We’ve all probably flubbed a little on our resumes at one point or another. Maybe you referred to filing paperwork in your college’s administration department as “streamlining and organizing operations for a multimillion-dollar organization.” Or perhaps you described your duties delivering pizzas as being “results-oriented in a fast-paced environment.”
What’s the harm a little white lie could do? They do say “fake it till you make it,” right? As a Chicago woman learned, once in a while, that stretched truth snaps back and hits you right on the head.
Influencer Rilette Peterson (@rilettepeterson) recently shared the story of how she lied to get a job waiting tables at Cheesecake Factory. The experience wasn’t just mortifying; it may have harmed a small child.
“I was the worst server ever,” she concedes at the beginning of a four-and-a-half-minute TikTok.
Peterson says she told Cheesecake Factory she’d previously worked at TGI Friday’s. She hadn’t, so she had no idea how complicated and frenetic working in a restaurant can be.
Instead, she figured she had the “jolly good” job of taking orders and making sure everything tasted OK. She says she’d hang out in the server station, eating fries, and generally neglecting to help run food to her tables because she didn’t know better.
“I would not recommend Cheesecake Factory as your first serving job if you have ADHD and are terrible at remembering people’s orders, bringing them their food, what have you,” she says, later conceding, “Everyone [expletive] hated me.”
Little girl becomes Cheesecake Factory collateral damage
All servers start somewhere. The job doesn’t come naturally to most people. At a minimum, it requires excellent memory skills, time management, and physical labor.
Peterson, who today works as a model, could’ve learned the ropes at Cheesecake Factory—with or without experience.
Alas, that was not to be.
She says that one shift, she was taking the order of parents with a bunch of kids. The kids all ordered pink lemonade.
This turned out to be an ill-fated decision. Peterson explains that, while Cheesecake Factory’s beverages are generally served in plastic, the pink lemonade comes in “this big, clunky glass cup.”
She fetched the lemonades and approached the table.
“POV of view, you’re the little girl I was serving the pink lemonade to at the end of the table,” she says.
Then the video cuts to her spilling an entire tray of cups.
“I specifically remember that glass hitting this little girl on the top of her head,” Peterson says, mortification apparent even years later. “Hearing the clunk, perclunk, dong on the top of her tiny dome.”
The girl proceeded to let out an “ambulance siren” type wail and begin crying as her dad tried to console her.
Peterson panicked, apologized, and fled, ostensibly to get a mop. Instead, she went to a changing area in the back of the Cheesecake Factory, curled up into a ball, and cried.
Cheesecake Factory server cuts her losses
As Peterson lay there, thinking, “Oh my god, I can’t take this. This is not the job for me,” a co-worker came to check on her.
The colleague consoled that it happens “all the time,” and said she’d go help clean up the lemonade.
At this point, Peterson could’ve returned to the table and eaten her humble pie—or cheesecake, as it were. Accidents do happen. Everyone who’s worked in food service has dropped a tray. Most have probably dropped something on a customer.
Peterson opted for an escape hatch.
“I ran the [expletive] out that [expletive] and I never came back,” she reveals. “I remember they were texting me, they were calling me, they’re like it’s OK, just come back. We just want to know that you’re OK. I was not answering. I was way too embarrassed.”
A food service career ends in laughter
People who commented on Peterson’s post were, in turns, tickled and sympathetic.
“Completely ghosting after pink lemonade homicide is hysterical,” said one.
A second added, “Irish goodbye.”
Many understood that with its corporate structure and endless menu, Cheesecake Factory is not for the uninitiated.
“The part where you chose Cheesecake Factory as your first serving job is still cracking me up,” bigmaya_ commented on Peterson’s follow-up. “That place intimidates me as a customer.”
Another agreed, “Cheesecake Factory being your first serving job is like watching GI Joe in theaters then being thrown automatically into World War 2, like that’s insane.”
“I was also a server at Cheesecake Factory for 2 1/2 years and literally cried on my shift at least 50 times,” nevel said. “…It’s genuinely not a job for the weak but damn that money was good.”
Peterson reveals that she later checked the Cheesecake Factory location’s Google reviews. The family didn’t post one about the server who doused their daughter in lemonade. But one of her customers did share his two cents.
The man wrote, “[The server] for no apparent reason walked right out in the middle of our meal and a different server had to take over.”
She then displays a screenshot of his review.
To this, Peterson retorts, “Thank you so much for that review. I think you know why. I think you heard the ambulance cry in the background. I think you saw the lemonade impact. But thank you for rubbing the salt in the wound.”
She didn’t respond to direct messages sent via Instagram and TikTok.
@rilettepeterson i’m annoyed actually that i just did a story time but i felt it was time i share my story thak you for listening #chicago #fyp #cheesecakefactory ♬ original sound – rilette PETERSON ?
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