One-star restaurant review claims waiter kicked pumpkin at customer's head

Online reviews are the new Wild West, littered with one-star appraisals for the pettiest of grievances and mostly-useless five-star reviews saying little more than ‘good’.

But every now and then a customer review is not only fairly-graded but also entirely justified, such as this with this rare incident of a waiter kicking a pumpkin at someone’s head.

Now, if you’ve ever taken a free kick, you’ll know that aiming a football with accuracy is easier said than done. We can’t all be Declan Rice banging-in two beauties against Real Madrid, after all.

And footballs are designed to be kicked: they’re light and they absorb the shock so you don’t break your foot on them.

A young star lines up his free kick (@espn/TikTok)

With all that in mind, kicking a pumpkin directly at someone’s head is no mean feat.

But happen it did, and the customer was thoroughly unimpressed with the waiter’s tekkers.

Back in 2023, TikToker and waiter Zac Hodges (@zachodges007) posted CCTV footage of the incident to his account. It’s since been removed from there, but you can view it on ESPN’s account instead.

It’s hardly Beckham bending one in against Sweden – still to this very day one of the most beautiful things committed to film – but it’s nevertheless a pinpoint strike.

It’s clear that Zac was trying to flick it up to start some keepy-uppies, but alas he needs to spend more time on the training pitch.

“POV: you lose your job for hitting a guest in the head with a pumpkin,” said the video’s overlaid caption.

The clip ends with Zac running over to the customer, presumably to apologise, potentially to complain that she hadn’t headed it back to maintain the streak.

His apologies fell on deaf ears, however, as the establishment’s Google Reviews were soon blessed with: “I got hit in the head with a pumpkin while waiting on my to-go order.”

We’re not in the business of telling people how to feel, but in the intervening hours you’d think the customer would come to see the funny side.

Social media was, of course, polarised by the event.

“Why the f**k would you play football in a restaurant?” asked one Instagram comment. It was a pumpkin, actually.

“Literally the worst place to do it,” said another. “One star is justified because you're an employee there so you represent the workplace. Why don't people understand it?”

Any excuse to share this unbelievable strike (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

“What in the superhero strength is that?” said someone who felt Zac was due some props. “Dude barely flicked his foot and sent that s**t flying lmao.”

“Impressive he kicked a pumpkin that far tbf,” wrote another who appreciates a good flick-on.

Zac soon shared a follow-up video showing that his job had in fact survived Pumpkin Gate.

“POV: Management lets you come back to work after the ‘pumpkin incident’ went viral,” said the caption.

Zac added in the comments: “Please stop calling me Mr. Pumpkin.”

Mr. Pumpkin really should have thought about that before he hoofed a spooky squash at someone’s head. If only it had been Peter Crouch on the end of it.