Woman Gets Stood up by Date, Realizes She Was Catfished by Restaurant to Dine There

A woman who was stood up by someone she matched with on a dating app believes she was on the receiving end of a con some restaurants have purportedly been conducting more and more frequently: dining date ditches.

Taylor (@paretay) uploaded a viral clip where she discusses how she matched with someone on a dating app, and realized after she arrived there she had been stood up and then ghosted.

"I was just stood up on a date and it was the most humiliating experience ever. Story time met this guy on a dating app and he immediately asked me out on a date to a specific restaurant. He confirmed day of, I get to the restaurant and see that he's nowhere to be found. So I reach out, no response. I check the app, and noticed that he unmatched me."

It's a pretty grimy move for anyone to do: at least let the person know you're planning on canceling a few hours prior to meeting up so that they haven't gone through all of the trouble of getting ready to go out, or are even already on their way to the establishment.

However, as the TikToker continued her story, it seems like this was the Tinder user's intention the entire time: "At that point, I was a little confused and I was kind of pissed because I was already dressed and I got all the way there and because I had put in so much effort I thought I might as well just have a meal while I am in the building."

As it turns out, it appears that she fell for a scam employed by some restaurants who have discovered a way to put butts in seats at their tables: by having Tinder profiles set up dates under dishonest pretenses. A guy or a girl matches with someone, says that they've always wanted to try a specific place.

The whole object is to get someone in the restaurant who, after they've gotten all gussied up and planned on a nice night anyway, to think to themselves, "I might as well try some of the food here as I haven't eaten yet."

This is exactly what happened with Taylor: she didn't know about the scam she was just slapped with until she returned home and started scrolling around online and came across someone else who had an eerily similar story.

"It wasn't until I got home and I was scrolling Facebook and I saw a very similar story from a girl at that same restaurant who also got stood up and she found out that there are restaurants now posing as people on dating apps just so you go to their business and you once you get stood up they know that probably nine times out of ten that you're gonna buy something from them."

The skulduggery that went into hatching such an evil plan is something Taylor says "just blew [her] mind."

"The fact that we have stooped this low — sirens jail time," she quips, reacting to the police sirens sounding off outside her home as she records the video, "jail for all the people at the restaurant thinking they're marketing geniuses."

Taylor continued to express the hurt and righteous indignation she felt as a result of the trick that was played on her, stating that there are serious mental health implications associated with such a slimy way to lure customers into one's business: "You are not no girl boss town you are just ruining a girl's mental self esteem."

Taylor then promised to share an image pertaining to the date that never happened to show she wasn't selling tall tales, fibs, or humdingers: "I can't even believe. I'm gonna insert the screenshots below so you can see but what a wild ride, right?"

The image she posted was a screencap of her Facebook post calling out the fake Tinder profile: "Don't waste your time with this one ladies, he'll confirm a date and not show up. First time thought it was a valid excuse but im 99% sure he sent me a photo of a car accident from online saying that's what happened."

She continued, "So gave second chance, stood up after confirming plans and then he went radio silent"

The image she attached is a cut off pic of a man named Antoine who appears to be wearing a 2011 hipsterized version of an Indiana Jones hat.

One commenter who replied to her post remarked that they do believe she was "catfished" but not so she could date a different guy, but rather to simply pull off the restaurant scam in question, calling the practice "genius but rude lol"

Numerous TikTokers who saw the post urged Taylor to put the name of the restaurant on blast, like one commenter who said that this was the only "logical" solution as women have "put men on blast for less."

How would you feel if you were excited to go on a date with someone...only to discover that the person behind the account was the nephew of the restaurant's owner who's only working that hosting gig until his DJ career takes off.