Los Angeles woman brings $4 bottle of CVS wine to restaurant. Then a server tells her about the corking fee: ‘Who does this?’

The world of wine, fine dining, and the like can be a bit esoteric. Etiquette in these spheres tends to be rooted in centuries-old cultural practices that aren't necessarily intuitive for 21st century diners. So it's always nice when servers and hosts are patient with younger, more inexperienced diners who haven't been brought up to speed.

Enter server Kristin Screnci, who's going viral on TikTok for demonstrating said patience. She's being applauded for showing grace to a couple of young women who had never heard about one particular facet of wine-drinking at upscale restaurants.

‘Y'all Need To Be Very Careful'

In a video first posted on April 13 that has since accumulated over 28,000 views, server Kristin Screnci (@kscrenci on TikTok) shared a heartwarming story about educating young diners on an obscure bit of restaurant protocol.

“I work at a pretty fancy restaurant, and last night, these two really young girls came in, I'm thinking probably newly 21,” Screnci begins in her video. “And I watch the maître d' seat them, and he places a bottle of, like, the Stella Rose blush wine down on the table, like, $4 from CVS wine.”

Screnci says she sees one of the girls readying to open the wine bottle, and dashes over to stop her. Why? Because of the fee attached.

“And so I run over, and as I'm going … one girl's already screwing the top off, getting ready to pour,” Screnci recounts. “I'm like, ‘Hey, hey, hey,' you know. ‘I'm Kristen, [and] I'm here to take care of you. I just want to make sure you know about our corkage fee.'”

It turns out the girls did not, in fact, know about the corkage fee. And it's a good thing Screnci stepped in, because the fee wasn't exactly negligible.

“It is $50 a bottle … for bringing in outside alcohol to an establishment that serves alcohol,” Screnci says. “And I could see on her face, the panicked like, ‘Oh, no.' Like, obviously she wasn't trying to pay that.”

A Refreshing Situation

Thankfully, Screnci saved the poor girls from having to deal with all that. She gives them an easy way out.

“And I said, so if you'd like, I can just take this bottle, you haven't poured it,” Screnci says. “I can just take this bottle. We can keep it at the host stand, and at the end of your meal, you can just take it home.”

The girls were extremely grateful, and Screnci identified the whole interaction as “so innocent, so sweet.” Commenters echoed her sentiments, commending her for showing two young women such kindness.

“It's so refreshing that you handled the situation so well instead of shaming them,” one viewer commented.

“You're a real one for explaining the rules to some young people,” another wrote. “I remember making all those kinds of mistakes in the 90s. May your pillow always be cool.”

What Even is a Corkage Fee, Anyway?

If you've never heard of a corkage fee, you are not alone. The internet is littered with folks wondering what on earth is going on on this front, so the existence of the fee is clearly baffling for many.

Vintage wine retailer Au Droit de Bouchon has an entire page of its site dedicated to explaining the ins and outs of corkage fees. According to Bouchon, “the corkage fee has its origins in European history, dating back to the 18th century,” during which places like taverns and inns charged patrons a “small fee” for service while still allowing them to drink their own wine.

“The corkage fee is a practice that allows customers to bring their own bottles of wine or other alcoholic beverages to an establishment,” Bouchon's website reads. “It's an amount the customer pays to the restaurant owner for the right to bring and consume their own bottle of alcohol on the premises. This practice primarily serves as financial compensation for the restaurateur, who would otherwise sell their own alcoholic beverages. This fee also covers the costs related to service, temperature adjustment, and cleaning of the glasses used.”

Buzz News has reached out to Screnci via TikTok comment.

@kscrenci All in the day of the life of a server #serverproblems #restaurantlife #clients #fyp #storytime ♬ original sound – Kristin

The post ‘You can't use your own brain?': California woman goes through boyfriend's phone. Then she discovers he uses ChatGPT on her appeared first on Realtimenn.