Walking into a restaurant, even one that is open late at night, one of the first things you might expect to see are employees.
24-hour restaurants are important to folks who work overnight—but what happens if there isn’t anyone to work in them?
One would-be customer of IHOP has taken to social media to share an odd experience he had wandering into his local pancake house for a late night pickup order, only to find the restaurant completely empty and unlocked.
Why was this IHOP location empty and open?
In a TikTok that has drawn over 82,000 views, user @reelcouchpotato says he went to pick up a food order but found the restaurant totally empty, with not a single employee inside.
“This says seven days a week, open 24 hours,” he says off-camera, opening the doors of the restaurant with the operating hours inscribed. “I came in here, and there’s nobody in here. I was screaming ‘hello,’ but it’s literally nobody in here. It’s nobody in here, nobody in the kitchen, it’s nobody in the back room. I don’t understand what’s happening here.”
The TikToker then revealed it wasn’t even past midnight. “It’s 11—what time is it? It’s 11:24 p.m. right now,” he says. “This is crazy. This is crazy. I ain’t never seen nothing like this. Sept. 30.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @reelcouchpotato via TikTok comment, as well as to IHOP via email regarding the video.
A repeat offense
This is not the first report of an unattended IHOP left unlocked and accessible. Other customers have reported that they came across unoccupied restaurants themselves.
In that video, the poster suggested that there may have been an employee walk-out, leaving the restaurant completely unattended. Yet another video of a different customer entering an IHOP with seemingly no one inside suggested something similar—that all employees walked out of the restaurant on their shift.
@reelcouchpotato did not appear to make any suggestions as to why they thought the restaurant was empty, although it appears to be very similar circumstances.
@reelcouchpotato Picking up order at IHOP #Dallas #Florida #Atlanta #NewYork #IHOP #Texas #LiveHighlights #Diddy #BabyOil #Drake #Kendrick #FYP #Viral #NBA #NFL #ForYourPage #Funny #GreenScreen #XYZbca #CapCut #Trending #Explore #Food #DoorDash #Instacart #mcdonalds #raisingcanes #Dennys ♬ original sound – PLOT TWIST
Viewers weigh in
Some viewers said they had similar experiences with an empty IHOP, and took advantage of the unattended facilities to different extents—or would, if they could.
“The one in Tulsa right next to me was exactly the same way… I went in real quick to use the restroom and never saw a single person and it was around 7 o’clock at night,” one commenter wrote.
“This happened to me one time and I did myself a waffle,” another claimed.
“I would have start cooking me some bacon do you know how much bacon costs now days,” a third added.
Others suggested a variety of reasons that the restaurant was unattended, including an employee walkout, no-shows for third shift, and even robbery.
“Everything looks clean and organized,” one commenter wrote. “It seems someone’s shift was over and the other person never showed up and just cleaned clocked out and went home.”
“I wonder if they were robbed and they were put in the freezer?” a second suggested. “And locked in.”
“Somebody’s on a smoke break,” a further user said.
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