In a lot of restaurants, if you’re short on change for the food you ordered, they throw it away.
But not at this Taco Bell location.
“There have been countless instances where people have ordered their food,” TikToker and Taco Bell employee @caleb_lennon explains in a voiceover with a video of a person cooking and preparing a taco.
“And then realized they didn’t have enough money to pay for it .”
The general policy at this Taco Bell is that “If they’re only short one cent or 30 cents — something random like that — We can either take the money right out of our pockets to finish paying or we can check the little change jar.”
He says that keeping customers happy is a priority, so they’ll return.
But if you’re ready to race over to Taco Bell for a free taco, not so fast. The staff of this location generally don’t offer to pay for a meal outright.
They use discretion about who to help and it’s for a good reason.
Caleb and his coworkers once saw a person put their wallet between the seats in their car after ordering and then claim they couldn’t pay.
“We could’ve given it to them for free if they really needed it,” the employee says with a sympathetic tone in his voice.
“But they lied to us, so we told them we won’t be able to give them any food today.”
He posted the video with a caption asking people if their practices “open us to scams.”
No information is given on how these compassionate practices influence revenue or if they do at all.
Watch the full clip here.
@caleb_lennon Should we continue helping customers? Or does it open us up to scams?
A lot of people had strong opinions on this video.
Some shared stories about when Taco Bell helped them.
It was good to see that there are also other options if people are short on cash.
Helping a customer out means you don’t prolong the wait for other customers, which could cost you business.
This person was skeptical, but apparently incorrect.
Here’s another skeptical person. I found this insensitive.
I wonder if the staff ever fight about which customers to help.
I bet it’s hard not to help them all.
If you liked that story, check out this video from a former Chipotle employee who reveals how the company cheats customers out of food.