‘They should hire you just for your dedication’: Man goes to extreme lengths just to land a minimum-wage job as a steakhouse server

They say that capitalism breeds innovation (boy oh boy, I sure am glad I get to choose between three different brands of marshmallows), but really it just lights the fuse on our survival instincts, which leads us to depths of unspeakably cursed tenacity in our quest to not starve in the midst of abundance. Indeed, the only things getting innovated on here are humiliation and anxiety.

Such was the plight of TikTok‘s @cadealex, a recent college graduate who was about to face the greatest challenge of his professional career; getting a serving job at a steakhouse.

Fresh off his degree and a corporate layoff, Cade re-entered the professional sphere with about as much bright-eyed excitement as anyone can muster these days, hoping to land a serving job at an unnamed steakhouse in order to build up his bank account before he set off for grad school this coming fall. As a newly-opened establishment, Cade knew good and well that they were hiring, and was equally confident that all of his online applications, promises over the phone to be called back, and even in-person introductions went straight to the trash bin.

This went on for weeks and weeks before he was finally called in for an interview, only to be told that the steakhouse wasn’t hiring for a host, server, or bartender, but that they could fix Cade up with a food runner gig that paid $8.40 an hour (or roughly a bit less than Cade was making on unemployment, because this is less an economy and more an ecomedy).

This new venture for Cade eventually grew into a full-blown, 42-video saga that viewers ate up with all the gumption imaginable; what started as multiple daily updates about how poorly (and, by the sounds of things, illegally) things were run over at this steakhouse, eventually turned into cheques from TikTok on account of those videos going viral.

But it didn’t end there, either; these chronicles blew up so intensely that a company actually reached out to Cade to offer him a full-time marketing/social media position, which he can perform remotely while he’s working through grad school in Paris.

So, for any of you wondering how the market is looking for professional steakhouse exposers, there’s your answer; that particular enterprise is thriving like you could never believe. And while Cade’s approach (an innovative one, if you will) netted him a nearly bottomless surplus of return, that’s just one channel for exposing bad businesses. According to Featured, other such avenues outside of social media include scouring the business’ name on the Ripoff Report and filing a complaint if there’s not already one there, speaking with Better Business Bureau, and speaking with ex-employees (particularly if there’s a high staff turnover).

It just goes to show you that good things come to those who (apply to) wait.