Absolutely agree, but I think the threat of a lawsuit, claiming he was harmed would force a settlement on the person, at the very least pressing charges is an option as even a pie to the face is considered an assault. Throwing the burger or a burger back gives the customer leverage to go after you as well, however stupid it is, the ultimate point being never loose your cool on a customer like that. I worked for some years in fast food, and had all sorts of people yell at me, or throw garbage at us, we never went crazy even though we felt like it.

I have worked retail and have been assaulted by customers. If you want your job you have to take it. I did not quit on he spot but that moment lead me to go back to school and seek new employment. Yes, you could have handled that better. but i understand it. The best response is to apologize, and then request that a manager or other associate deal with the customer Basically say that you will not serve her after that, but she is more than able to seek the assistance of another. If your boss does not like that - you trying to remove your self from a hostile situation while getting the customers money-there is a problem with management. I've know some complete jackwads who won't fault you for trying to gracefully exit..

Yeah, and if the coffee was not hot enought she would have tossed that back at him as well?

That lady was out of control, and if I was in the same situation I would have told the manager to call the police and bring her up on assault charges, not thank him for terminating you. She had more options than the employee did at that moment in time. She could have refused to pay until her order was right, or better yet made a complaint, but to throw the food back at the server? That's a bit much. 

To the tc, don't beat yourself up. Part of you reacted out of rage, rage that this horrible customer brought about. Going forward, don't react that way, the law was on your side here (this ain't North Korea, people don't get to attack you on the job). Call the police instead. 

Btw, did your manager asked if you were ok, did he ask if you wanted to make a police report? If not, then he is an idiot.

You should have given her an apology. Then you should have gone behind the counter, took another burger with cheese, spit on it (while no one was watching), then serve it to her :)

The worse she could of been charged with is Misdemor assult, which is a little difficult to prove, so I usally have them charged with disorderly conduct. It is easy to prove they just have to do something wrong like talk back to an employee and its disorderly conduct and all you have to do is show up for the summons and tell your story and they are paying $3300 (in my area). I even ticked off the head editor of the town's newspaper who tried to use her position to make trouble for me and the restaurtant. (I threw her out because she was yelling at the cashier.) The owner who is a retired lawyer threatened to sue the newspaper if another thing was written by her about the restaurant, or if he thought she wrote it. I have so many stories about the people I have removed from the store. I find it a little sad that so many people have been blacklisted from a fast food store because they don't know how to act at someone else place. (You have to remember you are a guest of the owner, and the management has the right to kick you to curve if your not behaving.)

I know this is a late reply.. but you really felt good for insulting me like that didn't ya?  Well I was 19 when I was working there so I wouldn't say it was a bad job for an 19 year old guy. And my only potential was to work at fast food huh? Is that why I'm making 24$ an hour right now working for a financial institution.  But I'm sorry that you're such a hostile person that hates his life so much. Have a nice day. 

that was absolutely your fault.

Kind of the attitude i take at my job. Not to say i'm a bad worker: show up on time, never call off, remain polite at all times (if a bit passive-aggressive to a few customers who i feel are being abusive, but this is rare), show initiative when i feel like it, but there's a lot of stuff customers do that is technically against policy but i let slide, or an obvious opportunity to go the extra mile that i don't take. That really comes down to money: if you want me to care, pay me more. Hell, a lot of my coworkers who don't get the financial support i get (from my parents) are on foodstamps. Why should anyone care when you're literally not making enough to get by?

Humanity before all.

All the people who are too stupid and influenceable to get their head out of the rationalization propaganda we've endured, which makes us believe that "yes but this is work", "professionalism" etc...are wrong.

Although you were wrong to insult her, you were right to react against the fact that she threw the burger at you because nobody authorizes any customer to assault workers in any way...