Is it rude to order sizzling fajitas during someone else’s birthday dinner?

Druski as the Birthday girl in his SNL episode
Druski made history over the weekend by being the first digital content creator to ever host SNL. I’ll be honest: I’d never seen any of Druski’s material before this hosting gig. From the minute he walked out on stage, though, I was impressed. That man brought the exact level of energy SNL requires (HIGH!!) and kept it going all night. A few “A-List” star hosts could learn a thing or two from what Druski brought to Studio 8H! Even when some (most) of the sketches were kind of nothingburgers, Druski gave it his all. It felt like he knew this was a *big* moment for him/his career, and he absolutely rose to the occasion, seized the moment, all the champion idioms. One of the better sketches, imo, was “Birthday Girl,” in which Druski played the titular birthday girl, who proceeds to have a tantrum when a girlfriend orders fajitas. As a Millennial, I did not know that ordering fajitas during someone else’s big night was a Thing among the youngins. Because the sizzling pulls focus. People Mag contacted an etiquette expert to get the full dish on the hot issue:

For several years, TikTokers have discussed whether it is rude to order fajitas — which are served on a hissing platter, inevitably drawing the momentary attention of the table — during someone else’s birthday dinner.

The debate was reignited on Saturday, Nov. 7, thanks to a playful Saturday Night Live sketch starring guest host Druski as a fussy birthday girl, who gets upset when a friend orders the Mexican dish on her special night.

But the question still remains: Is it rude to order fajitas on someone’s birthday, or is that simply too high-maintenance of a request even for someone’s big day? PEOPLE reached out to Elizabeth Anne Russell, a North Carolina-based etiquette expert and the founder of the etiquette school Mannerly, to settle the debate.

“Just like you would never show up in a white dress to a wedding, you should never take the spotlight off the birthday queen or king,” says Russell. “It is their day. Honor and respect and celebrate them.”

For Russell, that means slowing down and considering what actions — like, yes, ordering fajitas — others might find impolite.

Russell also notes that many people are comfortable modifying their order to be more polite in social situations. For instance, when a table is splitting a bill evenly, folks should be mindful not to order a course that is far more expensive than the rest of the group.

But still, Russell acknowledges, “Sometimes we don’t know our choice will be offensive until we are living the fiery moment.”

“If your steamy trays of fajitas arrive before everyone has been served, you have two choices,” she says. “Wait until others are served before you begin your meal or stick a candle in it for the birthday queen. Levity goes a long way.”

Ultimately, Russell breaks down the potential birthday faux pas into two distinctions that should be weighed in the moment.

“Is the order technically an etiquette offensive if the price is somewhat around the average of what the table has ordered? No,” she tells PEOPLE. “Is taking the spotlight off the birthday gal or guy unmannerly? A fiery yes.”

[From People]

I’ll be honest: this is why the world hates young people. No really, we’re supposed to act like ordering fajitas during someone else’s birthday dinner has the same weight as wearing white to another bride’s wedding?!! (Sidenote: guess we know what Princess Kate ordered at her sister’s bday meal.) This is giving me the same exasperated vibes as the youths who consider punctuation to be “aggressive.” And I don’t think I’m alone in my derision, otherwise SNL wouldn’t be poking fun at it. To the kids: there are so, so many actual problems in today’s world to choose from, I promise you don’t have to make something out of nothing! Or, you know, carry on as usual and give comedians like Druski more fodder to work with. See — I can be positive!

Druski looks distressed by friend with sizzling fajitas at his birthday party

Sizzling beef fajitas on a table credit mehmetakifarts on Pexels

Photos via YouTube/SNL and credit: mehmetakifarts on Pexels

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13 Responses to “Is it rude to order sizzling fajitas during someone else’s birthday dinner?”

  1. Tulipworthy says:

    This has got to be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read. Nobody cares a whole lot about your birthday except you and maybe your parents and partner.

  2. Sophie says:

    If you’re so uncharismatic that a plate of sizzling food outshines you, you have bigger problems than etiquette.

  3. Lala11_7 says:

    Lorne Michael needs to GO!

  4. Kiwibee says:

    Ridiculous. I’ll order lobster meal if I want to. 😂

  5. Jais says:

    Druski’s episode pulled the highest ratings snl has had in 2 years. So he and his fajitas clearly sizzled. I couldn’t resist the bad pun, forgive me.

  6. Miranda says:

    I was in a sorority in college and knew my fair share of stereotypical “sorority girls” — rich parents (often their only child), vapid, extraordinarily self-absorbed, the whole bit. There was an awful lot of what kids today might call “main character syndrome”, and definitely some birthdayzillas in the mix (who of course became bridezillas in time!). But I cannot imagine even those girls losing their shit over something so petty as a friend’s dinner order. That’s insane, and anyone who gets upset over it should not be your friend anymore.

  7. Megan says:

    I sort of can’t believe this is a thing. (Although anything that stops people from ordering fajitas is ok with me! The smell is so hard to take for me. LOL)

  8. Becks1 says:

    It would never occur to me that it was rude to order fajitas because they’re….spotlight stealing. they’re fajitas.

    Now i do think it can be rude to order them if you’re at a crowded table where you’re elbow to elbow with the person next to you just because they can take a up a lot of space and have extra dishes, but that would be true if its a birthday party or just a crowded table generally. And when I say “rude” I don’t mean I judge others at all for ordering, just more that I will take the space issue into account when I order my meal.

  9. Tis True, Tis True says:

    Apparently now wearing red to a wedding means you slept with the groom. I can’t with this bullshit.

    There has been a multi day kerfluffle in some of the knitting Reddit boards that it’s basically disrespectful to knit in front of other people if they feel that it means you aren’t giving them your full attention. Important to know that the original post discussed was a husband complaining about his wife’s knitting.

    If anyone complains these days about feeling disrespected, I assume they are controlling a-holes. Note: my assumption is an all white space, the toxicity of which can get overwhelming.

  10. Susan says:

    I just watched this episode last night with my teenage kids and they didn’t know ordering fajitas at a birthday was a bad thing either, which kind of reassures me they’re not the WORST young people? LOL at least not yet.

    But yeah, this is ridiculous. I’ve always kind of side-eyed people that are really dramatic about their birthday, and don’t get me started on the “birthday month” and “half birthday” ridiculousness. My friend is a college professor and she blames the parents of the young people—they’ve over-coddled them. The kids think they are the center of the universe and their parents never told them otherwise. I constantly struggle with trying to give my Gen Z/Gen Alpha kids a Gen X childhood like I had, which is kind of impossible nowadays.

  11. apostrophe says:

    My eyes rolled so hard at “birthday queen or king” that I’m still trying to get them un-rolled.

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