Man asks Louisiana bartender to ‘surprise’ him with any flavor of High Noon. Her unfortunate pick leaves him dead silent: ‘I never did this again’

Anyone who has worked in the service industry has had an embarrassing moment or two. Regardless of the severity or how long ago the blunder occurred, the awkwardness can still live rent-free in your mind. A “surprise me” gone wrong during a bartending shift is what haunts this Louisiana server to this day. 

Dishing a Can of Cringe

“I’ll never forget when I was bartending. I had this married couple,” TikTok creator Brittany Norris (@brittanynorris_). “A white woman and a Black man. They say, ‘I want High Noons.”

She says the woman wanted pineapple and the man asked her to “surprise [him].”

“I get the goods. I say, ‘There’s your pineapple, my girl, and for [the man], there’s watermelon,’” she recalls telling the couple.

Immediately, it dawns on her how the harmless gesture could be interpreted as offensive. “No, no, no, no! I love watermelon,” the content creator reaffirms, crumbling from humiliation. “I didn’t get it cause I thought you would like watermelon. That’s not, that’s not.”

Still mortified, Norris reassures, “That’s genuinely my favorite flavor” in the caption.

To add insult to injury, she had an audience witness this. “The worst part was the couple sat down at a table of 8 and this happened in front of everyone!!!! the silence made me fold,” she elaborated in the comments section.

What Is A ‘Surprise Me’ In Bartending?

For those not familiar with this lingo, this is where a customer has the bartender choose or make the drink for them. This is most typical when they’re feeling indecisive or adventurous. With the information provided, the bartender crafts the perfect concoction tailored to the customer’s desires. 

When the bartender has complete control, they tend to serve their own preferred beverage or flavors, crossing their fingers and hoping for the best. This is what happened to Norris when she handed her ‘surprise me’ guest her favorite-flavored High Noon and inadvertently catered to a racial stereotype she didn’t intend to do. Essentially, this request is risky since they’re hit-or-miss.

Viewers Felt Second-Hand Server Embarrassment

In the comments section, many were horrified on her behalf and would’ve plagued their memory.

“Watermelon is the best flavor, but I’d think about this for the rest of my life,” one viewer commented.

“This is something that would wake me up in a cold sweat in 12 years,” another commented.

“Nooooo I would go into a shame spiral YEARS later thinking of that,” a third concurred.

“I would definitely die internally at least 3 times a year if this was me thinking about it,” a fourth said.

“It took me three watches to get it. I would be a puddle on the floor and wouldn’t stop thinking about this for decades,” a fifth stated.

More Humiliating Server Stories

Of course, Norris joins the servers dishing out their fair share of cringe-worthy experiences that had them crawling into their shell. Recently, one female server jokingly called a customer a ‘party animal.’

Why it landed miserably was because the customer was a recovering alcoholic. In March, a male server assumed the group of customers he was serving was a family rather than couples. But the mortifying part was the interaction where he mistook the middle-aged lesbian masc for a teenage boy and the woman’s girlfriend as her mother. While indeed awkward, the table ended up bursting into laughter.

@brittanynorris_ that’s genuinely my favorite flavor ? #bartender #dingbat #serviceindustry #storytime #humor ♬ original sound – brittany norris

The Mary Sue reached out to Norris via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment.

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