Waitress who secretly served pregnant customer's cocktails without alcohol could lose job

A waitress is reportedly facing the sack for deciding not to give alcohol to pregnant women in their cocktails because she thought that it was 'right'.

In a post on the "Am I the a*****" Reddit, the server explained:

I have waited tables for the last three years.

A group of women in the late 20s entered the restaurant.

During my shift last night, a group of four women in their late 20s came in. They were a pleasure to have as customers. They ordered four of our house cocktails to start with and then went over the menu for their entrees.

The server overheard them talking about ordering drinks.

When I was on my way back to their booth with the drinks on a tray, I walked by the back side and overheard one of them talking about how she was 14 weeks along. When I rounded back, they were talking about the same topic and it was clear to me that she was pregnant. I figured her having one drink wasn't a big deal. They ordered their entrees and I went off to handle other tables.

When they asked for another round, she started to get concerned...

About five minutes later, they called me over again and asked for another round. At this point I started getting concerned, but I took the order and cheerfully said I'd be right back. This time, I went to the bartender, and asked him to make one of them a virgin cocktail. He was confused but since he's a good friend of mine, I told him to just trust me.

A few cocktails later (hers strictly virgin) they started getting rowdy, and Mrs. Pregnant Woman was also getting into it. I figured that since she didn't notice, things were OK. The problem came when I took them their check, and they asked to split the bill at the register. When Mrs. Pregnant Woman got to the counter, I saw her cocktails were marked with (virgin). My bartender had edited each in the system for inventory.

She hoped that they wouldn't look at the receipt.

It was too late for me to edit them back, so I just had her pay, hoping that she wouldn't look at the receipt. They all thanked me and left, leaving a generous tip in the process. They were talking in the parking lot for the next short while, presumably waiting for an Uber.

When the waitress' manager found out, she was not happy.

Several minutes later Mrs. Pregnant Woman came back and asked what (virgin) on the receipt meant. I fessed up that it meant non-alcoholic. She blank stared me for a few seconds and then asked if she had ordered a non-alcoholic cocktail. I said no, but told her that I assumed she wanted one seeing as she was pregnant. It was a lame lie and I'll admit it, but she looked me in the eye and asked me to return her part of the tip. I did so. Then she talked to my manager. My manager took me into her office and literally shrieked at me until hoarse.

She also said that her parents were on her side.

I stood my ground and told her that I'm not going to be responsible for FAS. She told me that she was taking me off the calendar until she decided what to do with me. She also informed me that I could get the restaurant in serious trouble for discrimination, and upon examination of my state's laws, she is correct.

But when I talked to my mother and father about it tonight, they told me that they understood my position. The entire staff at the restaurant is against me and I think that I'm going to call in and tell my manager that I quit, but I still feel in the right here. I would like some perspective on this and if I'm the a**hole here.

Many other Reddit users shared their opinions.

Some weren't sure if they were on the side of the server, or the pregnant women.

Esh but you had good intentions.

She sucks for obvious reasons, you suck because you had no way to prove she was a pregnant, you altered her drink without informing her, and you made a big decision without speaking to your manager.

Edit: if she isn't pregnant, OP is the sole a****** here (for the same reasons mentioned above). OP won't even expand upon what he overheard, just keeps quoting himself saying she was definitely pregnant.

And to the snarky a****** saying"is that the only way to tell if someone is pregnant?" and "let me just carry a test around": Obviously not, but this also isnt about the customer trying to prove she's pregnant, it's about OP and his choice to assume the customer is pregnant simply by overhearing a conversation. OP could've ASKED the customer, but he still should've talked to his manager first before altering someone's food without telling them.

Others were on the side of the pregnant woman.

But the woman doesn’t suck for obvious reasons.

OP didn’t actually know for sure that she was pregnant, no matter what they thought they heard.

She may have been talking about a past pregnancy (or worse, past miscarriage), someone else, a surrogate carrying for her, or even just a play in which she was acting as a pregnant woman.

And even if she WAS pregnant, she may have been planning to terminate soon.

IF she was pregnant, for all OP knew, the woman was going to have to terminate a wanted pregnancy due to fatal fetal defects, the woman’s friends took her out to make her feel better, and the OP came along and made her feel worse.

Another suggested that the server should have passed the table on to another server.

Where I live (Ontario, Canada) OP could be sued out the ass for sex discrimination; can't refuse or alter service based on pregnancy because it's considered a human rights violation.

So could the bartender, manager, and business itself. What OP should have done is ask to transfer the table to another server if he or she morally disagreed with the woman's choice to drink while pregnant.

While another said that if they were her manager, they would have fired her.

YTA. I've spent most of my working years in food service, and half of that time has been in management.

If I was your manager, I would've fired you on the spot.

While I agree that pregnant women shouldn't be drinking, you NEVER change a customer's order without their consent.

If you had an issue with her drinking, you should have taken it to your manager and let her deal with the situation.

Another had very strong thoughts on the issue.

You don’t get to decide what another person of legal age decides to consume. Mind your own business.

HT Someecards

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