Chef receives special request for Cheeseburger Tender meals with ‘no spice’ – tears over who it is for

The chef admitted he 'almost cried on the line' after reading the request.

PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGO

(L) A male chef inserting an order ticket into the pass are in a takeaway restaurant kitchen; (R) Burgers on charcoal grill - Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) SolStock; (R) Ali Majdfar

Restaurant workers see all kinds of requests come through on order slips, but every now and then, one stands out for reasons most unexpected. One chef had a similar experience when he received an order with a special request. The chef shared the order ticket on Reddit in June, 2025, under the username u/Chefadamski, which was for a Cheeseburger Tender meal with "no spice." The post has since gathered more than 60,000 upvotes, and people understood why the chef admitted that he almost cried when he saw who the food was for.

Chef cooking in the kitchen - Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Rene Terp

The customer wrote in the ticket, "Dog's last meal before we put him down. Please no spice on it." The chef captioned the post, "Almost cried on the line tonight," and thousands of people said they would have felt the same way. Losing a pet often carries the same weight as losing a family member, and moments like these remind us how deep that bond runs. A 2025 cross-sectional study by Silva, Santos & Barbosa examined 123 bereaved pet owners and found that grief intensity was significantly higher among those who euthanized their pets. The study also showed grief was stronger when owners felt excluded from the decision, regretted the timing, or struggled with guilt.

Man feeding a dog - Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Zen Chung

In the comments, readers shared stories of giving their pets a final special meal. u/RellaSkella wrote, "Cooked my dog a 16 oz ribeye with mashed potatoes the morning she left. Just caught all the feels." Another user, u/joellypie13, shared, "We knew the day was coming for our good girl, and we’re trying to get everything together for her last meal. But she ended up having a medical emergency and had to rush her in to put her down. I hate that I couldn’t give her all her popcorn, steak, and ice cream (I was planning a 3-course meal)."

A man cuddling with his dog - Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Ivan Babydov

Others opened up as well. u/Existential_Sprinkle said, "When I had pet rats and one of them died, I made a T-bone or ribeye and left a bit of meat on the bone for them. When my last one died, I sadly went back to my preferred cut which is a New York Strip because I didn't have rats who wanted the bone." u/Aggressivehippy30 added, "Double portion comped for the good boy [sic]." u/thelowbrassmaster reflected, "I wish I had the chance to do this, all but one dog I had died of natural causes in their sleep and I regret they couldn't have anything special because I had no idea."

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Stories like these highlight not just the love people have for their pets, but also the heavy grief that comes with putting them down. In another post, when one pet owner asked a veterinarian what the hardest part was about their job, he shared that nearly 90% of owners step out of the room during euthanasia, leaving pets alone in their last seconds. As a result, many pets spend their finals seconds hoping their humans are by their side. Pet owner Jessi Dietrich said she was left heartbroken after her vet admitted it. She shared, "The animal’s last moments are usually them frantically looking around for their owners, and to be honest, that broke me."