An ex-Chili’s employee announced that Chili’s fired her for complaining about the company and its customers in a recent viral TikTok.
TikToker Kat Maitre (@kat.maitre) posted a TikTok on Oct. 19 joking about the public perception of Chilis’ quality. As of publication, the video has 2.2 million views.
In the video, Maitre lists several requests she believes are unreasonable for a Chili’s, including lemon water, butterfly steak, and clean bathrooms. In response, she consistently repeats the video’s thesis: “Girl, you’re at a Chili’s.”
“So many times a day I just wanna say: ‘Hey! You’re at Chili’s. Hey, guess where you are? You’re at Chili’s,’” she concluded.
No longer welcome at Chili’s
Two weeks after sharing the original video, Maitre posted a video declaring that Chili’s fired her for her first video. The video, which now has 2.1 million views, opened with a clip from her original TikTok.
“Like, I don’t care if I get fired because of this—there’s no way I would but, like, if any of my managers are watching this, keep scrolling,” she begins. In the original video, this disclaimer gives way to her rant about Chili’s. Now, in the update video, it cuts to footage of Maitre walking outside, clearly filmed at a different time.
“I got fired for it,” she states. Then she jokes, “My managers did not keep scrolling.”
Chatting about Chili’s
Most commenters joked about the situation, and some claimed they saw the result coming.
“I absolutely knew this was going to happen,” one commenter claimed.
“I think we all saw this coming,” another person said, pausing to add some laughing-crying emojis. “It’s ok… it was just Chili’s.”
Some commenters agreed that firing Maitre was a righteous course of action on Chilis’ part.
“RIGHTFULLY SO,” a user proclaimed.
“My algorithm did justice with this update,” another user agreed.
Customers and employees both cursed Maitre for changing the way they saw Chili’s forever.
“I went to the og video expecting some tea and all I got was anxiety about eating at chili’s lol,” one user complained.
“A guy asked me for mineral water and I wanted to scream YOURE AT CHILIS,” a fellow employee commented.
Finally, the top comment summed the situation up pretty succinctly: “Your managers were like ‘girl, this is chilis.”
@kat.maitre #stitch with @kat.maitre ♬ original sound – kat.maitre
Can Chili’s fire you for posting?
Maitre is a resident of California, which is an employment-at-will state.
“An employment, having no specified term, may be terminated at the will of either party on notice to the other,” states section 2922 of Article Four of the California Labor Code. Essentially, employees and employers can respectively quit or fire the other at-will for any reason as long as it isn’t illegal.
“Both the employer and the employee are free to end the employment relationship at any time, with no penalty being assessed to either,” a 2011 document from the California Department of Industrial Relations elaborates.
A 2020 report from Chilis’ parent company, Brinker International, identifies social media image as a powerful tool and a simultaneous threat to their branding.
“Many social media platforms immediately publish the content their subscribers and participants’ post, often without filters or checks on accuracy of the content posted,” the report states. “Information posted on such platforms at any time may be adverse to our interests and may harm our performance, prospects or business, regardless of the information’s accuracy.”
They conclude that “the inappropriate use of social media vehicles by [their] guests or employees could increase [their] costs, lead to litigation, or result in negative publicity that could damage [their] reputation.”
What can you do to protect against at-will termination?
Santa Monica law firm Labor Law PC explains common exceptions to at-will employment. Said exceptions include contracts achieved through collective bargaining and anti-discrimination laws. They also explain that by understanding these exceptions, workers can protect themselves from wrongful firings in at-will states.
“Understanding your rights as an employee is crucial in protecting yourself from wrongful termination and discrimination in the workplace,” they conclude.
The Daily Dot reached out to Maitre via TikTok and Instagram direct message.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
