An anonymous cabin crew member has revealed how she caught a ‘fake vegetarian’ with ‘malicious compliance’.
The British woman took to Reddit to share how she dealt with a lying passenger who claimed to be a vegetarian to get his desired meal even though it had already run out.
A light tone and an empty packet of bacon flavored chips next to the passenger seat led the flight attendant to believe he was faking the dietary requirements.
When the flight attendant noticed that the vegetarian meals had run out, she took revenge by putting together a bland salad with ingredients from first class. When she offered the passenger the ‘first class’ meal, his face fell. He quickly dropped the charade and asked for the chicken dinner.
Since sharing the afterHundreds of people have taken to the comments section to share their thoughts on the situation, and many are divided.
A flight attendant has revealed how she took revenge on a passenger who pretended to be a vegetarian to get a better meal (stock image)
In the post titled: ‘Fake Vegetarian in flight’, the flight attendant explained: ‘Okay, just to preface this. I am a cabin crew member (stewardess). I’ve been doing it for over 10 years.
‘If any problems arise during my working day, I will do my very best to accommodate people if I can.
“However, there are unfortunately a handful of people who are dishonest and try to get what they want.
“Fake injuries to try to get an upgrade, fake birthdays, you name it, people have tried it and believe me I’ve had plenty of scenarios where people tried to cheat the system because it made them feel special or because they had one scammed me, I think?
‘Let me tell you about a fake vegetarian I had on board… He flew in economy (coach) in the 2nd from the last row. He wanted the pasta option.
“I apologized and told him that we had eloped in the middle of the cabin due to popular demand, but we had the chicken option instead if he wanted it.
Without skipping a beat, he said, “I’m a vegetarian. Last time they brought me a business class meal, so I’ll just wait for that.”
‘This is something I would have offered as a courtesy anyway (if available), as I’m not much of an advertising fan and I really enjoy helping people if I can. (After all, it’s a 747, not a 7-Eleven, as the saying goes).
“Anyway, the way he immediately expected it before I could even offer a solution left a slightly bad taste in my mouth.
‘And I smelled a rat too. I was 99% sure I had cleared an empty pack of smoky bacon chips from him before, and no, it wasn’t a vegetarian brand as I have the same ones every now and then.
‘I was sure he was picky and wanted a higher quality meal. (Plus, any regular flyer knows how often we run out of a vegetarian option and have to pre-order a vegetarian meal).
‘I said, “It’s a shame you didn’t pre-order a vegetarian meal, I’ll see what I can do for you, just give me 5 minutes to wrap it up here.”
“Anyway, I went to Business Class. They also no longer had a vegetarian option. So I went to First Class and asked if they could spare anything.
‘We ended up putting a few leaves together with a little dressing. (They spend £1000 more there and can dine in anytime, so they didn’t want me to take one of the hot vegetarian options in case anyone wanted it later. Fair enough).
‘Then I thought… maybe I could have fun with this fake vegetarian. Warn malicious compliance.
“I put it back on a silver tray and held it above his eye line so he couldn’t see what it was.
‘I explained that the vegetarian business class option had unfortunately run out, at which point he wanted to interrupt me so he could complain, but I held up my hand and said, ‘However, I managed to take it one step further and got the last vegetarian option.’ FIRST CLASS meal.”
“Then I pulled the linen cloth from the top of the tray and placed the salad in front of him. (It was really a very simple but large salad and his face said it all.)
‘His face changed from smug: “Haha, I worked the system” to “Wt* is that?!” flat within 2/3 seconds.
‘He then said, “I wanted something hot, then I’ll just have the chicken.” I made a shocked face and said, “I can’t give you that, sir, I’d feel terrible.”
“He responded with, ‘Don’t worry, it’s fine.’ I looked at him with a ‘Are you sure you’re a vegetarian?’ and brought back the chicken, which at that point had been drying in the oven for some time. Enjoy your meal.’
The cabin crew member concluded: ‘Just to say, even though he was a true vegetarian, he should have ordered in advance. The same goes for gluten-free, vegan, kid’s meal, diabetes, etc…’
Hundreds of Reddit users took to the comments section to share their thoughts on the flight attendant’s revenge.
One person supported the woman’s decision, saying: ‘I love it! I am a vegetarian and always order in advance. And even if you pre-order, some flights may no longer have vegetarian options. Sigh. I’ve never been offered more than a bag of chips as an ‘sorry’ for that.
You’re a great cabin crew member if you do that for the vegetarians! And I loved this evil compliance!’
A third wrote: ‘This is more than malicious compliance. This is beyond evil, lol.”
Another joked, saying: ‘I’d call that chicken karma.’
However, some stood on the passenger’s side with a text: ‘I’m not a vegetarian, but that doesn’t mean I eat meat at every meal.
“And airline chicken is just… gross. I wonder why they don’t make a point of having more pasta meals available without pre-ordering? Seems easier and a lot cheaper too.’