Just in case anybody needs to hear it, no, you cannot use Google Play gift cards as currency anywhere cards are accepted just because it is, technically, a card.
A TikTok from @.hannahbrown left viewers stumped when Brown seemed to indicate a customer had done just that after ordering a meal at the restaurant where she works.
Brown is one of many creators on TikTok who has forged a following by recreating bizarre incidents she encounters in the service industry, with one of her recent videos opening up with an annoying, but familiar, situation—customers asking for separate checks at the end of the meal, even down to splitting the appetizer three ways.
But things quickly took an unexpected turn, with Brown indicating one of the customers had then tried to pay for her meal with a $25 Google Play gift card, despite her attempts to tell her “that’s not really how gift cards work.”
@.hannahbrown CHILDREN IM SO SORRY IVE BEEN AWAY IVE BEEN IN THE TRENCHES LOWKEY BUT I HAVE SO MUCH TO UPDATE YOU ON 🙏🏼 #restaurantstory #hostessingtings #hostesstingz #hostessproblems #hostessing #customerserviceproblems #hostesstok #restauranttings #hostesstiktok #restaurantstories #customerservicestories ♬ original sound – hannah brown
“My bill was $23.81, and that has $25 on it. So that should cover everything, plus tip,” she says, playing the role of the customer.
It isn’t immediately clear how much of the video is an accurate reenactment, although the Daily Dot has reached out to Brown via TikTok comment.
Her viewers, however, definitely took it all at face value—and were appropriately appalled. The video has amassed more than 736,000 views as of Monday afternoon.
“Just because it has money on it doesn’t mean you can use it anywhere,” one user pointed out.
“I’m more concerned she thought $1.19 was an appropriate tip,” another user wrote.
Several viewers claimed to have had similar experiences, including one user, who wrote, “Someone in a group I went to dinner with did this once for like 10 minutes. I paid his bill and never spoke to any of the people there again.”
According to Brown’s follow-up video, one of the other diners who was with the gift card woman did end up getting roped into paying her bill—after the woman insisted she had no other funds on her, and suggested Brown calling the police would serve no purpose, as she was certain her police officer husband would tell her she was in the right.
@.hannahbrown part two my children ‼️ today i was making an irish coffee at work and first of all i had to scurry into the back and look up what the freak an irish coffee was and then it exploded in the microwave #restaurantstory #hostessingtings #hostesstingz #customerserviceproblems #hostesstok #restauranttings #hostesstiktok #restaurantstories #customerservicestories #restauranttiktok #hostessingstories #serverproblems #servertiktok #servertok #hostessing ♬ original sound – hannah brown
“i swear i dont know how these people survive in adult life,” wrote one user.
