How far would you go to get free stuff? According to a server, one man was willing to lie about the death of a loved one just for some free food.
In a viral TikTok video that has over 6,900 views, user Kristina Withers (@krisswith) explains how her workplace discovered the senior citizen lied about his own wife’s death to score some freebies.
@krisswith When everyone found out they got bamboozled into buying his food they were like 😧😧 #fyp #servers #servers #serverlife #serversoftiktok #serverstories #serverstorytime #serverstory #serverproblems #bartender #bartenders #bartenderstories #bartenderstorytime #bartendersoftiktok #bartenderstory #bartenderprobs #bartenderproblems #bartenderlife ♬ original sound – Kristina Withers
“I’m so anxious to hear y’all’s thoughts on this situation,” Kristina begins. “Buckle up b*tch.”
She explains that there was an older man who frequented the bar where she worked. One day, the man dropped a bomb: His wife had died and left him buried in debts related to her end-of-life care.
He began to regularly repeat this to customers, who would feel bad for him and offer him free drinks and/or food. Everyone believed the man, because he even went so far as to cry while relaying his sob story.
The fact that he repeated the same tale in order to get free food and drinks began to raise a red flag. But that wasn’t the only sign that something was amiss.
“Another red flag is that he would sit all day in the bar… He would go back and forth to the 7-Eleven across the street and go buy scratch tickets,” Kristina explains.
So people quickly started to question how the man, who did not have money for meals, somehow came up with cash to play the lottery multiple times a day.
Things quickly escalated after another patron came to the bar and outed the old man as a con artist who preys on people’s sympathies.
“His wife did pass away 10 years ago, not from cancer but from old age,” she continues. “But saying it like it happened yesterday to get free food is f*cked up.”
When one of her coworkers confronted the man about his behavior, he immediately left. “He’s now 86’ed. He’s not allowed to come in anymore because of this,” Kristina says.
“What do y’all think about that, though?” she asks.
In the comments section, many shared their thoughts about the ethics of lying about a death in order to get free food and drinks.
“That’s messed up cuz I would’ve been one to help him out,” one user commented.
“You’re right,” another person agreed.
“Love your stories,” someone else added. “No, that is wrong of him to do!!”
This is not the first time Kristina has gone viral for her stories about working in the service industry. In addition to this story about the bar patron trying to con free food out of other customers, she’s posted videos calling out rude bar customers and parents who cannot control their children have garnered thousands of views and likes on TikTok.
The Daily Dot reached out to Kristina via TikTok comment.