TikTokers are commending a waitress from Utah’s Prohibition Bar & Restaurant for her handling of a difficult situation after a video of her interacting with a customer went viral. The TikTok, posted by user Santana (@santanahhh), currently has over 2.3 million views.
The video shows a waitress explaining her restaurant’s reservation policy to an indignant guest. The guest repeatedly argues with the waitress, causing her to emphasize her point even further.
Allegedly, the guest was attempting to stay longer than his reservation time. On restaurant reservation website OpenTable, Prohibition’s reservation policy states that a “table will be reserved for 2 hours for parties of up to 4; and 2 hours 30 minutes for parties of 5+.”
A later video posted by Santana gives further background information on the situation.
“The video was taken at this burlesque event at a bar,” writes Santana. “The couple in the vid had a reservation but wanted a table closer to the performers. The waiter was like, ‘Sure you can sit here but you’ll have to leave when the next reservation starts.’ When it came time for the next reservation, they refused to leave.”
After a manager explained that their reservation was only valid for two hours anyway, Santana says the customer then called the business “racist,” leading to interaction seen in the video.
Commenters celebrated the waitress, noting that she should not be subject to this kind of treatment.
“Post waitress’s venmo so we can all tip her,” wrote a user.
“This waitress did everything right,” agreed another. “Everyone has a breaking point and sometimes customers need to really feel the brunt of their actions.”
“And people wonder why nobody wants to work in the service industry,” noted a third.
Others elaborated on the idea of table “campers.”
“These are campers y’all,” explained a commenter. “Some restaurants that have a higher volume of guests have a minimum of how long you can stay at a table because some people like to stay for HOURS after they’ve finished eating and drinking.”
“As someone who was forced to wait until 2 am for a table that hadn’t ordered since 11 pm, I feel this woman’s pain,” the user continued. “Work in the service industry for a year yall.. it’ll humble you.”
The lesson from the video is clear. As one user wrote, “Never upset the people who bring you your dinner.”
Prohibition did not immediately respond to Daily Dot’s request for comment via Instagram and Facebook DM. Santana did not immediately respond to Daily Dot’s request for comment via TikTok comment.
Update 5:50pm CT, March 22: In a statement to Daily Dot, Prohibition says it stands behind the woman in the video, who is actually a manager at the restaurant.
“She is supporting our standard reservation policy that can be seen on Opentable, 2 hours for a table of 1 to 4 people and 2.5 hours for 5 or more,” a representative for the restaurant said in a statement. “She did an excellent job, and is fully supported by the business… We were all very impressed when we saw that [TikTok] the next day.”
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