Customer-facing workers are resonating with a TikTok video in which a worker recounted how she dodged a potential customer who nearly approached her while she was on her unpaid lunch break, eating alone in her car.
In the video posted by @lizaroni42069, she says she was eating the lunch she brought to work in her car when a potential customer of the business she works at parked next to her and began pacing near her vehicle.
“On today’s episode of how badly do I not want to help a customer, I was eating my lunch on my lunch break, my unpaid lunch break, in my car,” she says in the video. “Why drive somewhere when I brought my own lunch, so I’m just eating it outside the office, in my car. Then all of a sudden somebody pulls up in a car next to mine, and they get out of their car and start to pace back and forth.”
@lizaroni42069 im on my not paid lunch break!! im not doing anything im supposed to be paid to do!! #work #lunchbreak #fyp ♬ original sound – Liz 🌝
The worker says she ultimately drove away from the area to get away from the customer.
“I started to get a little nervous, like, please don’t knock on my window and ask for help, because I don’t want to help you. I’m on my not-paid lunch break. Then they lock eyes with me, and they stare for a good four seconds too long. (I) said, ‘Hmm, yeah, this person needs some assistance,’ and, so, because I was in my car, I put my car in reverse and I drove away.”
“Im on my not paid lunch break!! im not doing anything im supposed to be paid to do!” she captioned the video, which was viewed over 440,000 times.
Viewers who resonated with the video shared their own experiences of dealing with customers while trying to eat lunch.
“I work at home depot,” one commenter wrote. “I’ve had people knock on my window and ask where things are while on my lunch break. Inside is my best guess.”
“I took a break in our break room and my manager asked why I didn’t come when called,” another commenter wrote. “I’m eating lunch unpaid I’m not responding to a guest.”
Many similarly shared how they attempt to maintain boundaries while on their breaks.
“I have told customers who stop me on my break, ‘I am not paid to help you right now, come back later,'” a third said.
The Daily Dot reached out to @lizaroni42069 via Instagram direct message regarding the video.
Source: https://www.dailydot.com/irl/worker-asked-to-help-unpaid-lunch/