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Restaurant owner slams 'entitled' influencer over insane dining demands: 'Read the room'

An influencer is facing backlash after asking a restaurant for special treatment amid a pandemic.

An Irish restaurant turned to Twitter for advice after an influencer asked for special rates and special treatment.

According to the series of tweets, the unnamed influencer — who is verified with over 100,000 followers — requested to book a table and then asked the restaurant if they offer special discounts for influencers.

“Is this a thing?” the restaurant — Dublin’s La Peniche — asked on Twitter.

The restaurant also noted that during these difficult times, it’s really not plausible to be giving away tables for virtually nothing.

“We are a small business and in these times we all need to support each other,” they wrote.

Many Twitter users were equally taken aback by the request.

“I live for the day that influencers can read the mood of the room, never mind the country,” one person said.

“They should be paying their way,” another user added.

“Do these ‘influencers’ know that there’s a pandemic going on at the moment??” a third person asked. “People have lost their lives, jobs, loved ones and they want a few quid off??? WTH….”

However, other users defended the influencer, noting that exposure on such a large account could actually drive business.

“If you don’t want to reduce your rate that’s understandable, but it may be dismissive not to [recognize] that someone with such a following could offer your business great exposure,” one person said. “It’s a $2b industry with many working hard to capture creative material that you can [utilize].”

“We sent out our at home boxes to influencers when we had to shut the rest. (For FREE). It proved to be massively successful for us triggering a lot of sales,” a fellow Irish restaurant also pointed out. “It’s just marketing. Worked for us.”

In an interview with 98FM, the eatery explained that though they’d normally be amenable to the idea of an influencer rate, it’s just not feasible during the pandemic.

“In the past we would have done stuff and we would have approached people, but [during] these times we have very little tables to work with [because of] social distancing, they explained. “The last thing we want to do is give a table away for nothing, in a sense, or [with] a discount when we have to pay staff.”

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