A Hooters waitress has been hailed as a hero for calling out an allegedly creepy customer during her shift.
TikTok user Lydia P Warren claimed the man was taking pictures of the staff without asking and so decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.
Turning her camera on him, she announced that she would “make [him] feel uncomfortable too”, and proceeded to zoom in on where the alleged ogler was sitting.
“We’re all uncomfortable now,” she continued proudly, adding: “My flash [is] on.”
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Her video racked up more than 1.7 million likes and 330,000 comments in just five days, as fellow Ticktockers flocked to praise Warren for standing up for herself and her colleagues.
@lydiapwarren Now everyone feels weird #dobetter #hooters #publicshame
“This that dark feminine energy we all need,” one admirer commented.
“THANK YOU QUEEN,” wrote another.
“The boys got your back on this too,” a male user chimed in.
Meanwhile, others speculated hopefully that the stranger’s wife would come across the footage, and one user joked: “Not the flash he was hoping for.”
Other users shared their own experiences of confronting inappropriate behaviour, with one recollecting: “When I was a Twin Peaks manager I’d walk right up to the table and tell them to delete them and embarrass them in front of their friends.”
We can only hope that next time this guy finds himself surrounded by beautiful women, he keeps his phone in his pocket.
Unfortunately, it’s not just unwanted snaps that Hooters servers must routinely face.
Last year, one waitress spoke out about the kinds of comments she and her co-workers are subjected to on a daily basis.
Posting anonymously on the Insider website, she said some customers would ask: “Are you on the menu?” to which she and other waitresses would “fake-laugh to ease the tension.”
She said she would also be asked why she wasn’t smiling, with patrons constantly stopping her to ask: “Why aren’t you smiling? Just smile more. Aren’t you happy to be here?”
The woman also addressed other derogatory phrases directed towards her such as “Hooters is a strip club” and “Hooters girls are dumb.”
She explained that many staff members work at the restaurant to earn money while studying or doing other jobs.
“I have a master’s degree — this is my side job,” she added. “My manager from my first store was getting her nursing degree while she was a Hooters girl.”
All we can say is, it’s been five years since #MeToo, guys. Isn’t it time to stop viewing women as piece of meat?
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