Someone Asks "What’s The Weirdest Reason You’ve Had Someone Send Food Back?", People Share 30 Infuriating Stories

When it comes to sending back food at restaurants, there is a generational gap. According to a 2018 report, millennials are much more shy than their parents when dissatisfied with meals. 61% of people over the age of 55 are comfortable sending back food that is not to their liking, while 52% of millennials are uncomfortable doing so. In fact, 15% of millennials go so far as to say they would never send food back. Why is there such a divide? Perhaps the younger generations are more sympathetic to service industry workers because they are more likely to hold these jobs as well. A 2019 report found that 49% of employees in the food service industry were millennials. Maybe because they are familiar with the pain of dealing with difficult customers, these millennials would rather bite the bullet (or you know, whatever meal they've been given) than inconvenience a fellow server.  

What are valid reasons to send back food in the first place? If you requested no tomato on your burger then find a slice when it arrives, the solution is simple enough to avoid confrontation. When it comes to health risks, however, sometimes returning a meal is necessary. People with serious allergies need to be very cautious when dining out because cross contamination is always a potential risk. It's the responsibility of the customer to make servers aware of allergies before ordering food, but they must understand that accidents can always happen.

Fear of food poisoning is another common reason customers return dishes. Apparently dining out poses double the risk of food poisoning that eating at home does. Certain foods are much more likely to make us sick, however, so choosing to prepare those foods at home may be best for nervous restaurant patrons. According to the CDC, raw or undercooked meat and eggs are the top foods to be wary of when eating out. They also warn to avoid lukewarm food, especially at a buffet or salad bar. "Cold food should be served cold, and hot food should be served hot". Some of these difficult customers mentioned on Reddit should have been thanking chefs for sending out scalding hot soup; they just didn't want anyone to get sick!

According to Lindsay Mattison, a former restaurant chef, there are acceptable times to send a plate back. (And to put anxious readers at ease, she has "never worked in a kitchen that deliberately messed with the food or added unsavory ingredients to a re-fired plate".) In fact, she says that she much prefers a customer giving her "the opportunity to make things right instead of writing a bad review about the restaurant later".

So when would Lindsay send a plate back? If the dish is simply wrong, no need to suffer through it, she says. "Politely point out the mistake to the server and ask for the dish you actually ordered." Receiving a cold plate (when it was supposed to be hot) is also a valid reason to send it back. As previously mentioned, nobody wants to go home with food poisoning. "Not only will it taste off, but it could actually present a food safety issue," explained Lindsay. 

On that note, if your food was prepared improperly, such as over or undercooked, it's okay to send that back too. Especially "if you’re at a fancy restaurant paying top-dollar for your meal, don’t be afraid to insist on the temperature you ordered," said Lindsay. This commonly happens with steak, but the same goes for preparation of other meats, fish and eggs. In the case of undercooked chicken, Lindsay warns, definitely don't take a risk. The kitchen needs to know if they're serving salmonella on a plate. 

Lastly, Lindsay notes that finding a foreign object on your plate or receiving food that's simply inedible are two more reasons to return a meal. As horrific as it sounds, sometimes "a stray hair, a bug or something gross like a Band-Aid finds its way onto your plate". As far as deeming your meal inedible, Lindsay first sets some ground rules: "don’t eat all but one bite and ask for a new dish because you didn’t like it". "But if you’re a few bites in and the food is inedible, it’s always fine ask for a replacement meal," she says. "It might not be about personal preference; maybe the cook accidentally added too much salt or one of the ingredients has gone bad. Sending it back lets the chef taste the dish to see if she thinks it should be modified or changed."

Some of the responses on Reddit included vegetarians sending back dishes with meat because they somehow forgot their convictions or didn't realize what they were ordering... As with allergies, being transparent with restaurant staff about dietary preferences is the job of the patron. From personal experience, I have found it's much easier for everyone to be on the same page if I just ask exactly what the vegan options are. Servers are usually helpful and accommodating, and having this conversation before ordering almost guarantees I receive what I wanted. It is much less embarrassing to ask questions when browsing the menu than to sheepishly admit when the food arrives that you didn't know what prosciutto is.