When it comes to food serving sizes, portions are usually measured out in terms of weight and not individual pieces. There are exceptions, of course, especially when it comes to fast-food restaurants that have fairly accurate/uniform servings for their menu items. For instance, you’re not asking the McDonald’s drive-thru employee for 355 grams of McNuggets—you’re paying for a 20-piece.
But for items that are not mechanically separated, like vegetables or cuts of meat at restaurants, customers are typically given amounts based on how much they weigh. An average customer wouldn’t ask how many string beans or collard green leaves they’re getting for their dinner side.
Or perhaps they would—like this one customer TikToker Katie Biggar (@katiebiggar0) came into contact with during a shift. The customer allegedly wanted to know how many Brussels sprouts she was receiving in an order she placed.
@katiebiggar0 ♬ original sound – Katie Biggar
“Served for 11 hours today. No break. All right? Zilch,” Biggar starts in the clip. “This lady is like, ‘I want a side of Brussels sprouts’ and I’m like I love those amazing.”
Biggar says the customer then proceeded to ask her how many Brussels sprouts come in it.
She says, “I’m like, ‘oh I mean the bowl’s like this big.’” The TikToker then uses her hands to indicate the size of the bowl, but Biggar says the customer explained that they wanted to know the precise number of sprouts that come in the meal. “She’s like, ‘but how many?’ and I was like, ‘I’d say a normal amount.”
Biggar says the customer seemed shocked that she couldn’t get an exact number of sprouts that were coming with her order. “You don’t know?” the server says the woman asked.
“No, I’ve actually never like counted them individually,” was Biggar’s response. “And she was like, ‘why?’ Because, I, I have side work, like what do you say? You don’t.”
TikTokers who responded to Biggar’s post also thought that the customer’s request was a bizarre one. One user wrote, “Because I’m not a PSYCHOPATH JANET!” while another said, “I haven’t counted them because I’m WORKING not standing around counting Brussels sprouts.. ?”
Many users chimed in with the responses they would’ve had in this situation.
“‘Because in all my years working here no one has ever asked me how many brussel sprouts come in a bowl,” a user shared
A common response that servers had was that they tell customers who ask for individual portion amounts that the meals are measured by weight.
“I make up a number but in ounces so they can’t correct me when it’s wrong. ‘Oh they’re prepared in 15oz portions’ it’s a lie but it works!”
Someone else remarked, “‘Portions are measured out in weight and brussel sprouts vary in size, so the amount isn’t always exact.’” Another said that this tactic works for them as well, writing, “Whenever people ask how many I just say we weigh it so depends on the size and then I make up a number. I lie so much.”
Restaurant servers have reported an uptick in rude behavior they’ve received from customers following the COVID-19 pandemic, something that the Guardian has reported as ultimately being counterproductive to patrons.
The article cites talk show host James Corden as an example, writing, “The restaurant’s owner, Keith McNally, claimed on Instagram that he had temporarily banned Corden after he was ‘extremely nasty’ to staff on two occasions.”
The outlet went on to state that “Psychologists say restaurants are some of the best laboratories for observing human power dynamics at play. ‘Social hierarchy has a big role in whether individuals are rude to others,’ said Dr. Daniel Redhead, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Biggar via TikTok comment.
