at TGI Friday’s explained how the restaurant would run two promo coupons in the weekend paper. “I believe they were both $5 off a purchase of a certain amount or maybe $5 and a percentage off on the other coupon,” they explained in the thread.
The employee said they would collect the coupons that customers left behind in addition to clipping them from the newspaper.
“When customers paid cash, I’d print the bill but not finalize it, and just apply the coupon after they left, pocketing $5 each time,” the Reddit user shared.
A former Ruby Tuesday employee reminisced on the devious tactics of a fellow co-worker. They mentioned how many customers would order just the salad bar and a drink.
He explained how salad bar and drink orders didn’t go through to the kitchen, so one of the waiters would keep the paper tickets — they didn’t have computer printouts at the time. If the customer paid in cash, he kept the money. If they paid with a card, he’d ring it up normally.
The stories kept rolling in from there.
An ex-Dunkin‘ employee revealed in the thread how they would pocket the money a customer handed over: “Whenever customers would hand me cash and say ‘Keep the change,’ I’d apply a senior discount and throw the extra change in our tip jar.”
Of course, Olive Garden employees took advantage of the sweet deals the restaurant offered its diners. A commenter disclosed that workers at the Italian fast food chain loved it when people ordered the endless soup and salad deal during the lunch shift.
“It was a gold mine for them (the employees). Open one check, and use that check for everyone paying cash. Kind of like rolling drinks, but it was an $8.99 item,” the comment read.
Lastly, a former Jamba Juice staffer shared that they would input an order into the computer — but once the employee saw that the customer was paying with cash, they would erase the order and pocket the money.
Amongst these many stories were people complaining about how unethical these tactics are.
“Theft is theft, you are not a good person for doing this or bragging about it,” one whining comment read.
“Wow, what a dishonorable individual. Plain and simple a trashy thief!” another angry person wrote.
“You sound like a real piece of work,” another read.
“People like you give servers a bad name!” a commenter quipped.