A lot can happen during rush at a restaurant. Drinks can be spilled, orders can be sent out to the wrong people—and your phone can accidentally end up in the to-go bag of a customer.
That’s exactly what happened to an employee of Neri’s Cafe And Mexican Grill in Clayton, New Jersey. In a video with over 5.9 million views, the cafe shares security camera footage of the incident, showing the employee inadvertently packing the restaurant’s phone away with the customer’s food.
“pov: my coworkers watching me bag our only phone during the busy rush,” reads the text overlaying the video.
@neriscafeandmexicangrill in words of hannah montana: everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days #CapCut #funny #viral #trend #work #restaurant #coworkers #fun #fyp #trending #eat #food #blooper #pedropascal ♬ New Home by Austin Farwell – GetByBus
In the comments section, the restaurant’s account owner explains that, once they discovered what happened, they were able to retrieve the phone from the customer’s house.
That said, there was plenty of confusion during the process, as TikTokers in comments speculated.
“wow it got a lot slower! I haven’t heard the phone ring in a few hours,” joked a user.
“This was our exact feeling!!” the restaurant’s account responded.
“The customer was probably so confused,” noted another user. The restaurant replied to this with a simple “very.”
In a phone call to the Daily Dot, restaurant owner Danielle recounted the experience. She explained that she was the main person working that evening and, due to a peculiarity in the restaurant’s phone system, the loss of that single phone meant that the store could not answer any phone calls until they found it.
Danielle suspected something was amiss after a period of quiet in the restaurant. It was then that she discovered that her primary phone was missing.
While Danielle’s husband initially suspected that she may have thrown the phone away, the pair eventually considered that the phone may have been accidentally bagged with orders. Upon reviewing the footage, they learned that’s exactly what happened.
Thankfully, Danielle knew the customer in question and was able to look up her phone number via the restaurant’s caller ID on a separate unit.
“I called her from my cell phone, and I said, ‘Hey, did I put a phone in your bag tonight?’ And she’s like, ‘Oh my god, yes!’” Danielle recalls.
According to Danielle, the customer was planning to return the phone in the morning when she would be back in the area. Danielle instead retrieved the phone from the customer herself that evening.
Soon after the incident, Danielle realized that the security camera footage would make a good TikTok. After a little editing—and the addition of Pedro Pascal—a viral video was born.
“Who knew it was going to be so popular?” Danielle remarked.
Back on TikTok, many commenters took the opportunity to make jokes about the situation.
“On the bright side, they can’t call to complain,” said one user.
“It’s like a weird version of a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy,” joked a second.
“Customer: I didn’t order a phone…” laughed a third.
A few users shared similar stories.
“I checked my bag after leaving a store once and saw their square credit card reader inside,” recalled a user.
“Once my manager accidentally bagged her cellphone,” claimed an additional TikToker.
Thankfully, it seems the whole situation has been resolved.
As Danielle wrote in the caption, “in [the] words of hannah montana: everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days.”
