A woman’s love for cheese came back to bite her.
In a TikTok posted Monday, user Meredith Hayden (@wishbonekitchen) claims to have gotten a concussion after a block of cheese flew out of her waiter’s hand and hit her in the head while dining at the Cheesecake Factory.
@wishbonekitchen ♬ original sound – wishbonekitchen
“I got a concussion one time at the Cheesecake Factory,” she says in her video as she grates cheese over a bowl of pasta. “The guy was grating cheese on my pasta and it slipped out of his hand and hit me in the head and I smacked and hit my head on the back of the booth.”
A concussion is a mild form of a traumatic brain injury, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can be caused by a fall or blow to the head. In this case, it was the large, firm block of parmesan cheese, combined with Hayden smacking her head against the booth.
“I didn’t sue, but I probably could’ve,” she concludes.
By Tuesday, the video had amassed over 881,900 views. Many viewers were shocked by her dramatic story.
“THAT IS AN INSANE STORY MEREDITH,” a commenter wrote.
“WHY YOU GOTTA CONCUSS ME AT CHEESECAKE YOU KNOW I LOVE TO GO THEREEEEEE,” another wrote, referencing Drake’s song “Child’s Play.”
A third shared their experience of getting hurt at the restaurant chain. “I tripped on a broken tile at the cheesecake factory And they gave me $250 in gift cards,” wrote a user named Sarah.
Considering that Hayden didn’t sue, many commenters believe that she’s entitled to some sort of compensation—like free cheesecake. “At minimum I feel like that’s a ‘Get free Cheesecake Factory for life’ type of scenario,” one user commented.
This isn’t the first time customers have shared their dissatisfaction with the Cheesecake Factory on social media platforms. One woman claimed in a TikTok video that her boyfriend found a rubber glove in his fried mac and cheese balls.
“Thinking about that one time we went to The Cheesecake Factory and my boyfriend got the mac & cheese bites or fried mac and cheese or [whatever] and took a bite of one of them and immediately started gagging,” the text overlay read on the video posted by TikTok user Brittany (@quesaritoluvr).
“And slowly pulled an entire plastic rubber glove out of his mouth that was fried into his mac and cheese bite,” the text continued. Currently, the video has over 533,300 views.
@quesaritoluvr I get full body chills #GetCrackin #cheesecake #cheesecakefactory ♬ WHY YALL USING THIS SOUND OML – Cy.’
Another couple had a similar experience. In July 2020, a couple in California claimed that a latex glove used to prevent the spread of COVID-19 got mixed into their pasta.
“When we opened our Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken there was a plastic glove melted into the noodles,” Laurie Graham wrote on Facebook, according to Yahoo.
In an interview with FOX 11, Graham said that the discovery of the glove was particularly upsetting because her husband has diabetes. This puts him in a high-risk category for complications, if he were to contract COVID-19.
In the end, the Cheesecake Factory issued a statement of apology to the couple and offered them a $200 gift card as compensation.
The Daily Dot contacted Hayden and the Cheesecake Factory via email.
