When dining out, it’s natural to want your meal just right. Fine dining often accommodates special requests, but in casual restaurants, endless tweaks can slow things down. One server, fed up with picky customers, is putting it bluntly: If you’re that picky, she says, it might be better to just eat at home.
In a now-viral video, TikTok user @a.r.iella recounts a frustrating experience with an extremely particular customer who had major issues with the restaurant’s salad options.
“Just don’t go out to eat. Just don’t go out to eat,” @a.r.iella implores at one point. “If you got a million [expletive] questions, or if you want romaine lettuce, buy some romaine lettuce from the store and eat it at home.”
The video begins with @a.r.iella reenacting the exchange with the difficult customer. @a.r.iella says that when she explained that the side salad comes with iceberg lettuce, cabbage, carrots, dressing, and croutons, the customer balked.
“That’s it?” she recalls the customer asking, clearly unsatisfied with the standard offering. They then demanded romaine lettuce instead of iceberg lettuce, @a.r.iella continues.
When informed that romaine lettuce was only available in Caesar salads for an additional charge, @a.r.iella says the customer called the upcharge “stupid” and attempted to negotiate a custom salad.
The TikToker says the customer eventually decided on the Caesar salad. The server, aiming to be transparent, informed her that the Caesar dressing included anchovies, which led to another round of objections.
The server contrasts this interaction with a more positive experience she had with another diner. “There was Jim who ate by himself. His sausage was burnt. He asked me for another sausage. I said, sure. I’m so sorry about that. … He tipped me $20,” she says.
@a.r.iella wraps up the storytime with a reminder that a customer’s highly specific food preferences aren’t the server’s responsibility to cater to.
“I think that people need to realize that the food that you decide to eat and the food that you decide to order has nothing to do with the server. … Just eat at home. Please eat at home,” she says.
@a.r.iella #server ♬ original sound – ariellam170
Other servers weigh in on picky customers
Since it was posted on Oct. 28, the video has racked up over 150,700 views. Many servers went to the comments section to share their own experiences.
“I was a server for 10 years & it truly changed the way I view human beings,” one commiserated. “I cannot begin to tell you the things I’ve heard & experienced.”
“People think cause they keep asking it’ll just happen,” another remarked.
“I once had a couple tell me they were allergic to wind,” a third claimed.
“I’ve stopped being friends with people bc of how they treat servers,” one more commenter said.
According to Food Republic, being too picky as a customer could be a sign of bad etiquette. The publication writes, “It monopolizes the time of one busy server, breaking the flow of the kitchen staff behind the scenes, and creating a ripple effect throughout the restaurant.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @a.r.iella via TikTok comment.
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