A woman became addicted to the internet with horror stories from her life as a server.

Those in customer service jobs may claim to have seen and heard it all. Every day is certainly different when dealing with ordinary people, from the highly experienced to the extremely poor. And one woman built a network based on the highs and lows of her hospitality.

Sidney Akugun, 28, a former travel agent and food service worker, created an online video game that showed 298,500 people online, reenacting scenarios illustrating the difficult situations servers often face, such as minimum wage and no tips. Gathered followers.

Akgun, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, regularly goes viral on TikTok, where she posts under the name @poorandhungry and racks up millions of views.

“My goal with my content is for people to empathize and feel like they’re not alone when a customer is being unreasonable or cruel,” she said. newsweek.

Akgun’s Feb. 23 video, captioned “Yes, this actually happens all the time,” has been viewed 1.5 million times. The clip shows Akgun, who works at the front desk wearing a pink sweater, and customers who show up at the restaurant in the evening despite having reservations for the next morning.

Pretending to be a customer, she puts on her glasses and says, “It can’t be helped that it’s early.” As of this writing, the video has garnered her over 211,000 likes and numerous shocking comments.

One TikTok user said: “As someone who works in customer service, I believe you!!! The audacity of some people is truly speechless.”

“I can’t believe so many people don’t understand what reservations are!” another person commented.

In 2021, Akgun started sharing a series about the travel industry based on her experiences, and it didn’t take long for her videos to start gaining a lot of attention. After that, she went on to create hospitality-inspired videos, and the rest is history.

Akgun, who now works in technology sales, spends several minutes a day acting out scenes involving awkward customers.

“My content really gained mainstream popularity in 2023,” she said newsweek. “The restaurant video resonated with a much larger audience, both negative and positive.

“All of my videos and posts are based on authentic interactions that happened with me, my colleagues, or guest posts, and are described in the captions.”

The federal minimum wage in the United States is currently $7.25 an hour for the majority of workers. Employers can elect to directly pay employees who “customarily and regularly” receive tips of $30 or more per month to her $2.13 per hour. But only if the employee also receives tips totaling at least $5.12 per hour.

Ms. Akgun explained that her storytelling video aims to raise awareness about the treatment that healthcare workers have to endure. She also wants to encourage customers to think twice about tipping when eating out, as mentioned in this video that has been viewed 1.2 million times.

At the beginning of the video, she states that this scenario has happened many times before “in real life.” She asks her “her customer” (herself) what she wants to start with and requests a glass of her water before pointing out that she doesn’t tip. She said she would be happy to provide any service.

Akgun then pointed out that the tip was a service charge for sitting in the dining area and receiving service, so we needed to change our order to takeout.

The video, shared on Feb. 5, divided the internet, with some thinking tipping should be optional.

One TikTok user said, “This is the best explanation I’ve ever seen. I always say tips are like service charges.”

Another person commented, “If you’re going to tip as a service charge, I wouldn’t go there. You tip based on the service. Some service is good, some service is bad, and there are bad tipping periods.”

A third commenter said: “Seeing these videos reminded me why I left the server. Especially after reading these comments, I feel like they’re begging me for money.” It was miserable,” he said.

In November 2023, the Pew Research Center found that 21% of U.S. adults said tipping was more of a choice, 29% said tipping was a requirement, and 49% said it was a dependency.

“Tipping culture is just one part of what I create,” Akgun said. newsweek. “My goal is to share that tipping is not optional, but mandatory, and that if you do not agree to take your patronage to our establishment for free, please tip. .

“As former service workers, we don’t want economic reform to replace tipping culture; we want employers to provide health care and benefits.”

Some establishments calculate service fees, while others allow users to decide for themselves. But what is a reasonable tip?

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in November found that a 15 percent tip is widely considered the minimum acceptable tip for restaurant service, with 18 to 20 percent or more recommended. There are many.

Akgun said newsweek: “The best way for someone to learn tipping culture (because it sounds like being a basic human being and the ability to treat service workers with respect is out of the question) is at restaurants. or any job that relies on chips to fully understand the impact.

“Most consumers who struggle to understand the importance of tips don’t realize that service workers don’t earn the standard minimum wage and that tips aren’t ‘top of the line.’ . It turns out that logical thinking and education don’t resonate with these people. ”

Other videos include horror stories of underage drinking attempts, drunken patrons, and other servers. Although Akgun stopped entertaining her in 2020, her memories of that girlfriend still haunt her.

she said newsweek How she managed to stay calm when dealing with rude customers.

“Ultimately, ‘killing with kindness’ is more satisfying and has a better brand image. Being able to maintain an incredibly calm and somewhat disinterested tone can defuse an escalating situation ( (People realize right away if they sound crazy),” she said.

“Even if someone is very rude, I remind them that we are all on the same side and I am here to provide a good experience. If a customer escalates or engages in violent or disrespectful behavior, that is always acceptable.” We will ask you to either end the call or leave. ”

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