While it’s not uncommon for people to proverbially shoot themselves in the foot, accusing someone else of holding the gun when they do is usually a rarer occurrence.
TikToker @doodlegirl prompted another user on the platform to share a story of this aforementioned phenomena when she asked the question: “What is the most ridiculous thing you have ever had to explain to someone in a customer service setting?”
Unsurprisingly, there were a number of folks who were more than willing to share their run-ins with customers who made unreasonable demands with equally unreasonable expectations. One of them, a TikToker by the name of Kerry (@ascending_arrow), shared a tale of a patron who was adamant about dining outdoors. In the middle of a thunderstorm.
Kerry acts out the interaction in the form of a sketch, playing both the part of the host and the customer. In the sketch, he welcomes a patron to the restaurant and asks whether they have a reservation. The customer allegedly does—specifically, a reservation in the patio area of the restaurant.
“Yes, I do see that in the notes but it is thunder storming outside currently,” Kerry says he responded to the customer.
“Well, I want to sit on the patio, that’s why I made a reservation on the patio. Are you stupid?” the TikToker claims the customer replied.
At this point in the video a text overlay pops up that reads: “Don’t be sarcastic.” The TikToker continues as the host, not sure how to respond to the customer’s question.
“This is absolutely ridiculous. I need to speak to a manager. Now,” the customer allegedly demanded. Kerry says as luck would have it, he was the manager on duty. Once again, the customer adamantly demanded to sit on the patio, Kerry says. He allegedly obliged.
A text overlay in the clip then reads “2 minutes later” as Kerry acts out the customer’s disgruntled response to discovering that the thunderstorm brought rain.
“It’s raining,” the customer tells him.
Kerry concludes the video, responding, “Yes. It is.”
@ascending_arrow #stitch with @doodlegirll #customerservice #fyp #faithinhumanitygone #restaurant ♬ original sound – Kerry
The Daily Dot has reached out to Kerry via TikTok comment for further information on his encounter with the customer.
According to Spice Works, 60% of employees quit their jobs after being forced to deal with “toxic clients.” While many businesses have managed to bounce back from the labor shortage in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still some sectors direly seeking employees to fill open positions, namely food service and hospitality.
TikTokers who saw Kerry’s post shared some of the “ridiculous” things they’ve had to explain to folks in a customer service setting.
A user named Jen wrote, “I worked at Chevy’s in the mid-90’s. We had outdoor seating. The amount of times, as a teen I had to explain WEATHER to grown ppl!”
Another who posts under the handle @Lil_mnstr_L wrote, “I had to explain the difference between sugar free and no sugar added.”
It appeared weather gripes from customers were rather common. User Tessa McFerrin wrote, “I was a host and some rain came out of nowhere and people came inside and this guy was like you need a better system for when this happens.”
