TikTok showing contrast in restaurant etiquette between old and young people sparks debate

Do you stack and tidy your plates after you’ve finished dining at a restaurant?

Well, your answer to this question may just give away what generation you belong to according to a viral TikTok.

TikToker Sally Loeza (@sallymander_) shared footage from a restaurant she had been to and showed two tables where there were empty plates remaining - except the was one big difference between them.

On the left table, where a young group of people had just been, the plates were stacked neatly and moved to the edge of the table for the server’s convenience.

The same cannot be said, however for the table on the right which the camera then pans to were some older customer had been dining. Instead, this table looked messy and disorderly as the plates were left out where they had been originally served on the table, with napkins all over the place too.

Loeza clearly felt that this video indicated a generational difference between how restaurant workers are treated by customers, as she wrote for the video caption: “Younger generation vs older generation.”

Later on, Loeza confirmed via a comment that she had been one of the people dining at the table on the left and made her feelings very clear: “I’m not the waitress... I was the customer to the left. Even though it’s not ‘our job’ it takes 5 seconds to pick up after yourself and requires 0 effort.”

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Since posting her comparison, her video has received nearly 670,000 views, with over 90,000 likes, and has sparked a debate in the comment section too.

Some took a similar stance to Loeza and agreed it was a generational difference.

One person wrote: “Older generation lacks empathy.”

“Most of us younger people have worked in customer service or we watched our parents act up in restaurants so we are nice,” another person said.

Someone else added: “Weird - everyone I know (Gen X) does this and none of us are servers or ever have been. But I’ve never seen anybody under the age of 30 do this.”

“It’s funny cause the cleaner table also probably tipped better,” a fourth person wrote.

However, not everyone agreed with Loeza’s take and argued it’s not a generational thing but instead it perhaps depends on upbringing and whether customer’s themselves have worked in the hospitality industry.

One person wrote: “I don’t think it’s a generational thing, it’s a respect thing.”

“Not a generational thing at all. Good parents raise good people. My boomer parents taught me to do this,” another person replied.

Someone else said: “I think that it’s more those who have worked or work in the service industry vs those who haven’t.”

“Nothing to do with generations - that shows who’s worked at a restaurant and who hasn’t!” A fourth person replied.

It seems everyone has their own opinion when it comes to restaurant etiquette.