Recently, Reddit user u/Smartseater asked restaurant employees in the r/Serverlife community to share “any celebrity horror stories” they’d experienced while serving.
HBO
While many people did share horror stories, others took the opportunity to share positive celebrity stories as well. So without further ado, here are 19 alleged celeb experiences people had while working in restaurants:
1.“The Golden State Warriors bought out the restaurant where I worked at the time. The host of the group negotiated that there not be an included gratuity because they would totally ‘take care of us.'”
“They were incredibly obnoxious, trashed the place, and then left something like a 5% tip. Lol. The staff was going to mutiny, so the owners just gave each of the staff a few hundred dollars to make the event worth their time.”
—u/Blacksad999
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2.“One time, I served Robert Irvine, but I didn’t know who he was or that he was a celebrity. I was telling him how we make one of the sauces or something and he was (very kindly) like, ‘Yeah, I know, I cook,’ and his friends kind of laughed. I said, ‘Oh, you dabble?’ as a joke and he laughed and said, ‘Yes, I dabble.'”
“I go into the back to put their orders in and my chef (who is also my boss and the owner of the restaurant) is standing near me and goes, ‘Whoa, that’s Robert Irvine,’ and I was like, ‘Who?’
My boss explained that he’s a celebrity chef and I was like, ‘HAHA, oh BOY do I have a funny story for you…’ I told him the whole thing. My boss just laughed. Robert was super cool about it anyway, so it was just funny 😅.
Anyway, now I’m realizing this is probably about ‘horror stories’ as in the celebrity being an asshole, not us saying hilariously dumb things as servers, but oh well.”
—u/grapetomatoes
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3.“Drake likes to stay hours after closing time 😐. He tips well, though. We all left at 1 a.m. when we normally get out by 10 p.m.”
4.“Opposite: Paul Rudd came into a (very stuffy, boring, and soul-crushing) Michelin star restaurant I used to work at. He brought along a battery-operated children’s karaoke machine and proceeded to host the most entertaining shift of my career.”
“He closed out the night by walking up to every single member of staff (every-fucking-body, general manager to porter), handing them a $100 bill, and GENUINELY thanking them for an amazing night.”
—deleted
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5.“Yao Ming couldn’t fit in any of our chairs. 😅”
6.“No horror story but Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office) came in with his family, we gave him the private terrace, left him the hell alone, and he tipped really well.”
7.“Is Marco Rubio a celebrity? He never looks up from his phone and tips 0-5%. Pre-pandemic he was a regular, but most of the servers refused to serve him.”
8.“Not a horror story, but 50 Cent was so nice to me. I had no idea who he was ’til someone recognized him at the end of his meal (he had requested a back corner booth and I figured he just wanted to be alone).”
“We were talking and joking and he seemed like a genuinely cool dude. Tipped $100 on a $40 bill and told me I was going to go somewhere in life and to have a great day. This was a few years ago and it definitely has still stuck with me.”
—u/persephoneelise
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9.“Dick Cheney tips like shit. Kinda funny, providing he made so much money off of the Iraq War.”
10.“Kat Von D and her husband wrote a tip then crossed it out and put zero. Not surprising from her though.”
11.“I waited on Tyler Perry once and was brand new to serving at a nicer place, so I was super nervous.”
“He spoke so quickly and had a lot of modifications to his table’s order, and I totally mixed everything up — so badly that I almost got fired on the spot by my manager. He was super gracious about it, though, and left me a $100 tip on a comped meal!”
—u/Rileyrose4
Taylor Hill / FilmMagic
12.“Not a horror story, but I served Selena Gomez once. Didn’t know it was her until after she left. I asked her, ‘Has anyone ever told you you look like Selena Gomez?’ and she was like, ‘Yeah, all the time.'”
“She tipped 20%. I was hella embarrassed that I asked her that when one of my coworkers was like, ‘Dude that was Selena Gomez and our store is on her Instagram story.’ 💀”
Gilbert Flores / Variety via Getty Images
13.“Tucker Carlson tips 8%.”
14.“Not at a restaurant, but way back in the early 1990’s, I worked at a pro film lab. (Remember when photos were on film?). Anyway, Elizabeth Shue came in with one of her friends, who was a photographer, to pick up some film we’d processed.”
“I guess she’d hired her friend to shoot some pictures of her. The friend did good work (I checked).
A couple of days later, Elizabeth comes back and asks me if she can add money to her friend’s account. When I tell her that’s no problem, she gives me her card and says, ‘Put $1000 in her account. Don’t tell her it was me.'”
—u/DLS3141
Steve Granitz / WireImage
15.“Michael Bublé is a self-centered prick who yells at the staff and tries to use his name to justify anything. He looked at me and said, ‘Do you know who I am?’ I just said, ‘Nah.'”
16.“I served half of the Baltimore Ravens and their wives/significant others a couple of years ago. They destroyed that section of the restaurant, pissed off everyone around them, and tipped absolutely NOTHING. Everyone who waited on them was pissed.”
“It sounds like pro athletes are notoriously bad tippers though so that’s what I was expecting.”
—u/Ceeceegeez
Greg Fiume / Getty Images
17.“Zuckerberg and his wife are just normal people. They sat in the corner facing away from everyone else so no other diners knew he was in the restaurant. Tipped exactly 20% like his AI brain was programmed to.”
18.“Kenny G came into a famous French Michelin star restaurant at closing with a woman who was not his wife and tried to speak French to everyone like a complete douche. He kept everyone there until 4 a.m. and left 15%.”
19.“I waited on Kacey Musgraves, and she and her boyfriend were so incredibly nice. I didn’t even make the connection it was her until one of the hosts told me.”
“When they had two more people joining them, they walked over to me and asked me if it would be okay. We weren’t even serving them at an official table, it was more like a couch and low table. We were just so busy, but she was fine carrying out her meal there. They ordered some of the most expensive things on the menu and then she tipped 20%.”
—u/virgokween
Taylor Hill / Getty Images for ABA
So, what do you think? Whatever your thoughts are, you can leave alllll your opinions down in the comments below. If you’d like to share your own celeb story (horror or otherwise), feel free to do that as well! Or, if you prefer to write in anonymously, you can check out this anonymous Google form. Who knows — your answer may show up in an upcoming BuzzFeed article!
Please note: some comments have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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