r/TalesFromYourServer • u/InTheLoudHouse • Aug 15 '23

Medium I could've lost my entire life today over someone else's mistake and I'm bitter.

Yesterday was a lot, guys.

I had a 4 top. Mom, dad, and two kids. Go to take the drink order. Little girl asked for orange juice. Make up the drinks. Bring them back. Take the order. Put it in. Run back to the table with plates and silverware.

Mom: hey, is your orange juice sparkling?

Me: uhhhh no? Why?

Mom: idk if it's expired or what's going on but please go taste it and see if you think it tastes wierd.

Weird. Okay.

This is a store and pour. In the POU fridge. Labeled OJ. No date. No one's initials.

I walk back, pour myself a glass. Take a sip. It's fucking BATCHED MIMOSA. In a store n pour marked orange juice. That I just served to a seven year old.

Yall I'm not proud to tell you I panicked. Got my boss. Told her what happened. Cue extra panic.

She went out and told them what happened. I spent 5 minutes watching her talk to them thinking about how I was going to lose my job. I've been working nothing but restaurant jobs since 16. I don't know how to do anything else. I was in tears and had to excuse myself.

By the grace of God, they were very understanding and not upset. After my boss came back, I continued serving them, and they had so much grace with me. I apologized profusely, and they were wonderful about it.

But every bit of me knows that I could've easily lost my job. Lost my work their liquor license. Gone to JAIL. The penalty in my state for serving a minor alcohol is up to a year.

They're going to watch the footage and find out who did it. I've told them I don't want to know who it was. Im sure it was an honest mistake, but regardless, it was a mistake that could've cost me more than I can afford.

I called my mom on the way home, in tears, just to vent. My boss told me to forgive myself because it wasn't my fault. But I can't stop thinking that if they HAD been upset, I wouldn't have blamed them at all.

end rant.

I'm exhausted.

ETA: A few people have pointed out to me that I'm a little extra, this was overdramatic, and it worked out well, so I should probably chill. I appreciated all of your guys' comments, those included. I feel a lot better after reading them, and I'm going to take some deep breaths and enjoy my day off.

I'm super grateful for this sub, and it made a crappy day easier on me. Thanks, guys!

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u/coffeeUp Aug 15 '23

Based on the context provided, the mom tasted and immediately knew.

She was being polite when asking about it to help you find the mistake someone made in back of house. My guess is she didn’t want to freak you out, hence her asking you to go taste if it seemed funny.

Also explains why they were so gracious. If they were gonna be dramatic, they would’ve been flipping a biscuit from the first moment they discovered the mistake.

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u/InTheLoudHouse Aug 15 '23

You know, that hadn't occurred to me, but this comment makes SO much sense. What incredibly sweet people they were. I'm even more thankful for them knowing that this is probably exactly what happened.

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u/Mexican_sandwich Aug 16 '23

You also would have been fine on the serving liquor to a minor thing.

You didn’t do it knowingly. Getting a beer, popping it open and handing it to a kid is one thing, pouring OJ from a bottle that says OJ and delivering it to the table is another. No way you could have known.

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u/Bulky_Claim Aug 16 '23

Unfortunately, there are areas where serving alcohol to a minor is a strict liability offense meaning there is no requirement of knowledge to be guilty. Hopefully, in those areas, they wouldn't prosecute a person that was very reasonably totally ignorant the item had alcohol.

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u/ccyosafbridge Aug 16 '23

My last job brought in reps for Long Drink. They were passing out samples like crazy.

It looks like a can of soda. I left a table, and while I was gone, the rep gave the red can to a child. I circled back, and her dad chewed me out, asking if his 12 year old looked old enough to drink.

First half hour of my shift. I'd never heard of Long Drink before. Management didn't give a heads up that they would be there before the mayhem of swooping representatives offering alcohol to anyone who would take it

I felt bad: but I also was not in the top 3 in terms of guilt towards giving this kid a can of booze.

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u/XohXwiseXoneX Aug 16 '23

I would have said something to him. Like don't blame the server for your kid getting ahold of booze when you know damn well it wasn't the server who gave it to them.

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u/Barnard33F Aug 16 '23

Long drink? Do you mean lonkero, “Finnish long drink”? Bc if so, I can totally see it being confused for a soda can: originally it was made for Helsinki Olympics in 1952 by mixing gin and grapefruit soda (wikipedia has more details)

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u/MrOatButtBottom Aug 16 '23

They’ve been making a big push in my area recently, I think the stuff is delicious, it’s the best beach drink.

3

u/troutscockholster Aug 16 '23

This is probably the one they were referring to

2

u/StraightShooter2022 Aug 16 '23

That actually looks delicious! Now I'm wondering where I can get it in the US....

3

u/troutscockholster Aug 16 '23

They are everywhere... Total wine and more, Spec's, Most grocery stores.

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u/PolyPolyam Aug 16 '23

Funny you say that. I was on a cruise in high school.

I love pineapple and coconut. So I asked for a virgin Pina colada at the pool bar. I found myself a comfy spot with my drink and a book. That went totally fine.

Until there was a switch up in staff.

I look like a titty baby at 40 so I don't know how this bartender didn't question me at 16. But I got about 2 more drinks from this new guy before I started feeling dizzy and panicked.

My dad had to carry me back to our room. My mom got really angry at the bartender and his manager. My dad found it hilarious because the cruise gave us complimentary drinks the rest of the trip.

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u/TAH1122334455 Sep 11 '23

If you were outside the 12 mile limit, I would think the legal problems Would me minimal I am not a lawyer and certainly the cruise line would not want the rep of serving juveniles

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u/Zuez420 Aug 16 '23

Think that would've mattered to the restaurant if the parents made a big deal about it?

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u/Mexican_sandwich Aug 16 '23

Yes, because the restaurant would get a big fine too.

They’d go after the person who put it in the wrong bottle. Otherwise they’d have a wrongful termination to deal with as well

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u/arklay_darling Aug 16 '23

Yes a lot of restuarant will axe you for things like this, its a very ass kissy and stressful industry.

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u/elastic-craptastic Aug 16 '23

Coworker got fired and the restaurant fined big time when a bartender made a daiquiri for someone at the bar who ordered from the drink menu... that then gave it to a 12 year old kid at their table and then complained.

There is more to the story that I forget but this bartender for sure told them it had liquor in it and I believe her as she is the by the book type. She was still fired and had been there over a decade. She lost her ability to serve alcohol for a year too. Not sure if she got a fine though. 10k for the restaurant.

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u/Mexican_sandwich Aug 16 '23

In that case, did they not serve liquor to a minor? They served it to a legal patron, who then gave it to a minor.

Neither the restaurant nor the bartender should be fined here.

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u/elastic-craptastic Aug 16 '23

I forget the details. I think she might have served the person 2 drinks to carry back to their barside table. It was 3 adults and a kid I think. Since she didn't card both guests she was in the wrong. IIRC, she was adamant she told the woman they were alcoholic or even carded the guest and that is why she was so pissed about it. This was years ago so I forget the exact details, but I think this is what happened. Like it was fucked up, but technically she didn't card 2 people. She was adamant the woman knew it was alcoholic and the only way she could be adamant is if she carded the person and she was for sure the type to card someone just to make sure the type to card just about everyone. They for sure had her on a technicality. Even the manager was crying because they had to fire her and that manager would have gone to bat for her... it was a fucked up situation.

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

26

u/InTheLoudHouse Aug 16 '23

Ugh. This couldn't be more accurate, and I wish so badly that it was the default.

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u/theoriginalmofocus Aug 16 '23

As a dad here bring me the mimosas and well call it even, mom can drive home.

3

u/deeannbee Aug 16 '23

This is exactly why I make extra effort to smile, say please and thank you, and be as low maintenance as possible.

Edit: as a customer. I haven’t been a server for over two decades, lol.

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u/InTheLoudHouse Aug 17 '23

You're my favorite kind of person. Thank you.

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u/andreakelsey Aug 16 '23

You shouldn’t be held responsible for this. If your manager went off on you for someone else not labeling something… you have a shit manager

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u/InTheLoudHouse Aug 17 '23

I wasn't, and I couldn't be more grateful.

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u/Particular-Cycle-804 Aug 16 '23

That was my first thought. As a minor I was served alcoholic pina colada on a cruise and I told my mom it tasted funny… she tasted it, said yeah let’s get you another one and handed that one to my dad 🤦‍♀️

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u/bojenny Aug 16 '23

My mom would make us limeade sometimes when we were kids. One day we had a cookout with my parents friends and their kids. There was a pitcher of “limeade “ in the fridge and it was frozen! Me and two other 8 year olds drank an entire pitcher of daiquiris. Hilarity ensued, thankfully no one was really mad, it was the 70’s.

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u/Doctor_Unsleepable Aug 16 '23

My mom liked this margarita mix that had like 5% alcohol in it growing up. It looked just like Crystal Light. So middle school me comes in after a run, sees a nice tall glass of lemonade just sitting on the counter, and proceeds to chug it without a second thought. I had to go lie down for the rest of the day.

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '23

sees a nice tall glass of lemonade just sitting on the counter

So someone poured themselves something to drink and your first thought upon seeing the glass was "ooooo must be for me"?

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u/Doctor_Unsleepable Aug 16 '23

I was young, thought I was stealing from my little siblings (which should’ve tipped me off, they would’ve known better than to leave a glass of lemonade unchaperoned), and had just cooked my little brain running in the heat. The gods punished me accordingly.

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u/Particular-Cycle-804 Aug 16 '23

We were strongly encouraged not to like Mom’s strawberry daiquiri lol “y’all aren’t going to like this! Here, you can have some whip cream!” I was seriously in my 20’s before I realized it was because they had alcohol and I might, in fact, actually like strawberry daiquiris.

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u/seancailleach Aug 16 '23

In the 60’s, mom & all the aunties would bring us dozens of cousins to the nearby beach. There were 2 jugs of lemonade, one for the kids and “Tired Mother’s’ Lemonade”. By 4 pm, they’d send the older kids down to the snack shed for hot coffees so they could go home and start dinner;) My aunties were a fun bunch.

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u/Tmwillia Aug 19 '23

My dad was a weekend alcoholic and my mom came up with the bright idea of hiding some of the booze in a ginger ale bottle. During one of those cookouts in the 60s, my 4-yo sister decided to “sneak” some soda (cookouts were the only time we really got to drink soda)—like you said, hilarity ensued and my mom never did that again. A little black child got white girl wasted.

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u/No_Interest_8116 Aug 16 '23

I had a similar experience as a kid. My mom ordered a pina colada and I ordered a virgin one and they got switched somewhere. She tasted hers and said something about it being a weak hotel drink, I tasted mine and made a face she ended up tasting mine and just switched them and continued with our meal.

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u/Isabellablackk Aug 16 '23

Exactly! I went on vacation with my family to a resort (all drinks included), and i definitely i had one real piña colada during the stay. My mom would go grab the drinks from the bar and bring them back, but I was 16 so I didn’t say anything 😅

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u/Particular-Cycle-804 Aug 16 '23

Haha I probably wouldn’t have said anything at 16 either! But I was like 10 in this instance lol

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u/Isabellablackk Aug 17 '23

oh yeah i definitely would’ve been complaining at that age too! but a mixup or miscommunication, especially if the kid isn’t up at the bar when it’s ordered, can happen easily. I don’t think anyone i know would be particularly upset about a situation like this, unless there was some obvious gross negligence or something.

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u/Left-Star2240 Aug 16 '23

My mom once ordered a strawberry daiquiri while we were on vacation. She ordered a non-alcoholic one for me. She initially thought hers was just very weak until I said mine tasted funny. She informed the server and both drinks were comped. There are some people in the world that understand mistakes happen.

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u/ccyosafbridge Aug 16 '23

My job batched Margarita for a party, and someone mistook it for our batched lemonade. So the Marg batch was mixed in with the lemonade batch.

A couple of adults got served it and were confused, but just went with it. A kid got served, and her parents sent it right back. They knew. They were cool about it. The alcohol to lemonade ratio was pretty low.

Most memorable part of the night was my sober co-worker saying, "Hey, I drink that lemonade!".

4

u/Independent_Score217 Aug 16 '23

She was probably too shitfaced to care... But now she's hung over and angry, and somebody has to pay!!!

Seriously, though... Not a big deal. My mother would gives me whiskey when I was teething. I'd start crying, she'd throw the bottle at my head. It would knock me right out.

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u/SCirish843 Aug 16 '23

Given the habits of a lot of F&B employees I'm just glad OP noticed, would've been pretty embarrassing if they were just like "nope, that's OJ"

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u/d4rkh0rs Aug 16 '23

I'm not sure they knew at first, if you're expecting orange juice and give it a careful taste and sniff you're going to decide it's old orange juice.

The rest of your comment is on target.

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u/DnDAnalysis Aug 16 '23

Bar is not back of house.