Server says woman tried to make her DIY lemonade at the table. So he pulled a diabolical UNO reverse: ‘What are these charges?’

A server says a woman tried to make a DIY lemonade at her table while denying that was what she was doing. He finds a way to beat her at her own game.

TikTok creator Jon Jeffrey Frederick (@jonnyharlow) posted a video that describes exactly how the customer interaction played out.

“Today for brunch a woman's like, ‘Can I have a water with some extra lemon? And can you bring me some sugar?' So I already know where this is going,” Frederick says. 

Apparently, Frederick guessed that the woman was attempting to brew a makeshift lemonade at her table in order to avoid purchasing one, which is an often noted pet peeve of many restaurant servers.

Server Calls Out Woman for Trying to Make DIY Lemonade

Despite his annoyance, Frederick agreed to bring the woman her lemons and sugar. Unfortunately, it didn't stop at that one request. 

When she asked for extra lemons a second time, Frederick says he told her, “Ma'am can we just stop this right now? How about I bring you a lemonade?”

Except the woman denied that she wanted a lemonade.

“I was like, ‘I won't even charge you for it. I'll bring it to you for free,'” Frederick says. “She's like, ‘What, you don't think I can afford a lemonade?' I said, ‘Fine.' So I brought her a bunch of lemons and then I charged her $.25 for each lemon that I brought her.”

Is It Only Fair to Charge the Woman for Each Lemon?

The woman received her bill and expressed confusion about the charges.

“I'm like, ‘These charges are for the extra garnishes for your water,'” Frederick says. “She's like, ‘But I didn't ask for that.' I was like, ‘But you did ask for that. And it ended up being more than what a lemonade would've cost.' So, win.”

In the comments section of the video, several viewers who work as servers said they couldn't agree more with how Frederick handled the situation.

“My old manager put a ‘late of lemons' button in the [computer] for $4.99,” wrote one person. “That issue stopped almost immediately.”

“We now charge $2.99 for ‘DIY lemonade' and added mandatory 18% gratuity on all checks on Sundays. Now servers will actually come in and work the church crowds,” a second person said.

“I had a woman request a plate of lemons and I thought she was trying to make her own lemonade… She was dipping the wedges in a pile of sugar and eating them like orange slices,” a third person said.

Is It Wrong to Make DIY Lemonade at a Restaurant?

According to the servers on this thread posted to Reddit's r/serverlife three years ago, the answer is a resounding yes. “Is there lemonade on the menu?” asked one commenter. “Yeah.”

A second person said, “Yeah, I've seen it, but somebody who's that cheap is absolutely gonna throw a fit if you try and charge them for it. Little things like that aren't worth the fight.”

The person continued, “I just accept that they won't tip well and ignore the bad behavior. Run it by a manager and let them make the call, but frankly it's never worth the fight because there almost always will be one.”

Another person disagreed with that approach.

“We had a couple of tables of older ladies that would do this,” they wrote. “We started charging them for the lemons, because in all they were getting 3-4 whole lemons in the end. Guess what? They stopped after being told about the charge.”

@jonnyharlow Don't try it #restaurantlife #restauranttiktok #hospitalityindustry ♬ original sound – Jon Jeffrey Frederick

Subplot contacted Frederick via email for comment.

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