This past February, Coby Persin, a New York-based YouTuber, decided to do a little social experiment.
Coby is a 23-year-old with over three million YouTube subscribers, but he wanted to see how the world would treat him if they thought he was a homeless man.
Dressing in a few shabby items of clothing and carrying a garbage bag, Coby approaches the doorman of a restaurant.
He tells the man he needs a table for him and his friend Ronaldo— only for the doorman to immediately shut him down. “I’m sorry,” the doorman tells him. “We’re not going to be able to do that, sir.”
“This place is a little too expensive for you.”
Coby seems shocked. “You don’t have a menu I can see? I have money; I have a lot of money,” the YouTuber assures him. “It doesn’t matter,” the man responds.
“Can you please get away?”
“Go eat at McDonald’s— some other options but not here.”
Woooooooooow.
Coby then pulls out his cell phone to call a friend. As if the doorman wasn’t rude enough to the “homeless” YouTuber, he then repeatedly tells him to get away. On the phone, you hear Coby telling his friend the restaurant won’t serve them. Little does the doorman know, the YouTuber will be getting the last laugh…
Within a few seconds, a convertible Rolls Royce drives up to the restaurant. The driver grabs a suitcase which he then hands to the “homeless” man.
Approaching the doorman, Coby opens the suitcase to reveal a million dollars in cash. “Told you I had money,” he tells the doorman.
“You know what’s crazy? The way you judge people just by their appearance.”
“I might buy this spot just so I can fire you. You’re lucky.”
With that, Coby and Ronaldo hop into the Roll Royce and drive away.
As much as we hate to admit it, there’s still a big stigma around homelessness.
Earlier this year, a Myrtle Beach McDonald’s went viral for all the wrong reasons when staff was filmed kicking a homeless man out of the restaurant after a customer had bought him food. They had even phoned the police to ensure he left the premises… All he had been doing was trying to eat his meal.
Just this past October, another homeless man was kicked out of a Denny’s in Fresno despite other patrons’ protests. According to the woman who filmed the video, the man had been sitting quietly for 25 minutes and had not done anything disruptive.
Since being uploaded to YouTube, Coby’s social experiment has been viewed 9.5 million times.
It was even featured by media outlets such as LADBible, This Is Insider, Refinery 29, and UK Business Insider. It’s always nice to see a jerk get put in their place, and the video serves as a refreshing reminder to never judge a book by its cover.
“People say the waiter was just doing his job… No, he took it a step further and told him to go eat at McDonald’s and had attitude.”
“I wouldn’t want to eat there knowing that rude and judgmental people like that are working there.”
“People should never judge a book by its cover. I applaud what you did.”
Watch Coby’s video below!
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