A TikToker’s whirlwind story about a large party that came to the restaurant he works at shortly before closing has captivated viewers.
In his video, which was viewed more than 100,000 times, popular TikToker Dean Redmond (@deanredmonds) says he was tasked with a party of 26 that came in about an hour before close. While serving the party, a woman presented with extremely Karen-like behavior, Redmon says, and continued to do so throughout her entire time at the restaurant.
@deanredmonds if they write a revew idc anymore #servertiktok #storytime #serverlife #restaurantreview #restaurantlife ♬ Spongebob Tomfoolery – Dante9k Remix – David Snell
“I’m like, ‘We’re going to have to break you up into two separate tables because we don’t have a table long enough,’” Redmond says in the video. “This woman starts screaming that I have no idea what I’m talking about and where’s my manager. So I get my manager, the manager comes out and she’s like oh, OK, yeah, we can try to make that work for you. So we go and we set up this giant table in our back room. By the time we come out they’re like, ‘We’re actually going to go somewhere else.’ At this point, I didn’t care because we were already 40 minutes until close; there was no way we were going to be out until 9:30.”
Despite the party allegedly saying they were going to go to another restaurant, they changed their minds 20 minutes later and asked to be seated once more. Redmond says that when he told the woman that may not be possible due to the restaurant’s closing time, the group once again requested a manager.
Redmond says he asked to get the party’s food and drink orders together, the same customer also had an issue with that, calling it “rude.” He says he began profusely apologizing and that the customer said his tip would reflect the service she felt she was receiving.
“By the time I get all of their order, it’s literally past close,” Redmond says. “They ordered seven champagne bottles because they were pissed we didn’t have hard alcohol. I get those for them, drop them off, put their food in. The food’s taking 40 minutes. In the span of these 40 minutes that they’re waiting, every 10 seconds they’re like, ‘Excuse me, where’s our food?’”
Even as the large party stayed long after close, when the bill came the woman was shocked to find that the champagne they ordered came out to $310, with a total of $610, after some items were taken off because the party did not like them.
“She starts screaming at me, ‘Well don’t think you’re going to get a tip, buddy,’” Redmond says. “Well little did she know that automatic gratuities are added to parties of 14 or more, so 25% was added to this, and we got about $170 out of this Karen. She even thought writing a note being like, ‘Yeah, you did a horrible job’ on a napkin was going to do anything. I crumpled that shit up and burned it, threw it right in the trash.”
Some viewers shared their thoughts regarding the dynamic of the customer and manager in this situation, with many suggesting seating the customer and removing charges from her order was rewarding the woman’s behavior and not having the server’s back.
“Managers really be rewarding these types of attitudes,” one argued.
“Took me a while to learn restaurant managers and owners care more about how they look online (than) how valued their employees feel,” another said.
The Daily Dot reached out to @deanredmonds via Instagram direct message.
