‘Tough date’: Charlotte server says she lost her job over customer’s blow-up doll outing
A former server at a south Charlotte fine-dining restaurant says she was fired after her viral TikTok video of a man having lunch with a blow-up doll over Memorial Day weekend.
“OK, I’m not supposed to be making TikToks at work, but this calls for it,” the server, who was identified as Tara in an interview on radio station 96.1, says in her 16-second TikTok at RH Rooftop Restaurant in Phillips Place. “I work at a nice restaurant in Charlotte, and I need you guys to see what just came in the door.”
The video pans in from a distance to the diner seated at a table and staring at a menu. His odd lunch date is sprawled out in a chair across from him — her head tilted backward over the chair. The man later commented on her video, “I lost my fantasy football league, man.”
The camera flashes back to the server. She gives a look and makes a sound as if to say, “Oh, my, I can’t believe this is happening.”
Diner also posted about his date
The former server goes by the handle “t_bjork.” The name on the Instagram account linked in her bio is Tara Eve Bjork. She titled her TikTok “No words” and included hashtags such as “workvibes,” “restauranttok” and “serverlife.” The video has drawn more than 2.5 million views on TikTok.
On TikTok Saturday night, Bjork told The Charlotte Observer she “knew one of two things was going to happen” when she posted the video: “it would get no views and I would be fine or, it would blow up and I would be fired.”
Bjork said she “was ready for new opportunities, so it wasn’t too much of a shock, thank goodness. Sort of shocked at HOW viral it went though! My friends parents were telling me they’ve seen it.”
The diner couldn’t be reached on TikTok by the Observer on Saturday. The Observer also called the restaurant just after noon and left a message for management, but didn’t hear back.
The former server also posted a video of herself reacting to the interview with 96.1 on May 30. She told the station she wasn’t the man’s server that day.
The male diner separately posted a TikTok from inside the restaurant that day and included part of Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby” song with his post. The diner goes by the handle papichulo2613 and implied in the comment on the former server’s video that taking the blow-up doll to dinner was punishment. for losing in his fantasy football league.
“Tough date,” the diner wrote in the caption for his video.
“Nasty Girl” TikTok
She told 96.1 that she was already thinking about leaving her job when she posted the video and that’s she’s since started a business on Instagram.
She also posted a follow-up video overlaid with the song “Nasty” by Tinashe. Text on the video says she didn’t have any regrets about the video or her firing.
Staff writer Chyna Blackmon contributed.
