We’ve all had embarrassing moments when we’ve had a little bit too much to drink, but for one Applebee’s patron, her moment caused her to avoid the restaurant chain for good.
In the now-viral TikTok, which has been viewed 904,000 times as of Friday, Selena (@theatrewithselena) explained why she doesn’t dare to set foot in an Applebee’s again.
“One time, I got drunk in an Applebee’s and I really wanted a molten lava cake,” she recalled. “And so I looked at the waiter and said, ‘Hey, can I please have a molten lava cake?'”
She continued that the waiter looked at her like she had “five heads” before claiming they don’t serve molten lava cake.
“We don’t have that,” she recalled the waiter saying. “Did you mean the Triple Chocolate Meltdown?”
“Sorry, I was too drunk to call this lava cake by its Applebee’s Government name,” Selena said. “Like so sorry about that. I never went to that Applebee’s again. That was the most embarrassing moment of my life.”
@theatrewithselena ♬ original sound – selena
In the comments section, viewers shared their own similar stories of waiting staff being unusually rigid about a dish’s “government” name.
“They KNEW what you meant,” one said.
“They were offended you were thinking of Chili’s,” another added.
A third asked, “No, because why does McDonald’s have me saying ‘McCrispy’ out loud for a chicken sandwich?” while a fourth noted, “I’ll never forget when I was a teen at Starbucks I said Frappe (I thought that was the shorthand way to say it) and the guy said, ‘This isn’t McDonald’s.'”
However, former servers also took to the comments to explain that there actually might be a good reason for being this pedantic.
“When I’m doing a long shift in food service, if people don’t use the exact wording I get confused because there’s typically so many food options,” a commenter admitted.
“As a server, I will ALWAYS ask if you mean the government name because otherwise when ppl get it they tell me that’s ‘not what they ordered’,” another complained.
“We say the exact menu item to clear up any future issues about the ordering process and for employers,” a third echoed. “It really ain’t that serious.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Selena via email.
