Rude customer wouldn't stop demanding free soda refills — so server sneakily used 'orange juice' loophole that sent his bill through the roof
The family was never seen again in the restaurant.
Restaurant servers are probably the best actors on the planet, for they know how to characterize their personalities for a wide spectrum of customers. Some of these customers demand chipper, prompt, and toasty service while behaving in ways that are not just disrespectful but also ruthlessly rude. In a June 3 Reddit post, one restaurant server (u/willxthexthrill) shared an incident from 2011 that forced them to get even with a customer. When a customer kept on guzzling down free sodas with rude behavior and no tip, the orange juice on the menu came to their rescue.
Tale of the soda-guzzling family
According to the post, the restaurant was located in a small town. Even though it was not very big, being the only Greek restaurant in town, it was highly popular, especially among customers who arrived regularly. Even on weeknights, the kitchen remained busy. Among these customers was a Thompson family that included a mom, a dad, and three kids, probably under 10 years old. Each week, the family visited the restaurant at least once or twice.
The kids and the dad both pestered the servers. While the kids slurped down three to five sodas per visit, the dad, on the other hand, often behaved rudely. Each time the soda-guzzling kids demanded more drinks, he growled at the server, “More soda!” After making a huge mess of their visit, they didn’t even care enough to leave a tip. Tormented by their repetitive behavior, the server decided to give them a blow for a blow.
Tit for tat
When they arrived the next time, it was a weekend and the restaurant was rolling out breakfasts. Before the man could demand more soda, the clever server attempted a strategy to trick them. “Hey gang, who wants orange juice?" He asked them, knowing well enough that the orange juice was $3 per glass and didn’t have free refills. Everyone got the orange juice, and when the time came for the refill, the man shouted, “More juice, more syrup, more napkins!” He didn’t realize that each refill was being counted on their bill. They drank so much orange juice that the chefs had to buy extra ingredients from a grocery store across the plaza.
In the end, when the server presented the bill on the table, the man seemed bewildered. They had to pay $39 only for the orange juice. For a few moments, the man kept on looking from the menu to the bill and vice versa. Finally, he paid the bill, as usual, without the tip. The family was never seen again in the restaurant.
The job of a restaurant server
Sadly, scenarios like this are uncommon. A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health analyzed 329 service workers and revealed that approximately 82% of employees face rude customers. Another survey conducted by Perceptyx revealed that 53% of the restaurant workers who directly come in contact with the public encounter verbally abusive or unruly behavior.
Netizens applaud the server
Meanwhile, dozens of people hopped into the comments section to defend the server. For instance, u/arokthis commented, "Glorious. Losing money on that table was worth never seeing them again." Similarly, u/leebelle9 joked, "They should have been happy the kids were drinking healthy juice instead of soda."
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