On an average day, there’s not much about receipts that’s particularly exciting. At best, they serve a practical purpose—proof of payment, a tax write-off, or a backup for returns.

But sometimes, if you check the fine print, you’ll find more than just numbers. These people did, and they discovered messages so clever, funny, or unexpected that they had to share them online. Here are some of the best ones.

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#1 Today At My Work, The Creator Of Phineas And Ferb Came To Dine In And Left Drawings Of His Work

#2 Asked Clerk For The Most Decadent Cupcake Bc I Got A Job Rejection – This Note Was On The Receipt

#3 I Wanted To Write A Ya Book About Bullying Since My Experiences In Grade School. My Cashier Job Wouldn’t Let Me Use A Notebook, So I Started Writing It On Receipts

This year, I finally published my novel

These days, life is full of conveniences that make everything easier. We don’t have to leave the house to shop—just a few clicks, and whatever we need arrives at our doorstep. The same goes for food, where we can even choose to avoid interacting with the delivery person entirely. And many of us choose to work from home, skipping the daily commute and all the small talk that comes with it.

#4 This Guy Sat In My Section Tonight And Left A Note On The Back Of His Receipt

#5 I Was Wondering Why The Last Table Of My Shift Was Taking So Long To Sign His Receipt

#6 Took My Kitchen Knives To Be Sharpened And They Gave Me A Band-Aid With My Receipt

While all of that is helpful (and honestly, a dream for anyone with social anxiety), it also takes a lot of humanity out of everyday interactions. That’s why little personal touches, like a handwritten note or a hidden message on something as simple as a receipt, can turn an otherwise mundane experience into something special.

#7 Local Donut Shop Includes Mitch Hedberg’s Philosophy On Receipts

#8 Once Again Bored At Work And Drew All Of Ichiban’s Dragon Koi That I Could Fit On A Piece Of Receipt Paper

#9 My Mother-In-Law Passed Unexpectedly Yesterday Morning. Her And My Wife Were Supposed To Go Get Haircuts Together Soon So My Wife Went To Get One Just To Get Out Of The House And When She Went To Pay They Told Her Someone Else Had Paid For It And Left This Note On The Back Of The Receipt

One place where receipts are practically everywhere is restaurants. So, Bored Panda reached out to Humbat Mamedov, a waiter at Street Pizza in Riga, Latvia—one of Europe’s top 50 pizzerias—to find out how often receipts are used as a form of communication.

“All the time,” Humbat says. However, rather than being meant for guests, most of these messages are actually exchanged between restaurant staff.

#10 Our Waiter Doodled On Our Receipts At Denny’s Today

#11 I’ve Never Seen A Receipt With A Joke On It Before

#12 I Work In A Cafe That Caters To Kids. This Mom Wrote This Note On Her Receipt And My Heart Melted

When waiters take orders, customers often have specific requests. The easiest way to pass these modifications along to the kitchen is through the printed order slip. A quick note, and boom, it’s done.

“Leaving messages is generally very easy,” Humbat explains. “The text goes directly to the intended station and usually doesn’t appear on the final receipt for the guest, which is very convenient. Unfortunately, not all establishments have this feature.”

#13 Bought 2 Lifesavers At CVS And The Receipt Was Almost As Long As My Truck Bed

#14 My Receipt For The Clinic Had A Sudoku To Help Pass The Time

#15 True Romance

The type of message varies based on a guest’s specific needs. Many places have preset templates for common modifications, like meat doneness or soup portions. But when requests are more detailed, custom messages become unavoidable.

#16 The Coupon On My Receipt Is Good For 129 Years

#17 This Was Written On The Back Of A Receipt By Some Little Kid. Made Me Feel All Warm And Fuzzy

#18 I Was Adopted In 1965 And My Parents Saved The Receipt

Since kitchens are often located in the basement or separated from the dining area, these notes can be incredibly useful. “They let the waiter include specific comments about a guest, and sometimes, they’re also a great way to amuse the kitchen staff,” Humbat adds.

“For example, at one place I worked, we had a regular customer who insisted that everything on the plate be served separately—no matter what the dish was—and without salt or pepper. So we’d simply write ‘Guest Name – Salt Pepper’ to signal the kitchen that they had arrived.”

#19 This Place Charged Me $2.25 Just Out Of Spite

#20 I Found Three Four-Leaded Clovers; When I Bought Tape To Preserve Them, The Total Was $7.77

#21 The Book I Bought Today Had Its Original Receipt

Of course, not all messages are sweet, but some are undeniably funny. If a customer is being rude or difficult, waiters might vent a little in the order notes to the kitchen or even joke about the situation. And when a guest requests an over-the-top modification, not for allergies, but just because they feel like it, staff will sometimes add an apology to the kitchen for the extra hassle.

#22 This Receipt Paper I Got From An ATM At A Dispensary Doubles As Rolling Paper

#23 This Is How The Gas Pump Printed My Receipt

#24 You’re Not The Only Artist In That Bar

But for every difficult customer, there are plenty of kind ones too. Some even leave heartwarming messages on their receipts or napkins. As a Ukrainian, Humbat has received messages of support from fellow Ukrainian guests.

“One note read, ‘Thank you for a piece of Ukraine in Riga. Good luck, and Glory to Ukraine!’” he recalls. “Another time, someone left me a children’s coloring book with ‘thank you’ written inside in Polish, which I happen to understand a little.”

#25 My Wendy’s Receipt Has An ASCII Art Burger

#26 Those CVS Receipts Are Finally Paying Off

#27 Cashier Receipts From Last 5 Days That Customers Didn’t Take With Them. What A Waste

So if there’s one thing to take away from this, besides a reason to smile, it’s that small gestures matter. A simple note can turn an ordinary moment into something meaningful, brighten someone’s day, or even become a memory they’ll treasure later.

#28 It’s Always Something At Fuel Station

Came in this morning and one of our pumps has been very slowly printing receipt paper all night with code or something on it. It was still printing when I saw it so I removed the paper and put a cone out in front of it. Pump is down. It’s always something.

Morning shift is never boring I guess.

#29 Cute

#30 Receipt Labels Lactose-Free Milk As ‘Hipster Milk’ In A Norwegian Cafeteria

#31 The Way The Morning Dew Has Sat On The Letters Of This Receipt

#32 My Receipt For Buying One Bottle Of Vegetable Oil At CVS (100 Lb Dog For Scale)

#33 This Sushi Restaurant Adds Love To Their Receipts

#34 My Receipt Came With A Nutritional Breakdown

#35 Recently Listened To “Never Give Up” Again And Got This Fortune On My Receipt At Breakfast.. I Now Have The Sudden Urge To Fly A Plane And/Or Fight A Bear

#36 Absolutely Insane Oopsie Today

Okay so I went to print the check out for a table – I look at the total on the screen and it says $103. I print it out and it suddenly becomes $45k
So we have happy hour buttons on our computer, that only display the correct prices during certain times. If you try to get a HH drink past 6 the price says $1005. I worked here long enough to know this, and it was still happy hour when it was printed. Even my manager was like ??? Because he had to edit my ticket earlier and had seen the total.
I guess I accidentally pushed the to -go button and since happy hour items can’t be taken to go they removed all the discounts. Needless to say we all had a very good laugh about it.

#37 This Restaurant Forgot To Fill Out Their Store Information On Their Receipts

#38 Receipt With Division Hint

#39 Account Balances From People That Left Their Receipts On Top Of An ATM

#40 Receipt At An Already Overpriced Restaurant. When I Asked The Waiter He Just Shrugged And Said ‘Oh Yeah, We Need To Fix That’

#41 The “Suggested Tips” Section On The Receipt From The Hipster Bar We Were Just At

#42 When People Do Things Like This

#43 This Receipt From My Local Pizza Place Displays The Restaurant’s Account Balance For Some Reason

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