I’ve worked one serving job in my entire life, and let me tell you, I was horrible at it.

Though maybe I could have covered up some of those flaws through some tactful lying, like in this video from TikTok user @tilapiaa:

“I worked at Cracker Barrel one summer, and one of the rules was, like, if you see someone seated that isn’t being served, you should go up to them and ask them, like, if they want something to drink to get them started before the waiter gets them.”

“So there was somebody that was seated for, like, five minutes, and I went up to them, I was like, ‘can I get you something?’ I was like, and ‘let me go check on who your server is.’ So I went to get their drink, and I went to, like, the seating chart, and I saw that was my guest. This was, like, my first time ever serving, and, like, so I was still getting the hang of it. And so I went up to them, I was like, ‘oh, your server is not available right now, but I’m gonna help you.’ I feel like there’s some of the things that servers do.”

“And then, like, this one time, like, I actually forgot to put in a food order in, and it was like, there was, like, a long wait time. I was like, what’s going on? But it’s because I forgot to put it in. So basically, had a lie to the customer that, like, something went wrong, and, like, they had to remake their food.”

“So sometimes your server’s lying to you.”

@tilapiia

♬ original sound – Shells

The food was just a red herring.

Apparently this is super common.

Don’t let it send you into a moral panic.

It’s not that deep.

While I do understand the “just be honest” perspective, you need to remember that a lot of customers are extraordinarily entitled, and will respond to honest mistakes with endless barrages.

Better a white lie to avoid that fiasco, most likely.

If you liked that story, check out this video from a former Chipotle employee who reveals how the company cheats customers out of food.