Adding to the canon of workplace scenarios on TikTok, a server highlighted a back-and-forth they allegedly had with a customer who was fed up with the wait time for a table at a restaurant.
In a video posted in March, TikTok user @quitethedilemma describes a scenario they went through working as a server at a restaurant. She plays the role of herself, the customer, and what appears to be another co-worker. She captions the video, “Real things I’ve said as a server.”
@quitethedilemma she never came there again #servertok #screammovie ♬ original sound – quitethedilemma
The video, which has been viewed more than 800,000 times as of Friday, starts with a customer sitting at a table and flagging down the waitress for service. The customer scolds @quitethedilemma for not noticing them sooner and for the table being dirty.
“So it looks like you sat yourself at a dirty table,” @quitethedilemma says, playing the server. “As you can see, that plate [on the table], that’s old shrimp. So, I didn’t know that you were here. The host wasn’t able to tell me. But if you want to go ahead and put your name down. We’ll get you a table whenever it’s ready.”
The customer then starts to have a fit.
“What are you talking about? I walked in, and I sat down at this table,” they said. “So, I want service.”
The TikToker as the server then laughs at the customer and gives them some suggestions to help resolve the issue.
“You have a couple of options,” the server says. “You can eat that 30-minute old shrimp or you can go back and put your name down on the list and we can call you when your table’s ready. Because we have actually a party of four that wants to sit at this four-top and you are a party of one.”
The customer then states that they own a country club close by and because they’re the owner, they don’t deserve to be told to wait for a table. Toward the end of the video, @quitethedilemma acts out her talking to a co-worker to learn more about the belligerent customer.
Come to find out, the problematic customer was not the owner of the country club but a bartender that worked there. The Daily Dot has reached out to @quitethedilemma via TikTok comment.
In the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, customer entitlement at restaurants had reached an “all-time high,” the publication Food & Wine reported.
“But the pandemic, and the terrible customer behavior that has come with it—impatience regarding wait times, name-calling, frustration over limited seating and menu options, and disregard for safety protocols—has only served to highlight how pervasive and, frankly, dangerous the problem really is,” wrote Khushbu Shah, restaurant editor for Food & Wine.
Commenters on @quitethedilemma’s video sided with the server, pointing out the customer’s unreasonableness.
“You’d think with her being a bartender, she’d understand how a restaurant works,” one commenter said.
To which @quitethedilemma replied, “THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT, LIKE EXCUSE ME?”
Others also noted their own experiences with entitled customers.
“Once a host forgot to write the table down,” another commenter shared. “So when I went to them they said ‘We were about to Google how long it takes to get service!’ LEAAVEEE.”
