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Online commenters criticized a Texas Roadhouse restaurant for incentivizing its customers to "snitch" on their servers.
Posting in Reddit's "Antiwork" forum under the username u/X3N0D3ATH, an anonymous customer shared a photo of a note they purportedly found on their table promising free food to those who aren't offered toppings for certain menu items.
The post has garnered over 9,100 upvotes and hundreds of comments from frustrated Redditors, slamming the restaurant for creating a policy they say is bound to be abused.
In the photo, the note, which is embossed with the Texas Roadhouse logo, sits atop u/X3N0D3ATH's napkin. It reads: "If your server didn't suggest toppings for your steak and potatoes please inform a manager to receive a free appetizer for your next visit."
About an hour after posting the photo, u/X3N0D3ATH took to the comments section of his post to say that he was "p**sed."
In a statement to Newsweek, he added: "As a customer, my primary goal at a restaurant is to have a meal and enjoy myself, not do the job of managers. I do not patronize the establishment to make sure that your staff is pushing revenue drivers...Instead of rewarding customers to complain about the servers not doing their job, take the route of rewarding those who perform best."
Customer Feedback
According to Toast, a restaurant management and point of sale (POS) system, "restaurant owners should always be looking for feedback, even if what comes back isn't all positive." And while there are no "standard methods" for acquiring feedback, Toast said restaurant owners should avoid offering incentives for reviews.
"Be very careful about providing incentives for reviews. First, it's unethical. Second, reviews are subject to various Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines and regulations," Toast said. "Incentivized reviews are likely to violate the FTC's guidelines if they fail to disclose that the reviewer received a benefit of any kind in exchange for the review, or that the reviewer had a material connection with the company being reviewed that could influence the content of the review."
Redditors React
Though Texas Roadhouse wasn't asking its customers to write reviews, Redditors still slammed the restaurant for incentivizing its patrons to "snitch" on employees. Some also argued that the policy could be easily abused.
"The worst part is a person could just lie so they get free food. This will be 100 percent [be] a**holes reporting, what a moronic plan," u/Inklii wrote.
"Yeah, that is stupid. I would never snitch on my waitperson. Also if I get surveys I always fill them out with all 10s. F**k big business treating employees like that. They aren't going to get my help treating employees like trash," u/Rude_Dragonfruit154 said.
"Upselling is tacky. Asking customers to rat out your staff is trashy," u/No_Construction_7518 commented.
Redditor u/BillyBanDodger added: "F**k you Texas Roadhouse, I ain't no snitch."
Newsweek reached out to Texas Roadhouse for comment.
Other Viral 'Antiwork' Moments
As it turns out, the Texas Roadhouse location featured in u/X3N0D3ATH's post isn't the first restaurant to offer rewards in exchange for information about its employees. In April, a Southern restaurant went viral on Reddit for incentivizing its customers to take photos of employees using their phones at work.
"What we don't agree with is the effort to basically bribe the customer into ratting out the employee...Buy a security camera if it's that bad," one Redditor wrote at the time.
In other "Antiwork" news, a recruiter was criticized on Monday for asking a job candidate to show her around their bedroom during a Zoom interview, as was a manager who asked an employee to come in on their day off.
08/11/2022, 5:35 p.m. EST: This article has been updated to include a comment from u/X3N0D3ATH.
About the writer
Sara Santora is a Newsweek reporter based in Florida. Her focus is reporting on viral social media posts and trends. ... Read more