Server Gets Fired After Costing Restaurant $699, Says He's "Unbothered"
"They had like a $400 steak, some drinks, a rib-eye, they ate for free," the server willingly admitted.
By Mustafa GatollariUpdated March 13 2024, 4:24 p.m. ET
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many food service and restaurant workers were either furloughed, laid off, fired, or simply didn't have anywhere to work. This is due to the massive number of business closures that occurred as a result of government-mandated stay-at-home and social distancing restrictions enforced upon companies, with small and independent-owned businesses suffering the most as a result.
Even when businesses opened back up, restaurant employees began quitting in droves, forcing companies to get creative with perks and incentives in order to draw in prospective workers.
However, one local restaurant didn't seem so desperate for help that they would keep an employee who forgot to close out a $699 check, resulting in a free meal for the table.
TikToker @quezeats delineated exactly what happened in his now-viral clip and many viewers who saw it were struck with how carefree he was in the face of being fired and over such a massive mistake.
"So I just got fired. Here's all of my stuff," he then pans the camera to show his bag of belongings in the front passenger's seat of the car he's recording the video in. "Well and my Chic-fil-A from yesterday. Umm, yeah so last night there was a $699 check that I just didn't close, I don't really know what happened, I don't really know...so the table ate for free."
He added that "they had like a $400 steak, some drinks, a rib-eye, they ate for free, they, they had a good night, umm-hmm. So my manager pulled me aside when I came into work today and is like yeah let's talk. Let's have a conversation I'm like OK."
From the sound of @quezeats' story, it seems like his manager let him know that was let go from pretty early on in their discussion, telling him, "I don't think that this is gonna work."
"I'm like, you right, you right. And he's like this isn't a small mistake this isn't a small mistake. This is a $700 mistake I'm like you're not wrong cause I also cheated myself out of a $150 check I don't know how I managed to do that I was really overwhelmed before then and I'm like you know what it is what it is. It's in God's hands. So he's like you know what I've been hearing from other servers other people it seems like you're very nonchalant about this."
It seemed as if his manager was kind of shocked that he didn't seem to care that he forgot to close the check on an almost $700 bill, "Like you don't seem like very concerned but this is a big deal. I'm like, yeah, yeah this is a big deal it is, it is a really big deal," before changing his tone and directly speaking to his followers: "I don't give a damn."
He then acquiesces: "I do, because now I'm gonna have to, I already have another job. I'm gonna have to find a new little side thing but like, I kinda didn't want to work there to begin with. Like first of all the hours were ridiculously long, I mean, let me just not even go into that. I was like wow, I never been fired from a job."
He seemed to reconcile with being let go fairly easily, "I already got my Starbucks, maybe I'll go to the gym, take a little walk I'm gonna enjoy my Sunday afternoon, take a little mini-vacation. As I should."
TikTokers applauded @quezats' nonchalance but also his willingness to admit and accept that he made a huge mistake and that his employer was right to assess that he didn't seem too broken up about not closing out the $700 check because it was past the point of him being able to do anything about it.
Others also expressed that they enjoyed his vibe in the video and how he truly seemed "unbothered" by being fired and how he resolved to try and enjoy his Sunday. The TikToker even seemed to take a good-natured approach to someone pointing out that they at first felt bad he was fired from his position, until they realized he didn't close out a $699 check.
There were some who seemed split down the middle, though as to who was at fault in this scenario. Some seemed to think that the onus fell on the shoulders of the TikToker's management team, stating that it's their duty to ensure that all of the checks are closed. And then there were those who couldn't believe @quezeats didn't take care of it himself.
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