An Olive Garden customer says she was accused of having a fake ID, sending her on a frustrating journey in which she was just trying to get her drink on.
The TikTok video detailing the odyssey came from creator @j.c.22, who shouted out “the lady at Olive Garden who said my driver’s license was obviously a fake & refused to serve me alcohol,” got more than 45,000 views since putting it up on Monday.
Soundtracked to an appropriate snippet of “Bottoms Up” by Trey Songz featuring Nicki Minaj, the TikToker remarked via on-screen caption, “I’m 24 and just wanted to enjoy a date without my tiny humans.”
@j.c.22 Bro. The 18/20 yo at meijers then refused to sell me a bottle of wine even though my husband and I have identical worn out South Carolina drivers licenses. I got salty with him, told him i was going to need him to go find an adult, he showed up with another very you g adult who also agreed my ID looked fake, so i told them to go fund a real adult, someone old enough to be their pareant.. they reluctantly did & Sure enough the adult knew my id was real and let me have a bottle of wine. @Olive G
She also noted, in a follow-up on-screen caption, “I still tipped. But only 20% because I’m mad mad and big sad.”
The caption went on to detail what became an even more complicated evening starring her suspect ID. “Bro. The 18/20 yo at meijers then refused to sell me a bottle of wine even though my husband and I have identical worn out South Carolina drivers licenses,” she said.
It continued, “I got salty with him, told him i was going to need him to go find an adult, he showed up with another very young adult who also agreed my ID looked fake, so i told them to go fund a real adult, someone old enough to be their parent.”
She then revealed, “They reluctantly did & sure enough the adult knew my id was real and let me have a bottle of wine.”
The TikTok video led others to jump in the comments section to talk about their own travails with servers and grocery store workers believing they weren’t old enough to drink.
“Had that under 21 license till I was 26,” one noted. “MD does this, wouldn’t accept any vertical license regardless of age.”
Another South Carolinian commiserated, “I went to food lion to buy beer for my mother in laws party, and they had 4 people check my over 21 license…”
“I’ve had people accuse my Alaska ID of being fake in Colorado because there’s less security,” another shared. “Like who’s gonna get a fake from Alaska.”
One tried to stick up for the workers, saying, “I mean they’re just doing their job, if it’s vertical they won’t take it, if that’s their policy then oh well, find a place that will take your ID.”
But the creator corrected that critic. “That’s not true lol they’ve accepted my if multiple times. They just wouldn’t this time.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to Olive Garden via email.
*First Published: Jul 18, 2023, 1:05 pm CDT
Phil West
Phil West is a veteran professional writer and editor, and the author of two books on soccer, ‘The United States of Soccer,’ and ‘I Believe That We Will Win,’ both from The Overlook Press. His work has appeared most recently in The Striker, where he serves as managing editor, MLSSoccer.com, Next City, and Texas Highways. Based in Austin, he is also a lecturer in the Writing Program at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
