“The Customer Is Not Always Right” — Restaurant Documents Awful Treatment From Diners, Manager Praised

A restaurant manager is receiving a flood of sympathetic responses from numerous TikTokers who were shocked at the way diners reacted towards him despite his enthusiasm and going out of his way to alleviate their gripes.

The social media account for Taverna Opa Orlando ( @tavernaopaorl ) uploads content that shows the establishment's manager dealing with patrons, including one guest who was caught lying about the amount of time they had to wait to receive service, and another woman who, later in the clip, had a dispute about splitting appetizers.

TikTok users who watched the video couldn't believe the diners' attitudes towards the restaurant manager, despite the fact he was being professional, polite, and going out of his way to ensure that folks were trying to have a good time at his place.

"Anybody needs anything?" the food service worker can be seen saying as they walk around the restaurant talking to customers. Someone can be heard chiming in off camera, "Hour and a half. Hour and a half," they say to the restaurant employee, who extends his hand for the customer to shake.

"No, no, no, no," the customer says to the employee as they bluntly refuse to shake their hand.

"Really?" the manager asks the client.

"Yeah."

"Oh," he says, taken aback. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I apologize," he tells the irate diner.

He runs a plate back to the kitchen, narrating into the camera, "We got our first complaint, but of course the customer's saying an hour and a half. I mean I see it, 12:52 and 1:24, exactly, half an hour," the manager states, remarking that the diner was lying about the amount of time they spent waiting in the restaurant for their food.

But despite the fact that the patron was over-exaggerating about the amount of time it took for his table to receive their order, the manager does state that ultimately "the customer is always right" and "it is what it is."

In another portion of the clip, he can be seen carrying food over to a table.

"At least he had a big smile on him and I didn't know was he joking at the beginning or what," he says. He then talks to the server who was handling this particular customer's order. "It took you a while to punch in the main courses? Like you forgot?" he asks the employee.

"No I didn't forget. They ordered late," she tells the manager before the clip cuts to him walking through the restaurant again.

He talks to the customer: "I'm gonna bring you a belly dancer I'm gonna bring you a shot and I'm gonna put you up on the table."

Back in the kitchen, he speaks to the issue: "They don't seem that mad but still I wanna do something for them."

A different customer stops him outside on the dining floor: "I wanted to split up the appetizers if we could," she tells him.

"I wanna give you a dessert on the house," he says.

"I think we're all ready to leave unfortunately," she tells him, he drops his shoulders as she continues, "I don't know if appetizers is an option?"

"I can do that for you," he says before he cuts to him talking to the same server he was speaking to earlier. "They wanna have individual main courses," he tells the employee.

"Are you joking?" she says before the video cuts to him standing at what looks like an ordering POS station.

"That is a big discount," he says, speaking to the bill of the woman who spoke with him regarding appetizers. He talks to the server: "You know what I'm gonna do, so he can give you at least a tip, show her that, tell her this appetizer is on the house and this is on her."

The server then speaks to the camera, stating that she gave the woman two checks that were $161, and she still ended up without a tip for her work.

Several TikTokers who saw the clip expressed their dissatisfaction with the way customers treated staff, and they weren't so keen on the restaurant manager's philosophy when it came to pleasing diners.

"Customer is not always right," one person penned.

Another remarked, "Not tipping is crazy."

Someone else was shocked that the customer still outright refused to tip a server despite the fact that her boss went out of his way to ensure that she was having her issue addressed.

"No tipping after they went above + beyond to make it right IS WILDDDD," the other user on the app wrote.

Another person said they would've gone out of their way to show the customer that they were lying about the amount of time they were asked to sit at their table for service: "I would’ve showed them that 30-minute ticket so fast."

Someone else thought it was grimy for the customer to not shake the restaurant manager's hand and was very disrespectful: "You can complain but not shaking the hand is low."