Photo: Tik Tok and NataliAlba / Shutterstock
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
By Hawthorn Martin — Written on May 10, 2023
There’s nothing more frustrating than thinking you’ve started a relationship off great, only to suddenly get blocked or ghosted by the person you were talking to.
Losing all of that potential and time in an instant, sometimes without ever even knowing why hurts!
What’s even more embarrassing, though, is running into the person who ghosted you, and having to interact with them. But that is exactly what happened to Tik Tok user Sydney Diane.
In a TikTok video, Sydney shared that the man who ghosted her ended up being her server.
What started off as a typical, fun afternoon at Texas Roadhouse for Sydney quickly took an upsetting turn as she realized the waiter that would be serving her that day was none other than Matt, the guy who had recently ghosted her on Snapchat.
She weighed her options, considering if she should ask for another server, give up on the outing altogether, or choose something a little bit pettier.
Finally, she settled on it. She would be polite for now, but when she got her check at the end of the night, Sydney smugly posted a video of her receipt with no tip, and a note, reading: “P.S. Thanks for blocking me on Snap :)”
The video quickly went viral, and the Internet flooded into Sydney’s comments to give her more feedback than she could have ever asked for.
A few people found the stunt funny, commenting things like “I’m here for the pettiness” and “Damn, ghosted that tip.”
Most others, however, weren’t anywhere near as amused.
“Tell me you have no class, without telling me,” one user commented.
Another user agreed, writing: “Should’ve tipped and confronted him face to face instead of making it harder for him to pay rent.”
Others began to argue about the nature of tipping, pointing out that in most other countries, tipping isn’t expected at all, so it should be considered a courtesy here as well. Others disagreed, saying that even though tipping might be a courtesy overseas, in America, it can make or break someone’s livelihood.
“In *this* country they don't pay a living wage anyway,” one user said. “Sorry, he blocked ya on Snap, doesn't excuse trying to starve the guy…”
Finally, Sydney’s video began to spread to other platforms. Websites such as the Daily Dot and World Star picked up her story and began to spread it, with or without factual information. Soon, the story began to twist, painting her as more and more cruel, and theorizing about old, admittedly less glamorous videos of hers and how they could potentially be related to the “Matt” mentioned here.
Eager to blame her even more for the situation, the Internet ate the stories up, and soon many people were leaving cruel comments on her articles and Tik Tok, shaming her body and accusing her of generally being an awful person.
After seeing how far her five-second video had escalated, Sydney made a follow-up, revealing that the whole situation had been a joke.
“I did tip Matt!” She said in her follow-up video. “Me and Matt are on good terms! It was literally just for the Tik Tok.”
She revealed that she had filmed the Tik Tok just for a laugh, and then showed the evidence of a 30% tip she had sent Matt right after.
“I’m not an evil person. I have worked in the service industry before, I do know how important tips are and I would never not tip somebody.”
She also expressed her frustration with the internet’s response to the whole situation, calling strangers out for trying to use her looks as a way to shame her and for twisting her story to make her seem like the bad guy.
“Y’all suck the fun out of everything.” She wrote.
Hopefully, the harassment has died down for her, and Sydney and Matt can keep on living their lives in peace.
Hawthorn Martin is a news and entertainment writer living in Texas. They focus on social justice, pop culture, and human interest stories.