Annoyed waitress slams scammers for viral ‘eat and return' restaurant stunt: ‘This is not a buffet'

New York Post

a day ago

Talk about food for fraud.
A fed-up waitress has gone viral after torching two diners she claims pulled a shameless 'eat and return' scam — devouring dish after dish before demanding refunds because they didn't 'like' the meals.
They ate around '7 different meals,' the exasperated server, who goes by @girlypopzonly on TikTok, said in her now-viral video.
'This is not a buffet, by the way. We don't work at a buffet.'
The video, recorded from what appears to be her restaurant's kitchen, details the jaw-dropping alleged grift: The pair ordered drinks and entrees, then complained each plate was 'nasty' — but only after polishing most of it off.
'Mind you, the burger's half eaten. All the fries are gone,' the TikTokker explained.
The user added, 'So she gives me half a burger back. And I'm like, 'You know what? OK, she didn't like the burger, that's fine, she liked the fries.' So I take it back. Take it off the bill.'
But then came the shellfish switcheroo.
The customer sent back her half-eaten burger and instead ate her date's shrimp pasta — only to say she didn't like that either — once her plate was clean.
'The shrimp pasta's half gone. There's three noodles on the f—ing plate,' the server fumed in her video.
'And I'm like, 'Oh, that's weird, but OK.''
By the time the pasta plates were cleared — and comped — the customers allegedly burst out laughing each time she walked by.
The TikTokker's customers ordered drinks and entrees — then trashed each dish as 'nasty' only after scarfing most of it down.
Yuri Kravchenko – stock.adobe.com
'Then, they're sitting there laughing at me,' the waitress said. 'Every time I pass by, they're like, heh, heh.'
By the end of the clip, the fed-up food slinger said this kind of scammy stunt is all too common — and she's had enough.
'When you guys go to restaurants, do you order a bunch of meals?' she asked her viewers.
''Cause you're like, 'Might as well just eat a bunch and then return it.' Why is this the norm? This happens so much.'
'We have to stop allowing people to get away with stuff like that,' one commented as another added, 'if more than half of the meal is gone, no refund.'
Others called out the TikTokker's manager for, in their eyes, not acting accordingly.
'Your manager didn't talk to them after the second return?' one asked as someone else wrote, 'If the meal is half gone, my manager won't comp it. the minimum is a 15 or 10% discount if they make a big deal about paying. if they didn't like it they wouldn't have ate it at all let alone half. They just wanted a free meal.'
These days, servers know all too well — the customer isn't always right. They're often flat-out wrong.
Andrii Lysenko – stock.adobe.com
As for @girlypopzonly, she says she was stunned her manager actually agreed to remove all the items from the check — even as the diners played musical plates.
In this new era of dining, as many servers would agree, the customer isn't just always right — they're sometimes downright wrong.
Just ask Janet.
As previously reported by The Post, the 22-year-old waitress from the southern Midwest went viral earlier this spring after a table of smug teens stiffed her — and left a snarky four-word insult on the receipt instead of a tip: 'Wear a life jacket.'
'It comes with the territory of being a server,' Janet told Newsweek at the time, adding she's sadly gotten used to getting nothing for her hard work.
But this time, it wasn't just a lack of cash — it was a punchline at her expense.
Restaurant workers across Reddit and TikTok have been speaking out more than ever, exposing entitled, stingy, and scamming diners — and sharing just how much abuse they take in silence.