A server made a point about customers who try to conduct business meetings online in restaurants, showing how spectacularly they can backfire.
The TikTok depicting an interaction between a server and a rude customer came from creator Taylor Rose (@taykaye), getting more than 578,000 views since being posted on Sept. 10.
In the video, Rose plays the role of both the server and an aggrieved customer who is trying to conduct an online business meeting and order lunch simultaneously.
The exchange starts with a testy request for water with lemon, in which the customer requests the server use tongs and not hands to get the lemon slices.
@taykaye 😂 #greenscreen #workinginaresturaunt #tipyourserver #customerservice #customerservicebelike #drama #serverlife #servertiktok #hostessproblems #hostesstiktok ♬ Hip Hop with impressive piano sound(793766) – Dusty Sky
The customer tells the server, “Thank you for meeting basic sanitary requirements” for handling the lemon request, then responds to the request for her order with, “Are you going to be asking me a lot more questions? I have a meeting in five.”
The server suggests trying to handle everything within that window to minimize contact, and the customer curtly orders, but then also requests that the server “do something about this music,” insisting it’s too loud—even though the customer’s wearing headphones.
The customer gets ruder and less appropriate to the server throughout the meeting, continuing to complain about the music and then the lighting, asking the server if she’d be free to get something she needed out of her car, and if she might be able to print something for her.
The server notes that she’s a server and not a secretary, eliciting even more rudeness from the customer. But then, there’s a twist: The customer didn’t mute herself on the business call while berating the server. Having heard some of the interaction, the customer’s boss forces her to apologize to the server.
This amuses the server no end, and she makes her acceptance of the apology contingent on the customer leaving a tip.
Commenters, predictably, sided with the server.
“These really cool things call LIBRARIES exist if you need a quiet space with a printer and good lighting,” one viewer quipped.
In a similar vein, someone else said, “If only they had these things called COWORKING SPACES.”
Another shared, “Had a guy ask me to turn down my blender because he was in a meeting. I work at Starbucks.”
Yet another said, “I woulda turned the music up actually,” syncing with several other suggestions, including, “Music is getting blasted.”
Others found the lemon request a good potential for sabotage, with one noting, “I would’ve used the tongs and licked the lemons.”
The Daily Dot contacted the creator via TikTok comment for more information.
