A TikTok creator recently took to the app to share an experience at Olive Garden that left her and her partner giving side-eye.
Creator Meagan (@comebackt0earth) in May posted a video of the couple, both of whom are women, eating at the chain Italian restaurant. “When it’s our 10 month anniversary but the waiter says ‘so did you guys come from somewhere why are you dressed up,’” the on-screen text reads.
The video has 2.2 million views and almost 257,000 likes.
@comebackt0earth if i had a dollar for everytime someone referred to us as besties #fyp #wlw ♬ Coconut Mall (From "Mario Kart Wii") – Arcade Player
She captioned the video, “if i had a dollar for everytime someone referred to us as besties.”
“Every time we go to olive garden the waiters say ‘its so nice of your sister to pay for your dinner,’” one commenter wrote in solidarity.
“‘And that’ll be separate cheques ladies?’ No, we’re married, one cheque thanks,” another commented.
“The night of my wedding my wife and I checked in to our hotel room both in wedding dresses and the hotel guy was like ‘you know it’s only one bed?’” someone commented.
“Time to hold hands and kiss as u see the waiter walking by,” a viewer chimed in.
A few commenters didn’t think that the interaction was out of line. “How exactly are strangers supposed to know?” one comment read. “The waiter is magically supposed to know it’s an Anniversary? Even with a straight couple they could’ve still been coming from an event,” another read.
Members of the LGBTQ community are familiar with the struggles to maintain visibility in a society that places their relationships on the margins. Heteronormativity is the assumption that everyone is straight, according to Verywell Mind, which adds that it can lead to poor mental health for queer people.
According to a 2021 study published in PLoS One, being in a public space associated with minority stress (like the threat of discrimination) decreases the enjoyment of public displays of affection for LGBTQ people.
Also, food for thought: “For heterosexual couples in the West, holding hands with a partner for the first time is a relationship milestone that often happens without much concern for what strangers might think. But for gay and queer couples, such a seemingly simple act can carry much more weight,” according to a 2018 article from the New York Times.
The Daily Dot reached out to Meagan via Instagram direct message and Olive Garden via email.