Panera Guest Slams Fellow Customers for Being “Clueless” When Placing Orders During Lunch Rush

Over on TikTok, a Panera customer said that she was floored by how "clueless" her fellow guests were after a recent visit to the chain.

Amy (@amymaurercreel) went on a rant against the restaurant guests who, she said, made ridiculous request after ridiculous request, while others had no idea how to place an order.

She also mentioned how one woman saw no problem with placing their teacup Yorkie on the food counter while picking up her meal.

"I was at Panera getting myself a salad. Today was super busy, it was lunch time rush and it's a holiday. Older couple at the counter seemed like they'd never been in a restaurant before. So that took about four hours," Amy began.

"Another lady gets up to make her order and she's like, 'What dressings do you have?' You could figure that out when you were standing in line for 15 minutes?" Amy then asks into the camera.

The TikToker continued: "Another lady gets up to the counter and she's like, 'You guys used to have this spinach salad.' What, we have to do a walk down memory lane now? Whatever's on the menu is what they have."

"It's my turn to place my order," she then recalled. "I know exactly what I want. Here's is my rewards number, it's to go, so now we're all waiting."

"And I'm thinking, these poor people, they have to work where everyone can see them. This lady, the part of the couple that took so long to make their order, hers comes out and she says, 'Oh dear, this has cheese on it.' Yup, it's right there under the description of the salad that you ordered. And then she proceeds to tell the woman at Panera why her husband can't have cheese," Amy says, her voice containing more than a hint of frustration in it.

"I'm sure she is riveted by the story but I'm pretty sure she has to remake the salad that you screwed up," Amy noted, adding:

"Then we have Joel's, order. Joel, your order is ready. Joel's standing right there. He goes up to the counter, he's like, 'Is this for Joel?'"

"Dude..." Amy said, referring to Joel's inability to understand that the order that was called out in accordance with his name was indeed for him.

Amy's ire mounted when she began relaying how one of the customers, despite seeing the Panera workers were up to their eyeballs in work, wanted to chit-chat with them.

"Then this lady is like, 'Sir, can I talk to you?' They're so obviously in the weeds but she wants to have a conversation and she holds up the smoothie that she ordered and she's like, 'I don't think this is the right one.' Well you already drank half of it so maybe you should've mentioned that earlier," Amy said, criticizing the timing of the woman's decision to mention her smoothie was made incorrectly.

"And the guy goes, 'Oh what's wrong?' And she goes, 'Well I ordered a 16-ounce,' and he goes, 'That is a 16-ounce.' 'Oh it is?'" Amy recalled, adding: "Then there's a lady who has a teacup Yorkie and I know that because she felt the need to tell everyone."

The TikToker continued to talk about the dog owner's disregard for sanitation practices at the restaurant: "She literally plops the dog down on the food counter to grab her soup. OK, first of all it's 90 f----- degrees, why are you having soup? Second of all: no!"

Several people responded to her video, remarking how aghast they were to hear of the Panera guests' behavior, with one user who replied that they ensure they're never in other people's way when they're out and about: "I swear people have zero self-awareness. My whole life consists of me making sure I’m not in anybody’s way."

Someone else said that working in a customer-facing position has whittled down their will after a certain period of time, as they are unable to hide their emotions from the people they're helping any longer: "Customer service is breaking me. I can’t even hide my face from certain customers anymore."

One user who replied to Amy's video stated that similar to countries with mandatory military service, folks should be forced to work a customer service job so they can understand what it's like working behind the counter: "Everyone and I mean EVERYONE should have to work customer service (restaurant/retail) at least one year of their life. MUST!!!!"

Another penned: "All day long!!! People are like this all … day … long ….. exhausting the questions and concerns they think we should care about…"

And then there were the replies from folks who said that they work at Panera: "As a former Panera employee, this was an average shift Thank you for being so kind!!"

Someone else remarked: "So I work for Panera and I am LOSING IT over all of this because of how relatable it is."

One user wrote: "I work there bro. And I swear at Panera, you will meet the most unhinged, disrespectful people. Like Jesussss I just work here."

Another said: "Worked at Panera for three years. This was every day. Every. Day."

One diner who said that because they know they have difficulty looking at menu boards they ensure they look up the menu on their phone prior to being at the counter so they're ready to order when they approach it: "I have trouble reading menu boards, so I look up the menu online ahead of time, like a sane person."