A TikTok creator says a lunch outing with a friend at Chili’s escalated after the friend repeatedly mistreated restaurant staff and later claimed to find spit in his burger.
The video, posted by @maxwellsvision, had surpassed 970,000 views and 5,600 comments at the time of writing. In it, Maxwell describes picking up his friend Mike during his lunch break and noticing that he was already in a bad mood. Mike reportedly slammed the car door after getting in, prompting Maxwell to tell him to get out and close it properly before they continued to Chili’s.
Mike said he was frustrated because he had repeatedly been covering for a coworker’s mistakes at his physically demanding job stacking boxes. Maxwell said he sympathized with him and suggested they get drinks at Chili’s before returning to work.
When they arrived, the restaurant was busy and the hostess quoted a 35-minute wait. According to Maxwell, Mike refused to consider another restaurant despite their limited lunch break and argued with the hostess, at one point threatening to contact HR.
@maxwellsvision I woulda spit in ur food too ♬ original sound – Maxwell
Maxwell said their server appeared to be new and had a stain on her shirt. She explained that the stain resulted from an earlier mishap and that she was only on her third day of work. Mike immediately criticized her appearance and initially requested a different server.
Maxwell said he stepped in to place their order and reassured the server, telling her not to worry about Mike’s comments. After leaving the table, she appeared upset and began crying, which Maxwell said he could hear from their seats.
He warned Mike to change his behavior, but Mike defended his actions. “The customer is always right. It’s people like you that get spit in their food,” Mike said. Maxwell disagreed.
After the food arrived, Mike took a bite of his burger and said it tasted unusual. Maxwell said Mike opened the burger and found what he described as spit inside. Mike then demanded a replacement from the server and again threatened to have her fired.
The server complied and returned with a new burger about 10 minutes later. Maxwell said Mike ate it without further incident before they returned to work. He later told Mike that he understood why the server may have retaliated after being treated that way on her third day.
Viewers discuss handling rude customers in food service
Comments on the TikTok included different perspectives on how food service workers handle difficult customers.
One commenter described their approach while working at Starbucks: “I worked at Starbucks, I’d give decaf if they were rude.”
Another commenter said they had started responding more directly to rude customers: “I’m gotten to the point where I’ll just be rude back tbh.”
A third commenter said they would delay service rather than tamper with a customer’s food: “No matter how rude a guest is. I will NEVER mess with their food. I will mess with their wait time.”
Another commenter thanked Maxwell for defending the server: “All I can say is, ‘Thank you.’ It’s people like you that make customer service worth while. We need more customers like you!”
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the claim that the food was tampered with, the server’s identity, the restaurant’s location or the employment details described in the video. The story is based on information shared by @maxwellsvision on TikTok.
