TikToker and server Syd (@poorandhungry) dished out major cackles and nods of solidarity with her TikTok video, “I cant change the buttons maam plz work with me,” which garnered 367,000 views as of Friday. The skit depicted the sometimes absurd interactions between restaurant staff and customers over food orders—in particular, pizza orders.
In Syd’s skit, she acts out a scenario where customers ordered a sausage and peppers pizza but then requested the removal of several toppings…at a lesser price. Syd cleverly suggests, “Actually, I’m just gonna ring in the Margarita pizza and then I’ll just add the garlic and the sausage ’cause it’ll actually be way cheaper that way.”
The customers, however, weren’t having it.
“Um, no, we don’t want a Margarita pizza, we want the sausage and pepper pizza,” Syd says as the customer.
Syd, in her infinite patience, explains, “I’m telling you that I can ring something into our computer that will be cheaper than what you just planned on ordering.” The customers were adamant, leading to Syd’s resigned acceptance, with her saying, “Sure, you’re gonna pay $25 for a $19 pizza, but whatever you say.”
The comments section of Syd’s video was a mix of sympathy and amusement. A fellow restaurant owner shared, “When guests were rude to our servers, we rang in the more expensive pizza, placed the mods instead of just doing it the other way anyways.”
Another user humorously suggested, “Your bill should say GET OUT.” In response to a comment hoping Syd’s manager didn’t give in to a discount, Syd confirmed the all-too-common practice, writing, “Of course they did.”
Syd’s video hit home in a year when restaurant prices soared. It highlighted how customers increasingly tried to negotiate their way into saving money, sometimes leading to these quirky and challenging interactions. The video was a snapshot of the current dining landscape, where both customers and servers were trying to make the best of an increasingly pricey situation.
@poorandhungry I cant change the buttons maam plz work with me #restaurant #server #pizza #serverlife #customerservice ♬ original sound – $yd
Restaurants and their staff, like Syd, were often caught between a rock and a hard place—maintaining good customer service while dealing with rising operational costs. Syd’s video showed the comedic, yet real, struggles that servers face as they navigate complex customer interactions.
Her clip can be grouped with a growing number of retail and food service industry posts centering on the business concept that the customer isn’t always right. Several blogs and media outlets are centered around corporate practices/principles that offer different suggestions on how to handle interactions with customers who appear dead set on making less-than-stellar choices.
Forbes penned an article about the “fatigue” that sets in with salespeople who deal with pushy customers or find themselves giving in to every whim even though these whims do nothing for the customer. As the publication puts it, “Sometimes, the customer isn’t right. Sometimes they’re wrong. Sometimes they’re actually working against their own long-term interests and don’t seem to know it.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Syd via email for further comment.
