New York server clashes with a senior citizen after 25 of them come in, throw a half-eaten burger, and refuse to pay the full bill: ‘Don’t come back’
She should’ve yelled way sooner.
Patience is a virtue for all of us. But for restaurant servers, it’s often a professional requirement that gets pushed to the absolute breaking point. And you would expect to get your patience tested by Karens. But for bartender and server Jenna Lenna (@jennalnrd), it was a senior citizen.
Jenna has gone viral on TikTok after recounting a “senior citizen storytime” that has racked up nearly 10,000 views. In the video, she detailed a chaotic Tuesday morning at her job, that ended with a half-eaten burger flying across the dining room.
The senior citizen group arrived with a 25-check logistical headache
The trouble started before the group even stepped through the door. A woman called to book a reservation for 25 seniors but insisted that every single person be seated at separate tables. And they needed individual bills. Jenna warned the organizer that this would be a massive undertaking for the staff, and they will have to be patient.
The group then arrived ready for their lunch on Tuesday. Surprisingly, the whole ordeal happened because of a simple order of appetizers. As Jenna recounts it, one table ordered starters while others went straight for entrees. So, the appetizers table got their sandwiches roughly five minutes after the rest of the group. And that sent one senior woman on a frenzy.
Jenna was only helping the party’s main server clear plates and bring water, bread and sodas to the tables. But, the grumpy senior lady chose her to lash out on. “She stops me while I’m pouring them water and goes, ‘I want to speak to the manager right now,’” Jenna recalls.
The woman could not understand the basic kitchen mechanism
When the woman asked for a manager, Jenna politely told her that he’s not in. To this, she scoffed, “Oh, of course he’s not.” Despite Jenna’s best attempts to cater to her, the senior citizen was inconsolable. She claimed that she was being treated poorly because her food arrived later than her peers. To this, she again explained,
“Somebody’s going to be the last table to get their food last because there’s 25 people getting their food at the same time.”
But the lady had made up her mind. She began yelling at Jenna, saying that she will never visit again. She also called the service “awful,” and the staff “terrible people.” But Jenna handled it calmly and dipped out of the place before she loses her cool.
The senior citizen refused to pay the full amount for her food
A little while later, Jenna again took a round of everyone’s table to ask if everything was fine. “Everybody seems to be fine and happy except for her. And then she pulls me over again,” she recalls. The senior citizen then repeated her previous complaints again, and claimed, “I shouldn’t even have to pay for all of this food.”
But Jenna simply told her, “there’s really nothing I can do” and walked away. At this point, she knew that the lady just wanted a free meal. But her frustration soon escalated from verbal complaints to financial defiance when the checks arrived.
The woman, who had shared a cocktail, soda, an appetizer, and a burger, was outraged by her $138 table total. When it came time to settle up, she handed Jenna a stack of cash and remarked, “This is what you’re getting, and if you don’t like it, tough.”
Why did Jenna finally yell at her?
Jenna quickly discovered the lady was $20 short of the actual bill. When confronted, the customer didn’t back down. She instead launched into another tirade about terrible service and awful people. When Jenna told her that she can’t allow her to just walk out without paying the full bill, the woman lost it.
Jenna even told the woman that she doesn’t need to tip the servers. But, in a final, bizarre act of protest, the senior lady took her half-eaten burger out of its to-go container and threw it onto a neighboring table. She then shouted at Jenna, saying the restaurant could “take the burger back” as payment for the missing $20.
The interaction concluded with Jenna yelling at the senior citizen to never return to the restaurant. While the organizer of the group later apologized, she chalked it up to “how grumpy old people are.” But Jenna remained firm that age is not a valid excuse for abusive behavior.
“I understand that, but there’s no excuse for people to be rude like that,” Jenna told the group leader. Her words are a reminder that servers are people, not punching bags for a diner’s bad mood. And if you’re planning to dine with 24 people anytime soon, maybe consider a single check and keep your burger in its box.
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