There are certain things restaurant servers wish the everyday customer would know. These include how the kitchen works timing-wise and never to stack plates for them. There is an advanced course as well. TikTok user and restaurant employee Halle Merck took to the app to share her pointers.
She posted a cryptic video that advises not to order soup. This sparked a debate in the comment section. Halle added the text, “There’s no way you’ve worked in food service before if you still order soup at restaurants,” over video of her staring into the camera with the song "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2" by PinkPantheress and Ice Spice playing in the background.
Halle used the hashtag #serverlife, which has become a popular way for restaurant employees to vent their frustrations and share their dining-out hacks. Halle’s eight-second video is vague and implies she is a member of an inner circle who knows things like this. She does not spell out exactly why customers should not order soup or where she works.
Thankfully, the comment section does a deeper dive into the situation. Many explained that restaurants have a bad habit of reusing old soup, so it might not be as fresh as you think.
“They keep the same ones for up to weeks,” one user wrote. “I still order soups tho lol.”
“4 weeks at Panera taught me to nevvaaaa,” agreed another user.
There were some dissenting opinions in the comments. “I’ve worked in busy restaurants my entire career. I’ve never experienced this. They always run out of soup,” wrote one user, who was in the minority. The majority, however, agreed that soups could be questionable, so maybe think twice before you order one next time you are out.
To see Halle’s original warning TikTok, watch this video.
