Restaurant manager says customers stole party reservation

A former restaurant manager has gone viral on TikTok for revealing that customers often steal other people’s reservations.

TikTok user Kellie (@ambryrae) posted the video on Feb. 6. As of February 8, the video was viewed over 516,000 times.

In the video, Kellie stitched TikTok user Liz (@sincerly_lizz), who shared a story about how her dinner reservation on her birthday was stolen.

“Listen to this young lady’s story and please don’t be surprised if I tell you that this is very common,” Kellie began.

She then explained that she used to work for a “hugely popular” restaurant that “mostly took reservations.” Kellie said that on a particularly busy night when the restaurant had “maybe 400 reservations,” a walk-in group of seven walked in and agreed to be waitlisted under the name “Trish,” even though there was a “45- minutes to hours of waiting.”

After 15 minutes, a group of eight with a reservation came in under the name “Thompson.” Kellie told the Thompson party that it took the restaurant a few minutes to set the table. In the ten minutes it took to prepare Thompson’s table, Kellie stepped away from the hostess gallery and another hostess took her place.

While Thompson gathered her group outside the restaurant, Trish took the opportunity to snag the reservation. She told the new host that she and her guests were the Thompson party. Since the hostess didn’t check them in, she seated them without batting an eyelid.

When Kellie finally brought the Thompson party to their table, she was confused to see Trish’s party sitting there. After discussing the mix-up with the other host, Kellie took matters into her own hands. She politely informed Trish that she had to “return to the waiting list” as the table was reserved for another party.

A member of Trish’s group tried to stay at the table by saying they had a reservation that Kellie didn’t have. When the same person asked what Kellie would do if the party refused to leave, Kellie informed them they could sit at the table all night – as long as they were okay with not being served. This motivated the Trish family to return to the lobby to wait their turn.

When she finished telling the story, Kellie encouraged people to speak up if they ever find themselves in a similar situation.

“A good manager wants to help you. A good manager wants to accommodate you. A good manager wants to do things right,” Kellie said. “If you ever find yourself in such a situation, please do not hesitate to ask any of us to come and help you.”

@ambryrae #stitch with @sincerely_lizz I’m so sorry this happened to you baby love!! I hope you were still able to enjoy your bday celebration!! ❤️❤️❤️ #manager #serverlife #serverproblems #restaurant #fyp ♬ Selfcare Demo – Bella Moulden

In the comments, viewers applauded Kellie for forcing Trish’s party to leave the table.

“Ty for making her get up. I imagine many managers just let it happen to avoid a fight, but it only encourages and empowers those eligible individuals,” one viewer wrote.

“BLESS YOU FOR THIS!!!!! That’s how it should always be done because of EQUALITY,” praised a second.

Many viewers were in total disbelief at Trish’s party’s behavior.

“How can people have the audacity to do this,” wrote one user.

“45 minutes to an hour is so short for a big party like this! What’s wrong with the people!” commented a second.

Some viewers who worked as hostesses shared their experiences of customers stealing others’ reservations.

“As a former hostess, this happens!! Lol I got tables up,” shared one user.

“This happened so many times at my old job as a hostess and I actually had to go to the table to tell the party to get up,” wrote another.

The Daily Dot contacted Kellie via TikTok comment and TikTok direct message.

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