A restaurant server is putting customers on blasts for attempting to change their reservations last minute and add to their party’s size.
In a recent video, TikToker Benton McClintock (@bentonmcclintock) describes the various experiences he’s endured with customers.
“My favorite thing ever is when people call and they’re like, ‘Hi I just booked a table online and I accidentally pressed two instead of three people. Can you fix that and change it to three?’ No, you booked the only fucking table we had available on a Saturday goddamn night,” McClintock says.
@bentonmcclintock #servingtips ♬ original sound – Benton McClintock
According to him, people assume it’s easy to add a person to a party after a reservation has been made — but that’s not the case, especially in bustling cities like Manhattan where restaurant space is limited.
“Have you ever dined in Manhattan? The tables are like four inches from one another,” McClintock says. “…I’m not a wizard. I’m not magical. And then they just keep sulking on the phone with me as if that’s going to make me want to assist them.”
His clear message to customers is this: if they want to ensure the ideal dining experience, then they need to pay close attention to booking online.
He also responded to a commenter who says if a manager gets asked, there would suddenly be a table available. The TikToker clarifies in a comment that he is, in fact, a manager and that no, he would still tell the customer there isn’t extra space available.
Bon Appétit magazine has noted, “the spontaneous dinner is an endangered activity,” with walk-ins seemingly becoming a thing of the past. According to data from the review site Yelp, reservation searches were up 107% at the beginning of 2022 compared to 2021.
Commenters who seemed to have server experience didn’t seem at all surprised about McClintock’s situation.
“Saying no to a customer gives me a thrill,” one commenter said.
“This happened to me when I was a hostess and the person literally said ‘what if I told you this person is famous’ I said, still no,” another commenter wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to McClintock via TikTok comment and Instagram direct message.
