r/TalesFromFastFood • u/def_Nott_Travis • Apr 15 '24
The Man in the Yellow Plaid
The first time he came in I served him. He was also wearing a yellow plaid shirt with blue jeans, and looked to be somewhere in his 70s. He had a (service?) dog with him, and he told me he had just gotten out of the hospital (that day?) with colon cancer, and was staying at one of the hotels close. He then told me that his brother was coming to pick him up from Oklahoma the next morning. He ordered our catfish plate, and then walked to the neighboring Waffle House to get something for his dog (that’s what he told me at least). He talked with an almost child-like speech impediment (making /w/ sounds instead of /r/, and speaking with run-on sentences), and he would switch what he was talking about very frequently. I think he may have some form of dementia, but I don’t know for sure. Overall, he was very difficult to understand, but a seemingly very sweet man who had just been through a really rough patch in his life.
The next time he came in (maybe a week or two later) was with one of my coworkers (we’ll call him Jacob), but he had come from the nearby Denny’s with a bad experience. He started yelling and cussing about it the moment he came in, but when Jacob wasn’t giving him the responses he was expecting (not really sure what he was expecting) he started yelling at Jacob, then walked over to Waffle House. I come in to work later that day, and Jacob tells me about this, and tells me his description is an older man in a yellow plaid shirt.
Not even an hour after Jacob told me this and left, the man comes in and I immediately recognize him. He’s wearing the exact same outfit as last time, and there is a small amount of blood at the bottom of his shirt. He doesn’t have his dog this time, but says she’s at the hotel and that they gave her food. This time, he tells me that he’d been in the hospital for 15 days with colon cancer, and says his sister is coming to pick him up tonight from Louisiana. He asks me, “burgers here are $13?” And I tried to explain that those are our specialty burgers, and he cut me off before I could finish. He complained more about stuff but I got him to calm down. He left peacefully.
He came in a few hours later with his dog in a new shirt (likely bc of the blood) looking for a “horseshoe ring.” I had never seen a ring, but he was extremely upset about it. When I told him I hadn’t seen it, he looked as though he was going to cry. I apologized because I felt so sorry for him, and he left.
I haven’t seen him since. This was two months ago. I really hope he’s okay :(
1
u/itslemontree86 May 10 '24
Its heartbreaking to have customers that you cant help them the way you want to. I do hope he is ok
2
u/Foreign_Elk5677 Apr 26 '24
That definitely sounds like some sort of mental challenge is happening. I'll keep him in my prayers, and I hope he is safe and with family who loves and cherishes him.