Have you ever overstayed your welcome? Hotels and AirBnBs will let you know when it’s time to go, but a restaurant won’t make you leave until the doors lock at the end of the night—and sometimes not even then.
One server had to take a minute to rant about patrons “camping” out at her table well after they paid their bill, but her social media viewers didn’t have much sympathy for her point of view—even though it’s demonstrably true that lingering at the table after the tab has been settled hurts both servers and restaurants.
College student and server Jus Rob (@boborrob447) filmed herself having a moment in the walk-in fridge at her restaurant job. She posted the video to her TikTok account, where it now has over 127,800 views.
In it, Rob goes off on “campers”—restaurant patrons who continue to sit at the table even after they’ve finished their meal and settled their bill.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you go out to eat at a restaurant, do not sit at the f*cking table two hours after you already got your f*cking check to talk to your f*cking sister, wife, grandma, I don’t give a f*ck who it is, get the f*ck up and go talk in your living room,” Rob rants. “‘Cause b*tch, you’re f*cking with my money.”
“Go talk at home, get on the phone, FaceTime, anything, anything for real ’cause you’re f*cking with peoples’ money,” she continues. “I’m not giving you no refills ’cause you already paid.”
Rob’s opinion was not appreciated by many of her viewers. Several stated they felt entitled to stay at their table as long as they liked.
Ebony Joi798 (@ebonyjoi0) had absolutely no sympathy for Rob, writing, “Girl go to hell. Find another profession.”
“I tip well over 20 percent, I will stay as long as I want to!!” another viewer opined.
Another angrily typed in all caps, “THAT’S WHY PEOPLE GO OUT TO EAT RELAX AND ENJOY BEING TOGETHER.”
@boborrob447 thank you
♬ original sound – jus rob
What’s wrong with staying at a table after you’ve paid?
Camping at a table is obviously a pet peeve of most servers, but it can have a real impact. According to OpenTable.com, the practice “generally has a negative impact on the restaurant’s bottom line.”
As an example, OpenTable states that in “a 100-seat restaurant that is open for 5 hours, the restaurant would make $14,368 a day if everyone was a non-camper and $9,270 a day if everyone camped. That’s a huge difference.”
It also notes, “Based on our research, there is no connection between tip percentage and camping. In other words, campers tend to tip the same rate as non-campers. What this means is that even though the waiter is spending more time with a table, they are compensated less when the table spends longer dining.”
A few of Rob’s viewers were more sympathetic, especially fellow servers.
“I feel ya girl. Been there done that. people think it’s family reunion sometimes!! please just go home,” yw19823 (@yw19823) wrote.
“As a host this a hella frustrating when you have a huge wait but you came see ppl are sitting for 2-3 hours,” another commented.
Another viewer also commented in all caps, “PLEASE YES FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Rob via TikTok direct message for further comment.
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