A restaurant server vented her frustrations with customers who repeatedly sent back food despite nearly eating their entire dishes. The worker shared her story on TikTok under the handle @girlypopzonly.
The clip, which she records from what appears to be the restaurant’s kitchen, shows her speaking into the camera.
According to her, the two customers placed an order for a pair of drinks along with a pair of entrees. They repeatedly told the server that they weren’t enjoying their food. This prompted the food service worker to send the meals back, removing them from their bill.
“I went up to the table, ‘How you guys doing, how’s everything tasting?’” she recalls. “And the girl’s like, ‘This is nasty. I don’t want it.’”
She noticed that 50% of the cheeseburger the customer ordered had been consumed. “Mind you, the burger’s half eaten. All the fries are gone,” the server says. “So she gives me half a burger back. And I’m like, ‘You know what? OK, she didn’t like the burger, that’s fine, she liked the fries.’ So I take it back. Take it off the bill.”
Replacement plates
Following this, the @girlypopzonly asked the customer if she wanted to swap out her meal. The patron confirmed that this was the case and asked for the same pasta dish their companion was eating.
“She’s like, ‘Yeah, I want a shrimp pasta, the one he has.’ And I’m like, OK. So I go write in the shrimp pasta,” the server says. “I take over the shrimp pasta to her, I go back to the bar where I belong. And then I let them eat their food. And then I go back and I’m like, ‘How’s everything tasting? Is that better for you?’”
However, the man who had ordered the pasta dish, despite eating the majority of it, stated that it wasn’t to his liking.
“And then the guy’s like, ‘I don’t like my shrimp pasta,’” she says, stunned. “Mind you, the shrimp pasta’s half gone. There’s three noodles on the [expletive] plate. And I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s weird, but OK.’ I’m gonna obviously take it off the bill.”
Although finding this request strange, the TikToker ultimately asked the manager to strike the order. However, she says that the customer’s gripes didn’t end there.
More restaurant grievances
As it turns out, the woman who requested the additional pasta dish said she didn’t like it either. However, she had already eaten all of it.
“The girl said, ‘I don’t like this.’ The shrimp pasta she ordered, she doesn’t like. Mind you, the pasta’s gone,” the server adds.
The TikToker makes another face into the camera as she relays the story, further intoning her disbelief.
“And I’m like OK, that’s weird, ’cause this is like the seventh plate you guys have ordered,” the server thought to herself. “So I take it back and I tell my manager, ‘You know what? they’ve [returned] every single plate, but they’ve ate almost all of it.’”
The restaurant server then clarifies that the establishment she works at doesn’t offer an all-you-can-eat arrangement for customers. “This is not a buffet, by the way. We don’t work at a buffet,” she says. “And my manager’s like ‘OK.’ So she takes it off the bill.”
The TikToker says the customers in question then started laughing at her.
“Then, they’re sitting there laughing at me. Every time I pass by they’re like, heh, heh,” she says, pantomiming he snickering of the customers.
“And I’m like, are you joking? They paid $20 bucks in total, and they ate seven different meals. And I’m just wondering, is that normal? Do you guys do that too?”
Is this free meal scam common?
Towards the end of the video, she says that customer behavior like this is a common occurrence. “When you guys go to restaurants do you order a bunch of meals?” she asks viewers. “‘Cause you’re like, ‘Might as well just eat a bunch and then return it.’ Why is this the norm? This happens so much.”
Reader’s Digest spoke with Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert, on sending restaurant food back. According to her, “always be[ing] polite” is key. Furthermore, the outlet spoke with chef and co-owner of the Mash House in Westfield, Indiana, David McIntyre.
According to him, restaurants want to go out of their way to ensure diners are enjoying their meals. “Eating out should be an experience you look forward to and greatly enjoy. So it’s our duty as restaurateurs to ensure we keep up our end of the bargain and prepare your meal correctly,” he said.
The same article also highlights several valid reasons as to why someone would send back their food. First, errors in preparation warrant a return to the kitchen. McIntyre highlighted how if one ordered a sandwich with no cheese, but it came with cheese, then guests should “absolutely send it back.”
Furthermore, cold food, when a meal is supposed to be warm, is grounds for a send-off. As is cooking a steak “to the wrong temperature.”
But what if you just don’t like the taste of the meal you ordered?
Chef Amy Hessel at the Tilted Row in Baltimore, Maryland, stated that folks may also send their food back based on flavor alone. “Let your server know that you don’t care for what you ordered within taking a couple of bites,” she told Reader’s Digest. “Ask if you can see a menu, and choose something you know you will like.”
@girlypopzonly LIKE BRO :( Pls #serverlife #servertok #restaurantlife #serving ♬ original sound – girlypopzonly
Not common among viewers
One user who replied to @girlypopzonly said that they’ve “never done this,” when at a restaurant.
Another said that they don’t agree with the practice either. “Restaurants aren’t tasting menus,” they wrote.
Someone else replied that this type of behavior shouldn’t be tolerated whatsoever. “We have to stop allowing people to get away with stuff like that,” they suggested.
One TikToker argued that the server’s manager shouldn’t have allowed the customer to behave in such a manner. “That’s your manager’s fault,” they said.
And then there was this person who speculated that this behavior was done purposely to get comped food. “I’m convinced people like that go into a restaurant planning on doing that for a free meal. Especially since it wasn’t just once or twice,” they argued.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @girlypopzonly via TikTok comment for further information.
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