Woman claims she was seated in ‘POC section’ of restaurant, sparking TikTok debate

A TikTok user with more than 17,000 followers has sparked a debate on the platform, after she claimed she was sat in the “POC section” of a restaurant.

The account, with the username @sadgirlmaggie, shared a video of her seated in the venue to the platform earlier this week, with text on the clip reading: “When you get seated in the POC section again. Iykyk [if you know, you know].”

“If you don’t know, sometimes restaurants seat people of colour in the back near the restrooms because we’re less likely to have a problem with it and it looks better for the restaurant from the outside.

“I do not tolerate this s*** and they need to be called out,” Maggie wrote in the caption.

Expanding upon the story in the comments, she added that she was not going to name the restaurant in question, and stressed she was “not saying this happens at all restaurants”.

“I’m sharing my personal experience and some more details: my friends (Indians and Argentinian) and I walked in when the restaurant was empty, and we were seated all the way in the back.

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“The restaurant filled up while we ate and it was pretty obvious… because it’s not only our table. Again this is subjective,” she added.

Commenters have since backed the content creator’s experience, remarking that they’ve seen it happen too.

“This does happen especially at ‘exclusive NYC spots’ or ‘certain trendy lounges’. They even tell hostesses to sit unattractive people in the back,” wrote one.

Another responded: “I’ve been in the industry for years and no one ever listens but this is very real. Especially nicer places.”

“I’ve noticed this. It’s not hard to spot especially when there are 2-3 POC parties and we’re all sitting together. I point it out everytime [sic] I see it,” said a third.

After some users cast doubt on the prominence of the issue, with one top comment reading “you’re reaching”, others criticised those questioning how prominent the matter was.

“Why are people so QUICK to excuse racism but are never speaking from experience,” said one account.

Another mocked people writing “this never happens” by accompanying their comment with two emojis of white men behind computers.

The video now has more than 410,000 views at the time of writing.

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