A California ramen shop could not break a customer’s $100 bill, then the argument escalated into shouting about ICE

A dispute over change at a Southern California ramen shop has turned into one of TikTok’s latest viral confrontations. A video posted by @muhchanic4u shows a customer at MoneyKey Ramen in Simi Valley shouting at staff and other diners after the restaurant could not break her $100 bill, according to The Nerd Stash.

Per the video’s caption, staff told the woman they did not have change for the $100 bill, and she became rude with them. The caption claims a staff member named David told her to stop being dramatic, which is when the situation escalated. The clip appears to show her repeatedly shouting at the people around her to “vote red,” mixed with curse words.

The woman has not been identified, and the caption’s account of what led up to the video has not been independently verified. MoneyKey Ramen has not publicly commented on the incident. According to the caption, police were called, but officers did not arrive until after the woman had already left the restaurant.

The customer accused the restaurant of opposing ICE before turning on other diners

In the footage, the woman can be heard asking people nearby whether they know “what a woman is,” and she claims that someone called her a slur, demanding an explanation. She also says she had been to the restaurant before and accuses the business of being against ICE. The argument moves further away from the original $100 bill as the video goes on.

Several people in the restaurant tried to calm things down. One bystander reminded the woman that children were present and told her she was escalating the situation, while another offered to give her change. Someone else suggested that staff take her photo so they would recognize her if she came back, and those present eventually told her to leave.

Near the end of the video, the woman uses an anti-gay slur while insulting two people in the restaurant. However, she keeps calling the people around her names until the recording ends, and the clip does not show her leaving. The caption only says that she was gone by the time police arrived at the Simi Valley restaurant.

Several viewers in the comments sided with the staff and the other diners, with some saying they were surprised the restaurant let the confrontation go on for as long as it did. Others pointed out that the woman kept circling back to the same points instead of walking away, and a few focused on how quickly the politics took over a dispute about change.

The clip adds to a run of viral videos showing strangers’ outbursts aimed at people simply going about their day, as a woman’s outburst during a couple’s proposal showed. In Simi Valley, the trigger was nothing more than a request for change on a $100 bill at the register, and the argument that followed played out with children present.

Many small restaurants keep a limited amount of cash on hand, and some turn away large bills to avoid running short of change early in a shift. However, the caption does not say whether MoneyKey Ramen has a policy on large bills, only that staff could not make change for her at that moment.

MoneyKey Ramen may address the incident if the video keeps spreading, and more details about the call could emerge if Simi Valley police release information about their response.