When out to dinner with friends, you might not always take a sip of your beverage and wonder if it is in fact what you asked for.
Unless it’s ginger ale.
Some servers have made customers wise to a sneaky trick used in some establishments for customers who order the ginger-flavored soda: mixing cola and a lemon-lime soda to get the right color and a similar flavor.
One customer says she suspects her ginger ale order received this treatment. In a video posted to TikTok by user Natalie (@nnataliepaige) that has drawn over 221,000 views, she suggests her ginger ale isn’t what she ordered.
“Genuinely didn’t want to believe that restaurants actually mix sprite and coke to make gingerale (?) but we were proven wrong, you can’t tell me this is gingerale,” a text overlay on the video reads.
In the video’s caption, Natalie says that when she asked her server if the restaurant offered ginger ale they paused before answering in the affirmative, which in turn gave her pause when she received her suspect drink.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Natalie via email regarding the video.
Where did this practice come from?
Videos implying servers use this trick have long circulated on social media, with some confirming that they have used closer to a 30-70 than 50-50 ration of cola to lemon-lime soda to imitate both the color and flavor of ginger ale if it is not an option in back of house.
This seems handy—but can it hurt someone?
While it might not appear at first glance to be something that could harm someone, a counterfeit ginger ale can cause serious problems for customers if they have any medical conditions precluding them from drinking caffeinated soda. Most colas—Pepsi and Coca-Cola, to name common ones—do contain caffeine, which can be detrimental to folks with a variety of medical conditions, even in small amounts.
Even beyond the caffeine content, customers might be opting to order a ginger ale instead of a cola or lemon-lime soda because they are allergic to ingredients in either or both. It is unlikely for a customer to disclose such an allergy to a server if they believe they are being served what they asked for.
Viewers weigh in
Some viewers shared that they had employed the exact tactic mentioned in the video to meet customer requests for a ginger ale when they did not serve it.
“Former waitress here – I did this all the time except for that customer who said she was allergic to caffeine and asked if it was real ginger ale because it doesn’t have caffeine in it,” one commenter wrote.
“Fully knowing you’re at OG and being an OG server we do in fact do this. but if your server likes you we can get actual ginger ale from the bar,” another said.
“Whenever people ask for ginger ale I tell them I can make it and I haven’t gotten any complaints as long as they have a heads up,” a further user added.
@nnataliepaige the server literally paused when she asked if they have gingerale and was like “um yes we do” and came out with this 🤣 #fyp #foryoupage #trending #viral #funny #gingerale #restaurant ♬ original sound – NickiMVerses – 𝑷𝑭𝑹 𝑹𝑬𝑪𝑶𝑹𝑫𝑺™
Others expressed that they found the practice odd, if dishonest to the customer.
“I don’t understand why any place would do this?” one commented. “Why wouldn’t they just say no? It makes no sense.”
“We have ginger ale but if we didn’t i would just say we don’t have it ??” another commenter wrote. “that’s so weird.”
“It’s actually so f*cking rude when servers do this because why am I paying $3 for something I don’t want!!!” a third said. “Speaking as a previous server.”
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