Server says man specifically requested her to serve him. Then he makes a promise she can’t shake: ‘He wouldn’t take no for an answer’
A server’s story about a customer insisting on getting her number at work has sparked discussion about workplace harassment and consent involving servers.
TikToker Kelly Brooke (@kellybrooke.m) shared a storytime video describing the interaction that left her uneasy.
In the clip, which has garnered over 667,700 views, she describes two men who specifically asked to sit in her section.
“I want to talk about the guy who would not take no for an answer when asking for my number,” she begins, explaining that the encounter happened during a busy stretch leading up to Valentine’s Day.
She says the restaurant had been slammed all week, with servers turning multiple tables a night. Near the end of one shift, a co-worker told her a patio table had arrived and requested her specifically.
That surprised her, since she rarely has visitors at the restaurant. “Where my restaurant is is very far from where all of my friends live or work,” Kelly explains. “So it’s really rare that a friend will come in and visit me.”
She Didn’t Recognize the Customers
When she approached the table, she found two men she had never seen before. Trying to make sense of the request, she asked whether she had served them previously. One of the men told her they had not.
“No, we just saw you working here the other week and really wanted you to take care of us,” she recalls him saying.
She later learned from co-workers that the pair had declined an available table and chose to wait so they could sit in her section, which made the situation feel even stranger.
Despite that, she says the meal went normally at first. Eventually, one of the men left while the other stayed behind to pay the bill. When she returned with the change and started to walk away, the customer stopped her and asked for her number.
“I’m so sorry, I don’t give that out at work,” she says she told him.
She says he continued to push, asking if she might be willing to talk after her shift instead. Even after she repeated that she wasn’t interested and wasn’t dating at the moment, he kept pressing for an answer.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
After she confirmed her answer, she says he responded with an unsettling remark. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to keep coming back here and get to know you that way,” he said. “Then see you next week.”
She says what bothered her most wasn’t that he asked for her number, but the insistence was uncomfortable.
“I am not bothered that he shot his shot,” she explains. “But it’s the fact that no was said multiple times.”
Commenters Find the Behavior Seriously Concerning
“This isn’t strange, this is harassment,” one user wrote.
“‘No,’ does not mean, ‘convince me,’ another stated.
A server shared a similar story. “I had to tell someone, ‘this isn’t a negotiation,’” they said. “And the way my adrenaline spiked when I said it. It was the 4th time he’d asked me out that night, plus the whole table telling me he was a nice guy.”
Another described a different perspective. “I met my husband while I was a server,” they wrote. “He talked, he flirted, then he left HIS number and let me make the choice to contact him.”
Kelly responded, writing, “I love this. I’m such a romantic when stuff like this is organic and not coerced :’) good for you girl!!”
A Common Trope for Service Industry Workers
While it can be debated where this particular interaction falls in terms of harassment, harassment is concerningly common among hospitality workers.
On Reddit’s r/serverlife, an 18-year-old server wrote that “insanely rich men” continuously flirt with her and ask inappropriate questions.
A commenter under the post said they’re 44 and still have to ward off inappropriate behavior. “At this point the comments don’t bother me anymore, but I don’t let people touch me, and will call it out: ‘Please remove your hand from my back,’ ‘Please don’t grab my hand,’” they wrote.
“They never stop, unfortunately,” another commenter stated. “But you’ll get more comfortable responding to these types and keeping them sort of in line in a superficially polite and professional manner…”
@kellybrooke.m maybe I’m just over analyzing but this just felt… odd #storytime #server #serverlife #dating #valentinesday ♬ Nocturne (Chopin) calm piano solo – もつ
The Mary Sue has reached out to Kelly via email for comment.
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