Oklahoma Waitress Tries to Take a Man’s Order, Then, When She Offers to Modify Food, He Asks Her to Tell Him He’s ‘Awful’: ‘That’s So Weird’
Unacceptable behavior
In the United States, many people’s first job is as a waiter or waitress. Most of these individuals take up roles in the service industry as students to afford their education or as an extra source of income for daily expenses. It goes without saying that the job is difficult, I mean, all customer-facing jobs are, but this one especially so, if you ask me. Because, regardless of whether your customer is yelling insults at you, making uncomfortable remarks, or subjecting you to other forms of mistreatment, you’re expected to suppress your emotions, smile, and serve them. This, in my view, is a lot of emotional labor for a job that doesn’t pay that well, especially when you’re just starting out.
Just a day ago, TikTok user @gabrielle.emerson_, who works as a waitress, uploaded a video talking about how she encountered a man at her job who repeatedly misbehaved with her by making sexual comments. Wait, there’s more. He did all of this in front of his friends and family, and none of them said a word.
TikTok user @gabrielle.emerson_ narrates a story about an unruly customer
As previously mentioned, @gabrielle.emerson_ works as a waitress. She has been in the field for some time, which means she has already encountered all kinds of people: the good, the bad, and those in the middle. On June 9, 2026, she uploaded a video to her TikTok account highlighting a specific incident she experienced while serving a customer, which sparked a huge conversation on the platform.
Talking about the incident, @gabrielle.emerson_ in her TikTok video says that on the day she uploaded the video, she had to wait on a table at her workplace. She mentioned that from the beginning, the guy at the table was “weird.” Gabrielle said that after the guy asked for a drink, he told her he wanted Coke, water, and two glasses. Gabrielle, confused by the order, asked him to confirm his drink order, and he then said, “No, I just don’t want you to mix them. I want a Coke and a water and two glasses.”
Later, Gabrielle went to take the order for the table (the guy was also with friends or family), and the guy ordered something she really liked. She suggested that if he wanted, he could choose a combination of items that would make the meal taste better without extra charge, but also told him he could order what he liked. The guy responded, “Are you sure I can’t just throw it on the floor?” Gabrielle laughed and said he couldn’t, and he challenged her, asking, “Are you sure?”
Gabrielle recalls thinking that the guy just wanted her to keep saying no, and she couldn’t understand why. This back-and-forth about throwing food on the ground continued until the guy finally said, “I want you to tell me I’m awful.” After a while, he added, “Tell me, I’m bad.” When Gabrielle refused, he said, “Are you gonna tell me I’m good? Then tell me I’m good.”
Reflecting on the incident, Gabrielle states, “Mind you, this was a party of five people…He had four people, I’m guessing, like family or at least friends, in front of him. And they were all just sitting, letting him talk to me like this. Literally got to the point where my manager had to talk to the table because he was being, like, sexual.”
@gabrielle.emerson_ has attracted a lot of attention on TikTok
@gabrielle.emerson_’s story about having to wait on a guy who kept speaking in sexual undertones during their conversation has gained a lot of attention on TikTok, where she shared the story in a video. Almost everyone has criticized the incident, saying it is uncalled for. User @nevaeh.joness22 commented, “This is so weird. I would ask to have someone else take the table.” User @torixmc said, “people are so weird bro.”
Some people also shared their own experiences working as waitresses. User @hannah_winters23 said, “I had a guy ask me if my mom was as pretty as me and then told me he hated my dad for marrying her. I just blankly stared and walked away.” User @tasha_dunne mentioned, “When I was a server, I asked the table if I could do anything else for them and the dad said in front of his wife and teenage sons, “A little hand?” The sons laughed, and the wife’s face was sad, but she said nothing.
Individuals working as servers are immensely prone to customer harassment
An article published by Venipak on January 28, 2025, reports that a survey conducted by “Intra Research” in January 2025 with 610 service sector workers in Latvia found that more than half of these employees, including salespeople, waiters, and other providers, experience various forms of unacceptable customer behavior.
The majority of these incidents involve rude and inappropriate conduct (67%), refusal to pay for goods or services (27%), and threats (26%). In some cases, employees have reported physical abuse (4%) and sexual harassment (3%). The survey also shows that women are twice as likely as men to experience frequent abusive behavior, with 41% of women and 23% of men reporting such incidents.
(featured image: TikTok/@gabrielle.emerson_)
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