If you spend any time on TikTok (or reading this fine website), you’ve seen restaurant servers dishing about customer behavior that really grinds their gears. So, perhaps this will be refreshing: things customers do that servers love.
TikToker Abigail (@flabigailfartin) recently shared a video about “things that I hated as a server, particularly a server at Texas Roadhouse.” She has again gone viral for her rapid-fire opinions—this time about the good stuff she experienced as a server. The video has garnered over 14,000 views and nearly 1,200 likes as of July 5.
@flabigailfartin Replying to @Wallflower #servertiktok #serverlife #serverproblems #waitressproblems #texasroadhouse #formeremployee #thingsilove #goodcustomers ♬ What Dreams Are Made Of – Hilary Duff
“Since I give you guys so much rage, let me give you just a shred of positivity,” she said in the video. She added that, though her videos often focus on the negative side of serving, she loved her job. “Clearly, I wouldn’t have done it for six years if I didn’t enjoy myself.”
So, if any of the below describes you, congratulations. According to Abigail, servers love people who:
- Have looked at the menu before they come in and have a general idea of what they want.
- Pay when they’re done eating and leave promptly after.
- Stack up their dishes at the end of the meal and put them at the end of the table so the server can take them more easily.
- Tell the server to take their time and mean it because they can tell the server is busy.
- Say keep the change, and that change is actually a decent tip.
- See that the restaurant is about to close and leave.
- Give their to-go orders at the beginning of service.
- Give the server their attention when the server comes to the table.
- Tell the server everything they need in one trip.
- Apologize when they have a family member who behaves poorly.
Also, one that might be controversial for the thirsty among us: “I’m not going to lie—I love it when people get maybe one refill max,” Abigail said.
The TikToker concluded, “I love people who recognize that I’m a human being and they are a human being, and just because I am your server does not mean I am in a place of less power than you.”
One commenter wrote, “everybody needs to hear this.”
“I usually tip extra if kids make a mess like a lot extra. Is that ok? Or should I just clean it up,” another asked. Abigail replied, “that you’re sorry for the mess means so much.”
“I once had a customer track me down and gave me $30 because his dad cheaps out on the tip and didnt want me to be paid unfairly,” one viewer shared.
“When a table calls me by my name I almost cry,” another commented. “Like they listened to me when I first came to the table.”
“Server, not SERVANT,” someone added.
“I have always felt like I was being an ass for putting my empty glass for a refill at the edge of the table… so that really is acceptable to do??” one commenter questioned. Abigail replied, “yes! it’s just a nonverbal way to show us that you’re ready, similar to setting a card down at the end of the table!”
Update, July 5 6:11 p.m. CT: In an interview via TikTok direct message, Abigail told the Daily Dot she posted the video partly in response to viewers of her previous posts about servers’ pet peeves. Some commenters claimed that she didn’t have anything nice to say.
“I also shared it because as much as servers love to laugh and complain about the insanity they’ve endured, the majority of us love the job enough to stick with it even on the bad days,” she said.
Abigail added, “I also would like to say that I just wish people took things on the internet with a grain of salt and [laughed] along with the creators as opposed to taking satire to heart and leaving hateful comments!”
The Daily Dot contacted Texas Roadhouse via email for further information.
