‘Karen’ Arrives 2+ Hours Late After Messing Up Her Reservation And Slams Worker For Denying Her 20-Person Party Their Pre-Booked Table

No one likes encountering rude people, yet it happens all the time. Usually, when we get wronged by a stranger, with some self-talk, we’re able to move on – however, when it’s practically your job to deal with entitled folk, only experience will be able to save you.

Kellie, or @ambryrae, who’s a restaurant manager, has had her fair share of experiences, and she recently took to TikTok to recount one that involved a party of 20 who showed up several hours late for their reservation.

More info: TikTok

Restaurant manager takes to TikTok to blast a party of 20 who were 2+ hours late for their reservation

Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto

“One time, this party made a reservation for a party of 20 for six o’clock”

“It was either on a Friday or a Saturday night. I can’t remember which one. At the time, the place that I was working at, we had a 15-minute grace period. Six o’clock comes around. No one shows up for the party. Okay. 6:10 comes around. No one shows up for the party. 6:15 comes around. No one shows. My hostess calls them, and then I call them about five minutes after that, just to see – because I don’t want 20 people showing up, and we don’t have a table for you. No one picked up, no one returned a phone call. 6:25 rolls around, and I’m like, okay, I have other guests that I have to seat, I have to give away these tables. We move on with the rest of the night, and everything’s going well.”

“8:15 comes around, and my host comes to me in a panic, and she’s like, ‘Hey, I’ve got this Jones party up there. They’re a large party. They’re saying they have a reservation, but I can’t find it. Can you come talk to them?’ Of course, I can! I go up, ‘Hey, my name is Kellie, I’m the host manager. Let me apologize right away just in case there’s any inconvenience on our end that we’re causing. But let me look into this for you.’ So I asked the name for the reservation, and asked if it could be under any other name. She’s like, ‘No.’ I say, ‘Okay, so what time was your reservation for?’ She says, ‘Eight o’clock.’ I say, ‘So I have a reservation under this name, but it was for six o’clock. Are you sure that’s not you?’ ‘No, that’s not me. I made it for eight o’clock. I made it for eight o’clock.’ Okay. I say, ‘So I just want to confirm a few things. Can I confirm your email address?’ It’s her email address. ‘Can I confirm your phone number?’ It’s her phone number. So I said, ‘Well, ma’am, you made the reservation. You made it online, and you made it for 20 guests at six o’clock. Not only did you make it, but you confirmed it for six o’clock.’”

Image credits: @ambryrae

“So, her and her big feet get the stomping around”

“Now she’s getting loud. She’s putting on a show for everybody in the lobby. And she’s like, ‘Well, what’s the point of me making a reservation if you guys aren’t going to hold my table?’ So I said, ‘Well, ma’am, you have to remember you reached out to us and told us you would be here at six o’clock. It’s not like we reached out to you and asked you if you wanted to hang out tonight. You said that you would be here with 20 people.’ And she’s like, ‘Well, I didn’t know that we were going to be stuck in traffic.’”

“Eventually, her husband calms her down, and he comes over to talk to me. So he’s like, ‘Yeah, anytime that I’ve ever had an appointment and we’ve been late we’ve been able to keep that appointment.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, well, it works a little bit differently with reservations in a public restaurant.’ It’s not a banquet hall. I have other guests that I have to accommodate. But it’s going to be a while. ‘Do you guys still want to eat here? I don’t have a problem. It’s just going to take a while.’ I tell them it may take upwards of an hour or more. He says, ‘Okay.’ I confirm if it’s still 20, and he says, ‘Yes.’”

Image credits: @ambryrae

“About 50 minutes into their wait time, she comes stomping back over to the front”

“‘What is taking so long now?’ ‘So, ma’am, you need 20 seats. You guys all want to sit together? I have to make sure that I have the space for you guys.’ ‘20? Why are you giving me 20 seats?’ ‘Because your reservation was for 20?’ ‘Well, it’s only 13.’ Okay, well, nobody said anything! So okay, we luckily had a party, like it was like 15 or 16, that was leaving. So we were able to just flip the tables and just give them that table. Because I already know how certain people are, I was working the table with the server so that there were no issues, and there weren’t any issues.”

“About an hour into their service, the rest of their party shows up, and the lady insists that we seat them with the party before – the 13. Uh?! No, we cannot! I have six all the way over on the other side; they can sit there, or they can do to-go. I don’t, I don’t care at this point. She’s mad, but whatever. It’s time for the bill. The bill comes. The bill is really really high because they paid for both parties. And so I present the bill, and she says, ‘So you mean to tell me you’re not going to give me a discount because you guys messed up on our tables?’ And I said, ‘No.’ And she said, ‘That’s why I don’t support black businesses now.’”

@ambryrae The concept of a reservation shouldn’t be this hard…. #restaurant #hostess #manager #foodservice #serverlife ##NextLevelDish #serverproblems #reservation #storytime #fyp ♬ original sound – Kellie With A *IE*

It’s no big secret that every job is challenging in some manner – however, we can all probably agree that positions that require you to handle customers are on a whole different level.

Let’s say it straight: Working in customer service can be a painful experience. It’s an emotionally taxing job that often involves dealing with entitled and frustrated folk.

To give you a more illustrative example, a poll of food service workers by the UC Berkeley Food Labor Research Center, which was conducted back in May 2021, found that 39% were quitting over concerns about hostility or harassment from customers. A pretty high number, isn’t it?

There are a bazillion and one reasons why people preach good manners, but then, miraculously, choose to go all out because of a tiny inconvenience that, most likely, could’ve been easily fixed if only the people in question had remained calm – however, the good news is that once you get the gist of it, you’ll become a pro at dealing with those who make your work life a living hell.

The star of today’s article, Kellie, or @ambryrae on TikTok, is no exception! The woman recently took online to retell an interesting encounter she experienced at the restaurant where she works that left over 1.4M people vexed.

Now, traffic does happen, and it’s not unusual to be late once in a while, but when you’ve got a whole party planned and expect the staff to hold your table for several hours despite not picking up your phone, that’s on you. Many netizens praised Kellie for her patience, but what is your take on the story? What do you think about unpunctual clients?