Everybody knows a waiter with more industrial horror stories than the Hellraiser series. But how much of that stuff is real, how much is embellished, and how much of it was just a hallucination from eating last week's leftover specials? We spoke to Justin Croft, a chef with 15 years of experience in the industry, and John Kolka, another chef with more than a decade of experience, about what really goes on behind the scenes in restaurants.

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When it comes to food, these guys have seen it all. And, to be honest, that's probably a good thing. During his stint as a restaurant manager, Justin was compensated with a base salary, plus incentives in the form of a food cost bonus, a labor cost bonus, and a cleanliness bonus. In other words, if he didn't toss too much food, sent employees home when business was slow, and kept the health inspection scores high, he could make bank -- or, at least, enough to open and maintain a bank account. That's what the phrase means, right? Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images 'Sorry, Hamlet, your ass just got retired.'

Read Next 'Pot roast that was past its date became the 'family' meal served to the staff,' he said. 'Once, while working at a gastropub in London, the owner told me to take the moldy hamburger patties that had been sitting for weeks and serve them to the employees.

How does that fit into the bottom line? Well in the U.K., at-will employment isn't the way it works -- [employment] is all done via contract. At this particular restaurant, the contract stated that 2.50 (GBP) would be deducted from your pay every day for your shift meal. So, instead of breaching contract, he would rather risk sending his employees to the hospital, which doesn't cost him anything because the U.K. Has the National Health Service.'

Jack Hollingsworth/Photodisc/Getty Images 'The Queen says, 'Dig in. Ford Cargo 0913 Manual High School there. ' 4What You Order (and When You Order It) Determines How Fresh Your Food Is Wavebreakmedia Ltd/Wavebreak Media/Getty Images In Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain advised the world, and that's still very much the case today: Fish specials on Mondays are the fish that didn't sell over the weekend, as are. Also, considering that a $30 filet mignon probably cost the owner about $28 to put on your plate, you can see how a suspect steak gets sold even after the staff watched its soul crawl back into its body and start haunting the sous chef. 'People who prefer their steaks well-done are a godsend,' said Justin. 'Because overcooking is the best way to cover up anything foul.

You serve up the fresh meat to those who want it rare to medium -- well-done, you make sure you use up the ones your boss specifically set aside for that temperature.' Bdspn/iStock/Getty Images Anything crawling around in there can simply be fried up and served as garnish.

But, then again, if you're ordering your fine steaks well-done, you may deserve it. In his experience, John was never told outright to serve spoiled food. He was, however, taught how to disguise spoilage in order to serve it without customers noticing it. For example, with seafood that's starting to turn has a very distinctive ammonia odor, you can rinse it in cool salt and lemon water, which hides the scent long enough to serve it -- without the customer thinking you marinated their appetizer in Windex. 'As an executive chef, I was too strict to allow anything like that to leave my kitchen,' he said. 'But, I have seen it happen. I've seen steak that was brown and smelling of decomposing flesh cooked and served after covering up the rot by finishing it in the oven or steaming it on the flat top with beef broth.'