There’s only one thing that can make working in the service industry even more grueling: Holidays. For retail or service workers, holidays can make a customer-facing role even more taxing. Customers expect this, of course, but sometimes there are still hiccups that leave at least one–if not both–parties extremely unhappy.
In a viral TikTok, one Texas Roadhouse customer faced this challenge on Mother’s Day. Theresa (@everythingtheresa) shared her experience at the restaurant on one of the busiest days of the year. She says Texas Roadhouse “ruined” her Mother’s Day and breaks it down in a video that earned 2.4 million views as of writing.
A ‘ruined’ Mother’s Day
Theresa begins her clip by revealing she’s at the Anderson, South Carolina, Texas Roadhouse. “I wouldn’t come here, even if it wasn’t busy,” she says. “The people working were fine, until you get past the door.”
Theresa shares how there were several people in the lobby waiting to be seated. She claims she had a reservation, yet still had to wait about 20 minutes. During this time, Theresa indulged in some of the iconic complimentary peanuts the restaurant offers, but since she was not at a table, she let the shells drop to the floor.
“Texas Roadhouse, that’s what they’re known for, right?” Theresa says. When the server came to get her party, Theresa had “one little peanut” left, so she dropped it on the floor. According to her, a Texas Roadhouse worker who had “nothing to do” with her gave her a dirty once-over.
“What am I going to do? Put it in my pocket?” Theresa says. “This place is made for this.”
The employee proceeded to tell her, “There’s buckets at the table.”
This sets Theresa off.
“Excuse me? You see all of us just getting seated and you have the nerve to tell me where the buckets are?” Theresa then goes into an expletive-filled tirade against the worker, concluding with, “That’s what this place is for. How dare she?”
In a follow-up clip, Theresa addressed comments demanding that she make an apology. According to her, that’s “never going to happen,” and she points out how other patrons were also dumping the shells on the floor.
@everythingtheresa Ruined Mother’s Day TEXAS roadhouse Anderson, Sc #ruined #ruinedmothersday #nevereathereagain #fucktexasroadhouse #texasroadhouse #texasroadhousesucks #boycottrexasroadhouse #foryoupage #ihatetexasroadhouse #rant #karensoftiktok #yepimanewyorker #closeandersonroadhouse #assholeemployees ♬ original sound – everythingtheresa
Does Texas Roadhouse still allow peanuts on the floor?
As one might expect, Theresa’s rant against the steakhouse chain set a lot of TikTok viewers off. While most of them were customers, several claimed to be TXRH employees.
“Texas Roadhouse server here,” one user wrote. “We haven’t [dumped] peanut shells on the floor since Covid. Today was hard enough and there was no reason to get that upset over peanuts. WE ARE DOING OUR JOB.”
Another echoed, “Roadhouse has not allowed you to drop peanut shells on the floor in ages. There IS a fkn bucket for it. Also, you can get on a waitlist but you cannot place a reservation. Thank you so much for lying through your teeth repeatedly.”
Is this true? Well, the chain is indeed known for its tradition of dumping peanut shells on the floor. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Just as the commenter said, it appears to be the result of the pandemic.
“[COVID-19] brought renewed interest in food safety,” a Chowhound article from February states. “Other factors, such as the fact that peanut shells can be a slipping hazard (the brand has had to deal with multiple lawsuits over its slippery peanut shells), and a growing number of diners with peanut allergies, also likely factored into the shift away from some restaurants’ peanut-forward policies.”
Does Texas Roadhouse take reservations?
As for the other claim about reservations, it seems that the commenter was right again. According to the Tasting Table, TXRH doesn’t accept reservations but instead works with a waitlist.
“You can join the waitlist online, through the app, or by calling ahead and secure your spot without a long wait at the door,” the site states. “Once you’re on the list, you’ll get an estimate of when your table will be ready.”
The Mary Sue reached out to Theresa via Instagram message and Texas Roadhouse via email.
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