In a viral video, a TikToker called out customers who treat service workers with an entitled attitude, urging everyone to do time in a service industry job to build empathy.
The clip starts off with a stitched video from an angry Chipotle customer who was complaining that the location was already in the closing process and seemingly no longer serving food ten minutes before the listed closing time.
“It’s 09:50 there’s til 10 more minutes,” the text overlay on the stitch read.
Jack (@jokicjoestar) then chimed in, stitching the clip and explaining his perspective on why some people treat service workers so poorly. He theorizes that it’s generally people who have never worked a service job, like customer support or a restaurant server, that treat workers the worst.
He says that if everyone in the United States was required to work a customer-facing job in their late teen years or at some other point in their early life, it would “move mountains for society.”
“It is insane to watch someone who has never done that turn into a straight-up f*cking psychopath whenever they interact with like a cashier or a waiter. There’s no empathy. they’ve forgotten about the concept,” Jack says. “They don’t recognize this person as a human being.”
@jokicjoestar Im hungry now talk
♬ original sound – JokicJoestar
Jack adds that it’s unacceptable for customers to be insistent with workers who are trying to close up but are being impeded by customers who are prioritizing their own time and needs.
For those who’ve never worked a service job, he explains that it’s not always worth it for places to stay open a few more minutes to closing time for just one customer because the closing process often requires the workers to stay at least another hour on the job to close out the cash registers, clean, and set things up for the morning crew.
“They’re open for ten more minutes, they’re gonna be there for an extra hour because of you,” Jack says.
He adds that he’s noticed a stark difference in people who have worked in the service industry. They typically go out of their way to accommodate workers and are apologetic if they’re in an establishment even 30 minutes before closing.
“Is there a bigger empathy gap between two groups of people?” Jack says towards the end of the TikTok.
The video has more than a million views and over 4,600 comments. The video is a deviation from Jack’s typical content, which centers on basketball.
Several commenters echoed Jack’s concerns.
“I’ve said this for years! it should be mandatory that everyone works in the service industry for at least 6 months!” a top comment read.
“People have no idea how tense those last 10 minutes are. Your night can either be made or ruined by just one customer. Especially in fine dining,” a person said.
“I hated when people came in and said ‘please you guys think you cook us some more sofritas’ like no bruh get out i need to go home,” another wrote.
Others disagreed with Jack’s take.
“I don’t agree with the guy but a business is a business. If you close at 10. You close at 10 and you have clean up time after close,” a commenter said.
“No, as someone who currently works in the service industry till 10pm, it would still make me mad if a place closed earlier than advertised,” a worker shared.
The Daily Dot reached out to Jack for comment via email.
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/news/customers-workers-empathy-gap/