An influencer’s attempt to shame a bakery worker for being ‘rude and abrupt’ has backfired after the internet came to the employee’s defence.
Filipino food content creator Eat Pinoy, which has just over 3,000 followers on TikTok, shared a video of their visit to Fortitude Bakehouse, located in Bloomsbury, London, and accused their server of being ‘rude and abrupt’.
In text over the video, which has since been shared by @katie63637, they wrote: ‘Server gets triggered for no apparent reason! And being rude and abrupt!’
They added in the caption that it was the ‘worst customer service experience’ they had received.
However, Fortitude Bakehouse, which is frequently named one of the capital’s best bakeries, spoke out in defence of its staff over the weekend.
The bakery shared its response to the video posted by @eatpinoy and called on customers to respect the privacy of their staff by not filming them without consent – and many others agreed.
The video, which began as the influencer entered the bakery, showed the server greeting them and taking their order, before grabbing a pair of tongs to pick up the pastries Eat Pinoy had ordered.
The first item they ordered was an apple pie, but as the server grabbed the pastry closest to them with their tongs, the influencer stopped them and said: ‘I want this one’.
The server obliged and picked up the apple pie requested by Eat Pinoy, and then carried on with their order, grabbing a cinnamon bun next.
Food influencer Eat Pinoy, based in the Philippines, posted a video, which was later shared by @katie63637, complaining about a staff member at London bakery Fortitude Bakehouse – but their video (pictured) backfired
Eat Pinoy claimed the server, who did not know that they were being recorded, had ‘squashed’ their pastries ‘on purpose’ and could be heard calling them ‘rude’
However, the influencer stopped the server again and complained that they wanted ‘the pretty one’ because it was for a ‘present’.
The server then replied: ‘You pick, love.’ The influencer then pointed to the cinnamon bun they wanted, which the server picked up and turned around to wrap the pastries for them.
The influencer then said loudly: ‘Handle it gently’ and zoomed in on the server as she wrapped the pastries individually.
‘Did you just squash it?’ the influencer asked, before the server clarified that she had wrapped the pastries.
Eat Pinoy was then asked by another server to move to one side because a different customer was waiting to pay.
When Eat Pinoy waved their card and said they were about to pay, their server clarified: ‘She’s sorting them, I’m helping you, do you want any other food?’
The influencer then indicated they didn’t want any more food, but said to their server: ‘You’re rude, man.’
Another voice can be heard speaking behind the camera and saying: ‘Focus on her. She’s rude. We’re not coming back here.’
Fortitude Bakehouse shared a response to the video posted by Eat Pinoy, calling on customers to treat hospitality staff with ‘respect and privacy’
The interaction ended after the influencer paid for their pastries and the server handed their bag over, adding: ‘Have a good one.’
Eat Pinoy added in text over the video: ‘This bakery ain’t cheap and people won’t come back especially when served in such a passive aggressive manner!
‘Is this just an Instagram/TikTok tourist trap!? Verdict: Overrated and super expensive bakery.’
They also accused the server of ‘squashing’ the pastries ‘on purpose while bagging items’.
‘Tourists coming to central London should be aware not to accept such confrontational rudeness from staff,’ Eat Pinoy added.
However, Eat Pinoy’s video backfired after a wave of criticism accused them of being rude rather than the server for not saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.
One viewer who has previously visited Fortitude Bakehouse said in a comment: ‘The bakery is tiny and you have to queue (we queued for 45 minutes) so you need to get in, pick your stuff, pay and get out because it’s cramped.
‘The food is delicious and the staff are nice. The lady server is literally just trying to do her job.’
A huge number of people who viewed the video came to the staff member’s defence and criticised the food influencer for their own attitude
Another TikToker who said they had also been to the bakery before chimed in: ‘I’ve been there a few times, the pastries are lovely and the queue outside is always crazy, and the staff are always polite, courtesy costs nothing!
‘So I doubt they’ll miss her custom, probably filmed it just to get a rise out of [the server]…’
A third added: ‘The server is polite all the way through, it’s a busy shop that goes so fast and [Eat Pinoy] is stopping her at every chance, I heard no please or thank you to the server either.
‘They have to serve fast here to keep up with the queues, I saw no rudeness from the server just from the patronising customer.’
Others took issue with Eat Pinoy telling the server how to handle the food and demanding they be given ‘pretty’ pastries.
”Handle it gently’ sent me over the edge,’ one person said.
Another wrote: ‘Telling someone how to do their job when it is already busy is very frustrating so I feel for the employee.’
Many viewers objected to customers filming staff at their place of employment without consent.
‘I think in the age of the camera, retail and hospitality workers are bombarded like this, [it’s] totally unfair,’ one person commented.
‘I work behind the bar and people happily get [their] phone and record or take pictures without permission and when you say something you’re in the wrong, completely uncalled for.’
Another recalled their own experience while working in hospitality and said: ‘I used to work on Domino’s in a student area and they would come in after nights out and film us all the time without asking.
‘TikTok wasn’t a thing then so it was only for Snapchat but it was really dehumanising and icky feeling.
‘This is my 12th hour here and I’m in a hair net, I don’t really want videos of me send to people I don’t know, please and thank you.’
A third commenter said bluntly: ‘Shove a camera in my face while I’m working and I am not serving you, you can leave.’
The original video has been removed from Eat Pinoy’s TikTok and Instagram accounts, but remains on their YouTube page.
Fortitude Bakehouse responded to the video on Friday August 8, writing in an Instagram Story: ‘Last week, a video of one of our staff members serving a customer was recorded and shared online without their knowledge.
‘The video has since gone viral and has sparked a range of reactions. What’s important is the broader issue: secretly filming hospitality staff and posting those moments online – often without context – can be unfair and damaging.
‘Our team works hard every day to provide good service, and we ask that our staff are treated with the same respect and privacy that we all expect in our workplaces.
‘We’ve seen an outpouring of support for the team member from the video which we are so thankful for.’
