Sometimes, customers will truly say or do anything to get a freebie from a business if they are in the right mind to do so—even going as far as to invent an order that does not exist.
One server says she received a call from an elderly customer who complained about a “botched” order of chicken tenders, trying to get a replacement meal. There was just one problem: The order was nonexistent.
“Y’all, beware. The restaurant scammers are out and about doing their thing,” TikTok user @sassyserver0529 starts her video. “Yesterday, I had this elderly man call me on the phone. He told me that he got this chicken tender order that was botched, completely wrong, batter was messed up, blah, blah, blah. I was like, ‘Oh, OK. I’m so sorry about that. Let me look your order up.’ He gives me his phone number, his name, the last four digits of his credit card. Can’t find anything. Nothing, at all.”
When she could not find an order attached to any of the “customer’s” information, she says she went through all of the to-go orders to see if one had maybe slipped by and found that no to-go orders had been placed for chicken tenders at all.
“So we go through, one-by-one, each and every to-go order that took place yesterday, because he promises it could not be on any other credit card,” she says. “We go through every single order. There was absolutely no chicken tender order yesterday. … At first, I thought, ‘Oh my goodness. He’s an elderly man. He’s so confused. Maybe he has us confused with another restaurant. I tried to bring that up. He just got p*ssed. He was like, ‘Well, I want to come in there tonight, and I want to get a credit towards what I get tonight for my botched order.’”
After she informed the man she could not provide a credit for an order that she could not verify the existence of, she says he threatened to take the matter to social media. In response to the threat, she says she connected the customer to her director of operations, who told him the same thing. She says that while he did not repeat the threat to put the restaurant on blast via social media, he said he would dispute the charge with his bank.
The TikToker recalls her manager shrugging it off because they know the charge is nonexistent.
@sassyserver0529 Restaurant scammers are out and about #fypシ゚viral #fyp #server #bartender #manager #hostess #customer #serviceindustry #holidays ♬ original sound – Sassyserver0529
@sassyserver0529’s video was viewed 60,000 times. Several viewers shared they had similar experiences with customers trying to get extra out of a business by claiming there was something wrong with their order.
“I had a guy dispute a smoothie because he was ‘charged too much,’” one commenter wrote. “I looked up the restaurant and he was given a discount. His dispute was denied.”
“Same thing used to happen when I worked at AMC theaters – there was one lady who’d try this scam 2-4x a month,” another shared.
“Had a yelling at me for 20 minutes because her Alfredo was gross & she wanted her money back,” a third said. “I work in a steakhouse, we don’t even sell pasta.”
In a comment, @sassyserver0529 said that some customers “will pull literally anything for some free food.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @sassyserver0529 via TikTok direct message.
