Used to work at pizza shops, been a waiter and a bartender back in college to pay my tuition. That’s only the half of it based on my experience. 5 star hotels are more strict about their service, regardless of the snottiness.
Then when I was bartender for small restaurant/bars, the staff did not give a sh*t. Same thing being a waiter: remember...when you send your food back due to a complaint, there’s an 80% chance, the cook will spit in it especially if the kitchen head isn’t looking.
Yup, sounds about right. Also when they think you may have stiffed them previously on the tip, they'll spit in your food or worse. I never stiff them, but it makes me nervous when I go to a restaurant and they say, "Hey, you look familiar," which I seem to get a lot. Maybe some guy who looked vaguely like me stiffed them once, so they're gonna pee in my food! Sheesh.
As often as we hear about such things, YOU KNOW that 99.999% of such incidents must go unreported because no one ever sees anything or is any the wiser.