Waiting tables for a living involves a learning curve, and sometimes servers get a “humbling” reminder that they could be doing better. That’s what one newly-fledged server learned from a less-than-shy customer during her first week at a new job.
Savanah Pierce (@savkaypierce) was at her new job waiting tables at an unnamed restaurant when she says she was “humbled as a server” by one of her customers who told her exactly how she rated her waiting skills.
Pierce took to TikTok four days ago to tell the story in a video that went on to pick up over 2.2 million views as of Monday.
In it, Pierce says, “I was serving a table of four and part way through the meal the oldest woman at the table, she beckons me.”
Pierce said that before the interaction, she had been doing an adequate job of taking care of the table’s needs. However, her customer did not share her opinion.
She says the woman “looks me dead in my eyes and earnestly says to me, ‘You are doing a terrible job.’” Pierce says the woman then listed out the many things she had forgotten to do in the course of their meal.
“I was like, we are going to rebuild,” Pierce says to her viewers. “From that moment on, I am on my best behavior.”
@savkaypierce The woman was *almost* too stunned to speak #serving #restaurantlife ♬ original sound – savkaypierce
“We get to the end of the meal, bring the checks around,” she continues. “I look at that woman and I say to them, ‘I want to thank you all so much for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow as a server.’”
Sadly, her humility doesn’t appear to have saved her tip.
“With the mental math, I did pay the restaurant to serve that table,” she states at the end of the video. Pierce is located in Tennessee which only requires that tipped employees be paid a minimum wage of $2.13 an hour.
Despite Pierce’s humility, most of the comments on her video were less than approving of her customer’s assessment. Especially current and former waitstaff.
Katelyn Pinto (@katelynrpinto) wrote, “The way I would have said ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’ and ignored them the rest of the night.”
“Serving is SO traumatizing,” another viewer added.
“I would’ve just laughed in her face and walked away. All I heard was she wasn’t tipping,” another server wrote.
So far, Pierce has not posted any follow-up videos about the incident. The Daily Dot has reached out via email for further comment.
