TikTok creator Kelly (@kellybrook.m), who works as a restaurant server, uses her account to share stories about what happens on the job. In a recent video, she highlights what it feels like when the restaurant gets busy and customers start making time-consuming requests. At the time of publication, the video had garnered 36,400 views and 100 comments.
Kelly sets the scene for viewers: The restaurant is in the middle of its busiest period, and she’s running around trying to keep up with her tables. Of course, that’s when customers begin asking all kinds of questions, making complicated requests or taking their time deciding what to order.
“Excuse me. Excuse me. We’re ready to order. Okay, what did you want? And how about we split this? And you wanted to split the calamari, right? And then this is all gonna be separate checks,” she says in the video, acting out a table full of customers with questions and requests.
Each scenario begins with an “excuse me” and becomes increasingly outlandish, capturing how frustrating it can feel when customers keep interrupting a server who is already juggling multiple responsibilities.
“Excuse me. Just a quick question about the menu here. So I’m just looking right here at your steaks, and I’m just curious, is your cattle visited by an expert psychiatrist to make sure that they’re happy under their current living conditions? You don’t know? You have to check. Not very knowledgeable about the menu, are you?” she continues.
Of course, customers have every right to ask questions about the menu. However, Kelly’s video highlights how some requests can become particularly frustrating when a server is trying to keep up with a rush and make sure all their tables are taken care of.
One moment toward the end of the video stands out because Kelly says it actually happened to her. It’s the kind of interaction that sounds like a parody of what servers deal with, but apparently, it’s not always fiction.
“Excuse me. Could you come here for a second? Yeah. I just wanted to ask you, what do each one of your tattoos mean? They look so cool. Can you explain every single one of your tattoos to our table right now?” Kelly says, adding that someone had asked her to do exactly that in the middle of a rush.
TikTok users who work as servers share their most frustrating customer stories
The video might seem like pure parody, but the comments suggest that many servers recognize the situations Kelly describes. Several viewers who work in restaurants shared their own stories of customers making unusual requests or asking questions they felt could have been avoided.
“‘Can I get the toasted bagel but make sure it’s toasted’ like are you HEARING yourself,” one commenter recalled.
“I love when people ask me questions about the menu that could be easily answered if they just read the menu or they’ll order and then watch some food go by their table and change their mind after the kitchen has started making their food. That’s great too!” another user wrote.
“The eighth person at an 8 top asks what kind of sides we have, when I have listed them for EVERY SINGLE other person at the table, and I can see in my peripheral I’m being triple sat,” another server recalled.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the claims made by TikTok creator @kellybrook.m, which are based on her account and experiences shared in the video.
