Working in the food industry can be tough—with low wages, rude customers, having to subsidize cash registers out of pocket, and high staff turnover being just some of the things employees have to face on a daily basis.
But there’s one thing in life that makes everything better: free food. In a TikTok that’s been viewed 640,600 times as of Sunday, Little Caesars worker Alexis (@a.lexapro1) shared how one customer’s loss is another employee’s dinner.
To her 15,400 followers, Alexis regularly shares her various insights and experiences from working in the fast-food industry. She previously went viral in April after sharing with viewers how Uber was the only viable option for her to get into work and revealed how she’d have to pay half her paycheck on transportation.
In this TikTok, Alexis shared a perk of her job as she filmed her haul of multiple Little Caesars pizzas alongside on-screen text reading, “When the customer doesn’t pick up their food they placed five minutes before close so now I have dinner.”
“It was delicious,” she added via the video’s description.
@a.lexapro1 it was delicious #littlecaesars #work #pizza ♬ original sound – 🤍
In the comments section, it quickly became apparent that servers being able to eat forgotten or cancelled food at their workplaces was an open secret not just at Caesars, but at various other restaurants, too.
“Happened to me at Chipotle multiple times. It’s a blessing.” one former server recalled.
“When I worked at Dominos as a front person we got free food all the time,” another recounted. “Anything you wanted.”
A third revealed how “six call-ins later on a Friday or a Saturday,” they’d end up with a choice of thirteen different pizzas to take home at the end of a shift.
As commenters discussed how they could use this hack to their advantage—with some admitting they’d make and cancel a large order where their friends worked so they’d bring home the food for free—a further user asked, “Does it actually work like this? Would I be doing a random employee a favor if I ordered around the end of the day and never got it?”
That much remains to be seen, but it’s clearly a trend that happens across various food establishments—just recently, a former Papa John’s Pizza employee went viral for admitting that they’d take home free pizza at the end of their shift by having their friends place fake orders for them.