Servers Roll Eyes At Woman’s Simple Requests, They Soon Regret It, As She’s A Mystery Shopper
Theoretically, servers should treat all customers equally and fairly. But we live in a world where theoretical things sometimes remain just theory. What we’re getting at is that sometimes servers mistreat their customers. While there could be justifiable reasons for that, sometimes, there are not, and they’re just jerks. What’s even worse is that they can quickly change their behavior after learning that their job might be on the line when, for example, a customer turns out to be a mystery shopper. And yes, you guessed right — that’s exactly today’s story.
More info: TikTok
A woman who works as a mystery shopper recently posted a video about her negative experience at ‘Outback Steakhouse,’ and the video quickly went viral
Image credits: kaylalaughsoutloud
“I just completed an ‘Outback Steakhouse’ mystery shop. And unfortunately, they did not do that well”
“I was by myself, and when I walked in the door, I was immediately greeted by the hostess. And she asked me how many in my party. I said ‘Just one.’ She’s like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna sit you at the bar.’ And I said I’m not interested in the bar. I’m 5’2, and it’s really hard for me to sit in high chairs because it hurts my legs, because it cuts off the circulation, because my feet have nowhere to land, if that makes any sense. And to all my short girls out there, you know what I’m talking about.”
“So, I asked her very nicely, I said, ‘I’m so sorry. I’m not comfortable at the bar. Can I have a booth or a table?’ And she was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna have to ask my manager.'”
“I’m like that’s really weird. I eat out a lot by myself because I’m a single woman, and all my friends work nine to five, and so on. And I take myself out all the time, and it’s never a problem for me to get seated [at] a table. Every once in a while, I have to put my foot down, but usually not during a mystery shop. Well, this, this one was one of those. So, I, again, I’m like, ‘Okay’ because I have to let them do what they do. I can’t make a fuss.”
“And the manager came to me, he’s like, ‘Well, this is our busy lunch hour.’ I’m like, ‘Well, I’m about to be part of that busy lunch hour, and I’m just asking you for a comfortable place to sit and enjoy my meal.'”
Image credits: kaylalaughsoutloud
“He rolled his eyes at me. So, he reluctantly gave me what I wanted with the hostess right behind. The hostess slapped the menu on the table and walked away”
“The waitress came and asked me for my drinks and asked me if anyone else was showing up. I said, ‘No, it’s just me.’ She got slightly an attitude with me, and she said, ‘Oh, well, I can move you to the bar.’ I said, ‘No, I want to sit at a table. Is that okay?’ Like good freaking grief, you know, and she was like, ‘Okay, fine,’ and she had an attitude about it.”
“So, she brought me my drink within a reasonable amount of time, can’t deny that. She took my order. It took a little bit longer for me to get my food, but it was prime lunch hour, and I get it. So, I let that roll. But she never came to check on me again, like ever. And when I was ready for my check, I had to wait. She made eye contact with me three different times, and you know how it works. You signal the person, like, ‘Hey, I’m ready to go.’ And she took forever to get to me.”
“So, for someone who wants me out of their section, she really did not work very hard to get me out of her section in a reasonable amount of time to fill up her table with, you know, a bigger party, where she would possibly get a bigger tip.”
“So, unfortunately, I was not able to give her her gift card of $50 for passing the mystery shop. So, this was a reveal one. So, I had to, you know, I pay my meal, then I came back in.”
Image credits: kaylalaughsoutloud
“I revealed myself, and she was in shock. And that’s when everybody — the hostess, the manager, and my waitress — wanted to act like they gave a ‘you know what'”
“In a very nice way, I was like, ‘Well, it’s a little too late. I have all your names. I’ve marked them down. The cameras will show the experience. Have a good day.’ I walked out, so.”
“I just wish people would just be more considerate and do their job right, and they would keep their jobs. They wouldn’t get written up. They wouldn’t have to worry about mystery shops going good or bad because they naturally would do the right thing. It’s really freakin simple. I’ve worked, I was a waitress, I was a fast food worker, I owned my own restaurants. I do my own thing today. I made mistakes, but I learned from them.”
Image credits: kaylalaughsoutloud
“Just do your job the best you freakin’ can. Is it just too much to ask?”
Image credits: kaylalaughsoutloud
Watch the video here:
@kaylalaughsoutloud @Outback Steakhouse #kaylalaughsoutloud #outbacksteakhouse #outback #mysteryshopping #mysteryshopper #steakhouse #fyp #fy #foryoupage #foryou #trending #tiktok #tiktokviral #viral #fup #wtf #wow #story #storytime #rude #fail #bad #crazy #excuseme #like #share #follow ♬ original sound – 😂 Kayla Laughs Out Loud 🤣
This video was posted by a TikTok creator @kaylalaughsoutloud or just Kayla, who, by creating videos on various topics, has collected over 56K followers. This video about her being mistreated at “Outback Steakhouse” while mystery shopping went viral and currently has 1.3M views.
If you’re confused about mystery shopping, well, basically, it’s a marketing research method typically conducted to measure the quality of sales and service, job performance, regulatory compliance, or even to collect specific information about a market.
Mystery shoppers tend to mirror consumer behavior to test the consistency of the service provided. Then, they submit detailed reports and feedback about their experiences. If the report isn’t favorable, well, that place or employees might face some negative consequences.
The mystery shopping can be of several types:
- In-person — a mystery shopper visits the business, usually applied in retail and restaurants;
- Telephone — a mystery shopper calls, usually to a call center or business where telephone services are an integral part;
- Hybrid — a mystery shopper follows a whole customer journey. For example, from check-in to check-out at a hotel.
Image credits: Ion Fet (not the actual photo)
So, Kayla was an in-person mystery shopper who visited one of the “Outback Steakhouse” restaurants. It’s an Australian-themed restaurant chain whose headquarters is ironically based not in Australia but in Florida in the United States. Just as the name suggests, these restaurants are famous for their juicy steaks.
Well, the TikToker didn’t specify what exactly she ate at the restaurant since it wasn’t the focus of the video. Instead, she focused on how badly she was mistreated by the staff just because she was alone and, due to her short height, she didn’t want to sit at the bar.
Her distaste for sitting at the bar was considered a normal requirement by people in the comments under the video. Some of them agreed with her reasoning about her height, while others shared their concerns about, for example, recovering alcoholics who might not like to sit at the bar either. Overall, the restaurant’s stubbornness to seat a woman at a bar and then her mistreatment wasn’t met favorably by people online.
Image credits: Clark Douglas (not the actual photo)
Of course, it wasn’t met favorably in Kayla’s report as well. While the woman didn’t specify what exactly she wrote in the video, it’s clear that the report won’t serve as anything good for these employees.
But that’s on them for acting like jerks, isn’t it? After all, just as Kayla said in the video, if people would do their jobs the way they were supposed to, this wouldn’t have happened. In fact, if they had acted differently, they not only would not have been written negatively about in the report but would have received a gift card as well! And who doesn’t like a gift card, right?
It’s understandable that sometimes servers can have a bad day, be tired, or provide imperfect service for many other reasons. But in this case, it seems that they were just simply rude and weren’t doing their job like they were supposed to because Kayla refused to sit at the bar. So, let’s just hope that this encounter with a mystery shopper will have some positive impacts on their service and that the next mystery shopper won’t have to write a negative report.
From the reaction of people in the comments, it’s quite clear that they would have written a negative report about the service as well
Image credits: Roméo A. (not the actual photo)
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My thoughts are that this woman should not be a mystery shopper---Mystery shopping contracts, that are signed by the person mystery shopping, state that the shopper is not allowed to discuss their experience with anyone except the consulting firm that hired her. I am not saying people should not be allowed to share their experiences; just not when they have been working as a mystery shopper.
Or at the very least, don't literally name/say the name of the restaurant. XD Though I do agree - seems a bit off that she couldn't WAIT to go on TikTok to talk about her job.
Load More Replies...
Doesn't the 'mystery' part of 'mystery shopper' rely on people not knowing who the shopper is? If you are showing your face on the interwebs, doesn't this negate the 'mystery'?
Yes, and the mystery shoppers are usually contracted by the parent company to test their franchises for quality control, so bad mouthing the entire company online is probably not the way to keep your job.
Load More Replies... Long term mystery shopper here. There's no big reveal, or I'd never be able to shop that client again. Even if a city has multiple locations, staff sometimes rotate between stores and they talk. Also, there's no need for a "reveal" as my job isn't to humiliate workers or managers, it's to provide a distinct set of information to the corporate decision makers (and one server's performance is a small portion of that evaluation). They learn they've been shopped via their corporate office when I'm long gone. So you're not doing yourself or anyone a favor by pretending to be a shopper, because it'll be clear that you're lying and now they'll never want you as a return customer. As to this poster, she looks awfully young to have owned restaurants, etc. That just throws shade on all her other statements. But oh she's so right about seating short women.
Yeah, the reveal part sounded wrong to me. I've never seen a mystery shop job with a reveal and any reward would come from corporate. My guess is she had a bad experience at Outback and is lying about being a mystery shopper to get tiktok views.
Load More Replies...
Try talking without starting every sentence with "So" and saying "I said" instead of "I was like", and it will be much easier to listen to.
After reading this comment, I re-read the post which I'd skimmed before because all the So's and Likes were definitely irritating. A person recounting a business event they have meticulously reported upon doesn't do that; they tend to habitually use professional language. That is one reason it's easier to spot a fake.
Load More Replies... 
So either you have to divulge super personal information (alcohol recovery or bodily symptoms, etc), or you’re stuck at the bar? Hmm the word discrimination comes to mind. This store deserves a major write up. The person whose bright idea this was should probably be fired or demoted.
Asinine. Just let the lady sit where she prefers. It's very easy to do. If you have a rotation, adjust it. Not hard.
I saw some comments on how a mystery shopper, would not reveal. It depends. I worked at a outlet mall,when I was a teen. And a mystery shoppers came in and revealed who she was at the end. Gave me a gold star pin;and told me to report to the mall office after work for a picture to be taken for the mall employees of the month.
Not sure of the protocols around mystery shopping but completely agree re seating. People eating alone are so often treated as second class customers and seated in uncomfortable, noisy or busy areas. I've stopped eating out on my own where I live now.
I've done a fair few number of mystery shops and always have had to keep it secret from the shop/restaurant/bookies etc. Giving a gift card for 'passing' is a new one on me. I always had to report back on the experience, answering detailed questions. It was not for me to decide it they 'passed' or not. I only ever had one terrible experience where I could not complete the assessment as the staff were so awful. I said nothing and reported back.
This person is a bully with a power complex who should not be a mystery shopper. You sign a NDA when you become a mystery shopper because that's what keeps the mystery in mystery shopper. How does the restaurant treat a normal person they don't know is special? You aren't supposed to attempt to sabotage the restaurant out of revenge. Instead you are supposed to tell the company what went wrong so they can fix it. In a she said/she said situation, the company will almost always believe the mystery shopper over the shop so your words will have impact. People get fired and lose bonuses if its bad enough. You aren't supposed to badmouth the company publicly. You hire mystery shoppers so nightmares like this don't hurt your brand.
I had a hostess insist on seating me, my partner, and my 3 under 12 y/o children in the bar. They had the lights out in the rest if the restaurant so we sat in the bar. The service was awful, there were loud, annoying people at the bar, and the food was not good. I complained to the night manager His mom owns the restaurant and is good friends with my mom. Has been their whole life. Staff got reamed. They can't turn lights out until they are closed either. My family and I got our next visit free. Oh, the owner called me to apologize as well since her son didn't handle the situation properly.
You were fortunate! The reason feedback like yours is seldom helpful is because it never gets back to the right people. Your night manager fixed the problem for you, but do you think he reported his own staff's bad performance to the district/regional mgmt and on up the chain of authority? That's what mystery shopping does. It ensures that no 'good-ol-boy system' protects a business from being exposed when they need improvement. Big point here too: We also commend a good experience, good management and give credit where due, and that's pure gold!
Load More Replies...
The word "Australian" in "Australian-themed" is probably the most Australian thing about Outback Steakhouse.
I stopped patronizing Outback years ago because of shítty service in multiple states.
Same here. I’ve never had good service at Outback.
Load More Replies...
BP writers do a damned fine job writing in English that even the errors are terrific because they’re often so funny! I love this one: “she focused on how badly she was mistreated.” It’ suggests she wanted to be mistreated well. 😀 I’m sure they’ll do a *much* better job mistreating her the next time they see her!
Lots of restaurants have this policy of singles go to the bar. At table your taking away spots for more customers and well as giving the waiter less tips.
If I'm getting crappy service in a restaurant (especially in the US) I sometimes pull out a notebook and start taking notes. It's astonishing how quickly the service can improve.
Adjacent restaurant issue for me: I should NOT have to give anyone my medical history to get the food or beverage that I order. Decaf and I *mean* decaf....then I have to warn them if they give me caffeine I have a heart condition and could have a medical emergency right in front of them. Fish Tacos please, hold the jalapenos -- that does *not* mean chop them up real fine and put them in anyway -- I have Acid Reflux (GERD), and if the chilis I very politely asked you not to give me cause a reflux episode, I'm gonna let it roll right back up and onto your floor.
Well this is terrible content. Giant tiktok face complaining for internet attention? Please don't post garbage like this.
I really wish there were more screenshots of her giant stupid face.
This isn't a real mystery shopper, this is a wannabe influencer making up the scenerio that she thinks will bring her internet fame.
My thoughts are that this woman should not be a mystery shopper---Mystery shopping contracts, that are signed by the person mystery shopping, state that the shopper is not allowed to discuss their experience with anyone except the consulting firm that hired her. I am not saying people should not be allowed to share their experiences; just not when they have been working as a mystery shopper.
Or at the very least, don't literally name/say the name of the restaurant. XD Though I do agree - seems a bit off that she couldn't WAIT to go on TikTok to talk about her job.
Load More Replies... Doesn't the 'mystery' part of 'mystery shopper' rely on people not knowing who the shopper is? If you are showing your face on the interwebs, doesn't this negate the 'mystery'?
Yes, and the mystery shoppers are usually contracted by the parent company to test their franchises for quality control, so bad mouthing the entire company online is probably not the way to keep your job.
Load More Replies... Long term mystery shopper here. There's no big reveal, or I'd never be able to shop that client again. Even if a city has multiple locations, staff sometimes rotate between stores and they talk. Also, there's no need for a "reveal" as my job isn't to humiliate workers or managers, it's to provide a distinct set of information to the corporate decision makers (and one server's performance is a small portion of that evaluation). They learn they've been shopped via their corporate office when I'm long gone. So you're not doing yourself or anyone a favor by pretending to be a shopper, because it'll be clear that you're lying and now they'll never want you as a return customer. As to this poster, she looks awfully young to have owned restaurants, etc. That just throws shade on all her other statements. But oh she's so right about seating short women.
Yeah, the reveal part sounded wrong to me. I've never seen a mystery shop job with a reveal and any reward would come from corporate. My guess is she had a bad experience at Outback and is lying about being a mystery shopper to get tiktok views.
Load More Replies... Try talking without starting every sentence with "So" and saying "I said" instead of "I was like", and it will be much easier to listen to.
After reading this comment, I re-read the post which I'd skimmed before because all the So's and Likes were definitely irritating. A person recounting a business event they have meticulously reported upon doesn't do that; they tend to habitually use professional language. That is one reason it's easier to spot a fake.
Load More Replies... So either you have to divulge super personal information (alcohol recovery or bodily symptoms, etc), or you’re stuck at the bar? Hmm the word discrimination comes to mind. This store deserves a major write up. The person whose bright idea this was should probably be fired or demoted.
Asinine. Just let the lady sit where she prefers. It's very easy to do. If you have a rotation, adjust it. Not hard.
I saw some comments on how a mystery shopper, would not reveal. It depends. I worked at a outlet mall,when I was a teen. And a mystery shoppers came in and revealed who she was at the end. Gave me a gold star pin;and told me to report to the mall office after work for a picture to be taken for the mall employees of the month.
Not sure of the protocols around mystery shopping but completely agree re seating. People eating alone are so often treated as second class customers and seated in uncomfortable, noisy or busy areas. I've stopped eating out on my own where I live now.
I've done a fair few number of mystery shops and always have had to keep it secret from the shop/restaurant/bookies etc. Giving a gift card for 'passing' is a new one on me. I always had to report back on the experience, answering detailed questions. It was not for me to decide it they 'passed' or not. I only ever had one terrible experience where I could not complete the assessment as the staff were so awful. I said nothing and reported back.
This person is a bully with a power complex who should not be a mystery shopper. You sign a NDA when you become a mystery shopper because that's what keeps the mystery in mystery shopper. How does the restaurant treat a normal person they don't know is special? You aren't supposed to attempt to sabotage the restaurant out of revenge. Instead you are supposed to tell the company what went wrong so they can fix it. In a she said/she said situation, the company will almost always believe the mystery shopper over the shop so your words will have impact. People get fired and lose bonuses if its bad enough. You aren't supposed to badmouth the company publicly. You hire mystery shoppers so nightmares like this don't hurt your brand.
I had a hostess insist on seating me, my partner, and my 3 under 12 y/o children in the bar. They had the lights out in the rest if the restaurant so we sat in the bar. The service was awful, there were loud, annoying people at the bar, and the food was not good. I complained to the night manager His mom owns the restaurant and is good friends with my mom. Has been their whole life. Staff got reamed. They can't turn lights out until they are closed either. My family and I got our next visit free. Oh, the owner called me to apologize as well since her son didn't handle the situation properly.
You were fortunate! The reason feedback like yours is seldom helpful is because it never gets back to the right people. Your night manager fixed the problem for you, but do you think he reported his own staff's bad performance to the district/regional mgmt and on up the chain of authority? That's what mystery shopping does. It ensures that no 'good-ol-boy system' protects a business from being exposed when they need improvement. Big point here too: We also commend a good experience, good management and give credit where due, and that's pure gold!
Load More Replies... The word "Australian" in "Australian-themed" is probably the most Australian thing about Outback Steakhouse.
I stopped patronizing Outback years ago because of shítty service in multiple states.
Same here. I’ve never had good service at Outback.
Load More Replies... BP writers do a damned fine job writing in English that even the errors are terrific because they’re often so funny! I love this one: “she focused on how badly she was mistreated.” It’ suggests she wanted to be mistreated well. 😀 I’m sure they’ll do a *much* better job mistreating her the next time they see her!
Lots of restaurants have this policy of singles go to the bar. At table your taking away spots for more customers and well as giving the waiter less tips.
If I'm getting crappy service in a restaurant (especially in the US) I sometimes pull out a notebook and start taking notes. It's astonishing how quickly the service can improve.
Adjacent restaurant issue for me: I should NOT have to give anyone my medical history to get the food or beverage that I order. Decaf and I *mean* decaf....then I have to warn them if they give me caffeine I have a heart condition and could have a medical emergency right in front of them. Fish Tacos please, hold the jalapenos -- that does *not* mean chop them up real fine and put them in anyway -- I have Acid Reflux (GERD), and if the chilis I very politely asked you not to give me cause a reflux episode, I'm gonna let it roll right back up and onto your floor.
Well this is terrible content. Giant tiktok face complaining for internet attention? Please don't post garbage like this.
I really wish there were more screenshots of her giant stupid face.
This isn't a real mystery shopper, this is a wannabe influencer making up the scenerio that she thinks will bring her internet fame.
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