A TikToker alleged that when she was a hostess at Cracker Barrel, servers used a code name to talk about Black patrons.
“Me, a hostess at Cracker Barrel, wondering how every employee knew a table was full of Canadians even though they didn’t have a telling accent,” the TikToker, @cinnamnhoney, said via text overlay. “‘Canadian’ is a code word for Black people.”
The TikToker then singled out a waitress in the caption of the clip.
“A waitress used to complain SO MUCH if i sat ‘canadians’ in her section & i was so confused bc i thought canadians were stereotyped as nice,” she added.
The TikToker uses a mashup of Psy’s “Gangnam Style” to set the video; the sound is being used by TikTokers to share their most traumatic experiences.
Her video has been viewed over 235,000 times since it was posted on March 6. Viewers who said they also worked in the food-service industry shared what other acts of racism they’ve witnessed on the job.
“Servers will also use the code ‘the Mondays.’ The service industry is incredibly racist- I’ve been in 5 diff restaurants and saw the same thing at all.” one wrote.
“I had an old co-worker come and ask me if I saw the gang outside, it was a black family… ‘any group of 3 or more of them is a gang!’ he told me,” another recalled.
One user said the same code, “Canadians,” was used at their old job. “I had no clue and cheerfully went up to a family and said ‘ I didn’t know you guys were Canadian’ the small frown the older woman gave me broke me,” the TikToker wrote in a comment.
The TikToker added that the patron explained to her the code and alleged that it led to her termination. “The anger I felt for her was insane I chewed out the waitresses that said it and was fired don’t regret a thing,” they said.
The Daily Dot reached out to @cinnamnhoney via TikTok comment.
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