A girls’ night crew hit the pub for drinks and laughs, only for the waiter to slime in with: “Your boyfriends actually let you out alone? I’d keep beauties like you locked up.” Cringe leveled up when he served every cocktail perfect, but popped open her soda while her friend’s identical can stayed sealed.
She calmly asked for an unopened one, he exploded, accused her of insulting him, and froze the entire table out with venomous service. Her friends turned on her for “ruining the night.” One sleazy creep turned gossip into a hostage situation.
Read the full story below:
Many may have endured the over-the-top flirty waiter who thinks negging is foreplay, but combining creepy possessiveness jokes with handing a woman the only drink that arrives pre-opened? That’s a legitimate safety alarm.
The Redditor never accused him outright, she simply requested the same sealed can her friend received. A professional server would have swapped it instantly with an “of course, no problem.” Instead, he became aggressively defensive, insisted she drink the opened one, and called her request “absurd.” That reaction alone turns a yellow flag crimson.
As clinical psychologists Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend explained in their 1992 book Boundaries, as quoted in Psychology Today: “The first thing you need to learn is that the person who is angry at you for setting boundaries is the one with the problem… Maintaining your boundaries is good for other people; it will help them learn what their families of origin did not teach them: to respect other people.” His escalation fits that pattern perfectly.
Broader picture? Drink tampering isn’t some urban legend. According to a 2022 study published in the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 6.4% of surveyed female bar patrons in the UK reported suspected drink spiking in the previous 12 months, with higher rates among women aged 18–24.
Even if this particular soda was clean (and most of us wouldn’t bet our neurological system on it), teaching women to override their gut to “keep the peace” is exactly how predators groom environments.
Relationship therapist Dulcinea Pitagora, PhD, LCSW, explains in a SELF article that excessive sarcasm, a mean sense of humor, or jokes that regularly point out your flaws can represent “a nonconsensual way to leverage power in the relationship.”
The waiter’s opening line wasn’t harmless bar banter, it was a litmus test for who would laugh along and who would push back. When the Redditor didn’t play along, his mask slipped.
Bottom line: requesting an unopened drink in front of you isn’t “making a scene”, it’s basic adulting in 2025. Friends who prioritize a waiter’s ego over a friend’s safety might need new friends, or at least a serious chat about whose comfort matters most at that table.
These are the responses from Reddit users:
Some people say NTA because the waiter’s behavior was highly suspicious and safety must come first.
Some people say NTA and insist the waiter almost certainly tampered with the drink.
Some people criticize the waiter’s unprofessionalism and the friends for blaming OP instead of backing her.
At the end of the night, one opened soda and a bruised ego later, our Redditor walked out unharmed because she refused to ignore multiple blazing red flags. Was it worth the awkwardness and the side-eye from friends? Most of the internet says absolutely yes.
So tell us: would you have drunk the soda to “not make a fuss,” or are you team “better safe than sorry” too? How do you handle friends who think your safety concerns are drama? Drop your take below!
