Kate Hackett
*drags out her soapbox*
I think we all take too many photos of too many things that aren’t ours to take. Moments that don’t need to be remembered are consigned to history and there’s an entitlement to other peoples’ image. If someone dances across our phone’s field of view, we simply MUST take a snap.
No.
And I’m not alone; a Hooters server recently went viral after showing a pretty grimy interaction she had with a customer.
The video has over 548,000 views and shows Hooters waitress and professional MMA fighter Lydia. She says she was working when she saw a customer taking photos of the women working without their consent.
“This guy wants to come into Hooters and just take pictures of girls without asking, so Imma make you feel uncomfortable, too,” she says while she directs her camera to the customers. “We all uncomfortable now. My flash on. We all uncomfortable now, huh?”
The comment section seems to indicate that the restaurant was in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Female servers frequently face harassment on the job. A report from UC Berkley’s Food Labor Research Center notes, “71% of women restaurant workers had been harassed at least once during their time in the industry.”
Servers at Hooters and other establishments like it have also reported negative consequences of their jobs.
“…We found that waitresses working in restaurants that sexually objectified their employees were more likely to experience a host of negative interactions with customers, ranging from unwanted advances to lewd comments,” wrote Dawn Szymanski and Chandra Feltman for The Conversation. “They were also far more likely to internalize cultural standards of beauty, experience symptoms of depression and were more likely to be dissatisfied with their job.”
TikTokers, however, were very supportive of Lydia.
“This that dark feminine energy we all need,” wrote one viewer of the TikTok.
“He could’ve literally just asked for a picture,” said another. “If I was at his table the second hand embarrassment would make me leave.”
“I would do the same thing if someone is recording me!” shared a third person.
