Waitress Reveals The Generational Differences Between Boomers And Gen-Zers When It Comes To Leaving Their Tables
Many waiters have low wages and face tiring work hours, having to deal with countless types of people, and this can be quite tedious or outright irritating. Waitress Kaitlyn Brande, 18, recorded a video for TikTok, which showed the difference between customers from two different generations.
More info: Instagram | tiktok.com
Image credits: Kate Brande
Kaitlyn served two tables. The first table was five people representing a generation of so-called “Baby boomers” born between 1940 and 1959 (sometimes between 1946 and 1964). According to Kaitlyn, they left behind scraps of food and a lot of mess. These people presumably were guided by the thought, “Waiters are paid for it.”
Image credits: Kate Brande
And on the second table, she served six people born in the early 2000s. Kaitlyn believes that these guys understand how difficult it is to work in public food places, so they were presumably guided by the thought, “We know it is challenging to work here, so let’s help it. “
@katebrande“They get paid to do that” VS “we know restaurant life is hard, here, let us help you out”♬ original sound – katebrande
Image credits: Kate Brande
A transcript from the video: “Ok, here’s all I’m saying: Here’s a table of five boomers that I took some plates out of the way already. Ok? And then this is the table of six gen-zs. They did that. Just sayin’.”
Image credits: katebrande
Kaitlynn told Bored Panda that she recorded this video because it seemed ironic that older people always demanded respect for themselves.
“Well, that night, the restaurant was bustling. We were always understaffed when I worked there. We didn’t have a host, a busser, and a dishwasher only sometimes. Those younger people noticed it was a rough night, and helped me out. I posted it because I thought it was ironic. I hear older generations claiming that today’s young people are “entitled,” “disrespectful,” and “selfish.” When in my experience, often, older people can be like that too. I didn’t hate on anyone; the irony just made me laugh”,-she said.
Image credits: katebrande
Image credits: Kate Brande
In the comments, users divided into two camps, some think the waitress must do the job without complaining, others believe that the girl didn’t expect people to do her job, she was just glad somebody helped her out, when others, surprisingly, didn’t.
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
Image credits: Kate Brande
It often said that one should keep the talks about politics and religion away from the table. This time the discussions of generational politics center around the diner table itself. What are your thoughts about it, Pandas?
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Sorry, but that's just your clientele, not specific to any generation. I have a friend that is in her 60's and she and her husband always left the table a mess, but tipped very very well. My husband and I, in our late forties, always stacked our dishes and cleaned our tables for the waitresses because we figured it was the least we could do given the small tip we were able to afford. And..there are people that don't stack their dishes because they've been told by service personnel not to..it may make it more time consuming for them to separate trash and compostables from dishes. Oh..and BTW...I learned my manners of cleaning tables from my parents..both Baby Boomers.
Yes, let's not generalize from a sample size of 1, please.
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I'm getting really sick of this new categorisation of people. You'll get the full range of attitudes in people born in every year. Using one example does not prove your point. For the sake of knowledge, none of those categories can factually exist.
Wow. We're 54 and 58 and always stack, tidy, wipe to help our servers. And we tip 20%!
Me too!! I totally expected this to be the opposite.
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I am 54. I don't leave a mess on my table. I clean all the food onto one plate - put all the silverware onto another plate - and put the other plates/bowls/cups together. So please stop with the "all boomers" c**p. I hate that about as much as I hate "all blacks / whites" "all women / men" "all straight / gay" stereotyping. I mean f**k off with it already. Stop being "all human scum".
I worked in a restaurant kitchen for a couple of summers, and the servers always complained when customers stacked the dishes. The servers know how to stack properly, customers do not. Besides the "Boomers" table does not look messy, just normal.
It's certainly not normal in New Zealand to stack your plates. But then our minimum wage is 50% higher than in the US. I wouldn't stack the plates, unless we're running out of room on the table, in case I made it harder for them to take it/stack it the way they wanted.
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And yet, I've read another post a few years ago, maybe on BP, about the "thing waiters don't want you to do" and it was to pile and arrange the dishes for them because they prefer you don't touch and let them do it their way. So which is it?
Boomer here. I used to tidy up the table and stack dishes until I was asked at several establishments by my waitresses NOT to do that. Now I just over-tip.
Etiquette we boomers were taught was to put silverware on plates to show you're done. Never stack plates. Wait staff was supposed to clear as diners finished meal, then bring cheque. She complained they left food? They ate what they liked or were comfortable eating. Were they supposed to put leftovers in their pockets? In their cheeks like squirrels?? She left them sitting with their dishes, then uses it to show how cute she is?
I don't agree with this at all. Maybe one table had worked in the business, and the other table had not. I really didn't think it was that big of a mess. And you did get paid to clean it up. Quit generalization people based on the decade they are born in. This was stupid.
Yes, complain if they leave spills on the floor and chairs, but otherwise it's fine to leave scraps of food on your plate, surely.
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I am a generation y and I have boomer parents and we do our best to make things easier for the wait staff. I work in a pizza buffet place and there have been times when people from all generations stack their plates neatly and other times when they don't. This generation war is getting out of control. I don't understand this endless discussion about this generation does this and this generation does that. It's like people want the generations to never get along.
Class warfare, baby. It's how politicians and pundits make a living.
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Two anecdotes do not a random study make. What she says may be true, but she has provided no solid evidence for it. Also, labeling people as groups and then attributing the same negative aspects to every member of the group is rude and dumb. That sort of thinking is at the root of racism, sexism, and a whole bunch of other nasty -isms. Please cut it out and think of people as the individuals they are.
Careful. You're going to make people change their opinions if you give them information like that. Well, probably definitely not.
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It's horrible how much ageism there is and how it is spread thru hateful electric propaganda rags like boredpanda.
I worked in a hotel restautrant for almost 18 years (3 years of apprenticeship, 8 years as waitress and 7 years as restaurant manager and there is one thing I always told my guests, please do not stack your plates, it takes much more time to sort though the mess than when we stack them. There is a technique that everyone in the industry learns, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7eGgSQwcI
I have worked both sides as a boomer. I always stacked our plates when done. Until a girl in her 20's told us not to do that.it made it hard to bus the table. Afterwards I asked some other people and they said the same. Therefore the writer and girl are trying to keep the boomers and gen z bickering. Low blow on both for keeping it going.
It's not a generation thing, people. All those generation categories are non-sense. My parents taught me to clean after my mess, and my in-laws taught the same to my bf. 2 different generations (parents-children) were taught the same. It is not about generations, is about how you were risen
um, this street goes both ways, Y'all...I'm a boomer and have always stacked plates and cutlery, etc, and my millennials do the same...
Regarding how much food is left (wasted). I think it is pretty well agreed that many restaurant portions are quite large. Perhaps the customers needed to share (split) their meals, or ask for takeout boxes. Or maybe the food wasn't tasty and they didn't want to eat it all? Many older people are not able to eat the same quantities that younger folks eat. I usually am happy to see a senior menu, or be able to order "lunch sized" portions.
Our boomer parents, and us (gen x), always pile the plates ready for collection.
I never heard of all this antagonism between generations until I looked at social media. Never experienced it in RL. I'm a boomer who was brought up to leave your silverware on your plate in a certain fashion when you've finished a meal in a formal setting. But when I'm in, for example, a pizza shop, I always clean the table and wipe it, plus throw away any remaining garbage. And I've also heard that waiters in many restaurants don't want you to stack the plates. What I want to know is, if one group of people cleans up the table but doesn't leave a tip but another group leaves the dishes as they lie and give a 20-25% tip, which group will irritate the person who started this thread dislike more?
Here's the real question: Why are there so many dirty plates left on the table at the end of a dining experience? Clearly SOMEONE (i.e. waitress AND bus person) wasn't doing their job. The Boomers knew it the Zers too young to understand. Hope the tips reflected the lousy service.
Also, SHAME ON YOU for posting such a divisive item in this time of global crisis.
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Look, I have no idea what gen I am, there are some that say an 82 baby is a Millennial some say an x no clue but all I know is, you scrape all the leftovers in one plate, stack up the rest, wipe the table and seats down, make sure no c**p is in the floor and you leave a dang tip. My server isnt responsible for my kids mess. That's MY job as a mother.
You aren't any of them, neither is anyone else.
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We have been told for years NOT to stack plates or cups. It makes more work for them! Which way do you want it?
To all the people that are saying it isn't a generational thing, you are absolutely correct! Just as being lazy and entitled isn't a generational thing. I keep seeing this fight between the two generations all the time. These behaviors have nothing to do with when you were born.
Generation labels defining individuals' behavior is not based on scientific data. Bad ideas continue to spread like wildfire. Individuals within generations are unique people, unrelated to birth years. https://slate.com/technology/2018/04/the-evidence-behind-generations-is-lacking.html
Nonsense. Just a way to show her face, pin-up girl. She has a job, just stick to it. All this is stupid.
This is b******t! I'm 57, I and my husband have worked food service and we ALWAYS leave our table pretty much bussed when we leave. Even if we hadn't worked in the industry, we'd do because it's called MANNERS!! Most of the Gen Z and Millennials I've seen out when we're eating out, leave a mess everywhere. Just STOP generalizing everyone into little cubby holes.
As a Gen-Xer I love these Boomer Vs Millenial posts. I'm just going to sit back and watch the fun.
Cherry picked photos that just happened to include a couple of irrelevant shots of the server. Pointless instigation.
Technically, the waitress is supposed to clean away the plates after each course, or when they are empty. By the end of the night, if you've had coffee and dessert, that would be all that's left. However, sometimes you are slammed, and I always try and clean up our stuff.
Judging entire generations or ethnic groups on just one photo is the cancer created by social media. One white dude rolling coal is enough to make all white people environmental terrorists. One hispanic stealing a car is enough to portray all hispanics as thieving, raping murdering people. There are jerks in all generations and age nor gender nor race doesn't have a part in it nor doesn't define the age group, the gender group nor the racial group. But social media made it that way, and some people are using it to divide people and incite violance and hate.
You're right about most of it, but that stereotype about Hispanics is actually true. Just sayin.
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Just not true. Maybe where you live and work. The rest of us boomers were not raised this way. Heck, I practically wash the dishes and clean the tables too. So, this is way too broad a comparison!
Why does everyone get mad when someone states their opinion. You have one too everyone's opinion matters. If it's something inappropriate I get it, or something rude and insulting. But don't get mad when someone states their opinion.
An opinion is different than trying to stir up controversy between generations so that you can get a post to go viral. An opinion would be like, "in my opinion, that restaurant should have busboys helping keep up with the dining room," not, "God, Boomers are so lazy!"
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I am 58 years old, a baby boomer, and I organize our table before leaving, hold doors open for others, give my seat up for any lady (senior, expecting, otherwise). I still say thank you, please, yes ma'am/sir, etc. I have also seen a lot of rude younger folks as well. So I am not sure why it it has gotten so trendy to slam baby boomers.
As an adult I thought I decided on my own to stack dishes and sort trash separately before leaving a table, but my mom informed me that my grandma taught me how to when I was little. I am quite embarrassed how long it took me to implement. Although I didn’t like leaving anything behind in movie theaters starting around middle school, felt bad for the workers having to clean it all up. I also like to ask severs if how I sort makes it harder, some like utensils in an empty cup, others don’t. (I do not like thinking I’ve been helpful when I’ve actually made it worse!)
It's not just a 'worked in food service before' thing, I think it's just a 'I think about others' thing? I'm 14, so I've never worked, but I've always left my table very tidy, it's just a habit.
Carol Emory is right and the characterisation is as patently unfair as any depicting millennials and gen x as clueless and without goals. Let's stop the acrimony.
My wife and I are 70. Some of our children were waiters. We often and stack and clear. This is probably an attractive, intelligent young woman. She turned what was a difference between two groups of people into disparaging a group of people. I hope she reads this. And I hope she gets poked when she is 70 years old. Just sayin'
Boomer here, I have never, ever left a table that messed up for anyone, let alone a hardworking server. And I say please, thank you, no hurry, how are you? and tip, damnit!
Boomer here (younger end, 1963)... I was surprised to see it was the boomers who left the mess. Whenever we go to the local diners (IHOP, Dennys, Shari's, etc), the messiest tables are left by young people. We ALWAYS gather up our plates and trash and put it at the end of the table so they just have to grab it, wipe down the table and go. Last year, though, I read an article about stuff your waitperson wishes you knew written by a group of waitstaff and they said they don't want people to stack up the dishes and trash because it made it harder for them to sort in the back. So you never know who wants you to do what. I prefer to leave my mess less messy.
Sometimes I think the Boomers actually leave the table less of a mess
Honestly, it depends on the waiter or waitress, Typically its not tipping I believe in, it's over tipping [my blue heaven]. I cant stand leaving a mess behind and try to leeave the table as clean as possible, but hey if your a jack off, even if its just because you are having a bad day, well then f**k you Im here to make it worse
This comment section is just boomers trying to say "I would have thought it was the other way round, as I myself am incredibly neat! Also my significant experience states that maybe the plates shouldn't be stacked." Listen to yourselves! She wouldn't have made this if it wasn't a trend that she has experienced.
Sorry, but that's just your clientele, not specific to any generation. I have a friend that is in her 60's and she and her husband always left the table a mess, but tipped very very well. My husband and I, in our late forties, always stacked our dishes and cleaned our tables for the waitresses because we figured it was the least we could do given the small tip we were able to afford. And..there are people that don't stack their dishes because they've been told by service personnel not to..it may make it more time consuming for them to separate trash and compostables from dishes. Oh..and BTW...I learned my manners of cleaning tables from my parents..both Baby Boomers.
Yes, let's not generalize from a sample size of 1, please.
Load More Replies... I'm getting really sick of this new categorisation of people. You'll get the full range of attitudes in people born in every year. Using one example does not prove your point. For the sake of knowledge, none of those categories can factually exist.
Wow. We're 54 and 58 and always stack, tidy, wipe to help our servers. And we tip 20%!
Me too!! I totally expected this to be the opposite.
Load More Replies... I am 54. I don't leave a mess on my table. I clean all the food onto one plate - put all the silverware onto another plate - and put the other plates/bowls/cups together. So please stop with the "all boomers" c**p. I hate that about as much as I hate "all blacks / whites" "all women / men" "all straight / gay" stereotyping. I mean f**k off with it already. Stop being "all human scum".
I worked in a restaurant kitchen for a couple of summers, and the servers always complained when customers stacked the dishes. The servers know how to stack properly, customers do not. Besides the "Boomers" table does not look messy, just normal.
It's certainly not normal in New Zealand to stack your plates. But then our minimum wage is 50% higher than in the US. I wouldn't stack the plates, unless we're running out of room on the table, in case I made it harder for them to take it/stack it the way they wanted.
Load More Replies... And yet, I've read another post a few years ago, maybe on BP, about the "thing waiters don't want you to do" and it was to pile and arrange the dishes for them because they prefer you don't touch and let them do it their way. So which is it?
Boomer here. I used to tidy up the table and stack dishes until I was asked at several establishments by my waitresses NOT to do that. Now I just over-tip.
Etiquette we boomers were taught was to put silverware on plates to show you're done. Never stack plates. Wait staff was supposed to clear as diners finished meal, then bring cheque. She complained they left food? They ate what they liked or were comfortable eating. Were they supposed to put leftovers in their pockets? In their cheeks like squirrels?? She left them sitting with their dishes, then uses it to show how cute she is?
I don't agree with this at all. Maybe one table had worked in the business, and the other table had not. I really didn't think it was that big of a mess. And you did get paid to clean it up. Quit generalization people based on the decade they are born in. This was stupid.
Yes, complain if they leave spills on the floor and chairs, but otherwise it's fine to leave scraps of food on your plate, surely.
Load More Replies... I am a generation y and I have boomer parents and we do our best to make things easier for the wait staff. I work in a pizza buffet place and there have been times when people from all generations stack their plates neatly and other times when they don't. This generation war is getting out of control. I don't understand this endless discussion about this generation does this and this generation does that. It's like people want the generations to never get along.
Class warfare, baby. It's how politicians and pundits make a living.
Load More Replies... Two anecdotes do not a random study make. What she says may be true, but she has provided no solid evidence for it. Also, labeling people as groups and then attributing the same negative aspects to every member of the group is rude and dumb. That sort of thinking is at the root of racism, sexism, and a whole bunch of other nasty -isms. Please cut it out and think of people as the individuals they are.
Careful. You're going to make people change their opinions if you give them information like that. Well, probably definitely not.
Load More Replies... It's horrible how much ageism there is and how it is spread thru hateful electric propaganda rags like boredpanda.
I worked in a hotel restautrant for almost 18 years (3 years of apprenticeship, 8 years as waitress and 7 years as restaurant manager and there is one thing I always told my guests, please do not stack your plates, it takes much more time to sort though the mess than when we stack them. There is a technique that everyone in the industry learns, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7eGgSQwcI
I have worked both sides as a boomer. I always stacked our plates when done. Until a girl in her 20's told us not to do that.it made it hard to bus the table. Afterwards I asked some other people and they said the same. Therefore the writer and girl are trying to keep the boomers and gen z bickering. Low blow on both for keeping it going.
It's not a generation thing, people. All those generation categories are non-sense. My parents taught me to clean after my mess, and my in-laws taught the same to my bf. 2 different generations (parents-children) were taught the same. It is not about generations, is about how you were risen
um, this street goes both ways, Y'all...I'm a boomer and have always stacked plates and cutlery, etc, and my millennials do the same...
Regarding how much food is left (wasted). I think it is pretty well agreed that many restaurant portions are quite large. Perhaps the customers needed to share (split) their meals, or ask for takeout boxes. Or maybe the food wasn't tasty and they didn't want to eat it all? Many older people are not able to eat the same quantities that younger folks eat. I usually am happy to see a senior menu, or be able to order "lunch sized" portions.
Our boomer parents, and us (gen x), always pile the plates ready for collection.
I never heard of all this antagonism between generations until I looked at social media. Never experienced it in RL. I'm a boomer who was brought up to leave your silverware on your plate in a certain fashion when you've finished a meal in a formal setting. But when I'm in, for example, a pizza shop, I always clean the table and wipe it, plus throw away any remaining garbage. And I've also heard that waiters in many restaurants don't want you to stack the plates. What I want to know is, if one group of people cleans up the table but doesn't leave a tip but another group leaves the dishes as they lie and give a 20-25% tip, which group will irritate the person who started this thread dislike more?
Here's the real question: Why are there so many dirty plates left on the table at the end of a dining experience? Clearly SOMEONE (i.e. waitress AND bus person) wasn't doing their job. The Boomers knew it the Zers too young to understand. Hope the tips reflected the lousy service.
Also, SHAME ON YOU for posting such a divisive item in this time of global crisis.
Load More Replies... Look, I have no idea what gen I am, there are some that say an 82 baby is a Millennial some say an x no clue but all I know is, you scrape all the leftovers in one plate, stack up the rest, wipe the table and seats down, make sure no c**p is in the floor and you leave a dang tip. My server isnt responsible for my kids mess. That's MY job as a mother.
You aren't any of them, neither is anyone else.
Load More Replies... We have been told for years NOT to stack plates or cups. It makes more work for them! Which way do you want it?
To all the people that are saying it isn't a generational thing, you are absolutely correct! Just as being lazy and entitled isn't a generational thing. I keep seeing this fight between the two generations all the time. These behaviors have nothing to do with when you were born.
Generation labels defining individuals' behavior is not based on scientific data. Bad ideas continue to spread like wildfire. Individuals within generations are unique people, unrelated to birth years. https://slate.com/technology/2018/04/the-evidence-behind-generations-is-lacking.html
Nonsense. Just a way to show her face, pin-up girl. She has a job, just stick to it. All this is stupid.
This is b******t! I'm 57, I and my husband have worked food service and we ALWAYS leave our table pretty much bussed when we leave. Even if we hadn't worked in the industry, we'd do because it's called MANNERS!! Most of the Gen Z and Millennials I've seen out when we're eating out, leave a mess everywhere. Just STOP generalizing everyone into little cubby holes.
As a Gen-Xer I love these Boomer Vs Millenial posts. I'm just going to sit back and watch the fun.
Cherry picked photos that just happened to include a couple of irrelevant shots of the server. Pointless instigation.
Technically, the waitress is supposed to clean away the plates after each course, or when they are empty. By the end of the night, if you've had coffee and dessert, that would be all that's left. However, sometimes you are slammed, and I always try and clean up our stuff.
Judging entire generations or ethnic groups on just one photo is the cancer created by social media. One white dude rolling coal is enough to make all white people environmental terrorists. One hispanic stealing a car is enough to portray all hispanics as thieving, raping murdering people. There are jerks in all generations and age nor gender nor race doesn't have a part in it nor doesn't define the age group, the gender group nor the racial group. But social media made it that way, and some people are using it to divide people and incite violance and hate.
You're right about most of it, but that stereotype about Hispanics is actually true. Just sayin.
Load More Replies... Just not true. Maybe where you live and work. The rest of us boomers were not raised this way. Heck, I practically wash the dishes and clean the tables too. So, this is way too broad a comparison!
Why does everyone get mad when someone states their opinion. You have one too everyone's opinion matters. If it's something inappropriate I get it, or something rude and insulting. But don't get mad when someone states their opinion.
An opinion is different than trying to stir up controversy between generations so that you can get a post to go viral. An opinion would be like, "in my opinion, that restaurant should have busboys helping keep up with the dining room," not, "God, Boomers are so lazy!"
Load More Replies... I am 58 years old, a baby boomer, and I organize our table before leaving, hold doors open for others, give my seat up for any lady (senior, expecting, otherwise). I still say thank you, please, yes ma'am/sir, etc. I have also seen a lot of rude younger folks as well. So I am not sure why it it has gotten so trendy to slam baby boomers.
As an adult I thought I decided on my own to stack dishes and sort trash separately before leaving a table, but my mom informed me that my grandma taught me how to when I was little. I am quite embarrassed how long it took me to implement. Although I didn’t like leaving anything behind in movie theaters starting around middle school, felt bad for the workers having to clean it all up. I also like to ask severs if how I sort makes it harder, some like utensils in an empty cup, others don’t. (I do not like thinking I’ve been helpful when I’ve actually made it worse!)
It's not just a 'worked in food service before' thing, I think it's just a 'I think about others' thing? I'm 14, so I've never worked, but I've always left my table very tidy, it's just a habit.
Carol Emory is right and the characterisation is as patently unfair as any depicting millennials and gen x as clueless and without goals. Let's stop the acrimony.
My wife and I are 70. Some of our children were waiters. We often and stack and clear. This is probably an attractive, intelligent young woman. She turned what was a difference between two groups of people into disparaging a group of people. I hope she reads this. And I hope she gets poked when she is 70 years old. Just sayin'
Boomer here, I have never, ever left a table that messed up for anyone, let alone a hardworking server. And I say please, thank you, no hurry, how are you? and tip, damnit!
Boomer here (younger end, 1963)... I was surprised to see it was the boomers who left the mess. Whenever we go to the local diners (IHOP, Dennys, Shari's, etc), the messiest tables are left by young people. We ALWAYS gather up our plates and trash and put it at the end of the table so they just have to grab it, wipe down the table and go. Last year, though, I read an article about stuff your waitperson wishes you knew written by a group of waitstaff and they said they don't want people to stack up the dishes and trash because it made it harder for them to sort in the back. So you never know who wants you to do what. I prefer to leave my mess less messy.
Sometimes I think the Boomers actually leave the table less of a mess
Honestly, it depends on the waiter or waitress, Typically its not tipping I believe in, it's over tipping [my blue heaven]. I cant stand leaving a mess behind and try to leeave the table as clean as possible, but hey if your a jack off, even if its just because you are having a bad day, well then f**k you Im here to make it worse
This comment section is just boomers trying to say "I would have thought it was the other way round, as I myself am incredibly neat! Also my significant experience states that maybe the plates shouldn't be stacked." Listen to yourselves! She wouldn't have made this if it wasn't a trend that she has experienced.
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