A Panera customer (@amymaurercreel) posted a video on her TikTok recently, detailing the horrors of a holiday lunchtime rush. She wasn’t complaining about the service, but rather poor customer behavior.
“Seemed like they’d never been in a restaurant before,” she says about an older couple. She sarcastically says they took “about four hours” to order.
Later in the video, the creator mentions a woman from the couple had ordered a salad with cheese on it. The TikTok creator says the woman subsequently complained about a Panera employee who brought her food out.
“She proceeds to tell the woman at Panera why her husband can’t have cheese,” the TikTok creator says. “I’m sure she’s riveted by the story, but I’m pretty sure she has to remake the salad that you screwed up.”
In the video, the creator also details another woman asking the cashier what dressings Panera has.
“You couldn’t have figured that out when you were standing in line for 15 minutes?” the TikTok creator asks.
In the video, she says a different woman then went up to the counter to ask about an item that is no longer on the Panera menu.
“We have to do a walk down memory lane?” the creator asks. “No, whatever’s on the menu is what they have.”
The TikTok creator also mentions that while the employees were “obviously in the weeds,” another woman told one of them that she doesn’t think she got the right smoothie.
“Well, you already drank half of it, so maybe you should have mentioned that earlier,” the creator says.
She also says the smoothie ended up being the size that the woman had ordered after all.
At the end of the video, the TikTok creator introduces a woman who had a teacup Yorkie with her inside the Panera.
“She literally plops the dog down on the food counter to grab her soup,” the TikTok creator says.
Everyone agrees Panera customers can’t order
The TikTok went viral, garnering over 200,000 views. Some viewers added on to the creator’s list of Panera customer behaviors in the comments.
“One time I was at a Panera and someone was literally cutting their toenails in the dining room,” one commenter wrote.
“This is why I only ever mobile order at Panera,” a customer said.
“I swear people have zero self awareness,” another viewer commented.
The video text reads, “Open apology to all restaurant workers.” Past and present Panera employees expressed their appreciation for the creator’s sympathy.
“As a former Panera employee, this was an average shift,” one commenter said. “Thank you for being so kind!”
Other employees expressed their daily frustrations with customers.
“At Panera, you will meet the most unhinged, disrespectful people,” one employee commented.
People who work in customer service elsewhere also expressed similar irritations.
“Customer service is breaking me,” a viewer wrote.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average restaurant industry turnover rate is almost 80%.
@amymaurercreel ♬ original sound – amymaurercreel
“Everyone and I mean EVERYONE should have to work customer service (restaurant/retail) at least once in their life,” one viewer commented.
TikTok user @amymaurercreel did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment.
