One Buffalo Wild Wings server in Tifton, Georgia, just dealt with the kind of tacky guests that unites the internet with righteous indignation.
In her TikTok, helpfully labeled “Storytime,” Mikaela (@mik_0114) details her recent interaction with demanding and downright rude restaurant guests.
“Story time about what happened to me at work,” she says. Then she offers a caveat. “I don’t usually do these,” she says.
But 25,000 views later… maybe she’s got a future as a TikTok storyteller?
Better Late Than Never?
“This really, really irked my nerves,” Mikaela says, explaining her decision to take it to the internet. She says that Buffalo Wild Wings closes about midnight on Monday nights. At about 10:45pm, she says a young couple walked in.
“They’re super sweet,” she says.
The couple told Mikaela they were waiting on two more people, so she says she got them their drinks and popped their appetizer order in.
“About 45 minutes to an hour go by,” she says.
So she says she checked back in. “Are we going to put in food—what are we doing?” she says.
Unsure if their friends were still coming, she says the couple put in an order for food. Then, after the food went in but while waiting for the kitchen, she says the couple let Mikaela know their friends were on the way.
“‘That’s cool. Just let them know that they only have 10 minutes to put in an order because we stop putting in orders for food at 11:30pm,'” she says she told them. “‘And last call is about 11:45pm.'”
Drink Drama (That’s Not How This Works)
The couple insisted that their friends wouldn’t want any food—after all, it was kinda late. “‘I think they’re just gonna come sit with us,'” they say, per Mikaela.
Then the friends rolled in, and Mikaela says one was carrying an outside beverage. She says he gave it up without a fight, but the vibes started to wobble.
Then, with one minute on the clock, she says they decided they did want food and adult beverages.
It was a slow Monday at Buffalo Wild Wings, so the bartender called last call a little early, Mikaela recounts.
“‘Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get you any alcohol,'” she recounts telling them.
The response? A fit, she says. One of them allegedly fired back, “‘Naw, that’s not cool, dude.'”
The female guest, Mikael says, started giving her attitude, too.
At this point, Mikaela says she was baffled.
“Where is your manners? Where is your respect?” the server wonders.
“‘You go tell her to make us some drinks, please,'” Mikaela recalls one of the customers saying.
And Mikaela, without missing a beat, told them, “‘She’s already called last call, and I can’t make her do anything, anyway. That’s not how this works.'”
Double Down And Double-Fisting
Mikaela says she apologized profusely to the table, and that seems to settle everything down.
She says she walked off to ring in the couple’s order into the kitchen and then to chat with the bartender. Upon hearing about the trouble Mikaela was having, she decided to cut her some slack. Since the bartender’s guests were also clamoring for another round, she decided to bend her own rules and make one more for everyone.
“‘I’ll make them one drink, and that’s it,'” Mikaela reports her bartender said.
So in a fit of drunken lout logic, the female guest decided to order two drinks. And the bartender said, “‘Fine, but that’s all she gets.'”
“Fair enough,” Mikaela says she told her.
On The House And On The Run
By now, the server’s original guests were ready to go. Mikaela says she checked them out, tipped her really well, and apologized for their friends.
When she was “literally printing out” the bill for the rest of the group, she looked up to see that the table was empty. They were nowhere to be found.
“You mean to tell me you just gave me all of this BS to walk out on your check? You’ve got to be joking me,” she says.
Though the server doesn’t end up having to foot the bill, she says that’s not always the case at restaurants. Some places will take the cost out of a server’s tips.
Dining, Dashing And What The Restaurant Can Do
According to the site Binwise, a beverage inventory management system for the hospitality industry, about 5% of diners have “dined and dashed.” But alcohol theft is more pervasive. Binwise notes, “A drink and dash is far more common and can be bad for bartenders who make a living on tips.”
However, potential sprinters should take note that restaurants and bars do have systems in place to prevent theft like this. Techniques can include floor plan strategies, hosts, and security. If caught, punishment varies from state to state and on the amount of the bill. In California it’s a misdemeanor. But in Florida, it’s a felony.
And as to the idea that a server might pay for the tab, that same site says federal rules say that restaurants can’t force their employees to make up for the financial loss of dine and dash if it means they would earn less than the minimum wage. However, there are other ways of making a perceived unprofessional server “pay.”
Bottom line? Sure, you might pull off a dine-and-dash. But the bitter taste of regret tends to overpower the momentary sweetness of success. And remember, karma runs faster than you do.
BroBible reached out to Mikaela. We’ll be sure to update this if she gets back to us.