A Dunkin’ worker’s TikTok about the state in which morning shift employees leave the kitchen only to be cleaned by closing shift workers sparked a viral debate.
TikToker @ddunkingirls showed a clear difference between the physical appearance of the kitchen after morning workers were through with it, versus the pristine condition night shift employees left for them to mess up again the following day.
@ddunkingirls #nightshiftbetter#dunkindonuts#foryoupage ♬ original sound – dunkin slaves
The clip begins with a text overlay that reads, “At 4:00pm how morning people leave it.” The brief recording shows a kitchen in disarray with a pair of sneakers strewn about a visibly dirty floor. There are trays of donuts that appear haphazardly tossed onto a rack, and there are various pieces of refuse littered everywhere.
The image is a stark contrast to the next image @ddunkingirls puts on camera, writing in the text overlay, “At 10:00pm how night people leave it.” It’s the same kitchen but it is virtually spotless. The cups are fully stacked in neat columns, and all of the containers holding cup lids are fully stocked. The donut rack that looked like it was in a fender bender is nowhere in sight, and the floor looks like it has been mopped and dry. Gone are the random pair of sneakers — just a clean kitchen ready for another day of business.
Many viewers commented that there was a clear discrepancy when it comes to cleanliness and prep work between night and morning shift employees. Some mentioned that workers staffed during earlier shifts benefited from a clear bias from upper management.
“Yeah pretty much and the managers stay defending morning crew like they can do no wrong,” one said. Someone else supplanted this argument by writing, “Bro and the managers will somehow defect the blame on Night shift.”
Another remarked that the clip is yet another example of the storied rivalry between Dunkin’ morning and night shift employees. “Dunkin has probably the worst beef between openers & closers LOL,” they wrote.
This assessment seemed to be supported by other users in the comments section who didn’t think that the video was accurate at all and in fact, store closers were the problem, not openers. “Nahh it’s the other way around,” they shared.
But others claimed the video essentially sums up the nature of the respective and particular duties of night shift vs day shift employees. As one user wrote, “Morning get through rush closers clean after rush different responsibilities and roles.”
Those who work mornings typically experience rush hours between 6am and 9am, although those times shifted during the pandemic between 10am to 2pm. Employees who’ve worked at Dunkin’ during its rush hour times have called the experience “absolutely insane.”
However, there were still a large number of TikTokers who said that closing shift employees were unfairly maligned by management and morning shift workers.
“But heaven forbid night crew leaves ONE thing undone!” Someone else wrote, “I honestly don’t know why night shifts don’t get a bonus for being nights shifts,” while another penned, “And they still complain about the closers yet we clean up all there mess :).”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @ddunkingirls via TikTok comment and Dunkin’ via email.
