“I Witnessed ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ IRL”: Caterers Are Sharing Their Wildest On-The-Job Story

Many lines of work generate wild, bizarre, or altogether unforgettable on-the-job stories, but catering for the rich and famous (or even the non-rich and unknown) nearly guarantees a slew of stories that are in a league of their own. Recently, I asked the caterers and cater waiters of the BuzzFeed Community to share the stories they’ll never forget, and folks, they delivered. These were the stories that still live in their minds rent-free — and after reading them myself, I’m not sure if I’ll ever forget them, either.

This post contains mention of drugs. 

Disclaimer: These stories have not been verified. The users are supposedly speaking from their own experiences.

1.

“My friend K and I catered together for a special occasion for a man he knew from his time as the executive chef at a top hotel downtown. The event took place at a suburban mansion, which you would’ve thought was a country club with the pool, pavilion, outdoor bars, and sprawling grounds. The host was really cool. He offered us drinks and invited us to mingle with guests after we set up our display. He was outgoing and friendly, with a larger-than-life personality…”

“As the event picked up, I noticed big guys in suits, complete with earpieces, standing sentinel at the entrances and exits. Then, police came when the fireworks display started. They said they had to come, but of course, the host could do whatever he wanted and didn’t have to stop the show, which rivaled any city’s fireworks display. They shook hands, and the police cars went on their way. When it was time for our payment, we had to go past two guards through a lounge that had more autographed sports memorabilia than a hall of fame! I wondered if the host was a sports agent or owner, something along those lines. We reached his office, where there was a pile of cocaine on his desk, which he offered to us. He paid in cash and gave a hefty tip. I asked if he was an agent, and he chuckled, saying, “Yeah. ‘Agent.’ I like that!”

“Once K took the envelope, he mentioned our long drive home and told the host we had to leave. We headed home, and K didn’t say anything until we were on the highway. He explained that he didn’t ‘accept the job;’ he said declining ‘wasn’t an option’ and explained a little further about the host’s ‘family business.’ As he did, things I had subconsciously cataloged throughout the night flashed, like snapshots in my mind, and formed a picture of who or what I never thought I’d see in real life. Other things that alone wouldn’t seem unusual, but when put together, were clear as day. That was my first and last job catering for an organized crime boss.”

—Anonymous

2.

“Throughout my tenure as a cater waiter, I had the relatively unfortunate privilege of donning the iconic Cartier page uniform and serving high-end clientele at their iconic 5th Avenue mansion. At those events, we’d serve champagne and petit four (little bite-sized confections) to Cartier’s top clients. One time, my captain pulled me aside to assign me the task of picking out and assembling an all-pink tray of sweets — pink and only pink. That was alongside a tray of rosé champagne, which we weren’t even serving to other guests. When I asked why, he just said it was for a ‘very important singer who’s very specific about what she eats when shopping for diamonds.’ I’m not going to name names, but when I found out who it was, my jaw dropped. The real gag is: She never even showed up to her appointment.”

3.

“I worked for a caterer during college for some extra spending money. The one party I will always remember working was out in the Hamptons. This was pre-RHONY, but it had that vibe for location, and, who knows, maybe it was them. We were booked for a dinner for 40 and drinks for 200 afterward at a housewarming party for a couple. It was a gigantic house with a pool at the end of a cul-de-sac, and the backyard abutted a cornfield. We took a U-Haul truck full of liquor. We got there, started setting up, and dinner started around 7 p.m. The hosts informed us as we were setting up that they had been invited to their own party two towns over earlier in the day, and more people might show up. That dinner for 40 turned into dinner for 200. The 200 for drinks turned into 1,000…”

“Cars were parked on both sides of the road for two miles, and people were Field of Dreams-ing their way into and out of the party through the cornfields in the backyard. We set up additional bar locations, and basically, anybody who was part of the catering crew was now a bartender. We bought all of the ice in a 20-mile radius from every gas station and grocery store to keep the drinks flowing. The U-Haul full of liquor was empty by 11 p.m. Thankfully, the cops finally broke things up since the roads around the place were impassable, and they were threatening to tow cars. Then we got to clean up while the hosts and a few drunken close friends skinny-dipped in the pool. Thankfully, our boss was chill and took us out for diner food at 2 a.m. so we could decompress from the insanity we had just lived through. A typical 9-to-5 day: 9 a.m to 5 a.m.”

—Anonymous

4.

“It’s wild that one of the most memorable catering stories came from my first day on the job. I showed up and immediately was ushered into a chair for hair and makeup. As if that wasn’t unexpected enough, my jaw dropped when they placed a powdered wig on my head and rouge on my cheeks, Marie Antoinette-style. The next thing I know, I’m holding a tray of six champagne glasses, walking through a crowded room of guests. As a first-time cater waiter, I nearly fumbled the tray every time someone swiped a glass. Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and the music lowered as the entire crowd turned their attention to a spotlit area at the top of a grandiose staircase…”

“At that moment, Katy Perry stepped into the spotlight, donning French Renaissance garb, and descended the staircase holding a perfume bottle in her hands. She walked to the center of the stage, spritzed the perfume twice, and literally just said, ‘Let’s party.’ The crowd roared. The whole event ended up being the launch of her new perfume line, and I’ve never forgotten it.”

5.

“I worked a wedding where the bride was on a strict raw vegan diet leading up to the wedding. Needless to say, her dinner was filled with the most decadent food items offered. The reception starts, and she is going ham. Three drinks in, and she was slurring so badly it was basically verbal cursive and stumbling around the tables ‘talking’ to her guests. Then the food is served, and she is gorging plate after plate. Around 45 minutes after the first course was served, the bride stood up from her table and started running in her full gown towards the bathroom. She barely made it into the door before she projectile vomited all over the main restroom sitting area. A few other staff members and I went inside after her, and she had exploded from both ends by then. We all cleaned her up, and her mom ran to a nearby store and bought her a simple white dress. She was able to rally and finish her night. I felt so bad for her, but I also got a massive tip that night.”

6.

“I worked for a company that catered weddings, graduations, birthday parties, and just about any event you could think of — with great feedback. I was a front-end associate and was given the opportunity to co-host an orientation for new employees when they stressed both reporting illness and handwashing, especially for kitchen and bakery employees. This was prepandemic and came out of left field; a staff member wasn’t feeling well and came to work anyway, believing they were not sick. The next day or so, they got really sick with a stomach bug…”

“Phone calls from customers started coming in after this when multiple people reported stomach bugs after eating food that we had prepared. Store management did contact tracing and, upon further investigation, found that the employee had a form of E. coli, which was passed to at least 50 people at the party. He didn’t wash his hands. For those of you who work in food service, there’s a reason why the sign ‘All employees must wash hands after using the restroom’ exists. This is why.”

—Anonymous

7.

“At the Ralph Lauren mansion on 72nd and Madison, I was passing cookies and drinks to anyone who came for a private appointment to view their new home collection. I approached a man and a woman who were sitting with their backs to me, discussing the collection with one of the associates. I politely interrupted to offer them some champagne and macarons — but never in a million years did I expect the woman who turned around to be Anne Hathaway (who politely declined). Allegedly, they were there to shop for furnishings for a new home out west.”

8.

“As a caterer, I was planning a wedding, and the bride’s mother insisted that she make the cake but have us deliver it. I agreed to meet her outside our offices and take the cake from her. When she arrived, she got out of the car and opened the trunk, where she ensured us (against our wishes) that the cake would be safe. Once we arrived at the venue, when she opened the trunk, there was not one inch of space that was not covered in cake. She looked at me and said, ‘Nevermind,’ got back in her car, and drove away.”

—Elizabeth, 39, Texas

9.

“I literally witnessed The Devil Wears Prada in real life. While working a massive Hermès fashion show in NYC, we spent all day breaking our backs, preparing for the event with the ultimate goal of making sure the show would run exactly on schedule. So, needless to say, we were stealing glances at each other when five minutes had passed after the show was set to start — and the lights still hadn’t dimmed. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted an all-too-familiar face with a legendary hairstyle taking her seat in a reserved chair in the front row. Within three seconds, the show started. I guess it’s OK to be fashionably late when you’re Anna Wintour.”

10.

“By far, the wildest and worst was being made to crawl on the floor for a pork chop. I was working an event where they left almost no space between the tables, meaning all 40 of us going out with multiple plates at a time wasn’t going to go perfectly smoothly. One of the plates I had slid out of my grip, and I leaned back to make sure it fell on me and not on any of the guests. It fell to the ground, and I kept moving because what else was there to do? Maybe five seconds after putting the last plate down on the table, the floor captain grabbed my shoulder and growled, “You do NOT come back to the kitchen until you’ve found that pork chop. Get on the ground and find it now!” and stomped away. I got down on the ground and crawled around to find the pork chop. The looks I got were a mix of pity and supreme discomfort. The pork chop was found, but I left the company a few gigs after that. It’s not worth making someone feel horrible for honest mistakes.”

—Anonymous

11.

And finally: “I worked a ‘community pillar’ dinner, which was a thank-you event for business owners and people who had donated any amount to the community that year. Everyone pre-selected their dinner choices from a menu sent in advance. During the salad and soup course, we started serving the front tables; the larger the donation, the closer to the stage. As I walked past a table at the very back with a tray of hot soup, a woman yanked my arm and demanded to know where her soup was, causing me to spill soup on the tray. I explained that we had just started serving and she would be served shortly. Nope. Not good enough. She had a full meltdown about how she had donated money and deserved her food first. To quiet her down, we served her soup ahead of half the tables. But then she started screeching about how we dared serve her soup without serving the rest of her table, who were ignoring her…”

“Eventually, everyone had their soup, and we began serving the main course. Her dinner card indicated she wanted chicken, so we served her chicken. However, she refused to eat it, insisting that she had ordered pork. We had to bring out her card where she selected chicken to show her, and she threw a huge fit when she couldn’t switch to pork when we were literally serving the dinner. She proceeded to interrupt the mayor and his wife to bitch about the service and our incompetence, which meant that we got yelled at by our boss. Finally, dessert happened, and this woman’s companion suddenly jerked way back in his seat, upsetting the tray of desserts I carried and making them go everywhere. She got in my face and screamed about suing me for giving her father a concussion. He didn’t have a concussion; it was an aluminum tray with lemon squares. I told her he probably needed one to deal with her. That’s the moment I quit.”

If you’ve ever worked in catering, what’s the unforgettable story that you’ll never live down? Tell us all about it in the comments below, or share your experience anonymously using this form.