An American waitress has claimed she was fired for posting a now-viral video of a customer eating dinner in the company of an inflatable sex doll.
Tara Bjork posted a TikTok of a man seemingly on a date with a blow-up doll – and it quickly garnered huge attention.
After exposing the diner during what appeared to be an intimate moment, which Ms Bjork admitted she was “not supposed to do”, she’s now claiming she faced major ramifications from her employer.
“[I] knew one of two things was going to happen, it would get no views and I would be fine or, it would blow up and I would be fired,” she told the Charlotte Observer.
However, while some would be apologetic, Ms Bjork said she “was ready for new opportunities” adding: “It wasn’t too much of a shock.”
In a separate interview with local radio station 96.1, she defended her actions, explaining it as an “unusual dining” experience to bare witness to.
“What I saw was him trying to ‘seat’ her at the table, which was mortifying to say the least because she wasn’t really ‘sitting’ as you can see,” she said.
“He proceeded to order some food and order some drinks for them and have a blast I guess.”
At one point, the diner was feeding his “date” grapes, Bjork claimed, explaining she was later fired for violating the restaurant’s policy that bars employees from filming on the clock.
The man has since identified himself as Henry Herrara, revealing in his own TikTok the reason for his unusual date.
“So, last year we started punishments for the last-place finisher in our fantasy football league,” he explained.
“The guy last year had to sit in a Waffle House for 24 hours, and every waffle you subtracted an hour. But we kept seeing that online, so we wanted to do something different.”
Interestingly, it was his idea to be forced to dine out with a blow-up sex doll, joking she was a “tough date”.
“I kind of assumed it [attracting attention] was going to happen. As I was sitting down, I already saw like six phones recording me,” he said.
“I knew sooner or later the video was going to be somewhere.”
Ms Bjork indeed had captured the bizarre restaurant scenes, sharing a clip titled “no words”, that instantly exploded in popularity.
“OK, I’m not supposed to be making TikToks at work, but this calls for it,” the server prefaced the viral video, posted on May 27 from her job at the Restoration Hardware Rooftop Restaurant.
“I work at a nice restaurant in Charlotte, and I need you guys to see what just came in the door.”
She then flipped the camera to zoom in on Mr Herrara seated across the room with an inflatable female doll propped up on the seat across from him.
The doll had yellow-blonde hair and appeared to be wearing a black sleeveless dress.
The camera then turned back to Ms Bjork, who brought her fingers to her forehead and raised her eyebrows in a gesture of exasperation.
Despite amassing almost 2.5 million views to date, not everyone saw the funny side, with some arguing it was an “invasion of privacy”.
Most however thought the clip was hilarious, noting the “efforts” he’d gone to for his date, which included ordering her a glass of champagne.