According to reports, Tom Oswald is an 18-year-old from South Australia who had ambitions of veering away from the more conventional paths directly after high school.
Considering himself done with education for the time being, Oswald decided to take a risk: he opened a small cafe in the town of Handorf, southeast of Adelaide.
The teenager put a lot of heart, sweat, tears, and money into this venture, resulting in a cozy little establishment that he was looking forward to welcoming patrons to.
But Tom was reportedly left devastated when he opened up shop… and didn’t see a single customer. He took to TikTok to share this heartbreaking experience in a video that’s since gone viral.
Tom’s eye-watering confession has racked up more than two million views, while Tom himself earned plenty of online fans quick to offer him support.
“This makes me so sad tell me where this is so I can come please,” one user commented.
“Me checking flights just to come and support this man’s cafe,” another added.
“We’ve got a group coming up to Hahndorf in a couple of weeks – we’ll come in for coffee!” a third said.
Watch Tom’s TikTok here, or below:
@homeboy.co Still waiting for a customer #sad #adelaide #hahndorf #paintok
Tom explained how he worked in another cafe for two years to acquire the experience needed to run his own. He admitted that there was room for improvement when it came to his coffeemaking skills, but insisted he’s continually striving to get better.
“I’m 18, just out of high school, currently on a gap year and this project is the only thing I’ve ever worked on,” the 18-year-old told News Corp.
“I’m either at the shop working or working from the outside, finding ways I can improve the business in any way I can.”
