Woman claims bartender ‘shamed’ her after ordering a soda

A bartender is used to serving non-alcoholic drinks whether that be a mocktail or just a plain soda.

One woman, named Jaeda, recently took to TikTok to explain what happened when she was the designated driver for her friend group. “Am I overreacting here? This made me kinda annoyed haha,” she captioned her video.

“My personal opinion is that if you’re not drinking and you ask a bartender for, like, a non-alcoholic drink, they shouldn’t be making fun of you in front of other people,” Jaeda said.

Despite not being a big partier, she explained that she decided to go out because it is her senior year of college. Jaeda continued saying that she isn’t a large drinker because she never “got into it” and was also the driver, so she went to the bar planning on ordering a non-alcoholic drink.

Usually, she orders water, but this time she ordered a Sprite.

However, the bartender gave her an “attitude” as they replied saying, “Just a Sprite?”

Jaeda decided to brush off the interaction because plenty of people have ordered soda at a bar before, but her problem was when she was handed the soda. Compared to the rest of her group, who had all of their drinks in “fun, cute little cups”, hers arrived in a large soda cup.

To not stick out in the crowd with a different cup, she asked the bartender to switch glasses and he then gave her the “meanest look” before doing it.

“I’m like, do you not realise, I’m kind of trying to fit in here with the crowd?” she said in her video. “Like, giving me a huge cup that clearly is this big soda cup is gonna make me look different than everyone else when I’m just trying to fit in and not get asked questions.”

She had some theories regarding the bartender’s attitude, like maybe he knew that he would make less money on a soda compared to an alcoholic beverage.

But she firmly believed that bartenders should be on the side of the non-drinker and not peer pressure them into consuming something they don’t want to.

After posting, Jaeda’s TikTok went on to receive over 400,000 views with multiple bartenders writing in the comments section to explain why they are trained to serve non-alcoholic drinks in different glasses.

“I work at a bar – we have to really pay attention if someone orders a plain soda bc people try to sneak in their own alcohol. If they do that and something happens the bar can lose their liquor licence. Super frustrating for non-drinkers, I’m sorry they made you feel this way!!!!” one comment read.

Another commenter agreed, writing, “Usually the cups are for specific drinks so the cup he gave you was the one he had to use. Not every bar used the same cups for non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks.”

Other commenters opened up about their own experiences with bartenders and ordering a regular soda.

“I got picked on by a bartender for ordering soda water the other day :/ I can’t drink for medical reasons,” one commenter recalled.

“Ordered a Shirley temple at a bar with my bf (2 yrs sober) and they gave me a dirty shirley. I was so mad,” another story read in the comments.