Food servers have to put up with a lot. Some customers mistakenly believe that a waitstaff’s job of taking orders and serving food courteously and on time means that they are expected to wait on them hand and foot.
Also, some customers may react badly if their preferences are not met. But his viral TikTok seems to show that customers are reacting beyond the norm to what’s on the menu and what’s not.
Simply put, if you can’t get your favorite side dish, is it okay to literally hiss at the server?
A video posted by Missouri TikToker Lauren Scott (@laurenscott776) shows a server’s worst nightmare: a customer disappointed with the menu actually resorting to harassment, hissing at the server. It seems there are.
Most of Scott’s videos are dedicated to her travels and her days with her fiancé. However, in her recent post, she documented a very unpleasant server interaction at popular chain restaurant Applebee’s.
Scott posted this video on March 11th. The video has since been viewed 949,500 times and counting, leaving viewers in disbelief at the patron’s actions.
The video is captioned, “Another day at Applesbee’s, Karen hissing about not selling baked potatoes.”
In it, Scott looks on in disbelief, and the couple in the booth behind her appear to have a very negative reaction to the server.
A woman sitting in the booth closest to Scott began hissing like an angry cat in response to unrecognizable dialogue from what appeared to be a server. The woman hissed several times as Scott reacted with a look of horror.
The Daily Dot asked Applebee’s for a statement via email.
The woman continued to hiss throughout the video and raised her claw-like hands to emphasize her disappointment.
Throughout the exchange, the person sitting across from Hisar remains visibly unperturbed in the booth.
So how did it go?
There’s more than one reason why customers are rude to servers, says Dr. Daniel Redhead, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. guardian“Social class plays a large role in whether individuals are rude to others.”
“Waiters may be seen as having a subordinate role and that customers have power over them,” Redhead continued. “Such power asymmetries can lead certain people to behave more dominantly, that is, to behave more rudely and selfishly, or to be manipulative. They believe that the structure justifies such behavior, and they do not believe that there will be any repercussions for their actions.”
@laurenscott776 There were days when Karen hissed at Applebee’s because they didn’t sell baked potatoes. #funny videos #interesting #Karen #karensgoingwild #apple bee #restaurant #comedy #fyp ♬ Original song – Lauren Scott
Amazingly, one of the viewers of the video claims that they were the ones who were waiting for Scott.
“H” (@annabe1lee) commented on this video, “I was your waitress!” Thank you for posting this, oh I’m still laughing. ”
Another viewer reacted: “I would have died there!” I couldn’t do anything to hold back my laughter. ”
“Oh, I thought it was staged or a joke. …What happened after that? Lol. Did she keep hissing?” another viewer commented.
Mr. H replied that the couple left before they could get food.
Another viewer wrote, “As a former Applebee’s server. I’m sure this isn’t the first time this server has encountered something like this.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Scott in a TikTok direct message and H in a TikTok comment for more information.
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*First published: April 11, 2024, 6pm CDT
Beau Paul
Beau Paul is a freelance writer from Austin, Texas. Bo also wrote stories and dialogue for the gaming industry for several years before becoming an entertainment journalist.
