‘Gives me flashbacks to my time working at Texas Roadhouse’: Server says this generation is the worst one to wait on

There's a perception that younger generations, like Gen Z, are lazy and entitled. Meanwhile, virtues such as hard work, putting one's nose to the grindstone to prove how special one is, are often associated with boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964.

But if you were to ask several food service industry workers, this couldn't be further from the truth. A popular server on TikTok named Gina (@whatsthatmeen) aired her frustrations with serving a particular generation. She doesn't explicitly name "boomers" in her post. However, throngs of commenters picked up the message she was sharing.

Guess the customer

Gina, who has over 40,000 followers, begins her video by standing and speaking directly into the camera. "I work in a restaurant, OK? And I'm gonna tell you a bunch of experiences I've had. I want you to guess what generation all these people are from," she says.

The first situation she delineates involves a customer who unabashedly stole restaurant ware. "OK, let's go. A woman puts a ceramic bowl of ours in her to-go box. And when I look at it and she sees that I notice, she says, 'Don't worry honey. We do this all the time. Can you get me a bag?'"

Next, Gina mentions another group of customers who got angry over a cut of meat. "Table goes off because we no longer offer 8-ounce ribeyes and 8-ounce prime rib," she says before mocking them, "'It's not right that they took them off. We should be able to come here and get an 8-ounce.'"

The TikToker says the restaurant she worked at at the time never offered 8-ounce steak and got rid of the 10-ounce six years prior. "She then says, 'Give us the number to corporate 'cause we're gonna complain.'"

Bread basket

The poor behavior continued, she says, after she offered a different group some bread. "I offer a couple some more bread, 'Would you like some more bread? They say, 'No, we've had more than enough. We shouldn't even have eaten what we've eaten.'"

But as it turns out, they did want more bread. Gina says she was taken aback by how they asked for it. "Cool, their food comes out, they're eating. I walk up, 'How is everything? Guys doing all right?' No answer, no words. OK, no words. The man just takes the basket of empty bread and puts it right up to me."

"Just holds it there... doesn't say anything, just stares at me. And then when I say, 'You want more bread?' He goes, 'Yep,'" she continues.

Coupon conundrum

Additionally, Gina says that there's a level of entitlement associated with coupons and specials—even when those coupons are invalid or if the time they're demanding the special has expired. "Walk up to the table, 'Hey, how y'all doing?' They push a piece of paper towards me. That is a free app coupon that they printed out at home. And they say, 'We have this. It's expired, but you'll take it.'"

She then recounts another instance. "Our early bird special ends at 5. It has for years now, for years. This couple comes in, sit down. I go up to them, 'Hey how are you doing?' 'We thought your early bird ended at 6.' 'You'll give it to us because you changed it. And we thought it ended at 6.'"

She continues, "Let's not forget the table that had the coupon that said it was only valid on MLK day. And went off and said, 'No you're gonna give it to me because I thought I was getting it. So you're gonna give it to me.'"

Commenters were convinced

Gina's video has been viewed over 16,000 times. Gina has yet to confirm which generation she called out in her video. But many viewers were sure that Gina was discussing boomers.

"Elder gen x/boomer. 100%," one said.

Another penned, "I'm getting aaaaallll old ppl vibes lol."

Someone else agreed, "Ages 50+! Sounds all too familiar!"

"This gives me flashbacks to my time working at Texas Roadhouse," another joked.

And while there were a lot of people who said that these customers were boomers, another generation was also mentioned: Gen X, or the generation born between 1965 and 1980. One shared, "Gen X! without watching the video."

Another said, "Gen X starts off as being born in 1965 and ends at 1980. This is all Gen X with my regulars."

OK, but who tips the most?

While boomers may be the worst behaved in a restaurant setting, according to these restaurant industry workers, they remain the best tippers. According to USA Today, which cited a Bankrate survey, boomers are most likely to leave a tip and most likely to leave a good tip. This can be attributed to their higher incomes. As for the worst tippers—that award goes to Gen Z.

This is backed up by service industry workers' experiences. According to one Reddit thread lauding how kind Gen Z is in comparison to some of their older counterparts, many commenters said that while kind, they don't usually tip well.

The Daily Dot has reached out to Gina via email for further comment.

@whatsthatmeen Sorry for all the nail tapping #serverlife #restaurantlife #serverproblems ♬ original sound - Gina ☻ ????

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