A server says she was grabbed by a customer’s shirt collar and pulled to the floor after repeatedly asking the guest not to touch her while working. The incident was shared in a Reddit post on r/restaurant by a user named GothMoleRat.
According to the post, the server was serving two women in their early to mid-20s at what she described as a “more fast food style restaurant,” part of a popular chain in America. She said the two women frequently asked for things throughout the meal, which she initially did not mind since the restaurant was slow that day.
The server said the situation changed once she was assigned two more tables. While she was busy taking orders from other guests, she said one of the women began snapping her fingers and whistling to get her attention, while the other laughed along.
Server says she was grabbed twice before being pulled to the floor
The server said the finger-snapping and whistling continued each time she walked past to help her other tables. At one point, while she was walking by, she said one of the women grabbed her sleeve and asked for alfredo. The server told her she would have to wait.
A second time, while the server was getting napkins for a child at another table, she said the same woman grabbed the back of her shirt to ask for breadsticks. The server said she asked the woman not to grab her clothing, explaining that it could cause her to drop hot food and hurt herself or others.
The server said the woman and her friend then began referring to her as a “lazy b*tch” and “weird emo girl” while laughing. Then, according to the post, as the server walked by again, the woman reached up and grabbed the back of her collar, pulling her backward and causing her to fall. The server said that in the process, she swung her arm and knocked the woman’s hand away from her.
The server said the woman then began crying, saying she had been attacked and had only wanted more alfredo. The server said she told the woman she would not be taking her order and asked her to leave. According to the post, the woman continued to say she was being targeted, while her friend accused the server of assaulting her, even though the woman had pulled the server to the floor.
The server said her manager eventually came out, asked the two women to leave, and told them not to return. She said her manager also sent her home early because she felt too upset to continue taking orders for the rest of her shift.
In the post, the server wrote about the incident, saying, “So as much as they were pissing me off to begin with and I would have loved to, I can’t.” She said her workplace generally discourages staff from confronting difficult customers directly, and instead tells servers to turn tables over faster to get guests to leave sooner. Other restaurant workers have described similar situations where managers stepped in to defend staff after a customer mistreated them.
The post received several comments from other users sharing similar experiences working in restaurants. One commenter wrote, “Your manager should have come out much earlier. Snapping fingers and whistling at a server is very disrespectful, these people shouldn’t be served at all.” The same commenter added, “It’s your managers job to cteate a safe work place with a nice culture. If they don’t, I’d start looking for another job.”
Responding to that comment, the server wrote, “I’m aware it’s a management issue and if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m good friends with a decent chunk of my coworkers I would have left sooner. I am currently looking for a new job though.” Another commenter wrote, “jesus, grabbing your collar and yanking you to the ground is straight up assault, you handled that better than most would.”
One user offered a legal distinction, writing, “Assault: the threat Battery: the action. So, what OP described (being grabbed and thrown to the floor) is battery…” Disputes between servers and customers over how guests treat waitstaff have also surfaced in stories about unexpected tipping situations at restaurants, where servers said customers acted in misleading or disrespectful ways before paying.
Another commenter shared a separate experience, writing, “I had an eight top who were there to celebrate the recovery of one member of the group who supposedly had a stroke… This old creep beckoned me closer, to the point I had to bend over him, and then grabbed me by the back of the neck with both arms and pulled my face down to kiss me.”
A different user wrote, “I would have called the police and pressed charges for assault! Nobody had a right to pull you to the ground at your place of employment. Where are your managers?!?!”
In response to a question about whether the two women left a tip, the server wrote, “No tip, neither of them were served alcohol.”
Published: Aug 3, 2026 05:00 pm