A former server at a North Columbia, South Carolina, Hooters claims that her shift lead “fired” her in what she calls an attempt to “get rid of all the girls who had been there longer than her.”
In the video posted by TikToker Kirsten Songer (@theflathootersgirl) on Aug. 30, she stitches a TikTok by another former Hooters worker who says she was also fired after “10 years” with the company.
@theflathootersgirl #stitch with @Demi Labate she no longer works there 💅 but theres only 2 girls left who have been there over a year. I can go more into detail if yall want #hooters #hooterstiktok #hootersgirl #fired #wrongfullyfired #drama #messytok #managerfromhell #serviceindustry #foodservice #greenscreen #sc #messy #HR ♬ original sound – Kirsten :)
“There was a shift lead that had gotten transferred from another store to our store and was trying to get rid of all the girls that had been there longer than her. She fired a girl of eight years right before [I got fired],” Songer explains in the clip.
She continues that over the span of two months, the shift lead allegedly fired six other Hooters workers and lead four other employees and three managers to quit. In a comment, Songer clarifies that the shift lead tried to get workers fired by “going through the cameras over a year back and making lists of any infraction she saw and taking it to HR.”
“She made this place hell,” Songer says.
She explains that she was originally fired due to a “technicality” called “changing guest count,” which she says her new general manager said should have just been a “write-up if anything.”
“He thinks that HR was just tired of seeing my name because of how much I was asking them for help this summer because of this manager making our workplace so hostile and so miserable,” she says.
Songer then shows a screenshot from her former shift lead’s now-deleted TikTok, in which she alleges that employees were “sleeping with customers,” drinking on the job, and using “manager codes.”
The video has amassed over 133,000 views as of Aug. 31, with commenters urging Songer to “lawyer up” or report the situation.
“Hire a lawyer. And go on the local press. They will compensate you,” one user said.
“Osha with labor department against them would get management to pay attention,” another wrote.
Others shared their experiences with management who “abused their power” to get them fired.
“There’s really managers that go out of their way to get amazing employees fired. happened to me too. turned out to be the best thing,” a commenter wrote.
“Girl you’re not the only one. I was at my job over seven years, and they did me so dirty, it should be a crime the way these companies treat people,” another said.
In a comment, Songer clarified that neither she nor Belinda are presently employed by Hooters.
One viewer who seems to be one of the Hooters employees at the North Columbia location identified the shift lead as TikToker Belinda (@cheer_mama) in the comments section, despite Songer blurring out the account details in her video. She also replied to a comment saying, “She was a shift lead who abused her power until they didn’t have a choice but to make her manager.”
The alleged former shift lead also posted a response video seemingly clapping back at commenters for “harassing” her, telling them to “reevaluate” their life choices in the caption.
The text overlay in her video reads, “So you’re telling me that as a manager, I should have ignored employees drinking/getting drunk on the clock, allowed them to come to work late, use manager codes, overserve alcohol, serve underage guest alcohol, not make them do any side work or do anything that the handbook required of them that they signed? Hmm.”
“I’m happily employed elsewhere,” she added in the caption.
The Daily Dot reached out to Songer via Instagram direct message and to Belinda and Hooters via email.