Being in a restaurant when it’s not busy can feel strange on its own, one of the only customers at a table so all eyes are on you, but what’s even stranger is being the only person there at all.
That’s what happened to one TikTok user who wanted some IHOP, but upon arriving found the place emptied out of all customers and employees.
The U.S. is in the middle of a labor shortage.
Day after day, there are new stories of fast-food restaurants, in particular, being abandoned by staff either en masse or one by one.
Another such story revealed itself as one TikTok user went to IHOP only to discover the place was completely empty.
User @dj20grand uploaded a video of the employee-less IHOP, a video that now has over 6 million views and 1 million likes.
He starts the video in the kitchen, with the text-to-speech voice reading out the caption, “The whole shift quit IHOP.”
The only other sound that can be heard are the fans and, after a moment of him walking around, the distant sound of a phone ringing.
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He’s shocked, starting to narrate the experience as he wanders through.
“I don’t know where the [expletive] everybody at,” he starts, “I’m just trying to make a god damn order.”
He pans around every corner he turns, showing how void the once-bustling kitchen is and the state it was left in, clearly mid-shift as there’s food left everywhere.
The sound of the phone ringing becomes louder as he approaches an office, which he decides to enter.
He picks up the phone, sounding just like an employee in his greeting. “Thank you for calling IHOP, my name is Kage, how you doing?”
After a pause, presumably the caller speaking, he explains that there’s actually no one there. “Nah, I don’t even work here. Uh, I’m right here walking in the back, looks like everyone walked the [expletive] out […].”
More silence, and if his response is anything to go by, the caller is just as shocked as he is about the situation.
“I’m dead […] serious, I don’t know where nobody at. I’m about to start grabbing bacon,” he says with a laugh. “You need to get […] up here so we can all get this bacon.”
Then, finally, someone appears. He says he’s a manager and ushers the intruder out of his office. As our host leaves, he encounters a few more waiting customers in the lobby, then heads out the door.
Outside of the inherent comedy of the video, many people used this to spark discussion about the labor shortage.
“This is gonna happen a lot more,” said one comment. “People are tired of being unappreciated.”
“Don’t blame them, […] restaurant workers are currently [so] understaffed and overworked and customers are coming back with the same demands,” read another.
So while this IHOP is already facing the music, only time will tell how wide this will spread.
With many others in the comments making predictions about more employee walkouts like this, businesses will need to come up with something to keep workers around, something that’s already long overdue.
You can watch the video for yourself to see just how eerie the kitchen is when it’s empty, but know that our cameraman uses quite a bit of adult language.
Let us know what you think in the comments!
