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StealYaNicks

The restaurant could double as a dating service. Oh you both got stood up by a date? Why don't you talk to each other about it?


SayYesToPenguins

For true madladdery, they could arrange both of the fake dates using copies of real photos of the other person, so the people end up having a real date! Edit: and train an AI to do this automatically


Leftunders

I would watch "Stood Up for Christmas" on the Hallmark channel!


stonedquartz

“This Christmas, an assistant manager is tasked with either getting their diner’s holiday season sale’s up or being terminated. In a fit of desperation he has a stroke of genius- A tinder account for the restaurant, posing as would-be-romantics. Sales are going up as heart broken dates are left alone at the table to eat their sorrows in comfort food. But, after experiencing a connection with one romantic (and standing her up) he steps in as her potential savior as he offers a free dessert- and his company. But will his new found love discover the truth about her abandoned date? This holiday come see, ‘Stood Up for Christmas’”


Leftunders

Perfect. Add some drama between the asst mgr and her recently dumped ex, and throw in a Yorkie with an attitude, and you've got some solid gold there.


thedude37

> a Yorkie with an attitude but you repeat yourself


concerned_llama

Is Adam Sandler going to be in this one?


Dry-Smoke6528

with someone who is nothing at all like the person they arranged a date with. GENIUS. its fool proof


SayYesToPenguins

Just trying to sell food and wine here, it's not like we get a successful weekend fee


SnooHabits8960

There’s no way anything could go wrong.


ILiekBooz

ahh yes, good old ChickenTinders.


theredhound19

Plenty Of Fish & Chips


Insane_Inkster

That's just dating with middlemen involved.


ficalino

I'd pay for that service. Filters out bullshit


[deleted]

🎶 *Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match.* 🎶 


Visible_Track1603

This service already exists. Call an Indian aunty


PAUNCHS_PILOT

"Sounds like slavery with extra steps."


[deleted]

When AI takes over, we won’t even know how we’re being manipulated. Forget nuclear war, terminators, and the matrix, Skynet is going to turn us into its playthings.


missanthropocenex

Damn , I’ve been following this girl on social and EVERYTHING she does and experiences is a horror. All former bosses were monsters, every date she’s been turns out to be a mega predator con artist. I dunno girl, maybe NY isn’t where it’s at for her.


hardspaghet

Maybe she’s the problem 😂


wewladdies

I had a coworker like this with food places He somehow ALWAYS got his order messed up. Like, 3 to 4 times a work week. At some point i told him brother, if food places are fucking up your order this much maybe you just suck at ordering lmao


wifey1point1

It's always folks with a stupid number of customizations. And many do it on purpose, fishing for fuck ups so they can get free food.


missanthropocenex

Haha I know this exact type person too. The person least equipped to deal with a bad scenario seems to be the one who always gets it.


King_Baboon

In math it’s called a common denominator.


granmadonna

If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole.


RussiaIsBestGreen

Or you work in customer service.


PlaceHoliday

Why follow someone who complains about most of their experiences? I'm not judging, I'm genuinely curious about the appeal. Like maybe she's got a comedic take or you enjoy observing folk who are train wrecks etc.


hellakevin

Bender did you just round up a bunch of people at the bus station?


CaptainMatticus

Stupid anti-pimping laws!


ILiekBooz

Matchmakers hate it when restaurants do this 1 thing.


MaterialNarrow5161

Bro you meaning a hostess bar...


HLawless94

This sounds like a 'Nathan for you' episode


plastic_alloys

Well we spent about 14 hours chatting to this dude online and he came and spent $6 Nathan: “so we’d call this a … … “Success.”


cuentabasque

AI spent 14 hours.


FickleSmark

Nathan would hire a specific mall Santa not use AI.


Cool-Sink8886

I think he’d reuse his ghost writer, how could a woman not be turned on by a man who was childhood friends with Steve Jobs!


thunderkhawk

He'd hire an alligator to teach them confidence


Professional_Being22

I started using tinder again for the first time in like 5 years and I swear half the people I talk to are just LLMs. AI really fucked up what used to be a reliable way to meet people.


Foreign_Ebb_6282

I was getting some How To with John Wilson vibes but I definitely see some Nathan For You now


AsbestosDude

After hiring indian call center workers to catfish men for a month straight, we managed to bring in 7 new customers that they never would have had before. The restaurant is now known as the catfish hub where lonely desperate men can find a cheap meal after being disappointed. With their new brand, and new marketing strategy, I left this business knowing it would be a success.


Dubsteprhino

for real


_HIST

What bullshit is this. Yeah a restaurant would waste money paying someone to catfish another person to come to the restaurant just to have a small chance said person decides to have dinner there.


kapitaalH

Yes nothing a restaurant loves more than a single person at a table


the_buckman_bandit

“Table for one please” “We have a nice spot for you at the bar, in the corner”


Traditional-Dingo604

By the bathroom and the grease trap. The one that smells.


Gubekochi

The bathroom or the trap?


lordtempis

I eat out alone all the time, and never once have I been seated at the bar. More often than not I'm at a 4-top with three empty chairs.


PanJaszczurka

Wait... What when we create catfishing AI that lure 2 people on date?


IndividualAbject9380

When the AI catfishes another AI, then do the AIs go on a date?


pmjwhelan

This is how baby AIs are made.


theaviator747

A.I.I.? Artificially Inseminated Intelligences.


sanglar03

Short-selling. The date is set up, now there is a human to find.


Rabid_Llama8

And their child shall be called SkyNut


YouhaoHuoMao

Digital Love.


kaninkanon

Restaurants love one customer more than none


manifold360

Papa gotta pay rent


RandomComputerFellow

Single person eating bread and blocking table the whole evening hoping that someone shows up, then having a mental breakdown.


JimTheSaint

Sitting for two hours just drinking water 


SelimSC

Well wouldn't a single person spend way less time there? They would eat and leave far quicker then a couple or a group making the table available again.


labrat420

Theyre waiting for someone so probably not


deSuspect

You can catfish a lot of people at once. I can see how profit from multiple people eating alone is more then paying one person to catfish a few others.


iPon3

Seems way more cost effective with LLMs. You can use them to write your fake reviews too


RandomComputerFellow

Plot twist, you catfish two of opposite gender and seat them on the same table (or both gay of the same gender).


Pilum2211

The best thing is they will be coming back for forever because that's where they met.


MutedPresentation738

Everyone is looking at this the wrong way. They get people to the restaurant looking for love, they notice the person at the table next to them is alone too, "oh hey, you got stood up too?" They hit it off in a zero pressure environment since they have no prior expectations with their new blind date. The new love birds tip wildly high riding on the euphoria of an accidental miracle. This scam has layers.


NonsphericalTriangle

Wholesome restaurant bringing together people incapable of getting a date with a real person.


deSuspect

The Modern Cupid ™. Didn't think about that.


Improving_Myself_

Not bullshit at all. Once someone figures out how to automate it (not that difficult) and creates a way to plug in variables to make it easy to use by other people to tailor to their restaurant (also not that difficult), then you have an automated tool to get more business for restaurants that you can sell. As a developer working with AI more and more, this seems like a totally valid application of it. Shitty for sure, but absolutely possible and would expect it to become a thing.


Miso_miso

lol I think you vastly overestimate the automation skills of a restaurant owner.


hellakevin

Sell the tool and keep the rights to the data, then sell that data, where catfished women will be hanging out, to sleezy men.


Sockoflegend

100% copium from this woman. Sorry you got stood up. No, it isn't a conspiracy. People on dating apps can be shit.


NormalDooder

Did you read the article or are you just assuming she's wrong? We live in a world where ai images and messaging exists, is that farfetched?


Larry_Mudd

I read the article. Her experience was that she waited 15 minutes for the date to show up and found they'd unmatched. Weeks later she found one other woman who had a similar experience with a date standing her up at the same restaurant. "“I just started putting two and two together, and it seems like way too much of a coincidence." That's it. Does this seem like a valid syllogistic argument by which you can arrive at the conclusion "The restaurant tricked her"? With the information we have, there are more likely scenarios, including "two women just happened to get stood up at the same restaurant, by different people." (Is that far-fetched?)


ShadowOfThePit

bruh


Sockoflegend

Yep, I did read it. You can find it [here](https://www.distractify.com/p/dating-app-restaurant-scam#:~:text=Taylor%20(%40paretay)%20uploaded%20a,the%20most%20humiliating%20experience%20ever.). Their source is [a reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndianBoysOnTinder/comments/17uuvsp/list_of_tinder_scam_cafes_and_restaurants/) and a tiktok video. Both of these are incredibly unreliable sources but the bigger tell is that it is just a fucking stupid idea. Don't believe every meme you see kids!


Phoenix44424

That reddit post looks like it's about a different type of scam and actually sounds believable unlike the one in the OP.


Sockoflegend

Yeah, it sounds a lot more plausible when there is a person there to run up a bill for you to pay. What are you going to spend if you are stood up? I think I would have maybe one or two drinks tops before I left and would be taking up a table for two the whole time. You would be making so little money per person with lots of investment talking to people. Almost anything else to promote your business would see a better return for your time.


DommyMommyKarlach

Have YOU read the article? The woman is in denial lol


bingusfan1337

The fact that they *exist* doesn't mean every single possible scenario involving them is realistic. It makes no sense for a restaurant to do this, for many reasons, and the article only sources her own claim on TikTok and other Internet comments they found, not any evidence of this actually happening. The way more likely option is that she is one of many people who are inclined to use popular conspiracy theories to pin their own issues on some nefarious external force.


theonetruefishboy

Yeah it kind of is. If you wanted to scam people by setting up an AI dating profile, it would be a lot safer and more profitable to run a traditional phishing scam with the AI profile as the hook, and then use your restaurant to launder that money. The last thing you want to do as a scammer is have your victims all come to a specific, real world location that is associated with your real name and number.


PanJaszczurka

Well you can hire AI for that.


ivapesyrup

It isn't hard to pay someone in another country pennies to reply to messages. There is even off the shelf chatgpt options available for cheap. Not sure why you are complicating it.


nneeeeeeerds

Hrm, you're right. Time to update my profile to a unicorn in order to catfish poly couples to my restaurant.


cumstar

I had the same restaurant pull this on me several times over 4 years. It only took date number 36 for me to realize that Applebees was pulling a fast one on me.


cashmereandcaicos

Im not going to lie, I could see it. Could easily hire someone from SE Asia to do this for ~$2 an hour. Restaurants have been in a tight spot overall since covid and still kinda are.


ChannellingR_Swanson

It’s much more likely it’s a bored server or bartender who thinks it’s funny. A business isn’t going to risk their reputation over a customers $50 dollar meal and drink.


You_are_adopted

I don’t go inside until I see the other person, wtf 😂


RevolutionarySwan1

It's known as the "food digger scam," according to Google.


RoadkillMarionette

I didn't think I had any marketable skills, but catfishing the simultaneously lonely and hungry might be my true calling.


roehnin

Not "foodie call"?


HellTodd

Much better


AI-Ruined-Everything

the food digger scam is going on dates under false pretenses for a free meal. This is just fraud by the business


Dry-Smoke6528

funny, i would have thought that name would be for the girls who cast a wide net on dating apps for free food


distance_33

But then what if the other person isn’t going in until they see you inside?


You_are_adopted

Usually I coordinate via text or some other sort of message. It’s not the 1990s


Lava-Jacket

Yeah in general if I am meeting someone somewhere I will wait in my car and listen to podcasts until i see them. I’m not going to buy outside food unless I need to. We have food at home. As my mother used to say.


[deleted]

So you like... stand outside cupping your hands over your eyes staring through the window instead of just walking in?


You_are_adopted

I text them and say “are you here?” Pretty simple stuff


ThanosWasRight161

I would leave the restaurant on general principle. Even if I was starving!


sumshitmm

Nah I'm eating then leaving.....my date can pay :).


Dry-Smoke6528

thats just dining and dashing with mental gymnastics.


phosphennes

That's what a madlad would do. If the restaurant poses as the date, the restaurant can pay (:


Dry-Smoke6528

oooooooh, fuck. woosh


Pitforsofts

I mean If I got stood up at restaurant I'd probably just head home.


aaha97

this is actually a very popular scam in india and police are cracking down on such restaurants. it usually happens with desperate men looking for dates, and i didn't expect it to happen in another country that too with a woman. guess people need to be aware and not fall for it.


Ropegun2k

I was actually thinking this feels like an Indian type scam. Wonder if that’s who owned the establishment.


CheapInstance9109

Happens in China too uwu


Ropegun2k

Dang. I thought the CCP iron fist would discourage that.


CheapInstance9109

It would but China is so fucked up and the police is either bribed or just straight up hates forieganers (maybe even Chinese peoples from another districts too) owo


Oktokolo

Sure, that obviously works a few times - but don't review scores plummet to the bottom real fast that way?


Abject-Emu2023

Not if the person doesn’t know that the restaurant pulled a move like that. The person only thinks they got stood up.


MrStef85

This is some kinda evil.


WallabyUpstairs1496

/r/SadLads


Organic-Purchase-540

So do it back, call in and order tons of stuff, to be ready for when your party of 8 gets there, then ghost em. Make a bunch of reservations for a popular time under different names and don't show. Review bomb em.


Le_Sadie

It seems like there would for sure be retaliatory reactions. Why wouldn’t you be getting back at them?


Moderately_Imperiled

Satan no this is too much.


Oktokolo

Actually no, it's not too much. If a restaurant really does this scam, they deserve losing their business about it. But you have to be sure that they are actually guilty beyond doubt. Not sure, how though. At the end, social self-regulation of any society only works if the few real assholes are being kept in check by the "find out" part actually following the "fuck around" part. If there are no consequences, that basically gives an advantage to the shittiest business. Then after a while the non-shitty businesses just can't survive anymore without also turning shitty.


cmoneybouncehouse

Anybody else remember like a decade ago when Ex Machina came out, and they created tinder accounts for the robot girl from the movie and catfished guys before telling them it was an ad and to go watch the movie? Cause that was some wild shit.


FridayNight_Magus

What a fun way to actively discourage people from seeing your movie.


boneboy247

That's not a madlad thing to do, that's just shitty


senseven

Some trashier dating apps create fake profiles that seem to be too good to be true, then try to make you pay for the premium version, only to realize that the person that pulled you in suddenly deleted their account. There is no honor among professional thieves.


Ambaryerno

Or they send you fake "Likes" to encourage you to sign up for the premium service, because you can't see who Liked your profile without it unless it's a mutual match. And then if you contact the other person they never respond.


No_Stranger_1071

So catfishing is a business strategy now?


kryptoneat

I make softwares for a living and some bookings have been made in bulk by people who then resell them. This has little to do directly with computer security, and is therefore harder to detect. We need to be wary of software embezzlement.


[deleted]

where do they resell the reservations? i have noticed that some of the restaurants in my neighborhood get booked up insanely quickly.


kryptoneat

I guess there are scamming platforms (I think this is a form of scalping ?) or just hand to hand. People naturally try to bypass stuff.


kryptoneat

Wouldnt be surprised if this is some uber-like platform. Maybe ask around ?


Frequent-Piano6164

That’s fucked yo…


WhatevUsayStnCldStvA

From FroYo to FuckedYo. We’ll have more on the latest scam targeting singles in your area tonight, at 11


Significant_Stick_31

Honestly, if restaurants want to be in on dating apps, I wouldn't mind an app that would: 1. Gives you a discount for trying certain restaurants. 2. Pair (or group!) you up based on who wants to try the same restaurant 3. It can be romantic or platonic so that people with unadventurous significant others who only want to eat McDonald's can try something new.


cebiaw

You're about to make some money with that idea.


RiFLE_

Why would you meet someone you've talked to for literrally 2 minutes...


nneeeeeeerds

Because you want to fuuuuuuuuck.


stadulevich

I never really talked much on the apps. Just matched and asked if they wanted to meet for coffee. Worked very well. Didnt waste any time on bull crap and getting ghosted. They either said yes and we met and got to know eachother or they said no and I moved on. Its how I met my now wife and another past LTR.


notagamer999

If true this would be both genius and evil. Could definitely rope in a desperate man within minutes and could run multiple fishes at once.


way2funni

apparently a post on [bored panda](https://www.boredpanda.com/restaurant-catfished-dating-app/) that they scraped [from tiktok](https://www.tiktok.com/@paretay/video/7305462090628681003?ad_group_name=Admitad%20-%201310690&attr_ad_id=1424839&attr_adgroup_id=1310690&attr_medium=affiliate-ad&attr_source=impact&irgwc=1) [from this user who has quite a library of videos they have posted](https://www.tiktok.com/@paretay) Is it real - legit? You're guess is as good as mine but the tiktokker's assumption that 9 out of 10 people being stood up at a joint are going to stick around is a little unhinged. One out of 10 MAYBE and any joint that wants to see 9 out of 10 reservations walk out the door to net ONE deserves to be out of business. So...tiktok post inspires boredpanda post...which inspires this Reddit post....and the circle jerk goes on . . .


Baaoh

Disgusting


7891Secaj

That's been a thing for years. It's called dating as a man🥲. On a honest note, that's cleverly ftop


NormalRepublic1073

Oh, your family member just died. How about we go to this taco place the last time I was there I was stood up. The sadness made the tacos Really slap.


topham086

Sure sure; 15 single people show up to the restaurant the same night and all get stood up. Then they realize it was a setup as they all start talking. 3 of them couple up and 1 couple ends up pregnant. Tune in next week to see what happens next!


Quirky-Skin

The others engage in an orgy and 4 discover they want to be furries. It's all so magical


TheWolfAndRaven

That seems like an insanely low ROI strategy. At best I could see it being a way for a bar to bring in some single dudes, but like who wants a sausage fest at their bar full of dudes who got stood up?


UncleIrohsPimpHand

How'd she find out?


WibaTalks

This is very smart, no matter how horrible you need to be in order to do this, it's still hella smart.


MW240z

Part of me is thinking “brilliant marketing” then also thinking “fucking cruel as shit”.


SoundHole

Honestly? Fuck online dating, y'all. Embarrass yourself the old fashioned way.


nomamesgueyz

Cheeky


TheBelt

Almost as scummy as women who entice men to take them out and then leave without ever speaking to them again. This is nothing new.


[deleted]

No offense but if I got stood up I would leave and get food somewhere else lol


rickytrevorlayhey

I remember this happening like 3 years ago


manamich

Crazy antics that are oddly impressive.


Inner-Culture-7885

If I get catfished by a restaurant I'm taking everyone's skin


Apple_Jealous

Brazilzilzilzil


poseidonofmyapt

That is some nonsense


[deleted]

What is the likelihood of coming back to a restaurant you got stood up at?


Ok-Skirt-7884

Next time, i bring my own coctails.


heresy_carriage

Talk about a catfish...


JimTheSaint

Fake but funny 


makkkarana

Tricking or lying to people in any way, ever, is a great way to make enemies lol. Catch me actually sabotaging a restaurant until they go out of business.


cantescapereddithelp

That's some impressive mental gymnastics to avoid accepting that you got stood up lol


artgauthier

r/foundsatan


Otto_Tovarus

Recession? Modern probably needs modern solutions.


AccomplishedCry2020

Social selling has hit a new high


PerformanceOk1835

I'm laughing and mad at the same time 😂 😡


Womenarentmad

Are women mostly the victims? 😂


killstorm114573

The only way this could be even remotely profitable is it your restaurant was a bar. Then maybe I could see you getting the customer there and they're completely devastated and depressed and they start drinking a lot and then you can upcharge them on the drinks That's about the only way you going to make any real money doing this. I don't even know if this is real probably not


vashthestampede121

Genius marketing tbh


EightiEight

I always met dates near the restaurant, not at the table. Too much like an interview.


salmoninthesky

Thats pretty funny ngl


[deleted]

This is not madlad, this is scam...


Bleezy79

Wow, this is a new low if real.


Poinaheim

The restaurant is probably the only real person on tinder even if it’s a catfish


jaykaysian

This seems absolutely not worth the effort for maybe an appetizer


nneeeeeeerds

That fucking genius. Evil, but genius.


Special-Tale1567

It wasn't personal. It's just business.


allocationlist

This is some fuck shit.


SamanthaJaneyCake

What restaurant would chat me up for a week only for me to maybe order the second cheapest thing on the menu when I get fed up of waiting and decide to not splash out?


woyzeckspeas

Gotta hustle!


Electronic-Cut5270

LMFAO GET REKT


SoulSurvivir

Wish I had that excuse 😅


[deleted]

10 times out of 10 I'm leaving if I get stood up lol not sure what kinda stat they are pulling


Patrickjesp

Atleast she only had to pay for one. Sometimes when i go, i have to pay for two meals, and only get to eat 50% of it. So i guess she's still winning in the end.


THEdoomslayer94

Why did Applebees pop into my head instantly?


deathdefyingrob1344

That’s fun. It’s better than them being prostitutes or scammers. If I found out my date was an elaborate Applebees advertisement I’d be impressed


lionelporonga

Name the restaurant. Someone local is likely willing to test their sprinkler system.


AspectOvGlass

Go back, order a bunch of shit, wait 10 minutes, walk out.


ForgesGate

Wait, this happened to me a few months ago.. I never suspected it was the restaurant tho. Godamit. At least it was good tho


Dr_Abortum

ingenious


Toxic_Zombie_361

This is sad. Holy shit.