Recently, a restaurant manager took to social media to open up about an extremely stressful situation she encountered at work, which involved a rather rowdy group of church goers.
In a viral TikTok clip, TikToker Kellie – who goes by the username @ambryrae – shared her harrowing experience with what she dubbed the “Church Crowd,” shedding light on the challenges faced by restaurant staff when dealing with large, demanding groups.
The video describes her chaotic encounter with a group of 25 churchgoers on her busy Sunday shift.
Kellie shared that the Church Crowd arrived at the restaurant at 2 pm without a reservation, expecting immediate seating. Kellie informed them of a wait time of an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, given that the restaurant was already rather crowded.
The group initially agreed to the wait, but one of them repeatedly asked when they would be seated, prompting Kellie to reiterate the original wait time. “We had a 25-top walk in with no reservation on a Sunday. They had no reservation, and I told them it’s going to be a wait for about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes because it’s really busy,” she said.
Once the large area for the group was prepared, a member of the Church Crowd seemed unimpressed that they weren’t receiving a “private room,” with Kellie clarifying that the restaurant didn’t have private rooms and that options were pretty limited for a party of 25.
“Before they even got their food, the lady goes, ‘Well, how long is this going to take?’ and I’m like, ‘Ma’am, your servers can’t put your food in until you’re seated,’” Kellie recounted.
“When we brought out the salads and the bread, they’re switching seats. We have a 25-top, and they’re switching seats like it’s musical chairs,” she said. “The guy already wanted collard greens. We don’t serve collard greens at this restaurant, and we’re an Italian restaurant.”