A server at a Korean restaurant posted a viral video sharing what older customers should stop saying to servers.
@dragonfacedkiller has reached over 309,000 views and 32,000 likes on his TikTok video by Tuesday morning. Viewers left over 600 comments under @dragonfacedkiller video sharing their own experiences with older couples.
At the start of his video, @dragonfacedkiller says this is a PSA to anybody who is not Asian, but they have parents who go to Asian restaurants. After introducing himself, he adds, “I got an American name and I got a Lao name.”
Then he asks, “You know when someone is so old that they say something it’s not racist, but if it was any other age group it would be racist?”
Next, @dragonfacedkiller tells a story about an “old, white couple,” who he had to serve a few days prior.
He says the couple asked him what his name was. @dragonfacedkiller says he gave the customers his American name, the one that he was born and raised with.
“That’s not very Korean,” he says the customers respond. @dragonfacedkiller responds saying that’s because he is not Korean.
The customers then ask what part of Asia he is from. “I’m from the part of Asia called Hartford, Connecticut,” he says. “I was born and raised in America, I never left the East Coast.”
In a DM to the Daily Dot, he says his TikTok is chiefly about “educating basic micro aggressions” that Asians experience regularly, well beyond a Korean restaurant. He says that these microaggressions help to “normalize blatant racism.”
“People often treat people of Asian descent as ‘others.’ Despite my blunt American accent, haircut, and fashion they still are going to have preconceived notions because I’m Asian I cannot simply be an American I have to be a hardworking immigrant.
“If you want to know what my ethnic heritage is you can ask what my ethnic background is. But when you ask where I’m from and I tell you what city I was born and raised in and what city my parents grew up in and you still proceed to ask me ‘Where am I REALLY from?’ Then there’s an issue.”
@dragonfacedkiller If youre asian at an asian restaurant i know you know the awkard feeling #lao #laos #thai #khmer #cambodian #viet #boba #asian #vietnamese #Asianboys #Asianboy #abg #asianbabyboy #asianbabygirl #Asiantiktok #asianbabygangster #00 #southeastasian #tattoo #tattoos #tatted #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #laotiktok #khmertiktok #laotiktok🇱🇦 #southeastasiantiktok #CT #hartford #Connecticut #newhaven #hartfordct #laotian #cambodia #thailand #vietnamese #eastcoast #asianfyp #asianfypシ#abb #asianguy #asianguys ♬ original sound – Dragonfaced
@dragonfacedkiller says that customers who tend to go to Asian restaurants “have some idea that every Asian employee at that restaurant is like some hard working immigrant.”
@dragonfacedkiller admits that most customers are trying to make conversation and be nice, but “you don’t gotta assume that all of us are coming from that same background and stuff.”
Before ending his video he says, “that’s why I just think it’s weird.”
A few viewers in the comment section of @dragonfacedkiller’s video left similar experiences.
“Lady at Walmart called me ‘oriental,’” one says.
Another says, “It’s always the, ‘So where are you from?’ like sir, I was born here.”
One admits, “I’m a nail tech, shi* happens to me everyday.”
The Daily Dot reached out to @dragonfacedkiller via TikTok direct message.
