Fast food often offers a higher level of customization than other food service options.
With online ordering, it's become even easier.
Do I want a certain condiment? Do I want a topping left off? Do I want a component added? Is bacon an option?
Because...
With order creativity an option, people can get very, very, very creative.
Reddit user BatrickThombson asked:
"People who have worked in fast food, what is the craziest order you’ve handled?"
Charcoal Briquette
"We had a customer who wanted their pizza burnt. It had to make two full passes through the oven to meet their standards."
"This thing was about as close to setting off the fire alarm as I've seen in a professional kitchen."
"I couldn't even imagine how dry it would be to bite into. It must have been like chomping on a giant Nature Valley granola bar."
~ NativeMasshole
Pizza Soup
"I had a customer that wanted all of the sauces on their pizza."
"Tomato base, then every other sauce we had."
"There were about 20 of them. He got pizza soup."
~ AbroadRemarkable7548
Chicken Jerky
"Had people at the wings place I worked request the wings be fried for 40 minutes—regular was about ten and extra crispy would be 20…so double crispy time."
"We weren’t that busy, so I explained it would take at least 40 minutes to get the wings done, and they’d basically be jerky on the bone, but if they were willing to wait and NOT complain about overcooked/dry wings, we’d do it."
"They loved it and were so happy we did it for them!"
~ AlternativeAcademia
Short-Term Memory
"I worked at Hardee's 20 years ago."
"One evening, about 2 hours before closing time, we got SLAMMED. A group of 52 construction workers came through. Myself and a shift leader were the only ones working."
"Every single guy had an individual order. As soon as I finished with the cashier part, I went to the back line and set up a line of buns to get the orders done."
"Within 20 minutes, my shift leader and I had the food ready to go."
"The real problem came when it was time for them to get their food. I'd call out their order number, and they just stand there."
"Some of them, I remembered their specific orders and would point them out directly. They would say it wasn't their order."
"Like you know what you ordered. Is your memory really that bad that you can't remember what you ordered 15 minutes ago?"
"If I'm ever eating out with a large group, I've always told the server to just start setting plates down, and I would start handing them out. I worked as a waitress for years, and I was better at remembering my friends' orders than they were."
~ croatoan88
Language Barrier
"Mine wasn't so much as a crazy order, but the way this one customer ordered a pizza. They had a significant language barrier issue and they ordered over the phone, which didn't help."
"When we finally got to toppings they listed they wanted mushrooms, green peppers and...what sounded like 'Olium'. I tried to clarify and said, 'do you mean olives?'."
"And they repeated 'Olium'. We went back and forth for a few minutes trying to identify their last topping before I figured out they meant onions."
"It took a biology class in university to make me realize that this person didn't know the English name for onions, so he gave me their scientific name of 'Allium'. Mad respect to this person for trying the scientific name when they didn't know the English one."
~ CaptnMako
One With Everything
"Had a customer who was American, so was only used to limited options for pizza toppings."
"He asked for 'a pizza with everything'."
"Me being a teenager who didn’t care; put all 50+ ingredients on it."
"It was a very tall, uncooked pizza."
~ AbroadRemarkable7548
Hot Bacon
"Soft serve cone with bacon."
"Except according to my manager, the (pre-cooked, pre-packaged, refrigerated) bacon had to be served hot (microwaved)."
"So cone, soft serve, freshly microwaved bacon, more soft serve on top."
~ North-Significance33
One (Burger) With Everything and...
"I managed a small burger place (not a chain but it was all just fast foods we did) for a few years and there are two I can think of:"
"First, we had a large menu of things you could put on your burger. Anything from peanut butter to tzatziki to Boursin cheese to a special house-made sauce to strawberry jalapeño jam."
"A nice couple from Finland once came to our restaurant (which is a very rare occurrence for a small city in Tennessee) and tried our burgers with … every topping we had. They understood English perfectly and knew what they were getting into."
"Those were the messiest burgers, but they were happy with them."
~ littlechangeling
...What A Pickle
"Secondly, there was the Pickle Guy. Look, I love pickles. We brined our own and they were delicious, and they appealed to many."
"I would fry pickles as an off-menu deal if anyone asked for them, as a side/app, or to put on their burgers even. Pickles are great."
"But this guy … not only did he get wind of the fried pickle topping—I can only imagine someone telling him about this strictly out of a conversation like 'hey, you know who loves pickles?'—but he asked for extra, extra regular pickles on bottom."
"OK boss, no problem, I’ll pickle you the hell out. Dude elaborated further. He said, 'I don’t just mean throw three times the pickle on it. I mean make another patty under the burger that is just pickles'."
"I’d never heard of ANYTHING requested that way, but once I knew he wasn’t bothered by being upcharged for the sheer amount of pickle that went into this, I formulated that bad boy. I smashed it all together and lo and behold, a pickle patty."
"Well, dude started coming in every Tuesday from then on with the same request. Nice guy when you don’t short him on pickles though."
"On Tuesdays when I knew I was off for dinner, I had to leave explicit directions for if Pickle Guy came in. He always tipped the server and the kitchen well if we got it right, so we humored him."
~ littlechangeling
Mayo Mania
"I worked at a local chain burger joint. This woman came in and ordered a crispy chicken sandwich."
"On the regular, it would come with mayo and lettuce:
"Lady: '...with extra mayo'."
"Me: 'Okay, extra mayo'—this was pre-computerized register days and you wrote paper tickets."
"Lady: 'No, like, extra, extra, extra mayo. Like swimmin in it'."
"Me: holding pen—not sure what to write—'Okay, I'll tell them'."
"Lady: 'EXTRA mayo'."
"Me: 'I understand'—16-year-old me goes back to the person who pulls the tickets and dresses the buns."
"'She wants extra mayo...no...you don't understand....like put what you think is way too much mayo on both sides of the roll...then add more than that."
"He was happy to oblige and she was happy with her sandwich."
~ LastoftheMohegan
Four And No More
"At Burger King roughly 20 years ago, there was a regular. His order was always a double whopper with extra mayo and extra cheese, king size, with a Diet Coke with FOUR ice cubes."
"When handed his drink he would remove the top and count the ice cubes. Every time."
"He was known as '4 ice cubes guy'."
~ FluffySpaceWaffle
Not In And Out
"I used to work at In-N-Out and it was in a highly touristy area, so we’d get lots of people who had no idea what the menu was and would ask for stuff like chicken nuggets and a salad."
"The craziest order I ever got though was when this tour bus rolled up with 200 people and they all wanted a #1, which is a Double-Double, fries, and a drink. The spokesperson for the group came up to me and said '200 #1 meals please' and after checking with my manager, I informed them we could only do a maximum of 25 burgers at a time."
"So they ended up ordering 25 #1 meals eight times in a row. They slipped me a 20 after taking the orders (we weren’t officially allowed to take tips) and man everyone else who ordered after them looked PISSED."
"Probably the longest In-N-Out wait they’d ever have to endure. Seeing all these tourists pack our dining area and the outside seating was hilarious though."
"They all seemed to love it."
~ oakjudah18
Dark Sandwich Arts
"I had the unfortunate experience of dabbling in the dark sandwich arts in college. A woman called and placed an order for 4 or 5 subs with the last being her personal order."
"After asking for a pretty normal combo of meats and cheese and whatnot, I asked her what condiments she wanted and she replies, 'Just olive oil. Like a LOT of olive oil. I want you to put on as much as you think is too much THEN double that amount'."
"I do as I’m told and shortly thereafter a man, whom I assume is her partner, shows up to get the order. Just as I hand him the second bag of subs, he looks at this translucent abomination as if this sandwich could talk, but would only say 'KILLLL MEEE!'.
"'Woah woah woah!! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS‽‽', he shouted. I replied 'Was that your wife I spoke with… she said to add as much olive oil that would be considered too much then double it'."
"He didn’t didn’t say another word. He sighed the kind of sigh that comes with from a man that’s deeply familiar with hard truths… the sigh of a broken man that can no longer be made whole."
~ Sweaty-Feedback-1482
What‽‽ No Bacon!
"I had a semi-regular customer who would order a bacon cheeseburger without the beef patty and bacon."
"They were paying a lot for a cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwich."
~ prairie_buyer
What's the oddest order you’ve heard of?
