Customer gets underage bride kicked out of restaurant for ordering beer; AITA?
Unless you're the employee or owner of an establishment serving alcohol to a minor, is it really your place to intervene?
Especially if a customer is a legal adult who is clearly old enough to get married, are you really going to be the buzzkill who tattletales on their wedding night? So, when a conflicted restaurant customer decided to consult the moral compass of the internet about an underage bride, people were ready to roast them.
AITA (Am I the As$hole) for getting a bride and groom kicked out of a restaurant on their wedding night?
About a month ago I was a restaurant with my husband of ten years celebrating his promotion at work. About halfway through our meal, a couple was seated at the table next to us.
She was wearing a white dress and veil and he was in a suit so it's pretty obvious that they just eloped. They also looked extremely young to be getting married, but that's their choice so I didn't think much of it.
My husband congratulated them and they thanked us. They seemed very nice until I couldn't help but overhear the bride say to the groom something along the lines of: 'Hey, do you mind ordering my drink for me?'
This struck me as odd as most grown adults wouldn't ask someone else to order for them. The groom nodded and the bride got up to go to the bathroom. While she was in the bathroom, the waitress came and the groom ordered two beers.
Something still seeming off to me, so when the bride returned and I asked them how old they were. She is 19 and he is 21.
So, she obviously isn't old enough to drink so he's buying it for her. After watching them have a few more drinks, I decided this wasn't right. Call me old fashioned, but I am very against underage drinking as it can do so much damage and they shouldn't be allowed to get away with that.
I know people who have ruined their's and other's lives over this and so when I see it happen I do something about it. So, I reported it to the hostess who then came over to ask the bride for her ID. The bride said she didn't have it on her.
They went back and forth for about a minute and it ended with the bride admitting she was 19. The hostess then asked them to leave as they don't allow people to drink underage.
The hostess was gave me a dirty look and my husband asked if I had said something. When I told him I had, he got pissed off at me and said it was none of my business to say something.
I think I did the right thing as the bride shouldn't have been drinking underage and if she really wanted to drink they could've waited a year to get married.
Besides, it's incredibly selfish and wrong to scam a restaurant that could also suffer major consequences for this. I also think that underage drinking is severely harmful and I am strongly against so I will speak up about it regardless of the circumstances.
With that being said, everyone is saying that I was the as%hole in this situation and I'm starting to second guess myself on the matter.
Here's what the jury of internet strangers had to say here:
lotty115 said:
YTA - but then again I'm British so think it's crazy that you can be an adult, get married, have a kid, get a job, pay tax, vote and but not drink alcohol. It was a very special night for them and they weren't being disorderly.
[deleted] said:
Yta. So you judged these two immediately upon seeing them deciding that they were too young to be married, had obviously eloped, etc.
Then you decided to be nosy and question them as to their ages which was absolutely none of your business. I am legal drinking age and have asked my husband to order my drink while in the bathroom plenty of times. Mind your own business.
OrangutanMan234 said:
YTA- Arbitrary numbers. Couldn’t you pretend you were in Europe or on a military base? It’s their wedding day. I’d ask if you drank under 21 but your probably one of the three people in America who didn’t.
Throwawayvadbooks said:
YTA- it was their wedding night and you got them kicked out because you couldn't mind your own business. It sounds like they weren't bothering anyone, why would you ruin their special night like that? And on top of that you probably got the restaurant staff in trouble. You are so the a-hole.
[deleted] said:
YTA. It would have cost you nothing to mind your own business and let them enjoy their evening.