PARAMUS — On the last day of a Bergen Community College professor's career, she had one final lesson to teach: treat others as you would like to be treated.

Elin Schikler, a former speech professor at BCC, was featured recently on "What Would You Do?," a hidden camera reality show that puts people in ethical dilemmas to see how they react. In Schikler's case, breakfast at the local Tom Sawyer Diner turned sour when she witnessed a deaf customer being berated by a waiter.

Unbeknownst to Schikler, both men were actors, while hidden cameras around the restaurants captured her every reaction.

Schikler was meeting a friend and fellow professor, Andy Krikun, for breakfast at the diner on her last day of work before she retired from the college in May after 29 years. The diner was a regular spot for Schikler to grab food and has visited the restaurant at least 20 times in the past.

Although she didn’t recognize the waiter, Schikler said she didn’t think much about it at the time, assuming he was just a new hire. She was seated very close to another table when she arrived, where a waiter started saying "nasty things" to a deaf patron.

"His non-verbal demeanor was really snotty too," said Schikler. "I got angry immediately so I kind told him off."

Even though it was her last day as a professor, Schikler made sure to mention her years of experience to teach the waiter a lesson.

"I'm professor of communication skills," said Schikler to the waiter in the video. "You have none."

Since Krikun arrived after Schikler, he didn’t seem some of the antics that the actor posing as a waiter had done. After he was seated, he could see Schikler was visibly upset before she explained the situation.

"I asked her if she wanted to leave and go somewhere else, but she said 'no, I want to make sure that this waiter gets reprimanded for the way he’s treating this customer,'" said Krikun.

Once the set up was revealed, both Schikler and Krikun were in shock, as they hadn’t heard about the television show before.

"I was grateful that I didn’t curse," said Schikler with a laugh. "There would have been a lot of bleeping because I have a bad temper."

Standing up for the deaf customer was a natural response for Schikler, who called herself “a very sensitive person.” Born in 1947, Schikler grew up with dyslexia during a time when it wasn’t really understood like it is today, resulting in her getting called hurtful names during her elementary school days.

"I hurt very easily for other people," said Schikler. "I know what it feels like to be called names."

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Schikler wasn’t the only diner patron to get duped by the camera show that day; she and Krikun were moved to another part of the diner while the same setup was tried on new customers. Schikler had no idea if her reaction would make the final cut, until she heard from her sister on a Friday night in August that she was in a preview for the new episode.

"Luckily, I was only five minutes away," said Schikler. "If she hadn't called, I would have missed seeing myself on TV."

Schikler said the experience made her feel good, but believes many others would have done the same thing.

“There’s a lot of nice people out there,” said Schikler.

Stephanie Noda is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: noda@northjersey.com Twitter: @snoda11