Waitress sparks debate after refusing alcohol to a pregnant woman

A waitress has sparked a fierce debate online after admitting she secretly served a woman she thought was pregnant non-alcoholic cocktails.

Taking to Reddit the unnamed waitress asked whether she was an asshole for serving a pregnant woman a non-alcoholic cocktail?

The woman opens up by explaining she has been waiting tables for three years and was serving a group of friends one night.

They ordered a round of cocktails to start the night, and she happily brought them their order.

But as she passed the table again, she overheard them talking about how one of the women was pregnant.

“About five minutes later, they called me over again and asked for another round,” she continued. “At this point I started getting concerned, but I took the order and cheerfully said I'd be right back. This time, I went to the bartender, and asked him to make one of them a virgin cocktail.”

The friends continued to drink more, with “Mrs. Pregnant” joining in the rowdiness seemingly unaware her drinks were non-alcoholic. And even though the bartender had marked the cocktails as ‘virgin’ on the table’s receipt, she didn’t notice at first and they left the restaurant without incident.

“Several minutes later Mrs. Pregnant woman came back and asked what (virgin) on the receipt meant. I fessed up that it meant non-alcoholic,” the post continued.

“She blank stared me for a few seconds and then asked if she had ordered a non-alcoholic cocktail. I said no, but told her that I assumed she wanted one seeing as she was pregnant. It was a lame lie and I'll admit it, but she looked me in the eye and asked me to return her part of the tip. I did so. Then she talked to my manager.”

The waitress revealed she’s been stood down indefinitely, with everyone at the restaurant believing she did the wrong thing.

However, she explained that she did it because she didn’t want to be responsible should the baby develop Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

FASD is the term used to describe the lifelong physical and/or neuro-developmental impairments that can result from fetal alcohol exposure.

Her post sparked a huge debate with 3000 people commenting in less than 24 hours.

“Unless you saw the woman pee on a pregnancy test, you had no way of knowing for sure that she was pregnant. She could have been talking about someone else,” one person wrote.

“I've spent most of my working years in food service, and half of that time has been in management. If I was your manager, I would've fired you on the spot. While I agree that pregnant women shouldn't be drinking, you NEVER change a customer's order without their consent,” was another response.

“You don’t get to decide what another person of legal age decides to consume. Mind your own business,” a third commented.

Overall she was voted to be the asshole in the equation, but there were many that also defended her actions, although suggested she should have gone about it a different way.

“She should have just straight up refused to serve the woman any alcohol,” one person wrote.

“You had good intentions,” one person wrote.

“Women who drink while pregnant disgust me to no end. I’ve seen FAS. I can’t believe anyone would willingly do that to their child,” was another person’s furious response.

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