A former restaurant manager has gone viral on TikTok for revealing that customers often steal other people’s reservations.
TikTok user Kellie (@ambryrae) posted the video on Feb. 6. As of Feb. 8, the video racked up over 516,000 views.
In the video, Kellie stitched TikTok user Liz (@sincerly_lizz), who shared a story about having her dinner reservation stolen on her birthday.
“Listen to this young lady’s story, and please don’t be surprised when I tell you that this happens more often than not,” Kellie began.
She then explained that she used to work for an “extremely popular” restaurant that “mainly went off reservations.” Kellie said that on a particularly busy night, when the restaurant had “maybe 400 reservations,” a walk-in party of seven came in and agreed to be put on the waitlist under the name “Trish,” despite there being a “45-minute to an hour-long wait.”
After 15 minutes, a party of eight with a reservation under the name “Thompson” came in. Kellie told the Thompson party that the restaurant needed a few minutes to prepare the table. In the ten minutes it took to get Thompson’s table ready, Kellie stepped away from the hostess stand, and another hostess took her place.
While Thompson went to gather her party from outside the restaurant, Trish seized the opportunity to snag the reservation. She told the new hostess that she and her guests were the Thompson party. Since the hostess didn’t check them in, she seated them without batting an eye.
When Kellie eventually walked the Thompson party to their table, she was confused to see Trish’s party sitting there. After talking with the other hostess about the mix-up, Kellie took matters into her own hands. She politely informed Trish that she needed to “return to the waitlist” since the table was reserved for another party.
A member of Trish’s party attempted to remain at the table by saying they had a reservation, which Kellie wasn’t having. When the same person asked what Kellie would do if the party refused to leave, Kellie informed them that they could sit at the table all night—as long as they were okay with not being served. This motivated the Trish family to return to the lobby to wait their turn.
When she finished telling the story, Kellie encouraged people to speak up if they ever find themselves in a similar situation.
“A good manager wants to help you. A good manager wants to accommodate you. A good manager wants to make things right,” Kellie said. “If you ever have any situations like this, please don’t ever hesitate to ask for one of us to come over and help you.”
@ambryrae #stitch with @sincerely_lizz I’m so sorry this happened to you, Baby Love!! I hope you were still able to enjoy your Bday celebration!! ❤️❤️❤️ #manager #serverlife #serverproblems #restaurant #fyp ♬ Selfcare-demo – Bella Moulden
In the comments section, viewers applauded Kellie for forcing Trish’s party to leave the table.
“Ty for making them get up. I can imagine many managers just let it happen to avoid a fight but it only encourages and reinforces these entitled ppl,” one viewer wrote.
“BLESS YOU FOR THIS!!!!! Like this is how it should always be handled because EQUALITY,” a second praised.
Many viewers were in utter disbelief at Trish’s party’s behavior.
“How do people have the audacity to do this,” one user wrote.
“45 mins to an hour is so short for a big party like that! What is wrong with people!” a second commented.
Some viewers who worked as hostesses shared their experiences with customers stealing others’ reservations.
“As former hostess this does happen!! Lol I made tables get up,” one user shared.
“This happened so many times at my old job as a hostess & I actually use to have to go to the table to tell the party to get up,” another wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Kellie via TikTok comment and TikTok direct message.
