The Chili's Birthday Robot That Has TikTok Terrified
When it comes to restaurant celebrations, there seem to be countless ways to say happy birthday. If you're hungry for Italian on your special day, Olive Garden's happy birthday ballad is sung "in the true Italiano way" with lyrics referencing pasta and lasagna (per The Atlantic). Find yourself craving a birthday burger? Red Robin's take on the happy birthday tune wishes that all of your dreams will come true.
But out of the many alterations to the classic birthday song, Chili's birthday chant is one of the most iconic. The company even made a Facebook post on its anniversary in 2018 that parodied its famous "happy happy birthday" lyrics. However, it seems the "from the Chili's crew" portion of the proprietary happy birthday romp may soon be out of date. A video posted on TikTok has users of the social media platform horrified after revealing a robot's version of the well-known Chili's birthday song.
TikTok was left shaken by a robot singing the Chili's happy birthday song
The video that has TikTokers fearful for the future of birthdays at Chili's begins with a gray robot wheeling towards a booth at a location of the popular restaurant. The robot stops in front of the birthday star's table and, after a brief introduction where it states it heard it was their birthday, begins singing the usual Chili's birthday song solo.
The robot in the video, whose name is Rita, has been implemented in over 50 Chili's (via Forbes). Rita the robot performs numerous duties like transporting food to guests and, as shown in the video, delivering Chili's sacred birthday tune. While there are already numerous Ritas in Chili's across the U.S., according to Forbes the company plans to continue to place more of them throughout its remaining locations.
Based on the TikTok video's comments, fans of Chili's on the app are more mortified than impressed with Rita. One user wrote, "I'm literally terrified." Another posted, "It's all fun and games before the robot becomes self aware." One TikToker was mostly concerned with how awkward the robot's presence in the restaurant was, writing, "that's more embarrassing than the actual workers singing it😬😅."