I'll trade you whiskey for some fries

It took five months for Isis to notice Brian at the restaurant where they both worked. But for Brian, it was love at first sight.

He would admire her from afar, too shy to get her attention. In fact, he wouldn’t catch her eye until he accidentally messed up one of her orders. From there, though, the two would start to form a friendship.

Then one day, Isis had a craving for french fries and she knew just the line cook to talk to. They quickly reached a deal where Brian would slide her some fries and she’d pass along a shot of whiskey.

Soon, they were flirting at work, sending each other notes through the ticket printing system. Five years later, they’re engaged.

Here’s their story.

How’d you two meet? 

Isis: We met at work, at a restaurant. He was a line cook and I was a bartender. I had actually been working there for a minute and never noticed him until he got one of my orders a little wrong!

Brian: My version of us meeting is a little more romantic than that. It was the first day that the restaurant was open, and I had come onboard late and I was very overwhelmed when I didn’t think I was going to be working that night. I remember seeing her just walking through the restaurant confident, smiling and joking. I have an imprint in my brain of the first time I saw her.

What’s the story with the order? Do you remember messing it up?

Brian: Not at all. I was probably way too busy that night. 

Isis: I was asked to serve a larger party and help bartend as well. I had put in an order of salads ASAP, and after a while they still weren’t ready, so I went up to him and kind of said “Hi, it’s been 20 minutes for a salad!”

I had asked people “Who’s this guy?” And they said “That’s Brian, he’s been here forever.” And I said “What!?”

Brian: It was probably five months after we opened.

What were your first impressions of each other? 

Brian: Mine was that first time I saw her. I could see that she was making people around her feel comfortable and not letting the stress show, if she was feeling stressed. I almost quit that night, I was that overwhelmed! 

Isis: It wasn’t until a little later when I was closing the bar and Brian was closing as a line cook, I was a little hungry. I said “Hey, Brian, do you think I could snag some fries from you and I’ll give you a shot of whiskey?” And he’s like “Deal.” So that’s where I started having more of an opinion about him more than just my coworker. I’m thinking Oh my gosh, he’s really cute, plus he’s giving me food!

How did things develop from there? 

Brian: I think they kind of changed our work schedules to where we would close the same nights. That led to a lot more time to just interact and talk. And we found out there were a bunch of near misses where we could have met each other earlier! 

Isis: We’re in Kansas, and we have friendships in common that we didn’t know about. It’s a small world. 

How’d you end up on your first date? 

Brian: I had been crushing on her basically since that first day, I just was too shy and awkward to go out and try to talk to her. But she asked me to go out to a bar with her after one night that we closed. I never went out to bars, and I think it showed that night!

Isis: I asked him out first. I know he’s shy and I was like This guy is never gonna ask me out unless I do it. We had exchanged phone numbers and been texting for a while and I realized I think I like him more than a friend. We were staying up until three in the morning texting each other, sending each other memes when we should be asleep. So I asked him to go out to the bar with me after work and just hang out. 

Brian: We refer to it now as kind of our first date, but I don’t really know what I considered it at the time. I was very shocked she even asked me to go. I was ecstatic.

How’d things grow from there? 

Isis: We would send each other tickets at the restaurant. I would send tickets to his station and he would send tickets to the bar. People called me Sis at work, so he’d write something like “Sis’ fries, add love.” Eventually we had been semi-dating for around a month, and during Christmas he put a note in my stocking at the restaurant saying “Do want to date me? Check YES or NO.” I loved the cheesiness! It was a slow progression, but it just kept growing and growing. It was a little restaurant love story!

What did your coworkers think? 

Isis: Actually, I think everyone noticed that we were flirting and were really into each other before we did. Everyone knew. We weren’t as coy as we thought we were, we weren’t as discreet. And everybody thought it was cute. 

Brian: We just saw our old boss from there last night and told him we were engaged and he started crying! We still keep in contact with a lot of people from that restaurant and they’ve had similar reactions. 

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📊Last Week We Asked…

• Would you meet up with your ex if you heard they were in town?

  • 55% said “If we left things on good terms, why not?”

  • 44% said “No way! They’re my ex for a reason”

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Interviewed and transcribed by Nicolas Vega. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.