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After back-to-back bartending shifts, Brittany Norris (@brittanynorris_) was exhausted.
Like, she couldn’t think or see straight, tired. But she’s in the service industry. So no matter how stretched she feels, she always slaps on a smile and serves vibes.
So when a friendly couple came into her San Diego bar to meet up with friends, the TikToker shared in a now-viral video that she was her bubbly self. She says she greeted the couple and asked, “What can I get y’all?” (In her TikTok, she mentions that the wife is white and the husband is Black because it is pertinent to her story.)
Bartender’s Choice
She recalls that both want a High Noon.
“‘Any specific flavors?'” the bartender recalls asking.
“‘Whatever,'” the wife said.
“‘Surprise me,'” the husband responded.
Social Gaffe Surprise
“‘Bet!'” Norris said.
She says she grabbed a grapefruit High Noon for the wife because that’s what she saw first. “For him, I go for the watermelon High Noon because that flavor f—–!” she exclaims.
The bartender goes back to the table, smiles, and hands over the drinks, saying, “I got you the grapefruit. And for him, I got the watermelon.”
Then, she recalls that there was a long, awkward pause. She says, “I didn’t realize anything about it until everyone at the table looked up.”
Norris, miming her guests searching for the right way to ask about her beverage selection, continues, “‘Oh, you—why… you got him a watermelon?'”
Sharing Favorites
“No,” she says she told them as she realized the possible implications of what she’d done.
Speaking quickly, she explained, “‘It’s my favorite. It’s a good flavor. That’s my favorite flavor.'”
She recalls stumbling over her words because she stepped onto a potential cultural landmine—an inadvertent reminder of America’s complicated past.
“‘I didn’t mean anything by it,'” she says she assured them.
Luckily, the husband was very chill about the situation. “No, but he was cool,” she says.
Trying To Be Thoughtful
At the beginning of her TikTok, Norris explains that she’s been thinking about her High Noon hiccup all week. But though she might be replaying it in her brain, commenters are quick to point out that she was just being genuine.
“That would just make me laugh, actually,” @anthonycourt4 said. “Because you didn’t do anything wrong. You just picked something you like. Good for you.”
Another TikToker concurred, saying, “It’s the thought that counts.”
And others said they simply enjoy the fruit. “I don’t see the problem. I love watermelon,” another commenter remarked.
Watermelon Symbolism
So how do we end up in a place where a fruit could be construed as an insult?
Before it was a racist trope, the watermelon was a symbol of freedom to emancipated African Americans, says the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). “Many Southern whites reacted to this self-sufficiency by turning the fruit into a symbol of poverty,” notes the NMAAHC.
And so, with the aid of ephemera and pop culture depictions, what was once a symbol of hard work, self-sufficiency, and freedom became a nasty shorthand for things like laziness or indigence.
King Of Fruit
But what famed American writer Mark Twain wrote in his 1894 story, “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” remains true today: “The true Southern watermelon is a boon apart, and not to be mentioned with commoner things. It is chief of this world’s luxuries, king by grace of God over all the fruits of the earth. When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat. It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took: we know it because she repented.”
The upshot?
Watermelon tastes good. We suggest serving it with a side of Tajín.