Viral TikTok shows how baby boomers leave restaurant table compared to Gen Z

Restaurant server says it's 'ironic since older people always expect respect' 

Chelsea Ritschel
New York
Wednesday 25 March 2020 12:57 EDT
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Viral TikTok compares how cleanliness at restaurant varies by generation (TikTok)
Viral TikTok compares how cleanliness at restaurant varies by generation (TikTok)

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A waitress has filmed a viral TikTok video showing the difference between the way Gen Z customers leave their table compared to a table of baby boomers.

In the comparison clip, which was taken by 18-year-old Kaitlyn Brande when she worked as a restaurant server, she begins by showing what a table of five “boomers” looked like after they’d left.

“Okay, here’s all I’m saying. This is a table of five boomers that I took some plates out of the way already,” Brande says as she shows a messy table covered with utensils, napkins and plates.

Brande then turns the camera towards a table where six Gen Z customers were sitting, showing all of the plates stacked up and the surface cleaned.

“They did that,” Brande says. “Just saying.”

@katebrande

“They get paid to do that” VS “we know restaurant life is hard, here, let us help you out”

♬ original sound - katebrande

The clip, which was first spotted by BuzzFeed, has since been liked more than 995,000 times on TikTok, with some responding that they are unsurprised by the difference.

“Yeah, there’s absolutely no freaking surprise there,” one person tweeted in response to the viral video.

However, others have defended the baby boomer generation, explaining that they’ve spent “decades cleaning up” or likely left a better tip.

“In all fairness, the boomers have probably spent decades cleaning up after kids and grand kids and earned the right to leave a messy table at a restaurant, where someone’s being paid to clean up,” one person wrote.

Another said: “Who left the better tip? The only reason you stack your plates is because you’re a cheap tipper and making up for it.”

As for what Brande thinks, the server told BuzzFeed that she posted the video because she thought it was “ironic”.

“I posted it because I thought it was ironic since older people always expect respect,” she said.

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